Going round in circles, one  thought, was the perfect way to skirt the issue. But the City thinks otherwise. To tackle the burgeoning traffic woes, the City went round in a circle, and the result was the Outer Ring Road (ORR), which has done a great deal in terms of easing traffic congestion. Laid on par with international standards, the ORR has reduced accidents and pollution in the City.

The idea
While there is no dearth of people claiming credit for the marvel they said they conceived, not much recognition has come the way of 75-year-old K J Joseph aka J Vannery who lit the spark for the idea that grew into the Outer Ring Road.

Vannery first hit upon the idea in his submission to the ‘Letters to the Editor’ column in Deccan Herald dated September 21, 1977. Appearing under the headline ‘A ring road for Bangalore’, the letter read: ‘Please allow me the courtesy of your columns to present here a Satellite Transport Plan to Bangalore for the active consideration of the Road Transport Corporation and the Bangalore Development Authority. Approximately fixing Shivajinagar as the centre of this expanding town, I draw a route traversing suburban Bangalore. Let us start from Krishnarajapura anti-clockwise and we see in the proposed route, places of importance like Kalikere, Tanisandra, Jakkur, Hospital Town, Peenya, Kamakshipura, Pandavapura, Subramaniapura, Elachenahalli, Dorasanipalaya, Bommanahalli, Singayyanapalaya, and again Krishnarajapura. Approximately covering a distance of 70 km, the ring road will have a radius of 11 km from Shivajinagar. If the proposed road is set right with necessary modifications, I am sure the adventure will pay its dividends, adding fresh beauty spots to the ever expanding city of Bangalore.’

It was Vannery’s concern for the City and an eagerness bring it on par with cities abroad that inspired him to conceive the idea which, in fact, took shape 25 years before he wrote the letter. “When I was at the British Council Library one day I was browsing through a book on town planning, I figured that England and America had decongested their key cities with a connecting road; and that is how I hit upon the word ‘ring road’ — a spiral path for our City. And I shot off the letter to the daily,” he recalls.

Public attention
Vannery’s missive caught public attention and soon government agencies began thinking on those lines.

Years went by and Vannery says he lost track of the developments on the proposed road, as Survey of India with whom he worked posted him out of the City. But by sheer coincidence, Vannery was literally back on the ring road track. He was hired by a private agency for the mapping work of the Ring Road.

Vannery has been recognised for his contribution to the City. “Newspapers carried my name when the Ring Road was opened to public in 2000-2002. I was overjoyed,” says Vannery.

Vannery, in fact, is a writer, poet, short story writer, all wrapped in one. A regular contributor to leading English and Malayalam magazines, he also worked as editor of Mangalam for some time. Vannery was recently awarded the Peace Award for his short stories.