JOIN USHave you found yourself at crossroads in the city, confused about which road to take to reach your destination? This is an everyday struggle for most Bengalureans who lose their way in the interior lanes and areas in various parts of the city.
A courier reaching a wrong address is not a rare happening as many buildings and homes bear old numbers and have not been replaced with the new ones.
Areas such as Malleshwaram and the other old localities in the Central Business District (CBD) have multiple main roads and cross roads, creating a labyrinth. Some cross roads lead to other areas. But most times, these diversions do not bear proper signboards. Without proper signboards, it is easy to lose your way, especially if you are not a local resident.
Besides, the city has a few areas that have similar names. This can confuse people even more. Also, Halasuru and Ulsoor are the names of the same area, used as alternatives frequently. This can lead to more confusion for a non-local.
In Bengaluru, ‘cross’ is used for interior streets while ‘main’ is used for main roads or the main street. If a resident's address is 242, 4th main, 6th cross, it will be difficult for a visitor to locate the address as it is difficult to distinguish the main from the cross.
The trouble is experienced more by people who do not use GPS in their smartphones to navigate. This is true of all those who are not particularly tech-savvy. Without GPS, the person is not able to find a road that has been recently renamed or has adopted a diversion. Eventually, the person gets completely lost, unable to find the right way to his/her destination.
In some cases, despite using GPS navigation, people lose their way. This is because many interior areas or renamed areas are not updated on Google maps.
Address-hunters would then have to use GPS navigation and also depend on others to help them reach their destination.
Hemant K, an entrepreneur from Jeevan Bima Nagar, points out that some buildings in the city do not use door number, making it very difficult to locate the address. “The corporation should make it mandatory for buildings and houses to display door numbers,” he says.
Also, since the city is full of main roads and cross roads, Hemant seeks more order and clarity in naming and numbering. “There are areas where one end of a cross road leads to one locality and the other end joins a different area. This creates confusion,” he points out.
One-way problem
In the words of Deepika Bichali, a finance professional from Banaswadi, the problem gets complicated when roads turn one-ways overnight.
“I have faced trouble with the roads becoming one-ways overnight without notice and updates not being put up on the roads. As if this is not enough, a few areas in the city have similar names. It gets pretty tough for a person to find an address in such a scenario,” says Deepika.
For Arun Thirtha, a software professional from Yelahanka, lack of signboards is the biggest problem. “The old areas in the city can confuse people as there are innumerable main roads and very narrow cross roads. Many of these lead to different areas. Most times, there are no boards mentioning the road numbers,” Thirtha explains.