I know its been said again and again and then again. The footpaths of Bangalore are disappearing under the rubble of road widening, flyovers, traffic congestion and encroachment.

But it merits saying it at repeated intervals so that someone, somewhere listens. It seems as though Bangalore is turning into a Dubai or a Los Angeles where its impossible to find anyone walking on the roads. 

“Are you crazy, no one walks here, we all drive around everywhere,” a friend said when I remarked on the absence of people on the Dubai roads. Its the same in Los Angeles.

Its only in downtown LA that you can find people walking. The reason could be that there’s too much money in these cities and nobody can imagine not driving everywhere. 

Okay so Bangalore is also becoming increasingly wealthy and everyone around has wheels, whether it is an expensive car or a small uitlity vehicle or a two-wheeler.

But there are several other cities in the world, where people are still walking a lot. There are still many cities in Europe, including London and Paris and in the US too, like New York or Washington DC, where people walk to and from the underground railway stations, whether it is to go to work, or to shop or to watch the city lights.  

So why should we adapt the worst, instead of taking the best from the world. We shouldn’t be sacrificing the beauty of our city to modernisation.

Many Bangaloreans do not like driving endlessly around and then struggling to find parking and then once again driving endlessly around. A lot of of us love to walk to the nearest kirana store or to the bank.

While doing so, there’s so much to learn from the changing neighbourhood. A new apartment block coming up in the place of a colonial home; the frangipani tree valiantly holding out; the jacaranda and the acacias in bloom, carpeting the roads; or waving out to an acquaintance or a neighbour; and finally breathing in some fresh air instead of the artificial air of an AC car.

But today its becoming next to impossible to do so. This is not only on the main roads, which of course has become crazy, with motorbike riders climbing on to the footpaths to beat the traffic jam ahead, but also on side roads in residential areas too.

The other day I coaxed my elderly mother to come out for a walk with me to the nearby veggies outlet. And she was petrified to say the least.

She tightly clutched my hand, as the vehicles raced all around us and two wheelers bore down on us, with evil intent. We had to watch our step too, as there was rubble, broken tiles, sudden dips and sudden mounds on what is an apology of a footpath on Langford road. 

 “Do we really have to do this?” seemed to be the question on her face. And all the time in the swanky outlet, even as she helped me pick up my week’s groceries, my mother kept asking me anxiously, “Do we have to walk back?”

To set her mind at rest, we took an autorickshaw back home, for a distance of less than 500 metres away.
And I am angry. I know I have the right to be.

I also know that there are many Bangloreans like me, who love to walk around the neighbourhood. And don’t we have the right to do so, without being afraid of falling and breaking a leg, or being mowed down by a two wheeler/car/bus?

Don’t we have the right to reclaim our footpaths?