Amidst all the dust, traffic and the sales going on, M G Road has a new attraction — the dummy Metro coach, which has been on display here for the past one week to enable the visitors to have a better understanding of it.

Ever since the inauguration, it has been the talk of the town. People from all corners of the City are streaming in to get a feel of the Metro, which has been decorated with flowers and garlands. Even peanut vendors have parked themselves at the entrance to make a quick buck at the new ‘hang out’. People were seen looking at various routes maps and checking out the plastic seats. They peeped into the driver’s cabin as well.

The charm and grandeur of the dummy Metro sure did catch everyone’s eye. One could feel the excitement in the air. However, the shine of the new Metro is fading off. There were drunken men passing out on the newly laid-out lawns and people jumping off the barricades. One even got to see interesting fingerprints on the glass panels and names being etched on the outside of the coach. “What can you say? Something never changes,” laughed Aneesh, a freelance photographer, who had come there to get some interesting shots.

Almost everyone had their mobile cameras on, capturing every moment of them being there. The steps that lead to the drivers’ cabin evoked great interest in many because one was not allowed to enter the cabin. Many even spent a lot of time just sitting inside the coach.  Says Ashwathi, a B-Tech student, “We were just passing by on M G Road and the Metro suddenly caught our attention. We thought of checking it out.” Her friend Sneha said since she had never seen Metro in other cities, she didn’t know how it looked like. “The design is so fascinating, and the whole concept looks cool and I can see myself travelling in this,” she adds.

Pushpa, a housewife, said that it was the curiosity of her relatives living outside the City that brought her to the spot. “Many of my relatives, who have moved out of the City, are so curious about the developments of the Metro in the City that I had to come here to take few photographs and mail it to them,” she said.

Chandrashekhar and his family had waited for three days before he made his visit to the coach. “I was curious on how the coach would look. But we knew there would be big rush. So we waited for a few days before making the trip,” he says. But does he miss the old boulevard? “One has to lose something to gain something. Yes, one does miss the days of the boulevard, but I think it’s time we all looked into the future and learnt to adapt to the changes,” adds Chandrashekhar.