The tale of my city

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Ever since my birth here, Bengaluru has been called a ‘paradise’ for various reasons. I have been living in the city throughout, walking up and down the traffic-free streets, enjoying the cool breeze, pleasant fragrance of the flowers from the trees next to the road and friendly greetings from the passers-by. Alas, it’s all history now! With the construction going on in all major roads, either for flyovers or for metro, walking is forbidden. We still walk, mostly in parks, and on roads out of necessity, but only when the threat of traffic has decreased.

One day, my family had an appointment with a senior officer. It was a short walk from my house to his place, yet we chose to go by car. Due to the time of the day, our estimate was that there wouldn’t be much traffic and we would reach the destination quickly. We were proved wrong --the roads were already choked. We were initially hopeful of making it on time, but with passing time, we found ourselves stuck in a jam. Th wait was frustrating and as a result, we decided to park on any immediate side lane we saw and walk the rest of the distance, lest we should miss our appointment. Once our feet on the road, we realised what a bad choice it was!

What was originally a pavement was now a trench, dug up for laying some ‘pipes’ and ‘cables’. Heaps of mud were piled on the side of the road, making walking impossible. We dared to cross over to the other side of the road amidst the madly honking cabs and bikes, only to find the pavement on the other side was occupied by vendors making dosas and omelettes, with customers making a beeline to grab breakfast. With watchful steps, we moved forward only to find a huge garbage truck parked adjacent to the pavement to collect tons of garbage on the pavement! To circumvent this we had to dodge to the centre of the road risking our lives against the zooming two-wheelers whose favourite place to ride is the pavement. After a three minute waiting at the signal, we crossed the road, reached our destination, puffing and panting, hair dishevelled, dress crumpled!

Having learnt our lesson, we have located places that are at a walking distance to meet basic requirements. We have also become compulsive online shopping addicts! What more do we need, as a prospective retired couple? Despite all the odds, I still love my city!