"Among the demons I am Prahlada. Among the calculators I am time. Among the animals I am the lion and among the birds I am Garuda" - Shloka #29, Chapter #10, Bhagavad Gita. The latest version of the Gita should read "Among the roads..I am the Hosur Road" :-)
To non-Bangaloreans, Hosur road is the strip of National Highway 7 connecting Bangalore and Hosur (The border town of Tamil Nadu). To Bangaloreans like me, its everything!!
Long long ago..so long ago..precisely 32 months back(Seems ages now..the road has already eaten away 2 months of my life!) I made a tryst with destiny :-)..While the whole world started zooming past in 6 lanes at unimaginable speeds, I decided to sit back, read, think and shake hands with fellow commuters in the neighbouring buses :-) No..it wasnt completely my decision..it seemed the whole of Bangalore conspired to teach me a few lessons.
The rest is history..during the 2 months that I spent on THE ROAD, my emotions varied from despair to anger and from helplessness to exasperation..but one thing remained constant during this love affair - I was in awe with the road, the vehicles, the drivers and even myself!! :-)
The first time I saw the BommanHalli junction, I didnt have words.."Ohh Myyyy Gooddddd!!!" It seemed I had been living in God forgotten sleepy places all my life, places the automobile industry of India seemed to have ignored for decades! Its an insult to call BommanHalli a place....its a phenomenon..its a celebration of exceptional driving skills, spectacular vision and the wonders of human instinct.
What makes this phenomenon so awesome is the absence of rules..you define your way and you decide your rules. I guess Max Plank wouldnt have a better example to describe quantum mechanics - charged drivers fighting it out in a jam packaged junction where predicting the path and velocity of any moving particle is next to impossible :-)
BommanHalli has an aura around it..people feel liberated when they come here; Pedestrians walk as if the road is an extension of their verandas :-) Most of the bikers behave as if the world is going to end in around 20 minutes and they have to reach BTM or Koramangala before that - they get their bikes to do things that no cylist would even imagine in his wildest dreams! If you are riding a two-wheeler on Hosur Road and you are not innovative and flexible, you are a disgrace to the road..you will be stranded there, negating the chances of other enterprising bikers trying to do some fancy stuff.
I forgot to mention about trucks. Hosur road and BommanHalli junction are incomplete without the trucks. Trucks come here in various sizes, shapes, colors and even odors (The difference in odor is more of a varying degree than kind - they all stink!!) . But all of them have one thing in common - Every driver of these possessed machines feels that Hosur Road is their family property from the 16th century. We shouldnt expect much from them..after all they are doing a service to the nation by allowing others to share the road.
Being an avid "truck-watcher", I am seriously concerned by the growing number of buses on the Hosur Road..."growing" actually is an understatement; they are exploding! More than at the Stock Exchange, software companies in Electronics City seem to be fighting on Hosur Road for the coveted prize of the maximum number of buses. Neat, huge buses are now a symbol of pride, power and success! Procession of buses..hundreds of them between 5 and 9 PM choke the Hosur Road and pose a threat to the rights of the truck drivers over their property!
To non-Bangaloreans, Hosur road is the strip of National Highway 7 connecting Bangalore and Hosur (The border town of Tamil Nadu). To Bangaloreans like me, its everything!!
Long long ago..so long ago..precisely 32 months back(Seems ages now..the road has already eaten away 2 months of my life!) I made a tryst with destiny :-)..While the whole world started zooming past in 6 lanes at unimaginable speeds, I decided to sit back, read, think and shake hands with fellow commuters in the neighbouring buses :-) No..it wasnt completely my decision..it seemed the whole of Bangalore conspired to teach me a few lessons.
The rest is history..during the 2 months that I spent on THE ROAD, my emotions varied from despair to anger and from helplessness to exasperation..but one thing remained constant during this love affair - I was in awe with the road, the vehicles, the drivers and even myself!! :-)
The first time I saw the BommanHalli junction, I didnt have words.."Ohh Myyyy Gooddddd!!!" It seemed I had been living in God forgotten sleepy places all my life, places the automobile industry of India seemed to have ignored for decades! Its an insult to call BommanHalli a place....its a phenomenon..its a celebration of exceptional driving skills, spectacular vision and the wonders of human instinct.
What makes this phenomenon so awesome is the absence of rules..you define your way and you decide your rules. I guess Max Plank wouldnt have a better example to describe quantum mechanics - charged drivers fighting it out in a jam packaged junction where predicting the path and velocity of any moving particle is next to impossible :-)
BommanHalli has an aura around it..people feel liberated when they come here; Pedestrians walk as if the road is an extension of their verandas :-) Most of the bikers behave as if the world is going to end in around 20 minutes and they have to reach BTM or Koramangala before that - they get their bikes to do things that no cylist would even imagine in his wildest dreams! If you are riding a two-wheeler on Hosur Road and you are not innovative and flexible, you are a disgrace to the road..you will be stranded there, negating the chances of other enterprising bikers trying to do some fancy stuff.
I forgot to mention about trucks. Hosur road and BommanHalli junction are incomplete without the trucks. Trucks come here in various sizes, shapes, colors and even odors (The difference in odor is more of a varying degree than kind - they all stink!!) . But all of them have one thing in common - Every driver of these possessed machines feels that Hosur Road is their family property from the 16th century. We shouldnt expect much from them..after all they are doing a service to the nation by allowing others to share the road.
Being an avid "truck-watcher", I am seriously concerned by the growing number of buses on the Hosur Road..."growing" actually is an understatement; they are exploding! More than at the Stock Exchange, software companies in Electronics City seem to be fighting on Hosur Road for the coveted prize of the maximum number of buses. Neat, huge buses are now a symbol of pride, power and success! Procession of buses..hundreds of them between 5 and 9 PM choke the Hosur Road and pose a threat to the rights of the truck drivers over their property!
Justice will prevail someday and I will stand by the truck drivers :-)
But I can not stand the elevated fly-over that is coming up on the road. ..its a blot on the face of the road and threatens to damage the "traffic fabric" of the road. Even before it has come up, it has worsened the situation; It takes me hardly 30 minutes on the road to reach the office! :-( Gone are the days when I used to see half of Bangalore's vehicles at BommanHalli :-((
In the last 6 months though, the project has turned the road into a site for the X-Games...a part of the road going up at 60 degrees and the other going down at 45...a hole every 5 meters and a bump every 10. You feel as if you are not driving on the road, but on its isometric view; no need to say..its thrilling! :-)
Nevertheless, the elevated project (I somehow feel they are actually constructing an oil refinery..seeing the huge drilling machines there :-) ) will take the shine off the road. Imagine travelling on the Hosur road uninterrupted and reaching the office in 15 minutes!! It would be like seeing Sanjay Manjrekar hit a test match century in 50 balls! :-)
The only view you will get from your windows will be of the trees and of the buildings..what about the buffaloes, bullock carts and the humanity that we see everyday?? What about the jobs of all those traffic policemen, who with their magical rods could never control the traffic? Hosur road will never be same again (May be we will have a strategy video game someday simulating the exact road and traffic conditions..should be a hit!!).
Well..there are roads...and there is HOSUR ROAD!! :-)
5 comments:
Good one beta
Accha likhata hai :)
Good job Raghu! Nice blog.
ha ha ha...... really good... kep going..
thts a gud post raghu... made me feel nostalgic... [:)] keep blogging...!
hilarious...mast hai bhai:)
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