Barely a couple of days after the east-west corridor of the Namma Metro (from Byappanahalli to Mysore Road) was thrown open to the public, I was waiting at Indiranagar metro station to go to Trinity Circle. I was approached by a middle-aged couple with their daughter in tow, "We want to go to Chickpet market, which will be the nearest station?" I made an educated guess, "Kempe Gowda station". Just then another person asked, “'To go to Visveshwaraya station, should I take the train to Mysore Road or Byappanahalli?”
I have been taking the metro off and on to beat the parking mess at M.G. Road, but this was the first time I was seeing so many passengers on the platform that too at an odd hour of around 12 noon on a working day. They all seem to be exploring what the extended purple line has on offer and their frustration with road traffic was more than palpable.
The fact that it offered connectivity to a commercial cum transport hub (Majestic) and the hot seat of babudom (Vidhana Soudha) and that too in air-conditioned comfort, away from the heat and dust of BMTC buses and auto rickshaws had excited many.
Curious, I too decided that one day I should go up to Mysore Road and the trip finally materialised after many postponements. The time was around 11.30 am, not exactly a peak hour, and at Indira Nagar station there were some 5-6 people in the queue.
Though it was nearly a month after East West corridor opened, the novelty had still not waned. There were still many people taking selfies, groupfies and family photos on the platform, much to the annoyance of security personnel. The train finally arrived and the loco pilot happened to be a woman. Male loco pilots seem to be a rarity in Namma Metro, don't recall seeing one myself.
After boarding, I had to make do with holding on to stirrups as no seats were vacant. When the trains were plying only up to M G Road, one could easily count on one's fingers the number of passengers per bogie. The succeeding stations like Ulsoor and Trinity only had passengers trickling in, with hardly anyone alighting. Only at MG Road there was some outflow.
The train then entered the much vaunted underground stretch ('the first in South India' gushed many of our city dailies) that took ages to get completed. The descent from Chinnaswamy stadium was gentle. The stations on the underground stretch looked as if they were hurriedly done up with some finishing work still pending. The 'jugaad' mindset was very much at play.
As the train pulled into Kempegowda station, there was a widespread churn and I did manage to get a seat. The station has the makings of a busy junction with trains gorging and disgorging passengers - a gentrified version of Dadar station in Mumbai.
As the train crossed Magadi Road station it was a gentle ascent out of the underground section. I must confess my knowledge of this side of Bangalore is very scanty and apart from Vijayanagar and Mysore Road, the rest of the stations like Hosahalli were indeed quite 'hosa' (new) to me.
The Mysore road station was quite a misnomer as none of landmarks such as Satellite Bus station or Gopalan Mall were anywhere close to it. As I stepped out it looked as if this station was built out of nowhere. The highway was buzzing with vehicles and so was the flyover above, with hardly any shops or restaurants nearby.
Anyhow it is a work in (slow) progress and with the purple line proposed to run up till Kengeri, its only a matter of time before the above landmarks become accessible by Namma Metro.
Tail piece: While waiting at Indiranagar station ticket counter I happened to see an unusual notice pasted on the glass panel. It stated that children above three feet height require full-ticket, or words to that effect. I just hope that the BMRCL personnel manning the ticket counters keep a measuring tape handy, in case they run into some stubbornly argumentative parents!
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Bengalureans are now obsessed with the new numbers game and are sweating it out with gusto. No its not something as insipid as sudoku or the cricket scores, it is something far more 'mercurial' and also brings in lots of heat and dust in its wake.
This season the city was up and running in the 'heats' stage itself with the mercury touching 35.5 degrees Celsius on February 22, and even night temperatures offered little relief, as they too were 3-4 degrees above normal. The tempo continued, thanks to the elusive Mango showers, which played truant like Bangalore’s very own king of good times – Vijay Mallya.
Studies reveal that in first decade of 21st century the city lost 76% of vegetation cover (which got replaced by concrete cover) and suffered a 79% decline in water bodies, which is now taking its toll on its much vaunted salubrious weather.
Right now the much sought after magical figure is 40 and though the current 37ish may be good enough, we have even bested many of our rival cities - notably Chennai, but the yeh dil maange more craving persists.
The antennae of the city's start ups have sensed a huge market and they are installing small automatic weather stations across the city to record temperature and other data on a hyper local basis. Hence now we get to know which is warmer - Jayanagar or Hebbal, where your armpits are bound to sweat more – Koramangala or nearby Madiwala, all on your smartphone screens.
The other day weather app guys jumped the gun and announced that we have indeed achieved the nirvana (40 degrees), only to be scotched by weathermen from Indian Meteorological Department, who said not yet. Hence amid beads of sweat the wait continues over copious amounts of tender coconut water, fresh juices and not to forget the staple drink of this pub city - which helps us see the big 'pitcher'!
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Hi, I am five years old and a creature of the jungle. I reside in the lush grassland in forests close to Bangalore and roam around long distances foraging for food. The shrinking of habitats and near disappearance of some of my usual preys often puts me face to face with what the deluded and self centred humans call civilization.
Despite advice from my elders I am often forced to take risks and venture into their concrete jungle. We are solitary animals and nocturnal hunters and very good at camouflage and stealth, hence we get rarely spotted by humans. Under night cover we enter their habitats and stealthily pounce upon stray dogs and other domesticated animals and vanish. It has been going on without much ado. As far as possible we avoid any panga with humans and vanish the moment we see them.
But on Feb 7 things went awry. I happened to stray into a building located close to an eucalyptus grove and somehow I failed to notice that someone was watching me. By the way one of my eyes have gone blind due to some mysterious reason.
After a few hours I saw lots of humans and noise. I quietly retreated to the bushes nearby. I was breaking into a cold sweat as I had never seen so many humans in my life. I decided to stay put there hoping no one finds me. I could either wait for the din to settle down to sneak out to the forest or wait till night to retreat. There was no sign of my Plan A happening as there was no let up in crowds and some even came with dogs in tow, making me all the more jittery thinking these canines might smell me out. Hence with bated breath I waited wishing the night to set in early.
Then suddenly I heard shrieks of excitement and a crowd moving towards me. I realised that I have been spotted. I was totally at my wits end as I could not see any escape route. I sneaked back to the building in panic and was utterly clueless where to hide. Meanwhile crowds outside the building swelled and I could even hear some deafening noises, followed by smoke and foul smell.
I darted from one room to another and later hid in one of them. I could hear voices and soon heard a loud noise and realised that a door has been shut and so was my escape route. I climbed up the window and realised that it had a soft mesh and soon I could push it away and ended up in another room. There too I saw a window with soft mesh and leapt out of the building.
I came close to strange looking water body. It was blue in colour. Soon I felt an excruciating pain in the belly as if being pierced by a thorn. The pain plus the presence of so many humans around and their murderous chants made me realise that I better fight back. I attacked six people who were in the vicinity. But later started feeling dizzy and collapsed.
Life in captivity
As I regained my senses, I realised that I was at a far less hostile environs, though I was yet to overcome the trauma and stress I had undergone few hours before. However I soon realised that there was little space for me to move around and it only aggravated my restlessness. In the neighbouring enclosure there was a tiger, who too was in the same predicament, but seemed foolishly content about it.
I just bided my time. Meanwhile I was getting treated for my wounds and felt nonplussed when provided with food at regular intervals by humans. I must confess I did enjoy getting food without having to sweat it out in long chases and climbing trees.
But the yearning for freedom was something I could not subdue. I kept a watch on my human captors and their activities. I kept a close watch on how my cage door was being opened while providing food. I realised that for them remaining alert during nights was quite a challenge.
Nearly a week later I lay in wait during night. I squeezed myself out the cage through a small opening. Then I climbed the tall trees close to the fence and jumped across and ran for my life.
I was finally free and back in the lap of nature I am thankful that my nightmare has ended.
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