A Pipeline Too Far

The Embassy Golf Link tech park was probably one of the first movers in turning the city to a silicon valley and its golf course was immortalized by Thomas Friedman in his book The World Is Flat. 

But if one leaves the futuristic looking steel and glass structures with neatly manicured lawns and the expansive green patch of the golf course and move towards Challaghata side one gets transported to one of the city's nightmarish civic black holes.

Forget potholes, here the whole stretch of road seems perennially dug up with giant pipes on one side, waiting to be laid, and huge mound of mud on the other side - dusty during summer and slushy during monsoons. I have been seeing this infrastructure mayhem for the past one year, but I guess this Martian landscape was painstakingly carved out by the Bangalore civic authorities at a much earlier date.

The nightmare begins after you cross the Microsoft office. The neat roads with manicured lawns give way to prehistoric pathways. We have to take a detour as the road has vanished due to pipeline works. The detour passes next to a newly-constructed, but not occupied steel and glass structure. Then comes another detour and we get a feel of a halli-like locality prone to water logging. After that we come face to face with the giant pipes lying strewn on one side and dirt track in its full glory.

Thankfully I rarely venture on this road and stopped taking it altoghether after I realised that the civic chaos has gotten better off my car's ground clearance. I really sympathise with people who use this road on a daily basis. This road helps techies coming from Bellandur or Marthahalli to avoid many traffic bottlenecks and signals. This apology for road, however, beats the purpose. At around 10.30 am there is often a traffic bedlam punctuated with mindless honking and frayed tempers.

I wonder how those residing near this road are coping with all this chaos on a daily basis. They may not even be able to keep their windows open due to the dust and noise, not to mention the harrowing commute.

It looks like the civic authorities first wanted to lay the pipeline and then re-lay the road. But unfortunately the pace at which the work is progress(zzz..)ing it would make even a snail triumphantly wonder “wow! am I daydreaming or on steroids”.

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