Again another major major jam on ORR. I don't know what the hell is happening. I saw two things that saddened me very much this morning.
One of my engineers called just as I was about to leave and told me there is a huge pile up on ORR and I should avoid. My only alternative which is sane is the Kadubeesanahalli-Yamalur-Airport Road back road. But the way it poured last night, that option was not enticing me. This was a road that used to bring me to work in 18 minutes flat no matter what day or time it was. And now, because of the Bellandur bridge construction it has become completely unmotorable - add to that all those major constructions along the lake and it is not a pretty picture.
So very reluctantly I took that road this morning, expecting to be stuck at Bellandur bridge for at least 10 minutes and imagining a dirty, slushy car at the end of the drive (against the squeaky clean backdrop of the office) but still assuming it will be better than getting stuck on ORR. And thank god, all my expectations were met. I was stuck for exactly 10 minutes on the bridge, and I managed to reach office in 35 minutes - not bad at all - the road was a life saver. And my engineer too!!
There is a small off shoot of Bellandur lake (I daresay it was all part of the lake before but forced into an offshoot now thanks to the constructions) on the way which was happily gurgling with water - thanks to all the rains. Only, it was dark green, and probably stinky water :( How sad. The only way we can retain rain water in the ground - we destroy. Who gives permissions to construct and encroach and when this greed will end, or how it will end - I don't even want to imagine.
Then ORR itself. The newly constructed underpass opposite our office, apparently logged 1-2 feet or water, caused a car to get stalled and then the whole mother of all jams ensued. This is a modern construction. People know it rains cats and dogs in Bangalore - why the hell can we not plan to drain out the water, I have no idea. If a construction which is days old (and took a bloody two years to finish) cannot sustain the pelting of a night's worth of rain - I have no idea what else will. Whom are these people accountable to? Clearly not us :( We have no time to even ask. This road services a few lakh cars everyday - if we just came together and protested against the way tenders are handed out and completed - but I only dream..
The last jam on ORR which was really bad was also because of sheer collapse of the infrastructure. The road had just caved into the deep excavation next to it. I can tolerate pile-ups because of accidents etc. But because of infrastructure collapsing - how can we sit down and take it? But, we do :( And I am sad about it :(
One of my engineers called just as I was about to leave and told me there is a huge pile up on ORR and I should avoid. My only alternative which is sane is the Kadubeesanahalli-Yamalur-Airport Road back road. But the way it poured last night, that option was not enticing me. This was a road that used to bring me to work in 18 minutes flat no matter what day or time it was. And now, because of the Bellandur bridge construction it has become completely unmotorable - add to that all those major constructions along the lake and it is not a pretty picture.
So very reluctantly I took that road this morning, expecting to be stuck at Bellandur bridge for at least 10 minutes and imagining a dirty, slushy car at the end of the drive (against the squeaky clean backdrop of the office) but still assuming it will be better than getting stuck on ORR. And thank god, all my expectations were met. I was stuck for exactly 10 minutes on the bridge, and I managed to reach office in 35 minutes - not bad at all - the road was a life saver. And my engineer too!!
There is a small off shoot of Bellandur lake (I daresay it was all part of the lake before but forced into an offshoot now thanks to the constructions) on the way which was happily gurgling with water - thanks to all the rains. Only, it was dark green, and probably stinky water :( How sad. The only way we can retain rain water in the ground - we destroy. Who gives permissions to construct and encroach and when this greed will end, or how it will end - I don't even want to imagine.
Then ORR itself. The newly constructed underpass opposite our office, apparently logged 1-2 feet or water, caused a car to get stalled and then the whole mother of all jams ensued. This is a modern construction. People know it rains cats and dogs in Bangalore - why the hell can we not plan to drain out the water, I have no idea. If a construction which is days old (and took a bloody two years to finish) cannot sustain the pelting of a night's worth of rain - I have no idea what else will. Whom are these people accountable to? Clearly not us :( We have no time to even ask. This road services a few lakh cars everyday - if we just came together and protested against the way tenders are handed out and completed - but I only dream..
The last jam on ORR which was really bad was also because of sheer collapse of the infrastructure. The road had just caved into the deep excavation next to it. I can tolerate pile-ups because of accidents etc. But because of infrastructure collapsing - how can we sit down and take it? But, we do :( And I am sad about it :(
2 comments:
Hi...yes its sad we all have to go through this...dont u feel life in US is better than India in these aspects? I mean dont u miss US when u encounter these situations?
@Anonymous - No, I don't - when I am stuck there I just think about how best to move across traffic and get to where I got to go ;)
On a more serious note - I think I have successfully closed my US chapter (done all I wanted to and moved when I wanted to), so there is no more "maybe US" thoughts ;) Also, I don't want to go back to doing my own dishes. And also, I have seen even worse, much more snarling traffic on I-880 in the Bay Area, this is child's play ;)
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