Bangalorean on the Road

Life is not a Walk in the park

Coles Road and Mosque Road are fast emerging as the Commercial street of our peta. From Dominoes to Empire Restaurant,from Reebok and Adidas to Bata , national and international brands of retail super-markets, cosmetics, watches, garments, et al  have found their way to this hip and happening commercial space of our part of bangalore.

Old houses and bungalows are coming down faster than the blinking of an eyelid, giving way to glitzy, sleek complexes. I don’t own a vehicle and I pass through Coles Road almost every day. Second guessing who is going to open shop where has almost become some sort of mental game for me. What should actually be a pleasureable walking experience is far from the reality. As child, we used to play a game called, “On the bank, In the Water” , where you had to alternately jump from a raised area on to a lower level even as someone called out by turn “ On the bank, In the Water”. Whoever did not react fast to the commands was declared out. This was a noisy, boisterous game where the caller would sometimes repeat the same command in order to trick the players who would be expecting only an alternating of the commands.

Coming to the present, navigating  Coles Road is something similar to “On the bank, In the Water” game.The only difference is you have to reckon with potholes and  gaping manholes, dirty streams of water, whose origin is as remote as that of Talacauvery; not to speak of the rows of two and four wheelers parked haphazardly and hazardously ( only to the pedestrian). Every time, a new complex comes up, the foot path  running in front of the building is swallowed up to serve in its  new avatar as the parking lot of the spanking new complex. As you turn the Petrol Pump bend into Coles Road, stone slabs of the foot path jut out at awkward angles to rise and fall precipitously,giving you the feel of trekking up a hill. Just as you think that your troubles are almost over, you  almost walk into a tree right outside The Canara Bank! Miraculously the pavement has disappeared much like mythological rivers and streams and you find that there is no space for you to go around the tree ( because the pavement is cluttered with parked vehicles almost cartwheeling and balancing on the next  one). So you have to do a High Jump and land into the middle of Coles Road only to come up against a monstrouc BMTC bus, so cloce to you that you are terrified that it is going to mow you down. You close your eyes and wait for the inevitable. But lo and behold! you open your eyes and find that you are still alive! Nothing short of a miracle but the monster has spared you to be on its way merrily to hunt down some other hapless pedestrien like you. You can give yourself a pat; you have walked on Coles Road(there are many such roads in Namma Bangalore) and you have remained alive. 

Just as you are breathing a sigh of relief, You turn around to hear another bus- driver swearing at you. Time to do another High Jump; this time out of Coles Road!a