Traffic mess on the railway parallel road in Malleswaram:

I cannot believe the messy state, the traffic in Bengaluru has come to. Yesterday when I spoke with my mother over phone, she mentioned this. When she tried to cross the railway parallel road (Photo above) near Malleswaram railway station, the traffic was so heavy that even after 15 minutes she could not cross it and had to go back home.

This street has now assumed the burden of being the main access road for traffic going from Rajajinagar towards the city centre and beyond. The reason is that the actual main road that connects Rajajinagar to Malleswaram circle is a mess thanks to Metro construction. (Photo below)

Back in our school days (late 70s) the railway parallel road was a very quite and lazy road with more pedestrians and bicyclists than vehicles. Only one BTS (Bangalore Transport Service) bus would ply on this road. (# 52 Yeshwanthapura to NR Colony).  Starting at Cluny convent near Subrahmanya Nagar the road would slope down towards Malleswaram Railway station for about a furlong. That was where I and my friend would pedal our bicycles hard and speed down the slope. After we had achieved the maximum speed it was fun to take our feet of the pedals and lift up our legs in the air and cruise down full speed, now screaming. Some cool dudes would let go of the handle and balance the bicycle by guiding it with their bodies.

It was even more exciting when we would race alongside the Hubli - Bangalore Passenger train. Even though we rode bicycles, we always reached the railway station before the train did.

Now this road (extreme right in above photo) which evokes such childhood memories is so crowded, that crossing it is not guaranteed even after 15 minutes of wait. It is just beyond any redemption. All we can do is sigh and wring our hands.