7.27.2006

On top of Bangalore

Bangalore - I think that very soon we might find this word in the dictionary as a synonym for traffic jam. The only thing that comes to mind when you think of this city is the snarling honking abusing polluting snakes of vehicles. From the drawing room discussion to the stand up comic traffic jams of bangalore have become a hot topic. Everybody has an opinion about how to build flyovers. Everybody has an opinion about how to control traffic. Everybody except the city planner and the traffic cop!
I am not writing this piece to crib about Bangalore's traffic. I think terabytes of data are already being used up for that purpose. What I want to talk about is a different view of Bangalore.
Its not that I was seeing Bangalore for the first time from the air but somehow this time the experience was different. You may attribute it to the fact that I had to endure endless traffic snarls to get to the airport that day but nevertheless the view from top was breath taking.

It was like long snakes zigzaggedly going through a forest full of fireflies showing them direction :)

The roads of Bangalore which look so complicated and messy when you are on them looked so easy to use and beautiful from the top. Minus the view of potholes the roads looked like heaven. I have seen other indian cities like Chennai and Mumbai from the air but none of them have the quality that Bangalore does. This is purely a Bangalorean's opinion so you are to call me prejudiced. Bangalore doesnt look like the jungle Mumbai does or a mess of criss cross like Chennai. It looks calm and serene. And the traffic it just looks so well disciplined. No matter if the car I am seeing from above as gliding is actually a call center cab overtaking a volvo from the left while trying to avoid the motorist to his left, it all looks well coordinated from above. Calm and composed is how I see Bangalore and I love it.

I now see the wisdom in the fact that lot of great devotees have written odes to God asking him to come down and have a look at the world. Well, if I am getting the view of serenity from a plane at 35000 ft, I can well imagine the grandeur that God would be seeing from way way way above us all.

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