The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Am I glad that the year has come to an end!

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Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Am I glad that the year has come to an end!

Bangalore City

This time, we are letting the city speak for itself about the good, the bad and the ugly in 2008

Many infrastructure projects lie half-done
Power cuts have become the order of the day

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Lost glory: Is the Garden City turning into a garbage city.

BANGALORE: What a year it has been! Probably the worst in my 471 years of existence. Am I glad it is over! My heart is burdened with worries, pollution, traffic, and denudation. My joints and junctions are creaky. Terrorism has seared into my psyche, making my citizens, once so laidback and amiable, a little jumpy and anxious. Looking back is not easy. All those infrastructure projects lie half-done. My arterial roads lie in tatters and parts of me forever seems to be under a cage of steel and shuttering.

I cannot recognise myself anymore. Given the burgeoning population, there seems no choice but to expand. Out of 91 roads earmarked for expansion, barely 10 are being taken up now. Still with every falling tree, I lose my proverbial green tag that had attracted people to me in the first place. K.R. Road, Seshadri Road and Palace Road are stripped bare; shady avenues will soon turn to multi-lane roads to “ease traffic”. There are any number of those in the know who say avenue trees reduce temperatures by a few degrees, and also that wider roads do not make for better traffic management. If that is true, then the damage is twofold: I lose identity and my roads remain choked.

Namma Metro

They told me Namma Metro would give a fillip to public transport, and take some of those kilometres of vehicles off my chest.

Given the excruciatingly slow pace of work, I do not know when this dream will turn to reality.

Yearlong attempts to provide a “signal-free” passage to the newly-opened Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) ensured that motorists were taught a long, hard lesson in patience, and pedestrians paid with their lives.

And how can I forget the mother of all traffic jams which paralysed the city in November!

The Janata Dal (Secular) rally in Palace Grounds had children stuck in school buses for over six hours, and had citizens up in arms against politicians and law enforcers. The chaos, for once, did not spare even the most privileged of my residents.

Speaking of the privileged, I was amused to witness a crusade with a difference this year. The elite and the intelligentsia took to the streets to protest what they called “a frontal attack on nightlife”. The law, which forbids live band performances and shuts the city down at 11.30 p.m. had “Bengaluru Bleeding”, they claimed, even as they called it a violation of a fundamental right. But where was their full frontal outrage when the police announced a “crack down on transsexuals and hijras”?

Where is the light?

Often it is difficult to see light at the end of the tunnel. And there certainly was none on the streets or in homes. Power cuts became the order of the day.

But there are no power cuts now, the authorities insist, even as several pockets are lit by candles. I admit things had begun to look brighter through December, courtesy the byelections. Now that the votes are in, I fear those dark stretches will be back.

I also see more and more people hurrying out of their workplace, take some quick drags and hurry back several times a day.

No doubt these give non-smokers some chuckles of relief. Roadsides and teashops transformed overnight into smoking corners as people rushed to the roads to get their nicotine fix.

The pestilences

So then was it all okay on the health front then? Not really. A major outbreak of gastroenteritis in January, followed by a few cholera cases in Bharthinagar, threw up vital questions about the quality of drinking water provided to the poorest of my people.

A minor dengue outbreak, followed by chikungunya and leptospirosis — all of which point to lack of sanitation — pushed these queries to the forefront.

And if that wasn’t enough, emergencies such as the hooch tragedy, an interrupted pulse polio campaign, the occasional rioting.

But life goes on and, like my people, I am also resilient. I hope 2009 will help me cope with another year of the good times and bad times.

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