It is eight on a Sunday morning. There is a cold breeze and a slight drizzle, as I move from outside the departure lounge of the Kempegowda International Airport and make my way towards the bus bay, where KIAL-8 will ferry passengers to Electronics City, one of Bengaluru’s IT nerve centres. The mood at the departure bay is rather buoyant, perhaps because it is Sunday morning and Monday blues is still a day away. The bus is yet to arrive and I wait on the metal seats, with a bunch of others, feeling a little like Forrest Gump, albeit one who has run across the country or made intelligent observations about life and a box of chocolates.
When the bus arrives, it is half empty. A nervous passenger comes up to the bus and hesitantly asks the conductor, “Sarajapur Road intersection?” “ Hogi (Get in)” says the conductor and he thankfully does so. A child fiddling with the AC controls is told off by the conductor who firmly says, “We have not switched on the air-conditioning. Do not fiddle with the dials.” More people get in, some with huge bags and backpacks, many with new TV sets and electronics, most definitely having indulged in some duty free retail therapy.
As the bus pulls away from the airport and the whirr of the air-conditioning starts, I strike a conversation with a rather hassled-looking IT professional, Dhruv Pandey, from Delhi. He is fiddling with his laptop and connects it to a dongle. “I have a presentation to finish by tomorrow. It will take me all day to finish. I hope the bus reaches my place off Agara in an hour. I have been travelling all of last week.”
He adds, “I prefer airport buses to taxis, since they are not very expensive and do not take much time either. The buses are air-conditioned and I can work in comfort.”
The nervous guy turns out to be Rakesh Kumar, a call centre employee from Lucknow, who has come to try his luck in the silicon plateau. “ Bahut suna hai ki Bangalore mein English janana bahut important hai. Kya aap koi English coaching centres jaante ho? (I’ve heard that it’s important to know English in Bangalore. Do you know any coaching centres?)” he asks as we whiz past the Airport highway, leaving Yelahanka behind. “I have never been further home than Delhi. This is a new experience for me,” he adds.
In about 20 minutes, we reach the Hebbal flyover and get stuck in our first traffic snarl. A truck has broken down on the road and traffic is reduced to a crawl. One of my co-passengers jokes, “A traffic jam on a Sunday morning. It takes more time to reach home from the airport than to fly from Mumbai to Bengaluru,” which lifts our gloomy spirits a bit.
We pick up speed again, cross Hennur Cross, Banaswadi and Ramamurthy Nagar and find ourselves in the usual KR Puram traffic block.
“I think they should rename KR Puram and Silk Board signals as jam centres. Only when they finish the metro line to Whitefield will we clear this junction without any hassles,” quips architect Harkirat Jass. With a grin, she adds, “Considering the pace of work, it might take another 50 years to complete. I work in Manyata and stay in Marathalli. I spend an hour everyday at KR Puram.”
In the rear of the bus, Sanjeev Jayaswal and his family are visibly excited about their maiden trip to South India. “I run a garments business in Jaipur. We are going to Mysore and Hampi. We have heard a lot about Bengaluru as the IT centre and want to visit as many places here, especially the Lalbagh gardens. We are on our way to a family friend’s house in HSR Layout now.”
It is almost 9.30 a.m., as the bus inches past KR Puram and climbs the Doddanekundi Flyover. Saranya Prasad, an IT employee nervously looks at her watch and says, “I have to reach my office in Marathalli by 10 for a launch. I had assumed that traffic would be light today, but that does not seem to be the case.”
We don’t face any more blocks and the bus picks up speed again. A rather relived Saranya manages to get down by 9.45 at Marthahalli. A group of young men clamber into the bus, fresh from a cricket session at a neighbouring apartment complex. “All of us stay in Bomanahalli and our apartment complexes do not have big parks. We come to this part of the city to play cricket on weekend mornings. With the buses being available every 15 minutes, we prefer riding the bus to coming by car. We get to relax and enjoy the ride rather than worrying about the traffic. I think that the BMTC should include more buses on these routes. Most of our colleagues use private transport or an Ola only because there are very few Volvos on the road and most of the time, the buses have people packed like sardines,” says Bharat Chopra, a business development officer in an Electronics City firm.
As we cross Agara and go towards the Sarajpur Road intersection, an auto rickshaw almost rams into the bus, trying to overtake from the wrong side.
A war of words follows and Bharat points out, “Most of these issues happen because people think they can get away with breaking rules.”
As we approach the Silk Board intersection, there is a sudden burst of excitement in the bus.
“We were once stuck at this signal for half an hour. Ever since, we always time ourselves at this signal,” says Bharat.
The bets are off for a Sunday morning and we turn left and head towards Electronics City, finally reaching Wipro Gate at 10.15, almost two hours after we left the airport. “Not bad, we would have made it in lesser time, but for that breakdown at Hebbal. I think it is best to take the bus from Chennai though,” quips Chandrashekaran, a bank employee.
