My husband and myself declared to my bro’s driver that we wanted to be dropped off at the Byyappanahalli metro station. He thought he didn’t hear us right. My husband repeated with a smile. “Why sir? I will take you to the city in no time. After 11, the office traffic will subside. “ It took us a good while to explain in more than necessary ways that the two of us have been wanting to go by the Metro and it had been years since we got on to a public transport in Bangalore. He thought we were a pair of stupid people who didn’t know how to live. Very often when we would suggest to go to Brindavan ( a simple hotel in MG road which is no more and used to serve hot and tasty Bisi Bele Bath with karaboondhi...yum), have coffee in India Coffee House(also no more), go to Murugan Idli Kadai in Madurai, drink coffee in College House in Madurai, go to Janakiram’s in Tirunelveli to eat Pongal, go to the General Bazaar in Hyderabad to do crap shopping, people always would wonder if the heat of the place has really got to our heads. These are crowded places too! But hold the charm and essence of that city by all means!
The Byyappanahalli station was definitely a total surprise. Absolutely clean, calm and vigilant security. Just a few people around, in that hour. Infact, there were more security than passengers. The train arrived in a few seconds before which my husband finished scolding me to have taken pictures of the place when the signboard has clearly indicated not to! “How can you click pictures when it is written clearly. What sense of responsibility. Just for your blog we cannot do something wrong.” Does that sound like a sermon? Yes it is of some sort. But used to it neverthless. J
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| The entrance of the Byyappanalli metro station. |
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| The view to the limited parking slots below. |
I normally pretend being remorseful for a few minutes and then just keep smiling. The interiors of the train was spic and span. We were going upto MG Road station and that was roughly 15 minutes from Byyappanahalli. I loved the view outside. Given this small duration, and the ticket cost I really didn’t understand why people in that city crib all the time about traffic. Atleast people using this route will benefit big time. I would have parked my car in the station and taken the metro and then returned by metro and driven back my car home. Ideal it sounds. But surprisingly not many seem to think it’s a great idea. We discussed about the possible bottleneck to parking spaces in the station or a secure parking as reason.
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| The train door. |
You know you are in MG road when your eye hits the oldest building there…The Gangarams. My God how many years! Certainly can be added in the ‘Places to see’ list in Bangalore. There was one time when Harry Potter was released and you happened to visit the place. The huge entrance area to the shop was monopolized by hundreds of copies of the book kept in display. The press covering it and many many young Harry Potter looking geeky kids going bonkers over the book and definitely holding a copy of the book close to their chests. Have I diverted? That’s what Gangarams book store is all about-Great way to go there and browse around!! Time flies and then you have forgotten why you came!
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| Train interiors. |
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| The Gangarams building in MG Road. |
After a full day of Commercial Street shopping and eating, we took the Metro right back. One of the only days in that city when we traveled effortlessly as we weren’t in the car. A fantastic way to beat the horrendous traffic !! My bro and his driver picked us up at the Byyappanhalli station and almost asked us questions in a way that sounded like “Our condolences.” Hilarious it was. “Are you ok? Are you tired? Legs aching? Can we plan something for the evening? Will you guys be ok? Why did you’ll try this? “
How do I tell him that it was a smooth, effortless, hassle-free, happy travel that we enjoyed! No horns, no waiting, no cursing, no dust and no breaking your head over parking slots! Definitely a great step forward by the Bangalore Government. I also heard a great deal about the Delhi Metro from someone who simply loves the place but not been on the Metro-my husband. “Must travel on the Delhi Metro”, he told me.
Metro travel certainly gives you a great feeling in any city as long as you don’t HAVE to do it for a daily living I suppose!!:)…So I think and who travels everyday by the Singapore Metro to work!!
Glad to hear abt the bangalore metro. However somebody told me that the route that they have for phase 1 (byapanahalli-mg rd) is not that useful for the office crowd - and we have to wait for phase 2 for ppl to start utilizing it on a large scale. Not sure if this is true.
ReplyDeleteMetros everywhere rock. I take the metro to work almost everyday- 35 mins door to door at rs 40/- which would take me 1 hr plus by car.
Metro must be a big boon to Bengaluru people considering the traffic situation in the last 10 yrs or so. I was lucky enough to be in Delhi when Metro opened in 2002, though I travelled in it, much later in 2004. It was an absolutely 'foreign' experience for us who had never travelled even in an aeroplane prior to that!! I did not the metro for my daily office travel, since the 3 lines at that time were in other directions/locations. Amazingly enough you could never see any littering or 'paan' stains inside the trains or platforms, which one can normally see (in heavy amounts!!) at bus stands/railway stations/trains!! People consciously took pride in keeping it clean and in later years also start queuing up to enter the trains!! However, when I last travelled in 2010, the crowds swelled to such proportions that I was reminded of the Bombay local trains....you could be pushed in or pushed out of the doors, depending on which direction you are facing!!
ReplyDeleteThe blog rocks and Metro rocks too , makes a lot of difference to the commuting woes of the Bangalore public. For you , probably the Commercial Street/ Brigade Road has been made easier , less hassle of car parking etc. When Jayanagar gets connected to the network , you can choose between 4th Block and Commercial street for your salwar shopping.
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