Some more on Bangalore

One thing that is pretty scary is the rash driving. Bangalore’s road fatalities are the second highest in the country, next to Delhi (was in the papers on June 3, 2010) - about 860 deaths and 6100 injured annually.

Normally, you would think drivers will reduce their speed when they travel towards or through crowded places. Well, you won’t see that happen here. They still keep pressing the accelerators. This is one of the reasons I like Chennai. Drivers there were more careful.

There will be moments when some vehicle will approach you so fast, making you think ‘This is it, he is going to hit me’ and just as you anticipate it, he will stop the vehicle suddenly. They highly rely on the efficiency of the brake system, just one more of the reasons for automobile manufacturers make their products all the more perfect I guess.

And it is pretty scary to cross some roads, coz there is little organizing. There is this route I take in the mornings to go to office, where there is complete chaos. The road has been blocked owing to construction works for the Metro (underground Railway Network) and only two wheelers can pass through.

One can find vehicles coming out of nowhere from all directions and you can also find bicycles driven on platforms! I don’t know if pedestrians are meant to walk on their heads. It’s important to maintain a 360 degree watch.

When I told that there is too much rash driving in Bangalore to a person I had struck up an acquaintance with, he just said “If you say Bangalore’s is rash driving if you go further north, to Pune and all, you’ll die”. Hmmm, I wonder how that will be. Not the dying part, the driving part :)

Talking about people, they seem good hearted. And there seems to me more tolerance (as in, for all the right things) and understanding than there was in Chennai, because Chennai tends to be a little more conservative. And the attitude of the people here is nice.

Every one in the city seems to mind their own business, not one bad experience of ever being disturbed by others or unpleasant constant stares so far, which, I think won’t be the same case if I were in Chennai.

That doesn’t mean things are rosy all the time. I have seen people have nasty fights- once, between the conductor of a bus and a commuter. Another, between a customer and a stationery shop employee (or rather, boy- I pity him). The fights were intense and scary, and it sometimes escalated beyond verbal confrontation. But that’s only between the two of them. They don’t disturb others.

As an aside, that is not all about Bangalore; will post further as days go by. So, until my next post stay cool and stay safe.