Missed The Bus But Didn’t Miss The Train

I belong to a rare breed – I was born in Bangalore, I was brought up in Bangalore, I work in IT and I continue to live in Bengaluru.

I started working in 1997. My first office was in Victoria Road. Having walked 5 minutes to my middle school, and walked 10 minutes to my high school, and walked 15 minutes to my college, the 15 minutes two-wheeler ride to office was a very long commute. And I grew up with Bangalore then on. The 15 minutes two-wheeler ride to Victoria Road became a 30 / 40 minutes nightmare because a number of IT organizations set up shop in the Airport road corridor. Victoria Road and the roads nearby were converted into “One-Ways” and they restored some sanctity. But before they did that, I started working from a different office and I missed the bus!

Next stop – Madivala. Having gotten used to the 30/40 minutes commute to Victoria road, the 20 minutes commute to Madivala was a welcome change. But, they started working on the Silk Board fly-over. And the commute became not only lengthier it started becoming dangerous on a two-wheeler. Bought a car. I was growing up with Bangalore! Organizations were now encouraged to move their offices to IT Parks set up outside of the city and my next stop was Electronics City. So, they completed the Silk Board fly-over and the commute to Madivala was restored back to 20 minutes, but my office moved to Electronics City and again, I missed the bus!

Hosur Road and Electronics City. Lot has been written about this. I remember many of us in IT showed solidarity by picking up shovels and brooms to attract attention from the authorities on the state of affairs of that road. Even in that condition, the commute to office in an office bus was a decent 60 minutes to start with. And then they started building the Elevated Highway to Electronics City. The commute was killing…nothing less than 5 hours spent every single day grueling the construction of the Elevated Highway and all the IT companies’ busses vying for the same 25Ft X 7Ft rectangle on the road! I was growing up with Bangalore. Got married. My wife was very worried about our relationship with the mood swings that I exhibited depending on how easy or difficult was Hosur Road and BTM layout that evening!!!! They completed the Elevated Highway and the commute to Electronics City became a breeze. But I moved to Manyata TechPark before that and yes, I missed the bus!

Next stop – Manyata. Having worked from Electronics City, Manyata was somewhat “nearer”. It was the time when the new International Airport started operations. And the commute on Bellary Road became a nightmare. They created a “signal free” corridor and the Talent Acquisition person in this new organization I joined in Manyata sold me the ease of commute. Yes, I was proud of the decision I made to move from electronics City to Manyata. But..as I have told you, I was growing with Bangalore. They started working on the “Outer Ring Road” and reaching Manyata from Hebbal after the “Signal Free Corridor” took hours. And I am still talking about days when if you were not seen in office it was assumed that you are not working! They found ways and means to broaden the outer ring road but just to enter and exit the TechPark was like climbing the summit. All those 50 IT companies there pumping traffic at the same time. They started building a seamless access into the TechPark from the ring road to ease the entry and exit. But (as by now you Know) I had moved on and started working in Whitefield. So, I missed the bus.

Whitefield, named after a European gentleman who set up the Anglo Indian Association there was probably not even considered part of Bangalore. I knew Whitefield only because of the Sai baba Ashram. ITPL came up here. And then has become one of the busiest IT hub. While it’s a very different experience once we are inside Whitefield with broad roads and planned offices etc, getting into Whitefield has been a conquest for all of us from Bangalore! I tried beating the HAL shift patterns, I tried finding “unknown” roads via CV Raman Nagar to avoid Tin Factory, we “discovered” roads behind Graphite India ( only to realize all the Cab Drivers already found out those roads next day). We stuck deals to park our cars in Mantri Flora and Akme..we hopped onto the Vajra busses. And, they started working on Metro Train to Whitefield. It piled up the agony of the commute. We cursed. We cried. Pandemic came. Pandemic went. But we still made it to offices.

I love my city..I have seen her grow. I have seen her burst. I have heard the abuses meted out. But she just smiles. They say the depth of love is seen in the pains that we endure. My love for Bengaluru is really really deep! I landed last evening from another travel…the green fields just before landing, 28 degrees at 4PM, the nip in the air, the friendly people….oh heaven on earth!

Today is a very very special day. I had the same feeling that I had ages ago when I got ready to go to my school. I came to office in Metro! Finally….I didn’t miss the train!