Peace of Mind Over Practical Solutions : B'lore Travel
Okay, so for the regular readers wondering where is this week's post for the 'Sane Bike Loony Rider', there isn't one because I didn't go for a ride this past Sunday. I did go for a short ride with the group, all familiar faces now, on Saturday but it was just another pleasant ride with nothing special to write about. I did however discover an awesome place to eat weekend breakfast, a place called Cafe Max, on the roof of the Max Mueller Bhawan in Bangalore. If you have the time, definitely go there. The variety isn't much, but the food is really good, and the ambiance is amazing. For more concise foodie reviews, you can follow me on Zomato, @rexavore.
Right, now thats outta the way, onto what THIS post is really about. The regular readers would know my constant favorite for rants is the difficulties in travelling across town, when I was in Delhi NCR. And now that I've moved to Bangalore, let me assure you the situation here is a lot worse. The road infrastructure is so badly designed its like the work of an evil genius who will conquer the world by making everybody stay stuck in traffic jams.
Now, after years of travelling by the metro in Delhi, suffering its shortcomings, I finally got my hands on a set of wheels at the start of 2015. At least then, I could choose my medium of misery, be it in the comfort of my car stuck on the road, or reach on time but feel beaten and with every sense of personal space violated. Here, I'm back to square one, almost. This city has made me rely on services like and mostly of UBER. Which makes sense, because its not too costly, I reach well rested, and no worries of parking. That is, if it works perfectly. But like everything else, it rarely does. The drivers I get are rarely matching my high expectations of quality service. They usually lack any sense of direction or knowledge of the local roads. They are taught to rely on Google Maps to navigate through the city, but even that app is not 100% reliable in the cities of India. It will show the pinpoint location very well, but not really the ideal way to get there. You still need to use some common sense and intelligence to find the right route for you to your destination. But if they had even that little bit of brain, they probably wouldn't be drivers. So they follow the GPS blindly, taking unnecessarily longer routes and often bad routes, which really pisses me off.
For me, the way back home is more simplified. There are these bus routes that ply at frequent intervals and drop me off close enough to my checkpoints, and these buses are rarely overcrowded. So, the problem of going back home at an early enough hour is solved. But I'm sure if I were to leave at rush hour, this would be a bigger pain. Sure, the bus is stuck in the same traffic as everyone else and not predictable for travel times but that's why they're good for the trip home from office.
And there's no point really buying a car in this city. First, not a single stretch of road that I will be on, which has room for me to really DRIVE it. Second, traffic jams always, and of course, parking issues. Now, for all the obvious reasons why it is an even worse idea with no real benefit, I am getting more and more focused on getting myself a bike as soon as I can afford to. Because the one thing I enjoy enough that overcomes all the negatives, is to be in control of the vehicle by which I am travelling. I don't have to keep telling the driver where to turn or which route to take or where to pick me up from even though it shows quite clearly on the map. I don't have to worry about some drunk bum getting on the bus I'm in who might vomit all over my shoes. Or that I have to commit to whatever means of transport I've taken till I've reached my destination, no matter what my mood is like. So, yea, for all the risks and problems of travelling by bike, I'd rather use that whenever I can(except rain), than continue to rely on incompetent fools or mingle with the general public on crowded buses.
Hope you liked the post, feel free to share and comment. Thanks for reading.
Right, now thats outta the way, onto what THIS post is really about. The regular readers would know my constant favorite for rants is the difficulties in travelling across town, when I was in Delhi NCR. And now that I've moved to Bangalore, let me assure you the situation here is a lot worse. The road infrastructure is so badly designed its like the work of an evil genius who will conquer the world by making everybody stay stuck in traffic jams.
Now, after years of travelling by the metro in Delhi, suffering its shortcomings, I finally got my hands on a set of wheels at the start of 2015. At least then, I could choose my medium of misery, be it in the comfort of my car stuck on the road, or reach on time but feel beaten and with every sense of personal space violated. Here, I'm back to square one, almost. This city has made me rely on services like and mostly of UBER. Which makes sense, because its not too costly, I reach well rested, and no worries of parking. That is, if it works perfectly. But like everything else, it rarely does. The drivers I get are rarely matching my high expectations of quality service. They usually lack any sense of direction or knowledge of the local roads. They are taught to rely on Google Maps to navigate through the city, but even that app is not 100% reliable in the cities of India. It will show the pinpoint location very well, but not really the ideal way to get there. You still need to use some common sense and intelligence to find the right route for you to your destination. But if they had even that little bit of brain, they probably wouldn't be drivers. So they follow the GPS blindly, taking unnecessarily longer routes and often bad routes, which really pisses me off.
For me, the way back home is more simplified. There are these bus routes that ply at frequent intervals and drop me off close enough to my checkpoints, and these buses are rarely overcrowded. So, the problem of going back home at an early enough hour is solved. But I'm sure if I were to leave at rush hour, this would be a bigger pain. Sure, the bus is stuck in the same traffic as everyone else and not predictable for travel times but that's why they're good for the trip home from office.
And there's no point really buying a car in this city. First, not a single stretch of road that I will be on, which has room for me to really DRIVE it. Second, traffic jams always, and of course, parking issues. Now, for all the obvious reasons why it is an even worse idea with no real benefit, I am getting more and more focused on getting myself a bike as soon as I can afford to. Because the one thing I enjoy enough that overcomes all the negatives, is to be in control of the vehicle by which I am travelling. I don't have to keep telling the driver where to turn or which route to take or where to pick me up from even though it shows quite clearly on the map. I don't have to worry about some drunk bum getting on the bus I'm in who might vomit all over my shoes. Or that I have to commit to whatever means of transport I've taken till I've reached my destination, no matter what my mood is like. So, yea, for all the risks and problems of travelling by bike, I'd rather use that whenever I can(except rain), than continue to rely on incompetent fools or mingle with the general public on crowded buses.
Hope you liked the post, feel free to share and comment. Thanks for reading.
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