27 January 2014, 05:53 PM IST
It has been over a week, and I still can't quite believe I actually walked from Jayanagar to MG Road in Bangalore. For those not familiar with these areas, they're about 7km apart and usually, I'd take some other means of getting across. Definitely, not walk.
But last Sunday evening, I walked. But don't ever walk with me, simply because I'm no fun to walk with. I'm too busy keeping an eye on the pathetic pavements, choc-a-block traffic and choking pollution. If I'm busy walking with eyes and ears on high alert just to ensure I don't get run over by speeding vehicles or fall through gaps in the slabs. I won't be able to indulge in conversation of any sort.
There's no romance anymore in walking through the city.
And don't even think of looking up -- you may see interesting things and some familiar things differently, but the price you pay could be slipping on garbage or twisting your ankle after stepping on uneven pavements. A website recently invited its readers to look up in their cities and photograph what they saw. Quite understandably, not many Bangaloreans had contributed any pics when I last checked.
Here's where non-Bangaloreans can skip right to the last paragraph, if they so wish because they may not quite get the references to local sights and sounds.
So, last Sunday evening, when the Sun had slid down over the horizon and a winter chill gradually enveloped the city, I started from the Jayanagar Shopping Complex and gingerly headed out towards Ashoka Pillar. There was a quick pit-stop to stock up on peanuts which were at once tangy and reinvigorating.
I took the road parallel to the T Mariappa Road as the traffic was thin and naturally, I could breathe a little easier. I hadn't walked long distances for a while, and wondered when I'd have to call off this attempt of due diligence of bad pavements. A seller of roasted peanuts, at five rupees a twist, brought back memories of other long walks and that revived my spirits.
So I walked around the Lalbagh wall, where the pavement is a bit of an obstacle course with fallen tree guards and uprooted stone slabs. The cars whizzed past, and autorickshaw drivers slowed down hopefully but when they saw my grim determination not to hail them, sped away in some anger.
As I crossed the Hosur Road and headed down a leafy cross road along a pleasant park, my enthusiasm for this exercise was swiftly waning and it took all my will power to stay on course. That's when I realized I'd made the cardinal mistake of long walks -- I didn't have a bottle of water. I ducked into a basement general store in Wilson Garden, treated myself to a generous swig of cool water and resumed my journey.
The next big point on the walk was the KH Road, better known as the Double Road, and the lean traffic was a welcome change from the roaring rush every day. Under the flyover, and past the spanking new Ritz Carlton opposite the old Bangalore Club. I was in the Old Cantonment area and with waning energy, I'd half a mind to abandon it all and head home. When I realised I was less than a kilometre from MG Road. That got my spirits up and the prospects of a cool, refreshing drink at Koshy's kept me going. The St Mark's Road stretch is a pleasure to negotiate. The old British influence lingers and the last mile was over before I knew it was done.
So, what's the take-away from the long walk? Aching legs, confirmation that the pavements are indeed bad, but there's nothing like walking to know a city. Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote about it more eloquently but more about that some other time.
Nevertheless, I may walk some more in other areas. You should try it too.
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