An ode to Bengaluru’s Traffic
Whenever you get someone to Bengaluru for the first time, one of the questions that comes up is “But, how do y’all cope with the traffic?”
I think every Bangalorean will have their own version to this answer. Some say music, others say web shows and while some heroes say it doesn’t affect them all. But it is quite a spectacle to see how our city bears against the traffic day in day out. It’s become a part of our ecosystem. We measure distance with time now.
Sample convo:
Person 1: How far from Majestic to HSR Layout bro?
Person 2: 45 mins to 1 hour bro
Person 1: But how many kilometres?
Person 2: Don’t know bro. Just leave 1 and a half hour before just to be on the safe side.
In a lot of ways, we’ve abandoned the whole idea of kilometres itself. I remember during the lockdown trying to map out a 5k near my house, and I was surprised to find how close some landmarks were to my house.
In this ever changing city, traffic is the only constant. I think it was Rahul Subramanian who said in a stand up routine, Bengaluru traffic is like a mass breakup ; no one is moving on.
(Watch his routine on Bengaluru if you haven’t yet)
Until I was about 18 years old, I never went around the city as much. When I was 12 my parents shifted from a very happening place in Bengaluru (HSR Layout) to Rajarajeshwari Nagar, a quaint little suburban area on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Like many who move to a more open green area, I found no reason to get out. I’d hear horror stories from my dad about his commute to KR Puram which took him an hour and a half everyday. Besides my school was in the same vicinity as RR Nagar and so were my friends and I never had any reason to go to the other parts of the city as much.
Until I was in 9th and my parents decided to enroll me into an institute that promised to put me on a fast track to a career in science. I took arts the next year for 11th and I still think that was the day I broke a major dream for the parents. This coaching institute was located in a beautiful place called Basvangudi and I’d take two buses everyday. That’s when I came into contact with our traffic.
Suddenly I was running for buses, crossing roads in a hurry, standing and waiting long hours for buses to come while simultaneously trying to deal with science. It was a battle I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemies. Okay maybe one worst enemy, the girl who plagiarised my art from 1st grade.
The uncertainty that came with traffic was crazy. I’d leave home on time, and on some days I would be 15–20 mins late and on some I’d reach way too early. I could never find a balance and that bugged me.
This hate for Bengaluru traffic continued all the way from 9th to my 1st or second year of college. I’d shifted to Pune for college, and the traffic there was absolutely easy to pass. Suddenly I found myself making comparisons to both cities and hated the commute in Bengaluru every time I came back. The metro was a welcome blessing however, and a lot of people will vouch for the stress it has taken out of commuting.
Even when I started to work here, I would hate the commute every day. It didn’t help that I lived away from everything. I would look at this as just part of the job and move on. Recently I made the transition to a remote job and found myself without a commute on most days.
When my current role had days when I had to travel, I assumed I’d hate the commute once again. Turns out that changed all of a sudden when I turned the whole experience a little bit.
Out of Covid season and the last two years, we’ve been increasingly addicted to our phones. Check out people in the same traffic signal you’re in, and you’ll see people pulling out their phones for a quick look not able to take 60 seconds of stillness. I am one of those people too. Until one day my phone battery ran out and I had no option to wait it out.
Instead I started to talk to people on my commute on public transport. On a week filled with hectic travel, I asked a lot of people, how they coped with traffic. I got a lot of interesting answers
One auto driver said that he used this time to talk to his wife. He said he had three kids at home and whenever he was at home, the kids would take up his time and any conversation with his wife would be about the kids itself. He used this time to talk to her about other things and this became their ritual. He would call her when he was stuck in a bad jam, and he told me hearing her voice on the other hand made the experience not so brutal.
Another person told me the endless traffic was the only break he got during the day to clear his head. He said that during office hours or when we was at home he always found himself doing one task or the other and this was his space to just exist without any of those burdening him.
Some people complained saying that this time would frustrate them the most. They said that the commute made them think in a very existential manner. Something about being stuck in a endless jam brought to them thoughts that were quite dark.
Bengaluru’s traffic isn’t romantic. It’s truly a dark splotch on the city that breathes so much comfort. How your commute went, is very detrimental to your mood for the rest of the day and that is not an exaggeration. It is also a place where rage spews all over. Imagine this, you’re frustrated about being late for your meeting and someone cuts you off? That rage you’d feel would encompass everything.
But as someone who’s a bit of a seasoned Bengaluru traffic person, here’s few tips from me and the wise people I met on my commutes.
1) Don’t be the problem: I can tell this to everyone who drives their vehicle in traffic, don’t make that reckless turn. As much as it’ll save you 5 mins, the chain reaction you set is immense. The simple cut you make could halt 20+ vehicles in one go. Follow the rules!
2) Buffer time: In any other city in the world, Google Maps is your best guide. Not in Bengaluru. Google Maps will not be able to determine your exact ETA, because it is also confused with the time in Bengaluru traffic. If Google Maps says an hour to somewhere, add 30 mins extra of the distance is more then 10 km. If you miss and reach early, don’t worry. Find a nearby Darshini and get some coffee. If you reach on time, find that darshini anyway and get some filter coffee. Trust me, it’s worth it. ;)
3) Make the commute useful: If you’re taking an auto or a bus, use the time to catch-up on something you’ve always wanted to. Reels and memes can wait. The podcast you’ve always wanted to listen to, that call you could never make time for. Make those calls!
4) Talk to someone on the commute: When stuck in a jam with nothing to do, conversations do flow! Keep your ear out and you’ll need some fascinating stories and gossip from the people travelling next to you.
We might have the worst traffic in India. But I truly believe we’ve got the nicest people too. Maybe it’s the mix of cultures, but you can strike up fascinating conversations in multiple languages.
If you’re stuck in traffic, my heart goes out to you. And I hope you get to where you need to in time. If not, I hope you look around and talk because there’s no place like Namma Bengaluru :).
