BANGALORE - it needs the CHANGE

My first imagery of Bangalore city was at Kasturba road along Cubbon park way back in 1997 when I came here for the first time. A nice wide road with huge tree canopy alongside and calm weather on a sunny summer noon. It was a feeling of acceptance, acceptence between me and the city. It absorbed me instantly. And it absorbed me so deeply that by now I've spent more than half of my life here and it is my home now. Recently on a social media post I saw a caption which made me think very deeply - 'people come to this city and never go back'. It is quite 'painful' for the people who are part of this city for long enough time now and 'aspiring' for the people who are going to come here in future. 

Let me elaborate.

In another post, I had mentioned that city is a place of opportunities ( http://rm-raindrop.blogspot.com/2016/07/does-city-shape-us-or-we-shape-city.html ) and thus people get absorbed in the city. When this happens at a larger scale, the physicality of the city starts changing. Have a look at the diagram below which shows the increase of built form in Bangalore city time to time. Towards the end of previous century, nobody even thought of population density in the city as it was hardly anything. Even till 2004 - 2005, the density of Bangalore city was unnoticeable. But there was an alarming rise in that then on and the whole scenario changed rapidly between 2005 and 2010. Post 2010 till now the growth of the city has become unbearable. It is felt at every moment when one walks on the street or drive or ride a bicycle or even open the window of their bedroom. 

Now why did it happen !

Actually it happened very silently and almost invisibly. Once a quiet high altitude city, slowly started getting flooded with lot of immigrants which were not envisaged and hence no planning was done to accommodate the situation in time. As a result the city's central portion remained the same physically and started getting packed with settlements. That not only slowly poisoned Bangalore's claim to fame pleasant weather but also changed the whole character of the city. Those old big houses, an interface with the outer world through a slice of veranda, a sense of neighborhood with lots of trees, a leisurely walk on the footpath, a pristine calmness, very less traffic on the streets which made the streets feel very spacious - all started vanishing one by one. Even though few attempts were made to create satellite towns little far away from the city centre and designating few industrial zones etc. but those did not fetch any good result as the whole assumption of future growth was not anticipated and there was no clear vision about planning. Slowly people moved into the city for various reasons and opted to get a shelter as close as possible to their work place. At that time the demand of real estate was soaring up but pathetically no planning authority could implement a proportionate infrastructure. Till a certain time the deficiencies did not show up and started becoming bad when the proportion of occupant versus accommodation blew off. The accommodation is not only the shelter but the adequacy of the roads, public transport system, power supply, water supply, food supply etc. Few fly-overs, bridges, under passes etc. came into being over time but by the time those could start functioning, it would had become inadequate or out dated due to numerous unpredicted growth of population. In the game of football, there is a famous phrase - 'increase the field'. What is that? When many players of both the teams go behind the ball to posses, suddenly the field shrinks to that particular location leaving the vast portion unused. Then the game makers always resort to passing the ball around the field in such a way that all the corners are utilised well to create movements towards the goal posts. When Bangalore saw that sudden influx of population who all got busy to grab a place around the job opportunity, totally forgot to 'increase the field'.  

Since 1990, Bangalore has seen a steep increase in population and in 2016 the count of people must be around 1,30,00,000. 

Bangalore has a very high number of vehicles running on the roads and that number would be around 60,00,000 now including two wheelers, four wheelers, buses, trucks etc. and unfortunately excluding bicycles which is a minuscule. Earlier there were no local train system and now the work is going on in certain areas but it will be quite inadequate with the present plan.

Let us look at the Bangalore map above. It does not have any kind of geographical barrier to grow in almost every direction unlike Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai which are hugely restricted by it's geographical positioning. That clearly indicates that the city has potential to grow physically. City needs to have physical tensions at various directions to grow. The best way to create that would be to establish the satellites at a reasonable distance which can provide enough stretch to the existing physical demarcation. Let say we create 10 satellites like :

1. Tumkur
2. Dodaballapur
3. Devanahalli
4. Kolar
5. Chikka Tirupathy
6. Hosur
7. Anekal
8. Kanakapura
9. Ramanagaram
10. Magadi

All these 10 satellites are connected to the city centre as shown in the above diagram in blue colour lines. These connectivities would include predominantly railway system, reasonable motorways with proper hierarchical right of ways, proper bicycle highways, segmental footpaths. Each sector distance would be within the range of 25 kms to 80 kms. So on an average to travel a distance of 30 kms by train, it would take around 45 minutes which is absolutely comfortable. And the maximum distance of 80 kms can be covered in 2 hours time at the most by train. This kind of high speed mass transport system will ensure a safe, fast, productive and comfortable commute for everybody. This will be the lifeline of the city complemented by other mass transport systems such as bus, shuttle car etc. Bicycle and other electric vehicles will play a major role to reduce the use of private automobile vehicles. Combination of all these transportation and commuting facilities will restrore the good weather by reducing the level of pollution and will ensure a happy healthy walk on the footpath at any part of the city.  

Establishing satellites alone will not help as they are relatively far from the city centre. So we need to create intermediate nodes to get the desired hierarchical thresholds. We can think of a corresponding set of nodes like this :

1. Tumkur                  - Nelamangala               
2. Dodaballapur         - Rajanukunte
3. Devanahalli            - Yelahanka
4. Kolar                      - Hoskote 
5. Chikka Tirupathy    - Whitefield
6. Hosur                     - Electronic city
7. Anekal                    - Jigani
8. Kanakapura            - Harohalli
9. Ramanagaram        - Bidadi

10. Magadi                  - Thavarekere

Having satellites and intermediate nodes will help to decongest the city centre and we can restore the old charm of Bangalore. The existing cluttered developments can be relooked into with lot of urban design aspects and can transform lot of areas into actual public realm where art and culture can be energised and that would feed back into the social integration. A right synergy can be achieved by careful balance between public, semi public and private space allocation. We can learn a lot from India's only designed city of Chandigarh and not repeat the short falls of it.

It is highly important to save the green cover what Bangalore is left with and start planned forestation. Around the existing settlements, we can leave the green patches untouched and use that as a buffer between different land usage. 

The intermediate nodes can start developing as different hubs such as - logistics, industrial, educational, IT, alternate powers, water resources, art & culture, research & development, tourism, agriculture,health care, etc. 

Correspondingly all the satellites also need to be empowered to cater to the intermediate nodes and hubs. Here the very interesting thing will take place - this kind of layering of hierarchical spaces and social fabric will create a much needed threshold between villages, towns and the city. This will bring in adequate ordering in terms of the space utilisation, over all civic sense and discipline of every aspect.

Once this fabric is laid out then correspondingly the residential zones will start fitting in to places in and around the hubs. This will reduce the concentrated footfall at the city centre tremendously. Here comes the logic of 'increase the field' from the game of football. De-centralise the activities and create sufficient amenities at different nodes to cater to larger mass.

 All these intermediate nodes can be connected through an arterial railway track for faster commute between different hubs.

A city with so much of adequate facilities will certainly bring prosperity in terms of - better life, economic growth in every sector, ever growing, create cultural heritage, embrace sustainability, global recognition, attracts investors, plenty of job opportunities, liveability for all stratas, work - life balance, climatic balance, planned forestation. 

Planning for a better city is not an exclusive affair rather it should be an inclusive approach. Every citizen has a moral responsibility to think about their city and give back to it's development whichever way it is possible. 

Bangalore can grow forever and slowly start connecting with the neighboring cities in different directions. It might sound very ambitious at the moment but it can be achieved through a clear long term honest vision which will not over sight any aspect of growth for planning. It would require lot of fund to execute but again it is not impossible. Ultimately we are talking about a future city which will have the aura of old Bangalore and sustain on its own. 

It is my continuous quest to understand the complexity of city life and will be happy to enrich it in any way possible. 

We all live with a hope.

DOES CITY SHAPE US OR WE SHAPE THE CITY

City is a place of opportunities. 

Every City has two existence - one is physical and the other one is it's soul. The soul of the city touches every city dweller and the physical entity houses them all. Now the soul of the city is a kind of eternal aspect which lends its warmth to us and the physical entity is ever changing by us. So in the process the city and we are always in a tussle to co-exist. Constant attempt to improve city does not mean keeping the original aura of the city intact at the same time. 

As I said at the beginning that city is a place of opportunities and that is the reason why it attracts so many people time to time. People come from suburb or satellite towns or peripheral rural zone to the city to touch the soul of it. Now what is the soul of a city ? 

If we look at the history, most of the prominent cities across the globe have evolved through - either cultural or political or economical or religious reformation. And the very base of these reformations are the people who have stirred the basic ingredients of numerous progressive movements. So these people are extraordinarily visionary. They have emerged from the lot and they have constantly been challenging the existence of many aspects which affect the life of citizens. Because of these people there have been many other people who got influenced. We find these visionary people among politicians, religious leaders, poets, musicians, performers, scientists, social leaders, sports personalities, artists etc. The city provokes many movements through the extra ordinary leaderships of few and that creates a spectrum of opportunities for others through collaboration and participation. At that level, city shapes our lives and at the same time it is upto us how do we react to those situations to shape up the city in order to create even larger dream for future. Very often it is seen that this process blurr the fine line between conservation and momentary greed which results in to a disaster. And most of the modern cities are the glaring examples of this fact. 

Perhaps I'm one among a handful few in Bangalore city who bisects the city everyday and see it up close - but that is the physical part of the city which we are responsible for. I can see the change very clearly as I'm seeing it through for last two decades. And a lot have changed. I still remember, almost 15 years back, after lunch at office, few of us used to go out for a walk and we had to wear warm jackets even in the afternoons of June. Which is unthinkable now. So we are shaping this city towards a temporary gain but actually slow poisoning the city. But that does not mean city has stopped giving us back. It is still accommodating new dwellers who are coming with high aspirations and settling down for betterment. And the city is still a place of hope and opportunities. The soul of the city is still pumping high on energy but we are failing to protect it from dying physically. Due to lack of vision. There is a common thread of similar problem across the global cities. But the deterioration rate differs due to the level of sensitivity of the citizens from city to city. 

The city has such a phenomenal hierarchical structuring of everything which can lead us to a sustainable pattern. City has a birth and naturally it would die also. But the soul of the city which carries a reflection of civilisation can have more meaningful life through our understanding of it's physicality. 

BHOLA APPU & MOWGLY

BHOLA attended the last race and was very happy. 

He went and told APPU about BBCH and APPU also got excited about it and he also decided to join for the coming race. 

On the way BHOLA & APPU met MOWGLY. After learning about BBCH, MOWGLY also decided to join. 

All the three of them are on the way to Hassan Road for the upcoming race. 

So what happens, when BHOLA, APPU & MOWGLY start going togeher towards the brand new BBCH race course on Hassan highway, they keep talking among themselves. 

And then MOWGLY says - " hey we are three now, don't you think it would be great to have many more folks joining us !"

BHOLA & APPU said - "yes brilliant idea ! Let's stop by and tell other friends also about this awesome BBCH race !"

As they thought, MOWGLY put up a base camp and started spreading the news about awesome BBCH races.

And there were lot of people who didn't know about awesome BBCH, started rushing towards the new race course. 

BHOLA, APPU & MOWGLY are so happy to see so many new friends preparing and going to BBCH upcoming race. 

So now be a little bit of 'Mowgly' and tell all your friends about BBCH and their awesome year long race calendar so that together we enjoy bicycling ! 

At BBCH !

www.bbch.in

BBCH ITT

I turned many eyeballs today. 

People asked me, why did you pay and register ! Yes as a part of the organising team, I could have dodged that with a backdoor entry to the race and have fun. But that was not the idea. I wanted to see how we are organising things at BBCH and is it worth what we are offering to our riders ! It is often observed that face value precedes over actual fact in many walks of life. So reality check is essential time to time. I just did that. And I'm glad that I did it. The whole perspective of racing is different for me. Frankly speaking, I'm not at all a racing material and on the outset, I don't even look like a cyclist with all those untoned muscles and not so desirable high BFP. But under all of those unwanted layers, there is a reasonably sized heart doing the duty. And who am I to ignore it ! So there I go. 

Now BBCH is quite sophisticated. How easily one books a movie ticket or groceries or clothes or electronics through any device online, can book a ticket for BBCH races also in a similar way. A new thing is introduced which can give you a tracking option of registered participants online and I guess that will help to get in lot more competitiveness among the riders. Infact many people saw my name in that list and asked very surprisingly whether am I actually racing or not ! O dear yes I will. For the organisers and volunteers, race is not only the riders riding on course, there are 100 things to take care to make the event successful. That requires lot of energy and time which snatches the precious time of cycling for them and to come to a terms with that it requires tremendous amount of mental strength to suppress frustration and make peace with it. So be it. If there is a will, there is a way. I've been out of riding for a long time now for certain reason but since it's an ITT and one can choose a speed to their level of comfort, I happily calculated in my mind that if I can maintain my Randonneuring speed and push little more, I'll surely be able to finish the race within the cut off time. My whole target was to come back to the finish line before the podium starts and nothing more than that. See setting simple target makes life so easy. So me and my colleague Promise Gangani decided to start one after the other and do a chatty ride all through. But I had a little idea about how he will hammer the course on the drop bar for the entire length. After the startline formalities it was time to go and then I realised that I forgot to adjust my handlebar to a more comfortable position. This is why I said that I'm not a race material. One can do this for an endurance ride but not for a race. But again when you are in an organised event, things actually get taken care off. I was wearing a participant's hat ( read helmet ) now leaving behind organiser's socks. Good folks of BOTS had set up a last minute bike maintenance desk and they fixed my issue in no time and made me ready to leave from start line. Khuram and Marghoob flagged off and I was on the road to cover 33 kms in a fastest possible time. Training, understanding, skillset, planning, experience - these are the key things for a race and I had none of them with me. But how does it matter when you are not competing with anyone, not even with yourself. Take it easy was the mantra and I should not get any cramp on the way as I have to come back all on my own. Moderate traffic, lesser noise, lazy landscape around and riders passing by one by one endlessly. I'm out of riding my road bike almost for a year and half now and this was more like getting used to with it again and follow the sound of my legs. And that is what I did throughout. I didn't overtake a single rider who were ahead of me but the vice versa was the norm. At the start line I was chatting with Rushit Davda and he was jovially telling that he will be starting sometime in the middle of the pack and will be able to see the entire lineup when the faster guys will cross from the back. When it was happening with me, I remembered that and it was quite enjoyable as I could see every rider of our event and how good they are. Today BBCH saw a participation of 122 riders where as there were 134 registrations and this number is quite incredible at a domestic level. And I'm not quite aware off whether there is any bigger participation in an ITT anywhere in India apart from this. BBCH has come a long way. Where the seasoned masters riders consider BBCH as a favourite playfield, we as organisers think that it is a great breeding ground for the young riders who are the potential champions of tomorrow. Today that thought was reinforced where half of the participants were in amateur category. Time will say whether BBCH has contributed enough towards the advancement of the sports of cycling or not but the effort is straight from the honest hearts. 

After the U-turn the headwind became prominent and slowed down quite a bit. This was the stretch to have an eye on the opposite side of the track to watch out the pro guys coming over and in no time lapping me from behind and vanishing in the horizon. It was so cool to see the glamour around with all the lycra cladded folks on their super kits dazzling the tarmac with utmost grace and strength. It made me proud to think that what culture we are nourishing at BBCH. This race was supported by CrankMeister team and they have done a  very nice job on the course by marking it nicely keeping in mind how a rider will approach and read the signs on the road. One such marking which said '3 kms to go', kicked right at the centre of my head and I was delighted to think that I'm almost home. Lets hammer now. Started pushing it hard and a mild sign of right calf muscle cramp showed up and managed somehow to continue further. Last mile was probably the fastest for me at around 30 kmph or so which ended up little avove 22 kmph as an average.

I could see the finish line from the other side on top of a saddle for the first time and that made me ecstatic. Couldn't hide my joy and the fist went up to the sky. I finished my race in exactly 90 minutes which was estimated and then it was the celebration time. What energy was lost, gained double of that from candid chats with hundred of folks and touching lives warmly. First time BBCH had put up a big tent at the podium to get some shade  from the scorching sun and it made a great difference. It brought everybody under one roof literally. It was indeed festive. BBCH had got nice and healthy breakfast in a slick package which was also great after a hard ride. Podium was good with lot of prizes not only for the winners but for every participants. It was almost a lakh of rupees worth all put together. For a domestic racing platform it is not small by any measure. These are not from a perspective of an organiser but from an eye of a participant. I heard someone saying that BBCH is well organised, super fun and total value for money. That summarises quite a bit. 

Lets wrap up until the next as a participant as well as a volunteer. Whoever have shown encouragement towards my participation, I'm very grateful to them for their support, love and good wishes. 

How can I forget to tell that today Bhola accompanied me and enjoyed the ride too. 

LIFE IN A TRAIN

My school was little far from home. I used to take a local train everyday to commute. It used to be quite uncomfortable ride in the peak hours. But surprisingly it never felt as a deterrent to go on the next day. It went on day after day. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. At the back of my mind, it created an impression which I never questioned. Or rathar never realised it. What is that ? It is difficult to answer. It is something like if someone asks you to define life. It is difficult. Isn't it. Yes ofcourse it is. 

In the tropical climate, you sweat in summer. You shiver in the winter. You get wet in the rain. All these happen in the local train. All the feel of different seasons come directly on you in a local train. There is no question of sophistication. It is just bare minimum. There are windows to protect rain splashes but it leaks. There are fans but it still makes you sweat. The doors are wide open to allow the winter air come in and shiver you. But the local train is glorious. It is enigmatic. It is loud. It is chaotic. It is over crowded. But it is full of life. 

Very few Indian cities have this lifeline as a mass commuting system and those cities are blessed. Kolkata is one such place. Coming back to the topic. I never questioned myself, why I never disliked to travel by a local train ?

Today when I was travelling by a local train after a long time, suddenly opened up a vista in front of me.

 

One thrilling aspect is certainly this everchanging perspective through the small window.

 

 

This makes one connected with all the 'panchabhuta' - air, water, sun, earth & sky. 

The very structure of a local train is so invigorating. There is a central aisle which opens out on either side through doorways and branches out for seats. This arrangement creates a seemingly endless layered spaces which are animated by the passengers. 

Some passengers just contemplate. 

And the same person gets involved in something of his interest. 

Some enjoy a new found common interest. 

Some share a common vision. 

They travel and they leave at their destination. 

But the drama goes on. 

There are plenty of options for nutrition. 

Galore of colours. 

Hydration option is also equally good. 

Natural option is also available. 

Cafe on the wheel. 

Quick bites at every now and then. 

Options are available to buy some fabric too. 

Time just fly by in a local train compartment. There are passengers. There are hawkers. There are vendors. Lot of discussions. Lot of fun. Lot of sharing of ideas. Lot of business. There is cricket. There is football. There is local politics. There is global politics. There is Satyajit Ray. There is Rabindranath. There is Kareena Kapoor. There is Justin Bieber. There is rich. There is poor. There is querty. There is touchpad. There is silence. There is loudness. There is cooperation. There is discomfort. There is crowd. There is emptyness. There are everything. Under one shelter. All are moving. Above all - there is a synergy. There is life at different stages. Life touches each other. Life hear each other. Train compartment is like an extended living room for every passenger.

I guess that is the reason why I never denied to travel by a local train. It is indeed a lifeline. For one and all. 

Good that me and Bhola took the local train ride today.