Sunday, June 01, 2008

I piss on you, Bangalore International Airport !!!

Man -- what a dispiriting experience, on the way back.
It is sooo far from the city. I took the bus back, and the bus itself is nice and the idea is good and will succeed. But god ! the ride back is so terrible. Its so far and the highway is dotted with traffic lights. During peak hours this road becomes such a disaster. The airport is a significant distance away from the northern tip of the main city (Mekhri circle) and then after you enter the city, you'll have another excruitiating experience negotiating traffic inside. And if you live to the south end -- good luck. And if you're taking the bus, you'll have to do the home stretch by auto anyway -- deal with the a**hole auto drivers.

Lots of things are nice about the airport but this commute is just impossible. For any place that's reachable by an overight train or bus journey, just forget about flying there. I predict we'll see 10-20% reduction in air traffic from the current level just because of the inconvenience of the new airport. (Not a bad thing, actually).

I'm further aggravated by the lack of planning. On this highway which is now a key artery of the city, one would expect it to be lined by establishments that suit the nature. Instead you have Vidyashilp academy, a school ('international' presumably), a pharmaceutical plant and other manufacturing units, army establishments, tons of resort hotels, and similiar nonsense.
My guess is that this mess is because some asshole politicians (not worth asterisking out the abuse in this case) made the location decision in order to make their own killing on the real estate market.

I really do piss on you, new Bangalore International Airport.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Direct your anger instead toward the resource allocation system that makes the government, and in turn, politicians most powerful. Any system that does not diversify power, and trusts it blindly to one agency, is doomed to failure. Power corrupts like nothing else.

I agree the venom is well deserved, but misdirected. Ofcourse, I dont mind politicians getting some of it as collateral damage!! But removing power from politicians by encouragin private development is the answer.

Also, how come in your so called non-corporatized press, there were no articles targetting the misplanning of the airport before it was approved? What a massive failure of the press, then. Hows the Hindu newspaper looking now?


Arvind

Arvind


Arvind

Unknown said...

well, well... politicians all over seem to inspire the same asterisk-filled emotions!

how are you 2 doing, anyway!?!

sumana

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.