If you were to ask, What is the biggest problem plaguing Bangaloreans today? The unanimous answer given by 99% Bangaloreans and those souls who have passed through Bangalore in the recent years would be TRAFFIC.

Bangalore’s growth was sudden. The beautifully air-conditioned Garden City had changed drastically in the last ten years with the advent(gold rush) of IT. A trainload (many trainloads) of people pour into Bangalore every week seeking job and money. They either bring with them or acquire later their own four- or two- wheelers. The avenues of Bangalore were unable to bear the weight of these vehicles and became a constant source of grouse, so the logical solution was to bring down the trees that flanked them, to widen the roads. To borrow a phrase I heard in a movie recently, Bangalore’s “vanishing landscape owing to the encroachment of man” is threatening to change the beautiful climate as well… which would become the second problem worrying Bangaloreans.

We need the wider roads. We need the metro.

How would one break out of the vicious circle, and balance the traffic and the environment? I haven’t the foggiest – do suggest if you have any.