- Celebrations of the 6th International Jawa Yezdi Day on 13th July at Cubbon Park, Bangalore at 7am

The International Jawa CZ Yezdi Day is an annual celebration of those 250 cc Jawa & Yezdi bikes that were sold in India from 1960 to 1997. They are popular for their reliability and low maintenance costs. They were manufactured at the Ideal Jawa factory in Mysore.

To commemorate the 6th International Jawa-Yezdi Day, the Jawa – Yezdi Club of Bangalore is organizing a rally. The following is the route: Cubbon Park - MG Rd - Brigade Rd - Richmond Circle - Lalbagh - Corporation Circle - Mysore Rd - Chennapattana Coffee Day and back

Get-together at 7.00am
Flag Off at 8.00am (Sharp)

For more info, pls contact: Lokesh-9880033994; Sam-99451 44774; Brian-9886101005

The new Bangalore Airport has been written about & talked about a lot largely due to the fact that it is far off from the city. A not so positive point that but then the fact is The Bangalore Airport is up & running. Flights are taking off & landing, getting delayed & canceled. I was there a day after the inauguration and came back…well…read on…

First facts, yes the Bangalore International Airport is far from the city. This fact is so drilled into all of us by now that I suppose we are so mentally tuned to a long travel & starting off well in advance. Once the mental tuning is done the ride becomes that much more bearable. Largely the road from the Hebbal flyover is wide & good so a good car should be able to travel 80-100 km/hr. It took us about an hour to get to the Airport from Commercial Street that Saturday evening.

I really don’t know what a layman should expect from an Airport or from a new Airport for that matter. And especially for someone like me who doesn’t travel around by flights then it is once again of very little significance. But all the hype of the new Airport mostly for the wrong reasons got me curious & I wanted to be there & check it out functioning. Luckily, Brother was off to the US so we went there to see him off.

Only the passengers are allowed entry in to the terminal building while those who travel with the passengers to see them off basically have to hang outside the terminal building. Entry inside is allowed only in the Arrival section. That said the facilities for people who go all the way there to see off someone are not great at all.  The Terminal building is all glass & completely see-through type. So the only activity for most people who go there to see someone off is to follow the progress being made by their traveler in the check in queue. Apart from doing that we looked around for two things. One, some place where we could sit & two, for the toilet. Both were not to be seen. When we enquired with some uniformed facility management chaps their answer was, ‘there is no toilet outside’. That definitely had to be wrong. How could BIAL miss out on something as basic as that? Some more enquiries and we got the directions. We had to walk about 500 meters from the Terminal building for the toilet. And honestly there was nothing International about this toilet, at least in its maintenance. It is very Indian & very local.

I was keen to know how different can an ‘International Airport’ be from an ‘Airport’. I mean really what can be the difference? Well this is what I realized. There is no difference. An Airport is an Airport. And that’s pretty much it. For all those of us who hang out a lot at the malls in Bangalore, we are already used to the escalators, glow signs, uniformed facility management chaps, colorful chairs in the food zones, the organized parking & so on & so forth. The Bangalore International Airport is no different. But yes where the Bangalore International Airport can learn something from the Mall’s facility management chaps is in the maintenance of the toilets. One other area where they can take tips from a mall is in putting up some displays as to where the toilets are. I guess the kind of people who make malls & airports are the same. Because at both places you cant sit.

But yes where the feel of International comes in according to me is in the fact that you don’t see any autos & two wheelers around (I didn’t see any two wheelers at the air port that day but can’t confirm if they are not allowed there). Another area where you get a feel of International is in the size of the entire thing. It’s big & especially so when it’s compared to the previous HAL Airport. Despite these stand out features where it probably lacks in the International tag is Security. It does seem relaxed. Even the area next to the terminal building where some flights are parked can be clearly seen from the distance. The flights are only about a stone’s throw away.  One other area where some improvement would be great is in the food area. Is darshini type food or South Indian food per se not International? Why is it that we get more North Indian & the burger/sandwich type fare there than South Indian? Where is the promotion of local culture there

To sign off on a good note there is one good thing and that too with the most dreaded aspect about the airport, the connectivity. One can rest assured about the connectivity. BMTC has buses every half hour & round the clock. We took a BMTC Volvo well past mid night. This definitely is more cost effective & convenient but only to get into the city. From there you will have to rely on the auto or a taxi again. Other wise of course there are taxi services round the clock as well at the airport.

- “HAaL ya B(IA)haaL!!”

May 22nd 2008, yes that’s the date! Just a day before HAL is pushed to cease domestic travel. Despite formal position of the civil aviation ministry is that metros require two airports likes of Mumbai and Delhi….

In an interlocutory petition filed by social worker B Krishna Bhat, Bangalore City Connectivity Foundation (BCCF) and advocate G R Mohan, SC sought the details regarding the meeting’s held involving the Chief Secretary and other senior officials on April 19 and May 12, it is learnt that in these meeting they found it impossible to retain the HAL airport.

(more…)

Now that the May 23rd 2008 takes all commercial flights off HAL airport, after the great ‘fixing’ of the protests to keep it open HAL is finally set to rest, an article written by Mr. R K Mishra about this episode in todays times highlights the same…

The new airport is all set to put holes in the pockets of the travelers under UDF charges and roaring taxis that will clinch out few more hundreds, that’s the story now!! The infrastructure starving city is now getting hoaxed by this new ‘arrangement’ by and between few that would churn many closing the HAL airport…uhhhh!
(more…)

The vacation planning to Mumbai is overdue for my family, the reason my reservations to fly from BIAL. Looking at the time and cost estimate I am still confused whether to fly or catch the train. Here are few points to ponder..

Time Factor > The access to the HAL airport currently takes 15 minutes for me from Indira Nagar, this time will be history once the new BIAL opens post march and closes down all passenger flights out of HAL (as per the contract I understand) the new airport is almost 35-40 kms from my house that will eat up atleast two hours for travel. Essentially this means I can not take early morning flights that will not be of any advantage anymore. The air travel is usually taken to ’save’ time of travel and the BIAL is taking ‘passengers for a ride’ for sure on the ‘time’ factor.

Cost factor > for the present HAL airport it takes me just 50 rupees by auto or Rs.125 by a call taxi. To use the new airport I will have to shell out atleast Rs 600 for a call taxi minimum and completely forget using auto. Knowing the ‘nature’ of private taxi operators to take passenger for granted this cost would easily end up around Rs.800-1000. Reaching airport thus becomes costlier than the airline ticket (that I am used to pay Rs.500/600 if booking is done two months in advance )which I certainly will not ‘agree’ to pay just because someone singed a contract with BIAL without taking general public views / reactions into consideration. It is also learnt that BIAL has sent a proposal to the Union civil aviation ministry seeking to levy use a development fee of Rs 675 on outgoing domestic travelers, which makes me wonder why??

Essentially this ‘arrangement’ of a large airport would have a major impact on domestic travel for both family and business travelers. The business travel which ‘prefers’ the same-day-return travel to save on accommodation cost, this now looks a distant possibility! On the other hand this BIAL can get going good for international travel as it is more pre-planned and these time and cost factors may not have major bearing there…

I am yet to get the grip on this ‘new airport’ arrangement for domestic travel due to these aforesaid practical reasons. I feel BIAL has just lost one customer for sure before it even starts its operation, what say??

Irrespective of whether it is good or bad, makes sense or not, the one thing that is appreciative about this system is that it is an idea. Yes, finally the people who matter & need to work on the traffic conditions of the city are actually thinking & coming up with ideas. The administration may come up with numerous roads, ring roads, flyovers, underpasses etc but if the traffic on the road is going to keep increasing then all these improvements make little difference. Hence the idea of cutting out some traffic on the city roads as a rule makes sense. But can a ditto copy of the parking system (odd days parking on one side of the road & even days parking on the other side of the road) with respect to cutting out traffic work?
(more…)

Here are a few recommendations based on my interests & knowledge that according to me give the perfect Bangalore flavor. Give in yours, and add to this list. Anything & everything that you think someone from outside Bangalore or even a resident Bangalorean should see/visit/experience here. I am sure there is a lot more.
(more…)

Although a bit late, here are a few New Year resolutions for the city’s administration responsible for the development & maintenance of Bangalore’s roads.
(more…)

Now that it is evident that Volvo incorporation into BMTC is useful for the commuters and many have opted using it for regular commute giving away their own vehicles. I still feel that it is important for BMTC to cater to this V-class commuters more and introduce more buses on major roads / area’s and enable criss cross travelers to enjoy Volvo travel within city. Here are few more options worth think about….

1. There is a huge opportunity to use these buses more creatively and assess crowded areas connecting them back to residential areas like connecting Commercial Street to Bannerghatta road or Indira nagar.
2. Tying/Teaming up with corporate to give monthly passes and use them as point to point shuttles to Whitefield. Electronic city etc help take off the private buses employed by IT companies.
3. There is an opportunity to ply them on weekends from and to major malls in the city from different area’s like forum mall to Indira nagar then to KR Puram and HRBR layout. Or Garuda mall to Malleshwaram etc
4. Add point to point buses from religious important places like Iscon temple to Koramangala, Bull temple to Indira Nagar etc.
5. Simply map these buses for every normal BMTC route and add them in say ratio of 1:8, one Volvo for every eight normal buses. These can run only on peak times ( 7-10 am and 5-8 pm) to start with and gradually increase the ratio and timings…

The demand to elite travel within the city has been rediscovered by these buses and eventually it has started growing with expectations, in future these Volvo’s have potential to become the backbone of v-class travel and have ability to provide flexible options which can not be provided even by metro rail. As we continue to add more roads we should get far more creative adding more options for travel for those who opt for private transport …this certainly will have more space being created on roads for public transport and reduce no of private vehicles on city roads! What say??

Living in the city, most of us feel the need to go out into the wide open and explore the beautiful countryside. Breathe some fresh air and maybe get a glimpse of life on the other side of the fence.

Well, here’s an attempt to connect folks like us to rural India and hopefully they can provide a platform to those who want to venture into unexplored parts outside of Bangalore city.

Called Rural Zing, their aim is to be “an Initiative to connect urban and rural economy”.

The day long trips are organised on Saturdays and Sundays and for details you can log on to:
Web: Rural Zing
Mobile: 9886201103
Email - reservation@ruralzing.com

The road less travelled