It has been more than a few years since Bangalore Airport Road has been a mess..with the traffic crawling like tiny insects on a never-ending journey..and moving not just in the direction they want to go but also at right, acute and obtuse angles to that direction.
These days the new international airport has become the talk of the city with all the attention focussing on the missing this and the missing that, (un)approachability of the airport being one of the prominent concerns. People, especially the influential types, who commute in their chauffeur driven imported sedans with airbags, ABS and climate control(inside their sedans ofcourse)have been criticizing the government for deciding to shift the "easy to access(?)" HAL airport to the "outside the city" BIAL- they probably missed or conveniently ignored the common man's point of view: how freqeuntly does the common man or woman visit the airport after all? One would be happier to have a decongested city with quieter skies and "easy to access" hospitals/schools/malls (for some) - unless is planning to get a school or hospital constructed for his/her kid- a la Will Smith.
Life after the shift has seen vehicles happily cruising in front of the (now defunct) Kemp fort..the long waits seem to be long gone..instead I could, to my surprise, drive at record 60 kms/hr from the HAL junction to the Wind Tunnel road junction without even hitting the brakes or anything else even once - oh how I remembered the Bangalore of 6 years ago...no noise no honk..truly a city for the peace loving..If only we had seperate zones for commercial and residential buildings..with the swish Volvos connecting the important points - life would have been simpler for the middle class..who are always in the middle of traffic whether they go out in their small zip-drives or just walk with their kids on the "now here - now nowhere" footpaths. Who needs a mall in the neighbourhood - if one cant even get out of ones apartment gate because of the piled-up traffic?
Probably moving the airport to a distant site is a first step towards decongestion and also another step towards increasing the rail revenues for overnight journeys - a welcome change - atleast now you won't be waiting for 2 hours at the airport to board the aircraft and then 1 hr in the aircraft to takeoff followed by another 1/2 hour to land just to go to Chennai or Hyd. Its just their mental makeup that people have to change..and knowing the people of bangalore - they will surely 'adjust madi', more so as this adjustment is going to be for the better.
Whatever the new airport is finally named- as long I can peacefully drive with my family through the "old" airport road - I would appreciate the new airport , even though I have not yet visited it.
