{"id":1183,"date":"2015-10-02T14:15:57","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T08:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/?p=1183"},"modified":"2015-10-02T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T12:30:00","slug":"the-great-bangalore-sludgefest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/2015\/10\/02\/the-great-bangalore-sludgefest\/","title":{"rendered":"The great Bangalore Sludgefest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bangalore traffic scenario is pretty good on holidays. Today, being a national holiday<\/a>, I expected the roads to remain jam free and convenient for cycling.<\/p>\n

I had chalked out a rough route for the trip yesterday. The idea was to cycle through some bits of greenery. Mahadevpura constituency has methodically got rid of any stretch of greenery. Last week I had cycled to Hoskote junction in search for the same, yet greenery eluded me.<\/p>\n

Today morning, right when I woke up, I found the sky to be gloomy. There was a constant drizzle. It must had been so for hours – that\u2019s what the wet landscape viewable through my bedroom window suggested.<\/p>\n

At around 9 o\u2019clock, the drizzle had subsided. The sky was still gloomy. I decided to get out anyways.<\/p>\n

The target was to go past Sarjapura railway junction. I took the Outer Ring Road and then Sarjapura Main Road. The last time I was here, some three years ago, it was to shoot a video for our band. Back then, the area was barren. Three years later, the area was\u00a0unrecognisable.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This is Ugyal during the video shoot three years ago. The railway track he is standing on\u00a0is close to the Sarjapur railway junction. I am sure that the barren background is no more barren. P.S. We did not use any footage from this Sarjapur session.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

The first signs of greenery were on State Highway 35<\/a> – one that connects Sarjapur Main Road and Varthur village. In fact, this was the best stretch of road that I have traversed in the entire course.<\/p>\n

I paused for a break and took a few snaps. I realised the amount of sludge I had traversed through. (I had not strayed away from the main road, not even non-metalled sidewalks and service lanes) My road bike could have easily camouflaged itself with its cyclocross brethren.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A farmer’s shade. This area is home to quite a few International schools.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"That's<\/a>

That’s not a cyclocross bike and no, I did not participate in a cyclocross event.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Bangalore<\/a>

Bangalore real estate is visible near the north-west horizon.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Towards<\/a>

Towards my right (south-east), the foliage of a forest flanks the landscape.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The best stretch of road I had encountered in the entire route.<\/p><\/div>\n

The greenery did not last long. I could soon feel that I was approaching Varthur village. The sludge had reappeared.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The sludge re-appears near Varthur village.<\/p><\/div>\n

Later, somewhere on the Whitefield Road, I saw a few school kids cleaning a different kind of sludge. This reminded me that it was the 1st Anniversary of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"School<\/a>

School children participating in Swachh Bharath Abhiyan.<\/p><\/div>\n

En route, a Volvo driver crossed me. While passing by, he pointed at me and gave me a look that was a cross between ridicule and pity. I knew that he was reacting to the sludge on my back. I smiled at him and shook my head.<\/p>\n

\"Route<\/a>

Route on Google Maps<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bangalore traffic scenario is pretty good on holidays. Today, being a national holiday, I expected the roads to remain jam free and convenient for cycling. I had chalked out a rough route for the trip yesterday. The idea was to cycle through some bits of greenery. Mahadevpura constituency has methodically got rid of any stretch … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,12],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-sauvik","4":"post-1183","6":"format-standard","7":"category-biking-cycling","8":"post_tag-bangalore","9":"post_tag-cycling"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1183"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1205,"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions\/1205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sauvikbiswas.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}