The Streets of Bangalore

I did not get a chance to see any of Bangalore’s tourist sights this trip (I vaguely remember having seen them back in 1980, when I went on Woodstock’s Winter Tour all over India). But I did get out and about a bit, sadly on my own since I didn’t have any travelling companions this time. What I mostly observed was traffic and street life. Which, as usual, had its own interests…

Bangalore bus

I saw a number of these elaborately airbrush-painted buses, which I guess to be privately-owned lines running fixed routes to the suburbs. “Air Bus” means air-conditioned.

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The scenes painted on some invoked coolness, including one (that I did not manage to photograph) incongruously featuring penguins.

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^ I assume this bus is reserved for women passengers only.

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^ This is a trend I did not see in Delhi: elaborate advertising on auto rickshaws.

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^ A family of three on one moped, all sans helmets.

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^ These construction workers did have helmets, which wouldn’t help much if they got mowed down by a bus when crossing a busy intersection against the light.

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^ Many women in Bangalore wear jasmine in their hair, a charming custom. Many of them ride motorcycles without helmets, perhaps for fear of having helmet-jasmine.

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^ “Precaution is better than treatment”, indeed.

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^Trying to direct all the mayhem: traffic police in jaunty white hats.

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^ Ignoring it all: street dogs who’ve found an uncommonly soft spot for themselves.

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