Our First City Walk - Hebbal (Manyata Tech Park) To Basavanagudi

One evening, we were on our way back to the office after our tea at the nearby tea stall discussing various topics and “walking” was one of them… Raghu suggested, “how about walking back from office to home someday?”. Shashi said “yes, why not ?” , Harsha nodded slowly but positively and I am always game for such escapades…. So there it was…. 24^th Dec was the decided as THE day.

There was slight change in the plan…. Since we live not so close to each other (particularly so between Raghu, Harsha and myself), we decided to walk from Hebbal to Basavanagudi and from there disperse on some means of transport other than our own two lovely feet.

24^th Dec – Harsha and I took the cab to office in the morning. Shashi drove his car from home and picked Raghu up on the way and parked the car at Basavanagudi and got into the office cab.

Shashi and I did not carry the lunch box from home, since that would add to the luggage during the walk. Raghu and Harsha did not feel like having the lunch at cafeteria, so we all asked why not a warm up lap to the dhaaba near by for lunch…. and that’s what we did… once back at office, quickly completed all the work and then played a game of table tennis to warm us up further (yeah, whatever !!!). Back to our desks, pack up and popped a few dry fruits in (harsha had got a few to provide us enough energy to complete the walkJ) and we were ready!!!!

At 5:20 PM, We walked out of the Manyata Tech Park, crossed the ring road and started our walk on the service road. With the Sun deciding to set, it was pleasant December evening, clicked a few snaps. Our route was not the usual route taken by the cabs or buses. We had meticulously planned and identified streets, which took us into the different areas of Bangalore, that we otherwise would not get a chance to check out.

We turned left on the ring road much before the Hebbal fly over. This road led us into Kawal byrasandra (I had heard of this and read the name on the BMTC buses, saw it today). Walked further for close to an hour and by then we were well inside R. T. Nagar. We then came across a juice center named Harshu… there you go !!! Harsha was all excited and demanded that we have juice there since the juice center sounded so much like him… We said ok and decided to have our first break, clicked a few snaps.

Started the walk again and entered the ever so narrow and traffic jammed streets of Sultanpalya and J. C. Nagar. There was so much traffic on the street and on the footpath as well that there was no space to walk. We thought of climbing the back door of the stationary buses on the street and come out from the front door as that seemed to be the only way to move forward. Then suddenly found a very narrow space on the footpath between a motorbike, a cycle, a man and a shop (phew!! some space that) we hurriedly squeezed ourselves in the space and yeah, we were out of the jam situation and into some welcoming open footpath. Walked some more and then reached palace ground. Took the Jaymahal road… it was so wide and empty as this side of the divider was closed to traffic due to some construction. The breeze on that road was amazing cooling us down… enjoyed the walk on that road, clicked some snaps.

Reached the Cantonment railway station junction, took the Millers road and kept our long walk going. Saw the HDFC bank ATM and decided to take some cash out. Reached the ATM, I went in and entered incorrect PIN 2 times and then came back with the card (damn those 4 digits!!), Shashi went in and took some cash out. Everybody agreed that it’s been a while since we stopped anywhere and we deserved a breather. Sat down there by the neatly gardened area at the ATM for five minutes, clicked some snaps.

Continued our walk went past the Chalukya hotel, and the magnificent Vidhan Souda… stood there for a couple of minutes and admired the buildings and the wide roads, did not click any snap. Reached Nrupatunga road, it been another long walk without too much of a break, it was already close to 8 PM now and we thought of grabbing a grub as well. Went past YMCA and turned towards the Restaurant Trupti, only to see the shutters being pulled… Sorry!! no tea, no food. Had Maaza and peanut chikki from a shop nearby, sat down for a few more minutes. Shashi bought the annual special edition of “The Week”, read the forecast for the year 2009, it promised a lot of good things.. everybody was happy…. On that positive note, restarted our walk and reached the corporation circle… boy !! how do we cross the roads here ?? Raghu was quick to lead us and show us innovative ways of crossing the wide roads with never ending traffic on them.

Reached the Canara bank HO and the City Town Hall, it was looking nice in the night with the lights on, clicked some snaps.

The walk on the J. C. Road was pleasant except that we did not find any of the Nirmal outlets that we were looking for. Then we passed a small, narrow, dark cross road and after which, the guys wore a smile and the need for Nirmal outlet was no more there. By now, Shashi had taken over as the lead navigator and took us through the right roads by taking the right turns.

As we were approaching V. V. Puram, Harsha and Shashi told about a street called Old market road but more famously known as “Khao galli” or “Chaat Street” and gave good reviews of it as a place to get some tasty quick eats. Raghu and I had neither been there and nor had even heard of it. We all decided to take a small deviation from our route and check out that street. It did strike to us that the Chaat Street is a rather popular street, even at around 9 PM it was crowded with people either plunged into their plates or waiting in the queue to take the plunge. We chose a slightly less crowded stall and ordered for Masala dosas and idlis. While we were waiting for the delicacies, Raghu said he had never seen us looking so drained and tired. Though we were not feeling all that tired except for the slightly paining feet, our faces probably told a different story. The grub arrived and we finished it as fast as it had arrived. The taste was high and so was the price, but guess it was worth it. Raghu and I have decided to visit again on one of the weekend (:)).

From there on, we were on the last stretch of our walk, Basavanagudi was not far. Our feet by now were certainly feeling the pain… we had already walked around 15 Kilometers. The last kilometer was also completed without too much of difficulty and there it was, Shashi’s car. Finally, it was done. By 9:30 PM the walk from Hebbal to Basavanagudi was completed. We felt proud of ourselves, congratulated each other, did the high fives and for one last time that night, clicked some snaps :).

It took us just over 4 hours with 4 breaks during the journey. Indeed an experience that we would remember for a long time. When the walk ended, we realized that we have in fact made a beginning and would be looking forward to make this a monthly event and if possible increase the frequency in the future. Everyone is invited.

People had asked “why are you doing it?”, “Why don’t you take the cab?”, “Lost your mind?”, “Are you nuts?”, “don’t you have anything else to do?”, “Get into a bus and reach home” etc etc.

Why did we do it?

There could be many reasons, you are free to make your choice… we just did it because we felt like doing it.

– THIS IS LIFE