Apologies to many Bangaloreans

Annikki and I would like to express our very sincere apologies to the many Bangaloreans, relatives and friends that we were unable to meet. The reason is very simple. Time and Bangalore traffic.

In all sincerity we did not know the chaotic situation that exists in Bangalore, both in terms of the volume of traffic and the lack of the rule of law and road sense.

Trips that should have taken a few minutes took hours because of the volume of traffic, the total lack of planning in the way road directions are organised and the sheer stupidity of the expansion of Bangalore.

Our driver, Prem, a local person, is an excellent driver and a man with a great deal of initiative. He knew all the back streets that one needed to know. He knew all the major congestion points and the time to get through them.

But all that was not much use when a hand or bullock cart drawn vehicle appeared in a tight situation. Each driver was pushing the nose of his vehicle forward to gain an inch and a strategic position to push the next inch forward.

Before our trip to Mysore, Prem told me a lost of things we would come across on the highway: - overloaded bullock carts in the fast lane of the highway, cows and sheep strolling along, all slow vehicles occupying the fast lane, vehicles travelling in the wrong direction, people stepping out suddenly from the divider from amongst bushes, and many many more. The worst incident was when a tractor with three young boys travelling on open road cut into the fast lane just in front of us as we were about to overtake. Only the skill of Prem averted a major mishap.

So saying, being a meticulous planner and a stickler for keeping time, Annikki and I landed up almost an hour late to meet the Patni Computers boys who had called us to a wonderful hotel for dinner in Electronic City. I felt embarrassed and ashamed of my lateness.

It was just impossible to even try to meet all our friends and relatives. I set up a hierarchy system and only manged to achieve 10% of my goal. Some important things could not be put off - the visit to Maddur to meet the person who saved our son's life, Dussera lights and meeting Cathedralites 49er Naval and 54er Armaity, the Matthan lunch (where met almost 15 of our senior relatives in one go, visits to my older cousins on my mother's side, the visit to the cemetery to locate and see the graves of my parents, the visit to my alma mater (Bishop Cotton's) for the 5th General K. S. Thimayya lecture.

In all this we were only able to meet just two old friends in Bangalore, and on one occasion we were 3 hours late for a lunch appointment. In that case a Government bus took the rear end of our vehicle!

Annikki and I ask your forgiveness. The intentions were there but it was a physical impossibility. We did speak to many - but the situation lay outside of my capability.