oh what a pleasure it is to be a commuter in bengaluru borrowing from albert einsteins description of mahatma gandhi generations of the future would scarcely believe that traffic jams bumpertobumper traffic scared pedestrians gridlocks and frayed tempers once existed on the roads of bengaluru and we all have to thank namma metro for the timely completion of its phaseiibefore we dwell on the present a walk down memory lane would hold us in good stead the much soughtafter destination that is bengaluru was characterized by clogged roads that was a time when people of this city dreaded the very thought of stepping out to its roads that was also when phasesii and iii of namma metro existed only in the discussion rooms of government offices and filesbuses regular and airconditioned began to run jampacked and people sought refuge in cabs that could be hailed via mobile apps soon the cabs too started running full and worse they were unable to find space on our roads so choked were our roads that cars were running out of fuel even before they could make it to the nearest pump the challenge then was to conserve the maximum fuel twowheeler and fourwheeler showrooms began to refuse test drives for fear of losing their vehicles drone deliveries became the norm from milk newspapers groceries to pizzascommuters on the it corridors began to age so rapidly that their families failed to recognize them back homethis in turn spurred a hitherto unforeseen boom in the cosmetics industry the role companies like loral and lakme played in preventing internecine familial disputes began to be documented to deal with the many uncertainties that such situations might pose ambulances began to be equipped with operation theatres schools and play area for kids after all life must go on for children even if they were delivered in an ambulance held hostage to a traffic island crime came to a standstill so did policing and then there was this global financial crisis that the roads of bengaluru sparked every financial institution that had backed these cabapp companies started throwing in money just to keep them afloat this was because the cost of maintaining the cabs had skyrocketed it was only a matter of time before they too ran out of resources these companies went bankrupt and thanks to their intricate links to the global financial system bourses and currencies went into a tailspin the us dollar collapsed and recovered to stabilize at par with the indian rupee the euro crashed and had to be liquidatedindia inc wasnt sparedpromoters and ceos of leading companies began to spar with one another exchanging notes on how the better performer was the one whod reach home first the board of one conglomerate staged a coup and sacked its ceo because the executive sold some distressed assets even as its members were in transit to officeone factor united these problems transportationjust when it seemed that nothing could pull up bengalurus equity along came