Celebrating “Bus Day” even before BMTC launches it……..

BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) is launching "Bus Day", an initiative to promote use of public transport to commute to office. We decided to contribute our 2 cents by exploring “Namma Bengaluru” on Sunday by using BMTC buses.

We took our first bus ride from Malleshpalya to Kempegoda (Majestic) Bus Station at 10AM. We reached Majestic around 11.00AM and bought a BMTC planner to help plan our trip. Our first destination was ISKON temple. ISKON society has established this very fine temple for Lord Krishna, on a small mud hill, about 200 feet in height. Temple has typical south Indian style 'gopurams' on four sides. It is a very well maintained- astonishingly clean and sublime. We spent around an hour at the temple chanting “Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare” and relishing hot “Kachori, Dhokla and Jilabee”. On our way back to Majestic, we missed the bus stop at ISKON and had to walk to Rajajinagar 1^st block to catch the bus. The bus was overcrowded and we had to stand all our way through the journey.

From Majestic we headed to Champarajpeth, to visit the Tipu Sultan palace. The building of the palace was started by Hyder Ali and it was completed by Tipu Sultan. It is believed that the Palace was one of Tipu Sultan's summer retirements.

Our next destination on the agenda was Bull Temple. Although it was a short bus ride from Tipu’s palace to Bull Temple, the walk to the main temple was taxing. The temple is built in the Dravidian style and is dedicated to Nandi Bull, the vahana (vehicle) of Lord Shiva. The snacks at Kamat Bugle Rock after the temple visit, was as savoring as ever.

With no direct bus from Bull temple to Lalbagh, we decided to take an Auto. The auto which we got was well decorated with flowers & to our surprise a bunch full of medals & trophies adorned the auto. The driver, Raju was a very warm & friendly person and has been honored many times by the media & government for his good deeds. For last 20 years on the Karnataka Rajyostava he has been offering free rides for children & senior citizens. He also offered sweets to all the passengers boarding his auto. Cheers dude!!!

Spread over an area of 240-acre, the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens holds the largest collection of rare and exotic plants in India. The garden is meticulously designed with lawns, flowerbeds, lotus pools and fountains adding to its magnificence. The Glass House, modeled on London's Crystal Palace, is one of the major attractions. The atmosphere there was very soothing and relaxing. We enjoyed our time wandering around the garden and lazing on the lawn.

In the evening, we visited the Vidhan Soudha and the High court. Designed in “Neo Dravidian” style, the granite structure of Vidhan Soudha has a striking resemblance to the Mysore’s old palaces. Bang opposite the Vidhan Soudha, is a magnificent two storied red colored building of stone and brick which houses the State High court. It was almost sunset, by the time we left this place and headed to MG road, to chill out at the good old Koshy’s with a pitcher of beer and some good fish fry .. :)

We finally ended our day long Bus expedition by taking the final bus from Shivajinagar to Malleshpalya. Detouring Bengaluru with the BMTC buses was exhausting yet an eventful experience. It really helped us to clear a lot of misconceptions regarding the BMTC buses. BMTC definitely has a good network, good buses and at a good frequency. More importantly they are really low-priced!!! We wish BMTC all the best with their new initiative on the “Bus Day”!!!