Bangalore’s international airport is six months old.  The tally so far: number of weeks airport operational — 26; number killed on the road to the airport — 36, mainly villagers.

The story of the road to the new airport is the story of Nallamma.  Each Sunday morning, Nallamma, 35, faces a quandary.  As part of a ritual, the construction worker comes from a nearby village to the ‘new’ airport road to catch a bus to the weekly market a few kilometers away, to buy rations. She described her dilemma: to get to the bus-stop, should she dart across the busy road at the nearest point while trying to avoid the buses and cabs tearing past at dizzying speeds; or, should she walk to the busy Sadahalli Gate and clamber on to a bus slowing at the traffic light?

In a rush to launch a new airport, airport planners and city officials have arrogantly spared no thought to these villagers and their daily lives.  Nallamma is the forgotten angle in Bangalore’s full-on hurtle towards globalisation. So are the villagers trying to cope with the six-lane road whose official speed limit isf 80 kmph.

On a recent Sunday morning, I watched as 32-year old Raju, a resident of Agrahara Layout, vaulted over the metal barricade.  In a sequence worthy of an Apurva Lakhia movie, he then careened across the lanes avoiding the deadly buses, trucks and cars.  He was in a rush to visit a relative, he said, and did not want to waste time walking over a kilometer to the nearest pedestrian crossing. 

... contd.