‘Naam bade aur darshan chote’ is the very first thought that came to my mind when I visited Bandra – Worli Sea Link in Mumbai today (1st July ’09) on the maiden day of its opening for public.
It was inaugurated just a day before with much fan fare by Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Several hundreds of Mumbaikars lined the streets to mark the ribbon cutting ceremony. And like all things in India, even this event got more than its fair share of media attention.
Everything looked picture perfect to me right from the prospect of reaching to meetings in South Mumbai in quick time to the treat of sea to the whizzing of vehicles on the gorgeous 8 laned sea link to the prospect of less traffic, etc. etc. This was when I decided to head towards this much touted engineering marvel, the 8 – laned Bandra Worli Sea link –the first of its kind in India.
I was supposed to meet a potential customer at Ballard Estate – South Mumbai at 3:00pm IST. I started from my office at around 1:30 pm IST. This way I had a margin of one and a half hour. This was when it occurred to me that I’d not had lunch and thought that I’d grab a quick bite at South Mumbai and then head for my meeting.
In keeping up with my strong number skills, I did some quick math and decided to take the Bandra Worli Sea link which promises to take one to Worli sea face in 7 minutes flat. This route would save me around 40 minutes and I could use the same for a good meal. I was happy at my quick decision making skill. And so towards Bandra – Worli Sea link, I headed.
I dozed off soon after making myself comfortable in a taxi and transferring the coordinates to the taxi driver. I woke up to the rude sound of vehicles honking nearby and noticed that I’d just about to enter the Bandra – Worli Sea link and the traffic was at a stand still. I was shocked. I asked if the huge vehicle line up is for the toll. The ‘educated’ driver told me that although they are not asking for a toll, but the toll gates or signal might be causing the issue.
I again tried to doze off. It must have been several minutes when I woke up and looked around and to my utter dismay, I found that my taxi had still not been able to enter the sealink and was on the way to the sealink still. Instead of enjoying another nap, I decided to make good use of my Nokia N82’s 5 megapixel camera. And I started shooting J . Here are the snaps J
I was petrified. I thought about turning back and heading through the usual road. But alas, it was not to be as there was no turn possible from where I was. I decided to give my luck a go and see if I can reach the meeting on time. And as luck had it, I spent greater part of 2 hours on the sealink and was late for my meeting. What happened there is another story.
All through the stretch the traffic was crawling at snails pace or was not moving at all. Here are some pics that i took:
Here's the short video i shot (check out the speed of vehicles, it was less than 20 Km/hr:
This was the apt example of ‘man proposes, God disposes’. But all in all a really bad experience. I would never advise someone to shell out 50 bucks - one way for a journey through sealink. It is the living example of mismanagement and that all that glitters is not gold. Laghu signing off!
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