BENGALURU: Bengalurina Bussina Kathegalu (Bengaluru’s Bus Stories), which captures the memories associated with the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses, was released on Monday.
A collaborative effort of the EQUIMOB (Inclusive Cities Through Equitable Access to Urban Mobility Infrastructures for India and Bangladesh) project, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV) and Samvada, the book brings alive memories of double-decker buses, love for bus radio when there were no mobile phones, bus bonds and others.
“When we discuss about Bengaluru, the first thing that comes is the Information Technology, the city’s infamous traffic, Silk Board Signal. But we hardly get to see anything related to BMTC buses, Bengaluru’s lifeline,” said Prajwal, a PhD Scholar from ISEC and Utrecht University, who coordinated for the project from EQUIMOB.
“Like Kolkata or other cities, Bengaluru didn’t have trains for local commute. All we had was the BMTC (then Bangalore Transport Service). BMTC buses, which played a pivotal role in Bengaluru’s making, have largely remained neglected in its development story. Except for some scenes in a Kamal Hassan movie and in other Kannada movies, BMTC buses are hardly seen,” Prajwal said.
Though every one of us has travelled in BMTC and has a lot of memories associated with it, it is not being recorded, he said, adding that the book has stories associated with the bus, he added. The organisers said the e-book will be uploaded on Equimob website soon, and hard copies will be distributed among the BBPV community organisations and various government departments.