Soon after taking charge as Bengaluru Development Minister on June 16, Krishna Byre Gowda, took the officials of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to task. Expressing his frustration over the recurring issue of potholes and poor-quality roads in Bengaluru, he asked them a million-dollar question: “Is road construction rocket science?” It was a clincher of a question. Nothing concrete has come out of it yet, but it seems to have set the tone for things ahead. At least the intention became transparent – that something is about to happen that will make Bengaluru liveable again.
Why that optimism? Because although he was referring to the poor condition of roads, the same principle – that there is no “rocket science” involved for correction – can be applied to a whole slew of problems afflicting Bengaluru. Yes, there may be problems, but none of them need “rocket science” to resolve.
In a strange way, it seemed similar to an incident that had occurred in a restaurant some years ago, and in which coincidentally the same term “rocket science” was used by the restaurant’s manager while reprimanding the cooks for not being able to prepare a dish that the customers wanted – “Do you need rocket science to prepare what they want?” he shouted. The customers, however, got up and left.
They wanted that one dish, did not get it, and they walked out, probably to another restaurant where they got what they wanted. The same could play out at a more worrisome level if the minister’s use of the words is not taken seriously – Bengaluru could lose a lot more than a restaurant losing its customers to another.
The refreshing part is that while the minister reprimanded the officials about the poor road condition, its application can be widened to almost all the ills infecting Bengaluru – road congestion, littered public spaces, thoughtlessly designed flyovers and subways, lack of proper signage for road directions or information, public urination and spitting…..the list goes on, but solutions fail to rise over the horizon. Only suggestions and ideas keep floating, which seem great, but whether they would help, and in what way, remains unclear.
This makes Bengalureans cynical over the “hell hole” we have allowed our city to evolve into. It is the sheer helplessness that makes “rocket science” appear the only go-to plan to solve Bengaluru’s woes.
Not so! Take congested roads, for instance. In October 2024, at the Move In Sync Mobility Symposium 2024, held in Bengaluru, Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education Services, and advisor, Manipal Education & Medical Group, had suggested creating a “digital twin” of Bengaluru to track road congestion over the previous five years, study the causes, and analyse them to detect where the “hot spots” are in the city, why traffic jams occur there, and come up with solutions to prevent congestion on the roads in future – a great idea that Pai floated to industry leaders, dignitaries, policymakers, among others with an eye on finding mobility solutions for the city.
Whatever happened to that idea, consider this: Why just road congestion, any of the problems mentioned can be addressed nowadays using technology to map, analyse and then find solutions.
Putting the solutions into practice is, and will, remain a huge challenge — seemingly an almost impossible one to overcome. But let’s not get bogged down assuming it’s impossible. We know it is possible to overcome these and actually put solutions in place.
Every problem has a solution. That is why we are told that problems do not stay forever. But the solutions need to come from the minds of those who are passionate about finding them. Without such minds there cannot be solutions. People who find such solutions are the ones who have the potential to justify American author Dr Robert H Schuller’s message – that also forms the title of his 1983 book – Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!.
In fact, there is no “rocket science” involved in all this, which is why Minister Byre Gowda has hit the right spot. Let’s leave “rocket science” to our space scientists to worry about, and claim our city instead, beginning by applying our minds to the challenge!
Nirad Mudur
Resident Editor, Karnataka
niradgmudur@newindianexpress.com