BENGALURU: This 73-year-old resident of Basaveshwara Nagar is in love with Namma Metro. No wonder H A Mohan Kamath is gearing up to be the first on June 18 to get hold of the black token from Sampige Road Mantri Square Metro station that would permit the first ride on a Metro from North Bengaluru to South.
Kamath is a past master at getting hold of the first token. When the first stretch of Metro opened on October 20, 2011, he managed to get a ride on the first train from M G Road station. Since then, this retired electrical engineer has bought the first tokens on the subsequently launched stretches from Sampige Road to Yesvantpur, Yesvantpur to Peenya Industry and Peenya Industry to Nagasandra Metro stations.
“I was given a complimentary ticket for the Underground Corridor of East-West Line last year and so did not have to buy the first token,” he says. Also coming his way this time is a special pass to witness the President declare open the full North-South Corridor at Vidhana Soudha. For the first time, the senior citizen is taking his spouse Suvarna to take part in a Metro event.
The Agumbe-born native has made Bengaluru his home after he retired from Kirloskar Electric Co in 1993. Be it a friend or family member who happens to drop into his home, the person is persuasively taken by Kamath for a train ride from the nearby Rajaji Nagar Metro station. His son and family visiting from the US were also recently taken for a train ride. “My son was also very impressed with Namma Metro,” he says.
Having travelled on Metro trains in many countries, he is an admirer of the Bengaluru Metro. “People complain about toilet facilities here. Even in big cities like London or New York, most stations don’t have toilets. Metro journeys are only 40 minutes. I think god has given us the ability to restrain ourselves for that short period,” he said.