Bengaluru is Venice now: A social media outpouring on capital city rains

Bengaluru: Tweeple don’t mince words. When an overnight downpour led to a deluge like situation in the country’s IT hub, Twitterati did not hold itself back and fired from all cylinders. From plain angst to quirky sarcasm or questioning the authorities, many Twitter users were at their creative best, some quipping ”Bengaluru is Venice now” while some others rued the eroding green cover leading to new civic challenges.

”Who needs a wonderla, a water amusement park when entire #bangalore can we be water park! Thanks for #bbmp , it takes lot of efforts and dedication to turn a city into a floating city!” a twitter user going by the name ”anonymous!@Died_Democracy” said in a tweet.

Anirban Sanyal, another twitter user, shared a picture of a water-logged city airport, and had a swipe at the state of infrastructure.

”State of affairs in #BengaluruAirport today. I feel like crying seeing the state of infra in India. This is beyond shame,” he said in a tweet.

Karma@iambhutia touched upon the 40 per cent commission charge against the ruling BJP.

”When contractors have to pay 40% cost of project as bribe to the ministers and officers – this is what you get,” the user said, while uploading a picture of vehicles wading through an inundated road.

IT industry veteran TV Mohan Das Pai uploaded a video, titled ”Pls see in Bengaluru,” showing a man dressed up as Lord Ganesh and wading through near knee-deep water, even as traffic was seen crawling in the background. A number of twitter users responded to him, most speaking out against the lack of infrastructure in the city.

While a twitter user, Rajiva Bhushan Sahay blamed ”massive deforestation” and road heights going up ”illegally” with ”illegal” high rises, another handle on the micro-blogging site, Chris_cruz@lycos.com felt the only solution is to reclaim all lakes and remove encroachments. There were some hilarious and sarcastic posts too.

For instance, a twitter handle with the name Gautam (@gautyou) said the tractors were back in posh layouts like Sunny Brooks and suggested resident welfare associations to invest in these vehicles as an alternative mode of transport during rains while @CitizenKamran, another twitter user, ‘thanked’ Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for turning the city to ”European Standards.” ”Indiranagar has started to look like Venice,” he sarcastically remarked.

Chetan Krishna @ckchetanck said, ”thanks to bbmp and @BJP4Karnataka now every apartment in Bengaluru is a lake view apartment.

A number of users complained about the lack of focus on building proper infrastructure over the years for a city that hosts world’s top IT companies.

Other social media were also flooded with videos and memes on the Bengaluru floods.