Bengaluru rain: Employee details ‘life or death situation’ as scooter stalls

As heavy rainfall batters Bengaluru, a young professional in the city has cautioned others against stepping out unless absolutely necessary. Sharing his own experience as a cautionary tale, the man, an employee of a major e-commerce website, said his two-wheeler stopped working on a waterlogged road, forcing him to push it all the way to a friend’s house nearby. While that in itself was frustrating, his ordeal did not end there.
The Bengaluru man, sharing his experience on the Grapevine app, said that he reached his friend’s place and booked an auto through a ride hailing app. However, the auto driver hiked up the fare on reaching the pick-up location, threatening to cancel the ride unless the rider paid ₹500 for a 6 km journey. Left with no other option, the man was forced to pay the hugely inflated sum so he could reach his own house.
Grapevine is an app where verified professionals can share their workplace stories anonymously. Writing under the pseudonym “Jordan Lee”, the employee said in his post yesterday that rain in Bengaluru was “relentless” and unlike anything he had ever seen before.
“Just faced a life or death situation in this rain,” he wrote on Grapevine. “I’ve lived in Bangalore for five years now, but I’ve never seen anything like today. The rain has been relentless since morning,” he said.
The Bengaluru resident explained that when he left his house in the morning, the rain was manageable. However, it was raining very heavily by the time he reached Sony Signal.
“The roads are extremely bad and the traffic is just not moving. The worst part is that while I was on 80 Feet Road, my scooter stalled,” he said, blaming waterlogged roads and water in the exhaust for his predicament.
Stranded on the road, he then witnessed a scary scene – “I saw an electrical cable fall on the ground and it started sparking just 10 meters away from me,” he revealed.
Scared to stay any longer on the road, he began pushing his scooter and finally reached a friend’s place nearby.
However, even going back home was not easy for this man, who then had to contend with the city’s infamous autowallahs.
“Once I reached there, I ordered an auto. The worst thing is that it cost me 500 to travel 6 kms today,” he wrote on Grapevine.
The auto driver demanded an inflated fare of ₹500, threatening to cancel the ride if not paid. Left with no option and already scared, the man agreed to pay. He left his scooter at his friend’s place and returned home via auto.
“I am getting information from all over Bangalore that scammers are out there trying to make money from people in desperate need,” he said in conclusion.
In the comments section of his post, several Grapevine users agreed with his assessment of Bengaluru.
“Glad you’re safe and sound now OP. My parents are very strict when it comes to travelling when it’s raining . Born and brought up in Bangalore so they know how hard it could get with the traffic and all,” wrote one person.
“Left Bangalore due to bad roads and traffic and rude behavior of local cab/auto drivers,” another revealed.