A corner to useless monuments

If you are in Bangalore and unlucky enough to have to negotiate traffic at MG Road, then do pause and take a look at these. They sit right near Anil Kumble circle, after the Bible Society building. It is behind the Hard Rock Cafe group of buildings. 

The metallic creation is a dedication to 50 years of DNA Double Helix discovery. Helpfully constructed by Biocon to improve the aesthetics of the road and the area. I could not make head or tail of the design but it looks intriguing. It does remotely resemble a DNA double helix if you stand and look keenly enough at it. Angry honking drivers not withstanding. 

The next is a share bicycle stand. JC Decaux has put many of these in European cities. They get to do outdoor advertising at each stand and earn money to partially offset the costs of operation. Usually, you get one card made for accessing all public transport (tram, buses and bicycles). This gives you a seamless connectivity as you can switch between trams, buses and cycles anytime and anywhere. The presence of large number of such stands (sometimes next to each tram and bus stop) helps. 

Here, they stopped at just two. One near the MG Road Metro station and the other is this one. I do not know if the system short circuited after the very first Bangalore showers or this is just another glorious achievement of Sri Ram Sene ilk. But, it is totally inoperable now and it does not look like that there are plans to revive it. Just another failed urban transport experiment in India. 

The choice of the painting is however interesting. Naming it Kempegowda Cycle System might have evoked some interest. But it has been named after someone who we usually closely identify with Mysore. Tipu had interest in rockets and he has been put on a bicycle. He might not have liked such demotion. There are juggling French soldiers in the background and one lone tiger too.