I recently spent a week in Bangalore, India for work. As usual, I looked at everything around me. I observed how the streets and sidewalks were built and how the design of the city affected the culture and usability.

Of course, I only saw a sliver of the whole city, but I noticed a few things. One was related to walk-ability. I found the design of the streets and sidewalks made it difficult to get around. They were often broken or had construction material on them. In some cases a giant tree blocked the whole sidewalk.

On the one hand, trees are good and construction is a sign of growth. On the other hand, a walking path could have been created to help pedestrians. A fenced area would do the trick quite easily.

Another strange impediment is the animals. There are living creates like cows and dogs (see video below) and also dead animals like birds. It made walking a bit more interesting for sure. Some of the cows had decorations for praying.

The streets were filled with cars and motorcycles. See video below. This made me anxious because there were very few stop signs or traffic lights. I often felt tense trying to cross the road. Also, notice how often they use the horn. I am sure, there were different beeps for different situations. For me, it was hard to understand what was happening and when I should cross.

Construction seemed to be everywhere, but I noticed a strange thing. The scaffolding what not made out of metal.

Notice the bamboo strapped together to form a 10 story scaffold! I would be terrified working on it, but of course, I sit as a desk all day. Still, this seems to be a hazardous work environment. I also noticed large areas where garbage was on the street. This seemed problematic, but I don’t know the local politics on the issue.

The people I work with were nice and there were some interesting places to eat. However, the walking around made me tense. I wonder how much of what I saw was local to the area I was staying and how much is elsewhere in the city or country as a whole.

So many cities to see in the world. I have seen more in the last year than in the previous 50, I think. Exciting times!