All the hell broke loose in Bangalore on Friday evening

The downpour on Friday evening made the city crawl once again. The scenes on the roads were not different from those witnessed during the previous rains. The showers once again exposed the vulnerability of the unprepared city, also known as the Silicon Valley of India.

The rain was unexpected. And several people remained in their offices, hoping for the rain to end. The rain weakened a bit after a heavy spell, but continued into the night, washing away with it the weekend plans of many people.

The showers brought respite from the rising mercury, but as television channels started beaming the state of chaos in the city, the feeling of relief gave way to concern.

Roads in front of the JL Nehru Planetarium up to Chalukya Hotel and farther to the Bellary Road witnessed traffic jam as motorists attempted to reach their homes at the earliest. It took about 20 minutes to reach the Chalukya Hotel from the planetarium. Five traffic policemen tried all tricks in the book to ease the situation on the road, and get the vehicles moving.

To reach Bellary Road from Chalukya Hotel took another 15 minutes. The ongoing construction of a foot over bridge added to the chaos. The ubiquitous motorcyclists zigzagged in the heavy traffic, and at times, brought the vehicle movement to a complete halt.

The situation was not different on Bellary Road towards Windsor Manor. Cars broke down on the road, compounding the traffic woes. Drivers pushed their ceased cars to the roadside to allow others to pass.

The downpour tested the patience of the motorists, and several of them failed. There were several instances of vehicles grazing against each other, as drivers moved their vehicles ahead to occupy any little place available.

Such accidents further held up the traffic. In many such cases, the drivers braved the rain and got out of their vehicles to engage in verbal duels, bang in the middle of the roads, halting the traffic. Such scenes, seen even at 10 pm, made one take more than 30 minutes to reach Windsor Manor Bridge.

The bottleneck at the Windsor Manor Circle saw vehicles competing with each other to get ahead. Those who managed to get ahead realised the futility of the competition, as they got stuck in a massive traffic jam.

Motorists familiar with area took parallel roads through Vyalikaval and Malleswaram to reach Mekri Circle. Those who rode through the main road took 45 minutes to reach the circle. The Bellary Road leading to the Bengaluru International Airport, too, experienced slow-moving traffic.

Sanjaynagar residents, who braved the chaos on roads, were welcomed by a power outage, which continued past 11 pm in their area.