"Phew! Thank the Lord for small mercies!" I muttered under my breath.

Had I not noticed the 4-and-a-half-foot deep cavity in the middle of the road in the nick of time, I would probably not be here today writing this piece. It was a narrow escape indeed.

I guess the ancient adage "Look before you leap" has been modified considerably, and is now being used extensively in different forms such as, "Look before you step out of the house," "Look again before you begin to walk," and "Keep looking when you drive or you won't remain to look at anything again!" Sigh.

These days you don't need to leap to land in a pit. All you need to do is drive on Bannerghatta Road on a rainy evening. You will surely land in some crater or open drain. 100% satisfaction guaranteed. However, if you are among the extremely fortunate lot, you may get away with a few bumps here and there, owing to your vehicle's tyre peeping into a pothole or two.

Come to Bangalore and you will find some of the finest "diggers" of recent times. Some public agency or the other is perpetually engaged in digging up the roads. Take for instance, Bannerghatta Road. The esteemed Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board seems to have woken up to the fact that the city needs drain pipes after all. Consequently, the entire length of the road, stretching from the Indian Institute of Management to the far end of J. P. Nagar 3rd Phase, has 4-feet deep open trenches, filled with muddy rain water, providing ample breeding ground for mosquitoes and fleas.

The honorable Bangalore City Corporation is handling all the digging activity along Hosur Road. The driving force? A multi-crore flyover project!

The other end of the city is not immune to the digging ailment either. The Reliance Group has taken upon itself the colossal responsibility of ensuring that a couple of accidents occur as a result of people falling into the holes dug by them. And what's more, Reliance had also ensured a phone-free day for the workers of ITPL at Whitefield. No, you got that wrong. I did not say "free phone." Phone-free as in - no phones!

These potholes and open drains in Bangalore have become gaping blockhouses of death. The recent death of a whole family near the Infosys Apartments in Bangalore came as a rude shock to Bangaloreans. But the tragedy does not seem to have made much difference to the authorities. The digging is still in progress, with the same rabidity and verve. Yeah, a lethargic traffic policeman with an oh-so-boring expression on his face is seen guarding the trenches these days. But still, the onus lies on every individual pedestrian and driver to take care of himself on the roads.

When you are driving through knee-deep water, it is hard to say if there's firm ground beneath the wheels. More often than not, you end up in a pothole, cursing every other thing under the sun. Or should I say under the cloud?

When Bangaloreans approached the exalted Commissioner of Police for assistance, he came up with a heartening remedy.

"Don't drive," he said with profound lucidity.

Yeah, it would be so much easier for everyone then. Fewer people driving on the roads would mean less traffic and more revenue to the Government, as everyone would then have to depend on public transport. However, it must be noted here that the people have to pay the road tax, regardless of whether they use the roads or not. So much for bright ideas!

If nothing is done about the condition of roads in Bangalore soon, I cannot imagine the number of accidents and tragedies that we will be witnessing in the near future. Authorities, are you listening?