Bengaluru book maps the city through 28 public transport routes

Travel blogger and product manager Arun Bharadwaj has released 'Footboard Diaries,' a book exploring Bengaluru through 28 public transport routes, including 21 bus routes, six passenger trains and one metro line. The author spent two decades researching routes such as the Yeshwantpur-to-Hosur MEMU train, which covers the Hebbal-to-Bellandur stretch in 25 minutes compared to the hour or more it takes by road.

Arun's journey began with Route 2, the last surviving single-digit BMTC bus, which runs between Majestic and JP Nagar and passes institutions such as the University of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, built in 1917. Across the book, he documents how long-gone cinema halls like Shanti Talkies and Central Talkies survive only as bus stop names, and how KSRTC buses from Doddaballapura terminated at Cauvery Bhavan because handloom weavers preferred it over Majestic.

His recommended routes include the Yeshwantpur-Chikkaballapur MEMU, which stops at British-era stations like Avathihalli and Devanahalli, and Route 201 from Srinagar to Domlur, which passes Chola temples and World War II-era houses. The book also tracks the metro's Purple Line and notes iconic food stops such as Bidadi's thatte idlis and CTR's benne masala dosa near Malleswaram station.