20 km in 2 hours.

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It happens only in Mumbai: 2 hours to cover 20 km!

June 13, 2008
Much has been written about Mumbai's pathetic road conditions.

It may be the country's richest city, and toasted as its commercial capital, but the cold fact remains that it is a city that is unable to build roads that can withstand its annual date with the monsoons.

Mumbai's municipal corporation boasts of a budget that is said to outstrip that of many smaller states, but no amount of money, it seems, can ensure roads that won't fail in the first showers of the season.

It's an annual tradition, Mumbai-kars know, for their civic bosses to reel off statistics to show that this time round they are better prepared for the rains, the roads will hold, there will be no flooding etc. Every year these tall claims unfailingly get washed away in the rains.

But rather than expend words to portray the agony of Mumbai's road commuters, Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera and Saisuresh Sivaswamy decided to videograph their journey from home to work, a distance of around 20 km which, in any other city, would take around 30 minutes. On a 'normal' day they are happy if they cover the distance in one hour; now that the rains are here, the journey has taken them even 3 hours.

On Wednesday the duo set out as usual in the morning with a video camera, and this is their record.