Bengaluru’s infrastructure woes strike a chord

The road infrastructure song in Bengaluru will revel in city traffic, potholes, floods, construction and endless road digging. | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

After exhausting all options, a Bengaluru commuter has now turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to create a song titled Tax Me to request the government to build decent road infrastructure in the city.

The road infrastructure song in Bengaluru will revel in city traffic, potholes, floods, construction and endless road digging. The song calls for a foundation for a city that Chief Minister DK Shivakumar says is perceived internationally: a road that is easy to drive on.

Everyday experience to the song

Punit Vara, a 34-year-old engineer based near Choodasandra, who uploaded the song on YouTube, said the song, including its lyrics, was completely created by artificial intelligence. It features Doddamara Road, which falls under Anekal Assembly constituency, represented by A. Shivanna.

“For the past nine months, I have been driving my pregnant wife along Doddamara Road, which is in a deplorable condition, for her regular doctor’s appointments. I had to be extra careful and it was very dangerous, which made me come up with this song,” he said. “Besides, I drive this road every day,” he added. Mr Vara said he used his daily experiences of traveling on the road as inputs for the generative artificial intelligence that came up with the lyrics. He later used a different AI model to generate the song using the lyrics, he said.

Mr. Vara calls the song a satirical anthem dedicated to every techie, parent, car driver and commuter who survives Bengaluru’s “moonscape streets” every day.

Potholes, traffic, construction

For many Bengalureans, the morning commute begins with a familiar ritual that starts with checking a map, looking at the estimated travel time, and then adding a generous allowance for traffic that the maps couldn’t account for. Now this daily frustration has found a soundtrack.

“Pothole Number 27”, the song’s lyrics, deal with the sorry state of Doddamara Street on the south-eastern outskirts of Bengaluru, which is not much different from other city roads.

“I pay my income tax. I pay my GST,” says the song, before listing the many other fees that accompany everyday life. The complaint, the song says, isn’t about wanting “gilded roads” or the perfect city. It’s about basic infrastructure, including pothole-free roads, walkable sidewalks, buses that actually come, and streets that don’t disappear under water during the monsoon.

The song captures the experience of traversing city roads with multiple projects, saying, “Subway above me. Digging below, overpass next to me. Nobody knows where to go.” The line captures the geography of the city, where construction seems endless.

Published – 16 Sep 2026 22:55 IST