A YouTuber stepped in when a Rapido passenger was stuck on a badly waterlogged stretch in Bengaluru. His clip of the incident has now gone viral. The video was first posted by content creator Lakshman Goswami on Instagram and later surfaced on X. He was riding his bike when he reached the flooded Marathahalli–Kadubeesanahalli Road, where several vehicles had stalled in muddy water. He then noticed a Rapido driver and his passenger waiting by the roadside, clearly unsure of what to do next.

The woman asked the driver to cancel the ride and said she would walk the remaining distance. At that moment, Goswami intervened and asked, “How will you walk along this path?” She replied, “I have to.” Seeing the situation, he offered help and said, “Let me help you at least cross this road, so that you can walk the rest of the distance.” His response showed simple, practical compassion in a difficult spot where the road looked more like a shallow canal than a city street.

Since it was uploaded, the video has garnered over 1.6 million views. Karnataka Portfolio also shared the clip on X with a strong note criticising the condition of the road. The post stated, “Thanks to Lakshman Goswami for bringing attention to what can only be described as a ‘submarine road’ in Bengaluru — a stretch so waterlogged, muddy, and cratered that it looks more like a swimming pool than a city road.” It further added, “The craters here are literally bigger than those on the moon, and yet thousands of commuters, mostly tech professionals, are forced to wade through it every single day just to reach their offices. This isn’t some remote village track — this is the Marathahalli–Kadubeesanahalli Road, one of the busiest corridors of the city. There is no proper black-pitching, no visible concrete, only an uneven mud track filled with potholes and dirty water. For residents and office-goers, every morning is a gamble between safety, delay, and vehicle damage. It’s humiliating to watch citizens of India’s ‘tech capital’ forced to cross what looks like a public swimming pool instead of a road.”

While many users praised Goswami’s timely help, the focus quickly shifted to a bigger, long-running concern: why roads in a leading tech city continue to fail during heavy rain. People pointed out that when a main corridor turns into a “submarine road,” the problem is not just one storm. It reflects weak basics—poor drainage planning, uneven surfaces, and temporary patchwork instead of durable repair. When water collects in loose mud and potholes, it shows that the surface is not sealed well, the base may be weak, and drains are either clogged or missing. Repeated flooding at the same spots suggests that routine maintenance is not done on time and that emergency fixes are not followed by long-term solutions. If contractors are asked to fix only the top layer, but the base and drainage remain broken, the road will fail again. Commuters then pay the price: wasted hours, damaged vehicles, and avoidable safety risks.

This incident also highlights a trust gap. Citizens expect that busy corridors will be built and maintained to withstand seasonal rain. When that does not happen, they ask why planning, budgeting, and oversight are not producing lasting results. The daily reality—people wading through dirty water to get to work—creates anger and embarrassment in a city known worldwide for technology and talent.

These events naturally raise clear questions for the government and civic authorities.

• What is the immediate timeline to make the Marathahalli–Kadubeesanahalli Road safe and fully motorable, not just passable for a few days?

• Which permanent drainage measures will be installed so that water does not pool on the carriageway after heavy rain?

• How often are these stretches audited for potholes, base failure, and clogged drains, and will those audits be made public?

• What accountability will be enforced on contractors if the repaired surface fails again within a short period?

• Is there a city-wide plan to prioritise high-traffic corridors for full-depth reconstruction where needed, instead of repeated patchwork?

• How will authorities ensure that maintenance teams are deployed before peak monsoon, with materials and machinery on standby for rapid, durable fixes?

Many users online say Bengaluru’s “submarine roads” have become a symbol of a civic crisis that will not end without firm action and transparent timelines. The viral video shows a kind act from one biker. But it also shows what should not be normal in a major city: people risking their safety to cross a road that should have been safe in the first place.