‘Deeply grateful to Mumbai’: Investor Ashish Kacholia mocks Bengaluru traffic after missing flight

Bangalore: Ace investor, and co-founder of Hungama Digital, Ashish Kacholia missed his Bengaluru to Mumbai flight on Thursday after Google Maps failed to correctly estimate the time it might take to reach the airport.

Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru is quite far from the city, a fact that has drawn considerable criticism from commuters. Kacholia, co-founder of Hungama Digital, had to travel over 50 km from HSR Layout to KIA. Google Maps estimated this journey would take 1 hour and 45 minutes. However, Kacholia faced a setback when the trip took twice as long due to Bangalore's unpredictable traffic and weather conditions.

Despite the estimate, the actual travel time extended to 3 hours, compounded by rain that began during Kacholia's trip.

“Yesterday missed my flight from Bengaluru to Mumbai because journey took 3 hours instead of 1.45 as shown by Google Maps,” the Hungama co-founder wrote on the social media platform X.

Mumbai praise serves as a dig for Bangalore

The investor further took a dig at Bangalore infrastructure by thanking BMC, the municipal corporation of Mumbai. “Deeply grateful to Mumbai administration @mybmc for investing in infrastructure to keep traffic moving in maximum city,” the Mumbai-based investor wrote on X.

Meanwhile, one X user added to Kacholia's jibe, and posted a hilarious comment. “Cabbies in B'luru should compulsorily offer washroom breaks in between rides (just like overnight buses do),” said the user. Another user questioned the Hungama co-founder on whether he was mocking Google Maps or Bangalore.

Ashish Kacholia, the ‘Big Whale’

Ashish Kacholia began his financial journey in the 1990s. He gained valuable experience at firms like Prime Securities and Edelweiss before founding Lucky Securities in 1995. His investment decisions had earned him the nick-name ‘Big Whale’ in financial circles.

Kacholia co-founded Hungama Digital with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, the late Indian billionaire investor.