Canadian man’s latest footpath walk in Bengaluru reveals fresh horrors: 'People use footpaths as bathrooms’

Sharing the video, Canadian man Caleb Friesen listed the shocking discoveries from his latest footfath walk in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru’s footpaths are once again under the scanner after Canadian national Caleb Friesen released a new video from his ongoing footpath series, documenting the hazards he encountered while walking 2.4 km across the city’s sidewalks.

The Canadian man walked from the Majestic bus stand to a nearby Starbucks outlet.(X/@caleb_friesen2)

Sharing the clip on X, Friesen listed the shocking discoveries from his latest walk, “tunnel juice, barbed wire, desire paths, bushwhacking, pavement pudding, a stairwell into a drain, and something I can’t type here.” He concluded with a stark warning,“Don’t watch this if you have a weak stomach.”

He walked from the Majestic bus stand to a nearby Starbucks outlet, sticking exclusively to footpaths. In the video, he remarked that it was a ‘nice little walk, if you can actually use the footpaths.’”

Watch the video here:

In the video, he adds, “I don’t just want to criticise India, I care deeply about this country.”

How did X users react?

Friesen’s latest footpath video sparked a wave of reactions on X. One user wrote, “Damn. That’s really bad. I did these kinds of explorations while I was in New York, going to places where no one had been, but it was far better than this. Yes, some areas were dirty but still manageable. We used to walk over old, abandoned railroads.”

Others asked what the solution could be to Bengaluru’s crumbling pedestrian infrastructure.

Responding to such queries, Caleb Friesen suggested that the city should set up a dedicated department for fixing urban issues like these. “It would get a lot of kudos from the public if they created an internal process of identifying, cleaning, and fixing problematic spots,” he wrote.

Friesen added that such a system would not only be a “massive win with huge visibility” but also benefit from a social media expert to ensure every fix receives recognition.

“City wishlist”

He even proposed the idea of a “city wishlist” where citizens could vote on the spots they want repaired first. “Imagine a system where people can vote on what they want to see fixed so that the city knows what to prioritise,” he explained.

This isn’t the first time Friesen’s work has led to real-world changes. Earlier, one of his viral clips prompted authorities to clear and repair the Domlur–Indiranagar pedestrian pathway, which had been lying unused for nearly two decades.

The stretch had turned into an eyesore, littered with garbage, overgrown with shrubs, and lined with broken fencing, making it completely unusable.

Friesen’s post drew so much attention that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) swiftly stepped in to clean the stretch, fix broken sections, and restore access. What had been neglected for 20 years was repaired in just a matter of days following the viral outrage.

Arun Pai, founder of Bangalore Walks, recently shared a video showcasing the newly repaired walkway, now open for pedestrians. In his clip, Pai credited the turnaround to Friesen’s viral post, uploaded just a week earlier with the caption, “I attempted to use the footpath from Domlur to Indiranagar. Things did not go as planned.”