BENGALURU: Athira Gopu, a mass communication and journalism student at the Center of Management Studies, Jain University, thought it would make sense to leave her home early for an exam to be held on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in town.

Athira left her home in Deevarabeesanahalli, near Marathahalli, in a cab around 6.30am for the 9.30 exam. It was of no use. For the next four hours, it was a nerve-wracking 16-km ride to Palace Road for the third-semester student. The route was clogged due to traffic restrictions for Modi's visit. When she reached her college at 10.30am, it was too late.

"I couldn't write a paper for no mistake of mine. I could feel the heat as vehicles crawled on Outer Ring Road. We entered HAL Main Road around 7.30am. To my shock, it was clogged. After spending nearly 90 minutes on the road, my cab crawled to Murugeshpalya junction and got struck for 45 minutes," Athira told TOI.

By the time Athira reached Command Hospital junction, it was 9.30. "I was hoping I could reach the centre at least by 10. Many students had come after 9.30pm, and the examiners allowed them in. When I reached, it was 10.30, and the examiners said they were helpless," she said.

College speak

"We know she paid for no mistake of hers. She will continue to the next semester and will be treated as a repeater when she takes the same paper in the fifth semester," college authorities said.

Traffic jams make city groan

The city witnessed traffic jams for nearly four hours on Tuesday morning when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Bosch .

The worst affected were HAL Main Road, Old Airport Road, Manipal Hospital junction, the road connecting Indiranagar and Jeevan Bima Nagar, Vimanapura junction, Kadubeesanahalli, Ulsoor, Trinity Circle, Residency Road, Shoolay Circle, and Hosur Road between Adugodi and St John's junction.

Normalcy returned only after the Prime Minister flew back to New Delhi from HAL airport.