Chennai – a growing malignancy

I have always prided myself of being a Chennaiite and felt this city – this metropolitan – this port – Madras – has had a unique pattern of growth along with that of India as a whole. The history of chennapattinam dates back to the 16^th century I think but then considering post 47 India, Chennai’s growth curve has been quite characteristic and rightfully dominated by certain characters that exemplified life’s true meaning. This city’s growth has skyrocketed maybe in the last 20 years I would say since I have seen that much and the anecdotes of times before have been quite appalling. Quite the right (and heady) mix of tradition, values and modernity have seeped into the city and the quality of life has gone up considerably. The latter can be said for just about every city, town and village in India considering economic progress. But then, the space considerations and levels of privacy have become a major issue and a cause of worry as I see it. I wouldn’t be quoting stuff from oft read forwards but then it is quite alarming when some things like road traffic, financial capacity and mindset of citizens are seen.

Approximately 600 new vehicles are added to Chennai’s roads everyday. Approximately 5 flyovers are in various stages of construction as of now. The sites of construction are in various stages of disregard and repair. Approximately 3 foot overbridges with escalators are planned and approximately 15 existing overbridges are deemed useless. I wonder how many citizens check out this small notice board placed near such construction sites in Chennai. The one near the Kathipara flyover site claims the project was completed as of April 2007. No doubt the city is reeling under increased vehicle population but then the sites where relief measures are being carried out are very miserable. The flyover site near Kodambakkam Bridge has its own lake bang in the middle of the road complete with breeding mosquitoes and submerged road barriers. Some measures taken by the traffic police to decongest traffic actually aggravate the condition like the convergence of traffic near Raj Bhavan from Adyar and Saidapet. The police opened up the barrier on Venkat Narayana Road to allow a right hand turn for some vehicles ahead of the signal. Now these vehicles coolly put on their indicators and stop at this point blocking traffic on both sides of the road. Pondy Bazzar is still slightly better except that the shops claim the road to be the exclusive parking space for their customers. The concept of planning travel and adding this time as a separate entity to the day’s schedule is honestly shocking to me.

Commercialization of life is occurring everywhere and Chennai has not been left out. However, Chennai to me would always be the city by the beach complete with signature cuisine and trademark mannerisms.