Saturday, December 22, 2007

Where exactly are the roads in Chennai going?

Take a ride/walk down the Old Mahabalipuram Road or the IT Corridor as it is has more recently been called, and you will for a moment forget that you are in Chennai.

No overflowing drains and garbage bins that appear more frequently than a politician's mug.

No stinky sidewalks that mask your body odour and the deodorant you've showered in.

No wet patches on walls that remind you that shamelessness is a way of life.

No spine crunching potholes that are the pride of Chennai.

All gone. Vanished without a trace. It must be David Copperfield. Or is it P. James, the city's very own?



So I ask myself. If one road in the city can be free of potholes (even if it is to fool foreign investors), why not every other? I couldn't find a logical answer. So I arrived at a conspiracy theory which was offered up by that half of my brain which loves Cartoon Network.

Here goes.

It's a nexus between the Govt. and tyre, shock absorber manufacturers. If all roads were as smooth as a baby's bum, tyres would last a lot longer. As would the shocks. So they make less money. Which is a lot less than a good thing. So let's make more potholes must be the unanimous decision. If the elements don't do it, just send someone along to dig up a drain.

On that bumpy note, I leave you. To come up with your own theory. Do keep me posted.

2 comments:

Dilip Muralidaran said...

there is also another possibility. since almost all traffic on the road is from tidel park and other IT companies around the place the cops know these roads will temp us speed loving coding guys to overspeed thereby improve their collection significantly?

Poor Indian said...

No! The problem is more technical and less conspiratory though both are responsible! Water-logged streets, constantly run over by trucks & busses rip the top layer off the road for a starter. To their assistance come: the storm water channel laying Corporation guys and metro water guys who collude with the electricity board guys and the private telecom guys (to keep their jobs) in an uninterruptible manner, one after the other, never to allow the road to be ready any day in our life time! So recently the Good Govt has decided not to touch four main roads, at least for two years(i.e until the present govt ends its term and the new digging is taken up by the next Govt and spoil its own name!)Tidel Park Road is lucky to be one such prestigious road.