Living in Chennai these days... Part I

Has Chennai become a sick/disgusting place to live in these days?? I am shocked about me writing such a post as I used to be an ardent Chennai-ite till recently. I was completely in love with the city, for the beach, the places to visit, the theme parks, the frequency of trains and buses, the temples, the people and most importantly shopping in Ranganathan Street and Pondy Bazaar, of late Mylapore tank. But, my love for all these reasons don’t exist anymore. All places are heavily crowded with no space to even drive on the roads or park vehicles and what more, the city is flavoured with hot climate always, that one doesn’t even feel like stepping out. And, people, there is the heavy rush for money, for career, for survival that nobody stops to even look at somebody who could have just met with an accident, and, who knows, this person could have done the accident too. Let me elaborate on what exactly is the situation here.

Traffic is the first and foremost concern. With easy loans for four wheelers and A/C cars becoming a basic necessity to travel in the hot and congested city, with big company buses carrying its employees, the volume of vehicles have increased so considerably leading to more congestion. And talk about the drivers, be it the drivers of buses, lorries, autos, cars, bikes and even cycles, aah, the driving skills couldn’t be worse. Major credits to the sincere officials at the RTO. Anybody who goes there to obtain a license can witness the procedure of issuing the license. Anybody who brings a vehicle gets the license, no matter how poorly he/she drives, no matter if they don’t drive too. Rare are the cases where one is sent back saying that he has to learn driving and come back for getting the license. There are people who are issued license even without driving the vehicle, there are people who are issued license in spite of extremely awful driving and there are people who are issued license just because they are from a particular driving school and in cases of driving school representations, nobody is generally rejected license. Along with the bunch of candidates, comes one of the driving coaches. The coach instructs the candidate every single movement including degrees of turn he has to take. Even then if the candidate doesn’t drive properly, the coach helps him with the steering, and the brake and clutch and gear (summarise it to driving??). The RTO officer tells the candidate to drive properly next time and issues the license. There was this girl who just couldn’t drive her Kinetic Honda properly for even 10 m. The moment she started, she had to stop, she would start again and wouldn’t be able to balance and stop. She was given chance for about 10 times, but in vain. And, she was issued the license. And there was this guy who showed off his driving skills, rash driving and bumping at every turn. He was issued license immediately. Recommendation and laziness are the obvious signs you see there. And if such people drive, how is it going to be?

Even those who know to drive properly don’t follow rules anymore. One would be driving on the left track and would suddenly cut right even without giving an indication. One would drive searching for a location and when one suddenly finds it, he applies a brake or takes a turn, even without noticing the vehicles behind. You find the signal changing to red and you still cross the road. The moment before Green falls, one starts. So, how is it going to be?? Can you actually imagine the situation? That is why there is a 5 second gap between one signal changing to red and the other changing to green, but everybody knows about the 5 second gap. So, there we go!!!

Even the MTC bus drivers drive so recklessly. They definitely know that they are takin the responsibility for all the people in the bus, yet… The driver goes beyond the bus stop and stops the bus with a sudden brake, takes sharp and unwarned turns causing so much danger to the smaller vehicles nearby. If they happen to start the bus late, they drive so horribly fast to try to make it to the destination in time, sometimes not even stopping at some stops. Sometimes even before starting the bus, the driver knows that there is some issue with it, and it requires service. But they still take the bus with the blind hope that nothing happens in between. Buses are so crowded with so many, esp. freakin crazy college and school guys hanging all over the bus and singing and shouting and commenting, highly prone to be hit by a vehicle beside or be thrown off the bus sometimes. But they are damn confident that vehicles beside would give way and not hit them and that they are safe hanging with one hand from the window. There are so many who are so dependant on these Government buses and who suffer so much because of these reckless drivers. In Trichy, there are private buses that run so efficiently. The buses are in very good condition with comfortable seats, there are two conductors, so that they can manage well and don’t stop the buses for ten minutes just for tickets issue. The frequency of the buses is so good and they are completely reliable. People comment that since the road transport is privatised, there is a healthy competition among the transport owners and hence the good condition. This is the opinion of many about the buses in Trichy, but we have all been only visitors there. Maybe there are harsh realities about that transport too.

Lorries and autos- I don’t really have to mention about them. Reckless driving to the core. Esp, the water lorries, is it true that they happen to save the lives of people by providing water, so they have all rights to take away the lives of people on the roads when driving? Everybody knows that they have to keep away from water lorries because so many accidents occur with the extremely horrible driving of those drivers. And autos, if you are a sincere driver and actually want to know what stupid and horrible driving is, come and see our autos on the road. The autos will be running in the middle of the road, the moment they see somebody waiting for an auto or waving their hand, there they go, with the sharp turn, least bothered about the vehicles behind. Selfish bout them getting a sawari. They travel through all small gaps and lanes, with such a speed. Experts in perfectly wrong driving, the moment you see an auto beside or behind you, just give way or move away, for you never know, they can actually take any turn anyhow. They actually test other vehicle drivers’ presence of mind and alertness.

Talk about share autos and share vans. They are all over Chennai. Although they happen to be a Bliss at peak hours, they happen to be the most irritating/frustrating mode of transport here. There was a rule passed earlier that share vans/autos are not supposed to be over crowded, actually nobody standing, but there you see those drivers, cutting maamool to the traffic constables and carrying heavy crowd. These vehicles don’t start unless they are over crowded, be prepared for extreme delays, the drivers are smart, they keep moving slowly and very slowly, giving you a feel that they are gonna start, but wait, not so soon!! Finally the van starts and you feel relieved, but there, it stops at the next stop, getting in more people. One wonders at the optimization capacity of the vehicle. Actually a lot more than optimization. If the van can contain only 16 people sitting, ok alright, lets say about 8 more people can stand crushing each other, you would actually find the van carrying 35 people easily, this might be an exaggerated account, but the situation is true. And entertainment, songs blaring in a few ten thousand decibels. Have you only studied about vacuum in your science classes, but haven't felt the same, get into one of the share vans. Their driving is the best. Man, I bet, you would never find such professionally horrible drivers.

Two wheeler drivers find their vehicle so useful, they manage to drive their whole family.
There would be a father having a kind in front, a kid behind him and his wife and his wife carrying a baby on her lap. Two wheelers are a Blessing to many, economical for the whole family.

Cycle walas – cycles are the best mode of transport in such a congested city, but these cycle riders take it as an advantage and tread into every mm gap between vehicles, and again, taking sharp turns and poondhufying without any indication. Cycles might be very small, but calls for other drivers’ alertness.

And ambulances are such a sorry sight in the city, few are the drivers who know that a life is in stake and they have to give way. All one has to feel is that what if one’s family member or friend happens to be in that ambulance?

With the increasing number of vehicles, there is no space for parking and you find vehicles occupying more of the road for parking alone. The road becomes narrower and calls for traffic congestion.

Why talk just about vehicles and drivers?? Talk about pedestrians. How many actually cross the road at the pedestrian signal? And there are more who walk literally like buffalos, I guess even buffalos would move with continuous honking, but not these people. People walk in the middle of the roads, cross like crazy, ignore honking, all because of the over confidence that the vehicle would slow down. Maybe sometimes, you just have to go really close to them and give them an alert, a shock, that they have been almost hit.

You find people littering, puking, throwing garbage, etc. etc. from the buses, that might actually fall right on your face. And that moment, you lost control over your vehicle. If you shout at them, they shout back. You find a guy driving a two wheeler littering on the road just in front of your vehicle as you are driving, or even take pains to slide down his window and litter from the A/C car, you ask him i this where and how he would spit, he shouts back at you asking “Where and how else will I spit, you $&#*@$?”. Or ask “Yov!! Pinnala vandi varadhu theriyale” , he retorts, “aye!! Velaye paathuttu po $&#*@$”. You are driving and you suddenly see the vehicle just in front of you crossing to the left sharply from the right, you apply a brake suddenly and say “Yov!! Ennaya otre?” , he says “OYeeeeeee, enna enna!!! Nee ozhunga ottittu poda $&#*@$”. One shouts at the wrong doer just for one’s own psychological satisfaction, what he gets back is a lot more awful and you know you have achieved nothing by shouting at him or telling him what he’s done.

Somebody’s met with an accident, there are very few/nobody to stop and help him. There is a thief who runs off with somebody’s belonging, sometimes even harming him/her. How many actually come to rescue other than sympathizing with the victim. People have their own self-justified excuses everytime for every act.

What actually happened to the rule about helmets that was passed twice, that both the driver and the pillion rider have to wear them? Yeah, drivers without helmets are being caught once in a blue moon, but how many actually wear helmets?

Govt. buses themselves are in such a pathetic condition, some with thick emission of gases, so much in need of service, yet carrying a heavy crowd and going all the way. Who can ask them? Honk and noise and pollution and hardly-clearing traffic is the situation here. One hardly finds traffic constables on the roads during hot times of the day, and even if they are there, there is no regulation in traffic, sometimes, we feel that we shouldn’t just blame them as people today are reckless and uncontrollable, but actually, if rules were enforced very strictly at every division and every section, why would one drive recklessly?

Wanna test your patience and driving skills? Try driving here!!!

This article itself, has become too long and I have more to write. Anyways, let me continue in the next part to come JJ.

This article being dedicated to the horrible traffic and drivers in the city, am sure many feel the same about how frustrating it is to drive on Chennai roads. You are most welcome to share your opinions or your own personal experiences on the same.

P. S. :

1. Pictures from Google -- actually, the situation is a lot more severe, wish we carried a digicam or a mobile cam always to capture shocking things

2. Having lived in Chennai the last 24 years, I am able to see the striking difference, to feel the city moving from being just beautiful to growing worse. Not sure, the same might be applicable to many other cities too.