Chennai makes a comeback

After all those Chennai hate blogs and all the propaganda about Chennai being the most conservative and least cool metro, Chennai seems to be making a comeback. I myself was surprised when a 'northie' first told me that he preferred Chennai over Mumbai. This is a guy who's job posting would be either in Chennai or Mumbai (it's still not decided). When I told him that he should choose Mumbai, he surprised me by rooting for Chennai. And, he gave me quite a lot of reasons.

First, he is basically from Bihar. After the recent MNS - sponsored Marathi manoos campaign and the consequent increase in the anti - bhaiyya attitude, he didn't want to live in Mumbai. According to him, Chennai was no longer 'anti - Hindi'. Plus, it has a lower cost of living. He can get a better standard of living with the same salary. Point taken.

Soon after, another 'Bihari' also rooted for Chennai. This one claimed that in spite of all the negative image that Chennai has managed to accumulate over the years, Chennai was 'not really a bad place to live and work'. His claim was supported by economics alone - more fun with the same salary. Plus, everything that was there in Mumbai is now there in Chennai too. Chennai too has multiplexes that screen Hindi movies. Chennai too has some bars that serve good liquour, though you may have to hunt around a bit but he was fine with that.

I dismissed both these instances as arbitrary occurrences with no correlation and that the average 'northie' still considered a Chennai job a punishment. But, when another guy from small - town North India (not from Bihar or UP) used exactly the same words as Bihari No. 2 about Chennai 'not really being a bad place', I was convinced that these 3 occurrences were not one-off. And, there was more proof with each bus ride that I took. And each one told me that Chennai does seem to be making a comeback, slowly and steadily.

Now, when I travel by buses, I see some of the conductors using the one or two words they know in Hindi when they see a 'northie'. Some others speak in English and help them with directions. And, even 'northies' don't seem to be averse to Tamil. They reply to the conductor's broken Hindi in broken Tamil and then both exchange smiles. And, the average 'northie' thus learns to adjust in Tamil land.

Names Clash in Madras

Madras was renamed as Chennai in 1996. But, even now there are many who still prefer to call it Madras. For many, it's still 'Madras, Nalla Madras'.

Even many prominent educational institutions decided to keep their old name – the name by which they were recognized worldwide. Renaming them would have caused a lot of confusion. These included the University of Madras, IIT Madras, Madras Medical College and Madras Institute of Technology. The Madras High Court also didn't change its name. A number of other organizations also chose to do the same. So, we still have the Madras Medical Mission, the Madras Race Club, Madras Boat Club and so on. In fact, even Chennai's auto-drivers are better known notoriously as the 'Madras auto-kaaran'.

Keeping in sync with the tendency to clear the city of its colonial remnants, the names of many roads were also renamed. However, it's often found that after the renaming is done, only one of the names catches the public's fancy while the other is usually forgotten. One notable exception is in the case of Mount Road where both Anna Salai and Mount Road are recognized equally well.

In most other cases, while some of the new names have caught on; other roads are still referred to by their old name. One prominent new road name that has caught on is T.T.K. Road. How many of us know that T.T.K. Road, now named after former Union Minister T.T. Krishnamachari was once named after an Englishman called Mowbray? In fact, even now, there's a tiffin center on the road with the name 'Mowbray's Tiffin Center'!

Similarly, how many of us know that Sardar Patel Road was once Elliot's Beach Road and Radhakrishnan Salai was once Edward Elliot Road? Or, for that matter that Rajaji Salai was once First Line Beach Road?

In other cases, the old name is more popular. One prominent example here is L.B. Road (Lattice Bridge Road) which was renamed after dividing into two parts as Dr. Muthulakshmi Salai (Adyar side) and Kalki Krishnamurthy Salai (Thiruvanmiyur side). This road is almost always referred to as L.B. Road. Once, to test an auto-driver, I asked him to take me to Kalki Krishnamurthy Salai from a spot hardly a kilometer away. He demanded two hundred rupees because he mistook it for some other road in another corner of the city. I have always noticed that auto-drivers have a fascination for English names. But, I hadn't expected him to be so ignorant.

Some roads named after places also don't seem to fade away from public memory in spite of their being renamed after some notable people. Probably because it's easier to associate the road with the place it leads to. For instance, one can see the name Mahatma Gandhi Road only on signboards. Almost everyone still calls it Nungambakkam High Road. Same is the case with Poonamallee High Road which has been renamed as EVR Periyar Salai. Likewise, Inner Ring Road is preferred over Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Old Mahabalipuram Road over Rajiv Gandhi Salai.

A New Year wishlist for Chennai

Disclaimer: I have referred to Mumbai as Bombay and Madras as Chennai. This is intentional. However, this is not hypocrisy. This is the way people generally talk about the two cities. Just yesterday, I heard someone talking of a Bombay-Chennai flight. I'll be happy to have someone enlighten me on this issue.

Here's my new year wish-list for Chennai

1. Get a good drainage system - In 2009, please do not let rains that are hardly 10% of what one gets in Bombay paralyze the city and let the politicians have a field day offering relief when a good drainage system would prevent any of this from happening in the first place. It's time civic officials went to Bombay and learnt!

Picture: A flooded street in suburban Chennai (28 Nov 2008) after Cyclone Nisha {Note that the rains were not even as much as Bombay usually receives}

2. Build flyovers, not underpasses - Do not sanction any new underpasses (famously called subways) to connect either side of the railway tracks. Sanction flyovers. A little rain and people living in on the wrong side of the railway tracks such as West Mambalam and Nanganallur are cut off from the rest of the place.


3. Build wide roads, free of potholes - Hope the corporation of Chennai is listening. I repeat. Build wide roads, free of potholes. If you cannot, at least do not call them 'High Roads'. It really sucks. Call it just a road.

Picture: An manhole on the arterial Sardar Patel Road in Chennai

4. Implement the law on auto-drivers - This one's last on my list because I know the impossibility and the impracticality of such a suggestion. But, a faint hope in my heart makes me root for this. Bring the auto-drivers, who are a law unto themselves only in Chennai to book. Send them to Bombay to see their counterpart return the Re 1 change!

Chennai's first grade separator

This Sunday, on Diwali-eve, Chennai got its first grade separator - at Kathipara. This was a project marred by delays. Originally due to open in April 2007, one portion connecting GST Road and Inner Ring Road was opened in March 2008. All arms were thrown open on this Sunday i.e. October 26, 2008 after an inauguration by CM Karunanidhi.

When I went past it on Tuesday morning, I could clearly be seen that the project had been completed in haste and inagurated as a face-saving measure. There were absolutely no finishing touches and the grade separator didn't look brand new from any angle. When I traveled across the GST-IRR grade separator in March, I had seen the poor finishing touches on that stretch. Then, I had hoped that all would be set right when the project was completed fully. But, that was not to be.

Leave alone finishing touches. People can manage with shoddy work. But how can people manage without signboards? On Tuesday morning, I saw vehicles coming on the wrong side, for there were no signboards to indicate the routes. Grade-separators can be confusing. In fact, rade-separators without proper signboards are like death-traps. Indeed, that was what happened. The next day, I read in The Hindu that the grade separtor had claimed its first victim. (http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/29/stories/2008102958550300.htm). As I said earlier, grade-separators must have proper signages, more so, when people haven't been exposed to such stuff before. But then, that's not always the case. Especially, if it's Chennai.

Even now, I fail to understand the delay in the project. The Hindu claimed it was "contractual problems and escalation in the cost of raw materials". Whatever they say, the delay is unexplainable. Tamil Nadu has a lot of clout in the UPA government at the center. TN MPs have plum ministries including Surface Transport and Highways. What prevented Mr T. R. Balu, the Highways Minister from using his good offices for the benefit of his people, many of whom spent a lot of time waiting at the construction site morning and evening due to traffic jams? Fine, even if he didn't want to appear prejudiced towards his home state, why should he make statements about the project being 'ahead of schedule'? If you don't believe me, read up at http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/26/stories/2005092614620300.htm. Now, can someone explain?