Here’s how an impromptu game of street cricket begins in Madras: if there is a tree with a trunk that could substitute for a stump, it’s cricket time; or, if there’s a narrow street with limited vehicular frequency, it’s time for the toss; or, if the street or area in question behaves like a community, then the cricket isn’t just about the sport, it becomes a community building exercise of sorts.
With the sun finally coming to terms with its summer and residents of the city transitioning from denial to acceptance of the city’s weather, its time to be wary of our movements. You can’t just go for a walk or go to your terrace to get a whisk of fresh air; we aren’t in the lesser-known summer months of December or February, we are in May — the ferociously titled agni natchathiram month. But how to have wholesome days with weather that doesn’t allow us to do much but stay indoors?
I could go off on a tangent about how climate change is real and the end is near if we don’t do much about it. The planet has and will continue fixing itself, but that doesn’t mean it will be habitable for us: humans who have thrived and taken advantage of our privilege. I could go off on this tangent but I choose not. Instead, I want to talk to you about the Third Place.
As human beings, we spend a majority of our lives in one of three places: home, work, and the third place. The third place is a neutral ground that’s accessible, encourages conversation, allows you to hang out with your friends regularly without having to spend a penny, and in a way, is your home away from home. This was where malls came into the picture in the US when urban planners recognised the lack of a third place in suburban lives; malls came around in the 50s. But now, 50 years later, after having acknowledged and admitted to malls being a failure as a third place, lot of small towns in the US are having its neighbourhood malls being torn down to be replaced by public spaces.
As residents of the city where public spaces are either inaccessible or don’t necessarily satisfy all the qualities of a third place, we resort to friend’s houses, malls, restaurants, movie theatres, and other establishments that allow us to hang out for a certain amount, but a conversation isn’t priority on the agenda.
This made me question if the days where the neighbourhood parks and beaches were off the grid as a suitable third place. I looked out of my window to realize that when the sun is out in Chennai on a day in May, any place that isn’t indoors or without dense tree cover is out of question. What does that mean? How do we go about living in the city without having accessible third places that don’t discriminate based on economic strata and simply let us be?
Bhargav Prasad
Twitter@CFLlightSabers
The writer specializes in first drafts, making observations on what makes Chennai, Madras