Many years ago, I arrived in Madras with great expectations after experiencing my first train journey in an unreserved compartment from a remote village in north Malabar (Kerala). My first journey in the city was on a horse carriage along the Marina beach to a beautiful village called Adyar, which took about 30 minutes. Today, traversing the same distance takes about an hour or even more, depending on the traffic.
After 70 years of experiencing monsoons, battling heavy rains, floods, hurricanes and the infamous Tsunami, this village brat has reached a respectable position in the field of art & culture, breathing the seasonal good and bad air, and enjoying clean and serene environment and atmosphere. This Madras made me what I am today.
But the city has changed from a clean village to a concrete jungle, polluted and infested with garbage strewn around making a jaywalk impossible. What was a 10-minute-walk to Mylapore from Adyar across the Adyar bridge today takes an hour or so by car. This change can be attributed as a hazard of the population explosion, which in turn is also marked by unruly behaviour of citizens sans discipline and inaction by government officials.
Year after year, we are facing the monsoon without any noticeable improvements. Are government agencies taking any measures to manage the impending monsoon? Decades ago, as students in Kalakshetra, when we faced floods, we did not get any warnings to evacuate from our thatched cottages.
But our teachers and inmates were cautious enough to move us to the strong buildings in the campus well ahead of the cyclone and flood. Even though the area would be inundated with rainwater, it would drain into the Adyar river and sea freely, while the earth also absorbed the water quickly. This was probably because there were no clustered concrete buildings blocking the flow of water.
In today’s modern Chennai, the drainage system seems to not have the provision to channelise the flow, leading to stagnation on streets which creates inconvenience to the residents. Citizens too need to cop the blame, they dump their garbage and building materials on the streets, which block the stormwater drains.
Envisaging the advent of monsoon, the Greater Chennai Corporation and Tamil Nadu government should act swiftly and work round the clock to remove all such blocking debris and garbage, allowing the free flow of rainwater into the sea or lakes nearby.
Roads dug up for Chennai Metro Rail works should have been completed before the onset of monsoon. The major reason for water stagnation and flooding seems to be incomplete and unattended road work. There also seems to be poor coordination between government departments.
Our VIP culture allows only politicians to live in posh and clean areas, while the common man puts up with inconvenience. Yes, the government alone cannot be blamed, but they do have the responsibility to reprimand the offenders.
The MLAs, GCC and its councillors should take some responsibility to see Chief Minister’s promised ‘Singaara Chennai’ becomes a reality soon, at least before the 2026 Assembly election.
(The author is a Bharatnatyam exponent and a recipient of Padma Bhushan in 2009)