Small is Beautiful!
Christmas time – festivities galore, tranquil weather made the lazy soul in me stay indoors and spend the day playing with my 2.5 yr old son. We decided to build a house with the colorful blocks he got. The model picture had a very nice assembly of a house, swimming pool, play yard, etc. I followed my limited creative instincts and started putting those colorful pieces together and seldomdid i anticipate it to be this tricky. After a full two hours of arduous work, I just managed to put the doors, windows in some place and created a structure! I had no clue on the utility of the various pieces and I just managed to put them together. 'Appa, this doesn’t look like a house!' came the voice and he just squashed those pieces to their ruins. I wouldn’t blame him. I should confess – I did a pathetic job with those blocks.
I guess, I am not alone when it comes to venturing into things that are not in our forte and striving to complete it with lesser concern for the end product. This is the state de affaire of the MRTS project happening for quite some years now in Chennai. What was started off with a grand ambition to alleviate the traffic problems of the city, took its own time to come off the drawing board – not different from any of the state initiated projects. Lesser surprise, media frenzy abuzz, I still remember the days when this project stole the cover pages of every syndicate – ‘Chennayil Parakkum Rayil’ (Flying Train for Chennai). At least the nerve line – the rail tracks on an elevated structure was completed two years back and there is a train running back and forth now and even with very little public buy-in the project continues these days. Except the peak office hours, the toy-like- train runs near empty. Defying the basic logic is the number of cars – three during crowded peak hours and six when the driver is on his own in the afternoon time!
The funniest of all are the train stations themselves; before the train could accelerate and pick-up some speed you would see it come to a screeching halt. And each one of these stations are mammoth concrete structures with elevators, escalators and the grandeur plans for all amenities - to handle the small crowd of people who patronize this. Did someone say private enterprise bring-in efficiencies which the public sector very badly lacks? Looks like someone gave these construction companies tons of steel and cement and asked them ‘Just do whatever you want and keep building something and just don’t stop’. More like the ideology behind some of the public sector firms that Nehru had created with a vision of producing something besides the fundamental premise to ‘create jobs for the masses’. Everyday, I keep staring at the edifice, which is right across the road from my 10th floor office in Tidel Park. Absolutely no structure, no reasoning and no need and their basic premise: Construct, Break and Construct even more! Within a stretch of 2 Kms you would find 3 stations and each one can only beat each other in size. After years of work, the laws of linear progression will only let you believe that the things would culminate soon towards the end result. But, sorry folks! Not here; while people are busy building some portion of the station, few few other portions have become a dungeon and you can see brand new elevators and Kone escalators lying amidst concrete rubble. Whose money is going down the drains and I would be more than glad to meet the architect who designed these ‘marvels’!
What do we have after years of draining effort and material, the basement parking lots were all flooded during the recent cyclone, a very porous roof in most of the places, the stations are located in desolate places that you have to be a film hero to venture into these stations after dark and most of the stations are encroachments rife. The other day after watching on TV the crowded local schools, which were used as temporary shelter for the flood battered chennai civic, I was wondering what would it take to convert these mammoth structures into community kitchens during a time of crisis. But my friend shot it down straightaway saying most of the structure is leaking and the stench from the local Cooum river over which these stations are built would only drive away anyone miles. So, there you go …
But, if not for the pathetic condition of the project, the MRTS could have been a boon to alleviate the traffic ordeal had they linked up the southern end with the existing suburban line near St. Thomas Mount and provide connectivity with the local bus network. That would have provided an excellent coverage of the city along its periphery. A ride from Thiruvanmiyur to Triplicane for six rupees and in 10 minutes! Dream on via roads or with the notorious auto drivers of Chennai. For god’s sake stop building these structures called ‘stations’ for the mammoth enclosure only adds to the shoddiness of the place. All we need is a shelter and since it is in an elevated plane – stairs to climb, a ticket booth (why not vending machines!) and a reasonable parking space.
Christmas time – festivities galore, tranquil weather made the lazy soul in me stay indoors and spend the day playing with my 2.5 yr old son. We decided to build a house with the colorful blocks he got. The model picture had a very nice assembly of a house, swimming pool, play yard, etc. I followed my limited creative instincts and started putting those colorful pieces together and seldomdid i anticipate it to be this tricky. After a full two hours of arduous work, I just managed to put the doors, windows in some place and created a structure! I had no clue on the utility of the various pieces and I just managed to put them together. 'Appa, this doesn’t look like a house!' came the voice and he just squashed those pieces to their ruins. I wouldn’t blame him. I should confess – I did a pathetic job with those blocks.
I guess, I am not alone when it comes to venturing into things that are not in our forte and striving to complete it with lesser concern for the end product. This is the state de affaire of the MRTS project happening for quite some years now in Chennai. What was started off with a grand ambition to alleviate the traffic problems of the city, took its own time to come off the drawing board – not different from any of the state initiated projects. Lesser surprise, media frenzy abuzz, I still remember the days when this project stole the cover pages of every syndicate – ‘Chennayil Parakkum Rayil’ (Flying Train for Chennai). At least the nerve line – the rail tracks on an elevated structure was completed two years back and there is a train running back and forth now and even with very little public buy-in the project continues these days. Except the peak office hours, the toy-like- train runs near empty. Defying the basic logic is the number of cars – three during crowded peak hours and six when the driver is on his own in the afternoon time!
The funniest of all are the train stations themselves; before the train could accelerate and pick-up some speed you would see it come to a screeching halt. And each one of these stations are mammoth concrete structures with elevators, escalators and the grandeur plans for all amenities - to handle the small crowd of people who patronize this. Did someone say private enterprise bring-in efficiencies which the public sector very badly lacks? Looks like someone gave these construction companies tons of steel and cement and asked them ‘Just do whatever you want and keep building something and just don’t stop’. More like the ideology behind some of the public sector firms that Nehru had created with a vision of producing something besides the fundamental premise to ‘create jobs for the masses’. Everyday, I keep staring at the edifice, which is right across the road from my 10th floor office in Tidel Park. Absolutely no structure, no reasoning and no need and their basic premise: Construct, Break and Construct even more! Within a stretch of 2 Kms you would find 3 stations and each one can only beat each other in size. After years of work, the laws of linear progression will only let you believe that the things would culminate soon towards the end result. But, sorry folks! Not here; while people are busy building some portion of the station, few few other portions have become a dungeon and you can see brand new elevators and Kone escalators lying amidst concrete rubble. Whose money is going down the drains and I would be more than glad to meet the architect who designed these ‘marvels’!
What do we have after years of draining effort and material, the basement parking lots were all flooded during the recent cyclone, a very porous roof in most of the places, the stations are located in desolate places that you have to be a film hero to venture into these stations after dark and most of the stations are encroachments rife. The other day after watching on TV the crowded local schools, which were used as temporary shelter for the flood battered chennai civic, I was wondering what would it take to convert these mammoth structures into community kitchens during a time of crisis. But my friend shot it down straightaway saying most of the structure is leaking and the stench from the local Cooum river over which these stations are built would only drive away anyone miles. So, there you go …
But, if not for the pathetic condition of the project, the MRTS could have been a boon to alleviate the traffic ordeal had they linked up the southern end with the existing suburban line near St. Thomas Mount and provide connectivity with the local bus network. That would have provided an excellent coverage of the city along its periphery. A ride from Thiruvanmiyur to Triplicane for six rupees and in 10 minutes! Dream on via roads or with the notorious auto drivers of Chennai. For god’s sake stop building these structures called ‘stations’ for the mammoth enclosure only adds to the shoddiness of the place. All we need is a shelter and since it is in an elevated plane – stairs to climb, a ticket booth (why not vending machines!) and a reasonable parking space.
It'll be a great place if they only finish it! - O Henry
1 comment:
Why are you so upset with the way Chennai looks? You got the people for whom you voted and the results are evident.
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