It is again that time of the year, when Chennai has its uncharacteristic Wet patch! The last few days have been more acute with non-stop rains and as I post there isn't any respite in the last 24hrs - Non-Stop downpour!
It's an irony that the popular sentiments are mixed as people equally love and hate rains. Love for the mercury dropping down by a few inches and hate for everything else... starting from the messy roads, water-logged colonies and the traffic stretching its tail on the roads for endless miles. Well given the bundle of imperfection any Indian city is... here is a take on how to survive while driving in "Chennai" roads on a rainy day!
Disclaimer:All the below content is written with only bikers in mind
Simulation: It has just started raining..
Action advised: Not too bad... worse is yet to come and so rush to your destination ASAP! The rain is just setting in and with Chennai, the clouds keep moving rapidly in, also you may never know.. while the rain vents out its fury in Nungambakkam, it might just be a dull partly cloudy day with intermittent sunshine(!!!) in Tambaram. So never expect it to end before it has actually started.
And here is a hypothesis framed after close observations:
“There is an indirect proportionality between the radius of the wheel of a vehicle and the Obtuseness of the arc of splash”
For eg., A minimum of 4-5metres of distance is advisable if you have the FZ dude zooming past you, be calm and stay back! Certainly not a day to show him your histrionics on two wheels.
*More than the Pulsars, Hunks and Apaches, you have to take care of the smaller ones.. yeah.. I mean the Scooties...and the other mopeds. Trust me...certainly not a day worth chasing those beauties :-P
* Exercise more caution when you spot the small yellow ones - the omnipresent Auto, can make dotted imprints of slush on your "End of season Sale - heavily discounted" branded clothing! So respect the small lady.
*Also, following a MTC Bus is never safer than on a rainy day. Try if you can, It actually clears off the way!
Driving in Chennai, is an absolute "Playstationesque" experience. You can choose to play different levels based on your proficiency!!!
level 1 - Anna Salai/PH road or any other arterial road where it is kept very simple with a steady flow of heavy traffic - mobility on such roads are defined in a new metric/parameter that is (Pending ratification from The International Bureau of Weights and Measures, France) which is meters per song or m/sg to be short! It is self explanatory - by the time you listen to a 5min song on your ear pieces, a 50m advancement is guaranteed. M/Sg is always denoted with time. So you have different number for different time buckets - like Anna Salai is measured at 50m/Sg at 8PM.... it can peak the scale at 10am when traffic moves at 20m/Sg in and around "Gemini" breaking what is termed "the Snail barrier"!
Or level 2 - ply through the arterial roads take and you will be forced to take an occasional left/right to dodge all major junctions/signal points and ..... surprise..... you might have to wade your bike through the 3ft. stagnant waters. Agile people can still ride the bike by hanging their legs n boots on the handle bar. The stains of the Water levels of previous seasons on the compound walls of the lined up housing area let you know that the situation isn't any worse yet. Ferry services (most service providers head-quatered at Velachery!!!) are operated on a request basis in select localities.
Or level 3 - Requires an Upload of a snapshot of chennai roads at the greatest detail possible from google maps into your cerebrum and face the challenge - make sure you never touch any arterial road... but you still need to be at your place well in time:) However, it has been already observed that even level3 is experiencing jams.
In any of these levels, you might be appropriately challenged by a plethora of U turns/ No-entry boards/barricades that spring up even before the mushrooms pop out.
And yes.. there is this one unwritten rule "As you go up the levels, you may be required to break all rules!!!”
Wishing you that safe / enjoyable ride whatever be the level that you are pl(a)ying in.
Cheers!
1 comment:
Awesome post! And what can I say... You might be physically new to Chennai... But your mental Chennai-ite age is in its prime!
Although I do have to add that arterial roads such as Anna Salai and Poonamalle High Road are probably your best bet to not actually be in knee-deep water! My dad recently went all the way to Chennai Central from Mylapore so that he could travel on the PH Road to get to Anna Nagar!
Velachery is the new T.Nagar! I remember there was one June or July in 1995-1997 when there was rainfall for 2-3 continuous days and some houses on the first floor in T.Nagar had knee-deep water! Yes, you read it right, first floor!!!
Post a Comment