Kasi had written about his birth place, Bharathi Street. For other blog followers and bloggers, I would like to you all to know that Kasi and I are play pals. We grew up and played together. We went to school together. I lived a little bit away from Bharathi Street where Kasi lived. But I am a daily visitor to Kasi's place since that was my grandfather's place too.
I will here describe shortly the path that leads to the great place where I was born and raised. Yes it is the Naidu Shop road.....But one has to overcome many trials and tribulations to reach Naidu shop road from Bharathi street.
The moment you cross Bharathi street and continue to follow the main road, you will be greeted by an unbearable smell (sariyaana Gabbu). Before your mind starts thinking about it, on to your right, you will see a small dust bin (kuppai thotti) made of concrete, has a size just about to
accommodate 2 school kids. It is very fascinating why people always love to put the waste exactly outside and around the dustbin. The bin is practically empty at all times. One potential problem could be: one needs to walk about 20 meters on the decaying waste matter
to reach the bin!
I would say the municipality could have set up a natural gas plant right there in the waste bin area and could have captured the methane gas that is arising out of the decay. Unfortunately I was not educated enough to suggest this. I am not sure if this still is the case. I heard
Chromepet is now becoming a Corporation....but it doesn't bother the waste bin...does it?!
For those people who cross RN main road everyday, I would say, their sense of smell would have completely gone....because they are immune to all these different kinds of sectors starting from the "kavuchi Kadai" to the "Gabbu".
You can have an enjoyable view of the waste bin from the AAVin ice cream / milk shop in the opposite side of the road. I have been a loyal customer of that shop...which explains my weight today! Beside that shop, is another snacks shop which is famous for the "kara sevai".
These shops are not the same anymore. Some do not even exist and the whole place now looks different.
What is more interesting is that, we can see many cart(mobile) shops close to the waste decay...like "elanndapazham, verkadalai (peanuts)" shops and a photo shop on the ground with blow ups of all tamil cinema actors....and the shop will have many big big hand kerchiefs which is very suitable for a "rowdi" makeup.....I still don't know why they sell it there. The source of electricity for these ground and cart shops is what is called as "betromas light". I donno the exact spelling of this light. But it will attract all the flies and insects directly from the waste decay and infecting ( or immunizing!) all the customers.
I am not sure, I remember a biriyani/pakoda cart shop also close by with very active business. I am sure the shop's monthly turnover is certainly greater than my first salary. When we cross the biriyani/pakoda shop, we will be hit by a smell which is a blend of pleasant pakoda and unpleasant old rancid oil. No matter whatever it is, when people cross this place in the evening, no doubts, their hunger hits the roof.
We pass this sector, then we are through with major fragrance sectors. I donno whether it is intentional or coincidental, RN has counter effects in different places. From the railway track, we would have smelled different things. But after crossing the kuppai thotti, we have a chance to completely eliminate the effects of all these things. Yes, there is a shop that grinds different pulses, dhalls, chillis etc (maavu mill). When we cross the maavu mill, almost everybody sneezes. This happens to be a very good exercise to bring out all the obnoxious smells out of our nose!
We are still walking straight. Then comes the "not so lit" area....many politicians came and went. But that part was never lit properly (although it is now). After a couple of good bakery shops and pharmacies, comes the Naidu Shop Road. Now we need to take a left. As soon as we enter and go a little further we see that the road becomes narrow and there are two river like formations widening into the road......Yes they are the Kaavai of Chromepet, the biggest open drainage rivers (kaavai) on the either side of the road. This is the second largest drainage river next to Koovam (chennai river...now supposedly a drainage river) that runs dare in living neighborhood.
This kaavai is the important reason that I am immune to malaria today. This has seen and supported trillions of mosquito generations and their mutations.
Every resident of that road had fallen into that river at least once in their life time including me. The part of the river in front of my house happens to have the largest width. So our house has been the sanitation and rescue ground for many fallen (in kaavai) people!
Rest in the next...
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