Stench all the way

Category : Social

Ramesh and Parvathi are newly married. They work in nearby offices in Chennai and travel by a two-wheeler. Today morning they started early from home and stopped at a temple nearby. They offered prayers. Ramesh pinned a fragrant flower in the hair of his wife, and they started for office.

They crossed the main city and turned towards Tidel Park. They had moved a bit forward… and guess what happened… something what everyone going by that road hates. A giant truck carrying all the garbage of the city came blowing the horn behind them. Ramesh had no other option but to let it overtake. The garbage truck (called “kuppai vandi” in local language) went ahead, spreading the worst stink. It was a large dirty truck, filled with garbage up to the brim, and covered loosely with a cover. Just after a while some pieces of junk fell down from the truck, which disturbed everyone following it. The smell that it was spreading was unbearable. Ramesh somehow managed to drive properly. But chunks of garbage kept on falling from the truck, making the road dirty and making it impossible for all the people driving behind it to drive. The chunks included big shells of green coconut (imagine if it had fallen on someone’s head…)

I was the spectator and a victim of all this and I thought of sharing my experience with you. This is the experience of more than 25000 people who cross this busy road (most of them are people working in big IT companies, which generate lot of revenue for the state). The vehicles meant to collect and dump garbage are spreading garbage across the city. There are other cities where garbage is managed much more efficiently, without causing trouble to the residents. This is a clear chaos by the city municipality.

Chennai residents ... raise your voice !!