A walk
down the Taramani road, on-lookers stare in awe at the clean wide roads with
well laid tarmac, with neatly maintained pavements and elegant bus-stops. This
is what Chennai has to offer to its people. However reality is that a lot more
happens than what just captures a wandering eye. Taking a peek beyond the glass
housed sectors; I would suggest the awed on-looker to travel from Taramani
station towards Chennai Beach Station via MRTS.
What
greets the eye then – is reality. Jogging along with the local train is the
Cooum River. A river which once facilitated trade through the ancient port of
Manarpha (present day Mylapore) centuries before; and during the British rule
became the predominant means of transport; has now been enslaved by
‘pollution’, a tyrant ruler. It caused the water to become heavily toxic that
it cannot hold dissolved oxygen, driving out the aqua-marine species in the
river. On the Cooum delta, dotes a few hundreds of hutmen huddled together in
an irregular fashion, being home to the many faceless Chennai folks. On banks
of a flourishing river thrives a rich settlement; however on the banks of
polluted river also thrives this population, but their survival conditions is
just as bad as the river could ever get. Small temporary ceiling over an
enclosure of four walls is their shelter; good sanitation seems a farfetched
option while mosquitoes and other insects multiply in glory. For those people
survival is an everyday challenge – Poverty, they call it, whose wings are
spread all through the world. This is the reality of Chennai, and the world at
large. One side there are buildings and malls coming up with high-end
engineering and architecture, while the other end people who live in the very
same city face shelter and sanitation crisis
on a daily basis. As the train galloped down the track, one can see the piles
of plastic waste lying around all over the huts and into the already polluted
river; one can see cows living and drinking the impure waters; one can see
little children playing in the sickly garbage and posters being a protection to
leaking ceilings. These scenes are just a few to mention. These penuries are
hidden behind the lofty roads; the artificial high life setup on the outside
while all it takes is just a few yet firm baby steps to clean up the mess. It
is either now or never. On one side, there are huge well maintained rest rooms in
malls, being an epitome of cleanliness while; just a few hundreds of meters
away people do not even have a basic one. While an entertainment arena can be
maintained so well, so can a delta of once-upon-a-time fabled river.
In
every difficulty lies an opportunity. A two way beneficial model can be deployed;
those people can clean up the waste and garbage around the river and they will
be paid wages for the same. It’s a win-win situation; their life improves both
financially as well as sanitation-wise. It’s just a thought in paper for now,
for a start; It is time we start thinking.