Dying For A Walk
Several years ago, as a reporter in Bombay, I would walk everywhere, not only because journalist salaries made one scrimp and scrounge but for the sheer pleasure of catching the buzz of the city. Many of the books in my collection came off the pavement book shops in addition to clothes and many other odds and ends. For four years, I even walked home from work – how many people in Bombay can boast of that luxury? – all the way from VT to Colaba bus station, chatting with a friend about life, philosophy, food, films, anything. Even today the Fort to VT is a pleasurable walk, of course only if it is after sunset, because most of this stretch has been converted into a pedestrian plaza. I did a bit of walking in Madras too – as it was known 17 years ago when I lived here. One could do it because there was not much traffic, no flyovers and certainly because the roads had pavements.But not anymore. As a senior citizen, who used to walk from Spencer's on Anna Salai, to his house in T'Nagar about 20 years ago, grumbles:"I don't even walk to the grocery store". And that's the fate of most Chennaites who are dying to walk. The well-heeled hit the gym/dancing schools, some go to neighbourhood parks for their morning constitutional and the rest, even if they are desperate to walk,choose not to hit the road and risk getting killed because there is no pavement towalk in.