Where is Singara Chennai?

Of late, Chennai City, the “Singara Chennai” which they wanted to make of it, is going from bad to worse. The City’s multitudinous problems are forcing the residents to be always on the defensive, wary and distrustful of whatever they see or come across. While on the one hand, the law abiding, the meek and the too-busy-to-be-bothered are unmindful of what is happening around mainly because they don’t want to invite trouble, the others who consider themselves to be above law, on the other hand, get along with their usual unfair and unwholesome activities. It is true that the law-abiding, passive and the meek are guilty of no-action where action is warranted. The above-the-law and aggressive people who are on the loose take advantage of the situation and indulge in activities of foul, objectionable and disagreeable nature. Their activities range from violations of traffic rules to encroachment of pedestrian platforms to unauthorized parking.

Do we have a street which is free from parked vehicles from outside the street’s residents? Do we have streets which have clear and clean platforms for the pedestrians, particularly children, to walk along in safety to and from their Schools? Do we have streets which have vehicles plying in orderly and regulated manner free from creating noise and air pollution? Do we have streets free from pits, water stagnation and garbage strewn all around? No, the answer to all these questions is a big NO! But then, where is “Singara Chennai?” It is in the pedestrian platforms being used as urinals, used as godowns to store sand, iron rods, petty shops, watchmen’s shelter; it is in the streets being used as parking place for big private vans/buses, call-taxis, motor/cycle repair shops and what have you; it is in the streets being used to do rash-driving, creating noise and air pollution and blocking the entire width of the road giving little room for vehicles coming from the opposite direction.

But what then is the solution for all these ills and evils? Yes, there is definitely a solution and answer which will be the ultimate answer for these evils. That is discipline, self-discipline. No one need regulate, no authority is required to enforce rules and regulations, if only each citizen decides to follow the Dos and Don’ts.

Do raise your voice and stand up and be counted, when anyone violates rules.
Don’t use pedestrian platforms for foul purposes.
Do go one behind the other in the traffic, Don’t overtake, Don’t go abreast, Don’t ever encroach on the right half of the road.
Do create appropriate and adequate parking space of your own for parking vehicles belonging to you and Don’t park your vehicles all over the streets.
“If you change the way you think, you'll change the way you act. If you change the way you act, you'll be able to change the way others act and think. If you change the way others act and think, you can help change the world— one person at a time. But it all begins with you.” Therefore, set an example!
Quote: Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue - Oscar Wilde