Kochi is a city of 200 million potholes of varying sizes interrupted very infrequently by remnants of what has been certified as 'Tar' by the PWD ! Welcome to Monsoon Tourism in God's Own Country. Ayurvedic Massage for the battered backs is our USP!
This was my status update on the Facebook after I had a frustrating drive through the disgusting roads of Kochi.
Some of my friends liked it. Some thought this was exaggerated and some others thought there were other places even worse. Dr. Uma Shankar, my senior from Bellary Medical College who now lives in Mangalore thought it was worse in his place.
Dr. Shafeeq Mohammad, another friend suggested I should write a book on this subject. Well, a book is a long haul. I will settle for a blog-post. For all those who doubt my assessment and sincerity, here I am with illustrations!
The First snap was taken on the morning after the first downpour of the season.
The next three are taken just three days into this monsoon season.
Click on the picture and you'll see the 'BIG' Potholes !
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| Birth of Potholes |
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| The ill-fated Thammanam - Pulleppady road looks like this |
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| These snaps were shot over a stretch of 2km |
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| This one is a Crater - Am I exaggerating? |
This is the state of the main and new arteries of Kochi. Lesser said about the older ones is better. I am not exaggerating one bit when I say there is not a single 1km stretch of road in Kochi without at least one crater large enough to sink a two-wheeler.
A 22 year old boy lost his life in a bike accident this week. Another of his mates is on the ventilator fighting death. It is very easy to blame youngsters for recklessness. But how much of a role our roads have in these tragedies? Needs a study!
It is such a pity not a single Politician worth his starched and well pressed khadi shirt has died in a road accident in Kochi. I am not being mean, just a tad too bitter.
The road-rage is worsening by the day. The two wheeler people are careless. The Three-wheelers are callous and the private bus drivers behave like law unto themselves. This will be a matter for another post altogether!
But why do people behave so badly on the roads? The answer is simple, "Bad Roads turn perfectly sane people into Bad Drivers"!
In Kochi, there is a new slogan: "All Roads lead to Hell"!
As the Monsoon progresses, these potholes will graduate into craters and then valleys. Trust me, I will be back with more status updates and illustrations if one of these craters doesn't swallow my poor little Santro along with me. I believe I will survive like most of Kochiites! And like Inspector Bharath Chandran, I pronounce, "I will come back" !!!
Hi Govindraj,
ReplyDeleteIt is nothing different in our home town too (Moodbidri or Karkala).We cant blame everything to contractors or politicians.Part of that should be taken by our incessant rain in the region too.
Dont you think we are also partly resposible for this.We dont want to leave any place on either side of the road to drain rain water...we are busy making our approach to shops and houses comfortable by closing roadside drains and during rainy season water flows only on roads ...leads to situation like this.
Anyhow above article is nicely written..Keep writting.
Subodh
Welcome Subodh,
ReplyDeleteIt is true we have our own faults. But a roads disintegrating after 1 rain, just 1 rain is criminal. There is some 'eyewash' inquiry being held here in Kerala. No Indian town or city is free of potholes. But Kochi is the Capital City of Pothole-land! I am not exaggerating!