Festivals bring a lot of joy for many. Long holidays, meeting friends, endless feast, new clothes, new movie releases of your favourite heroes, it is a time for fun and frolic. But for me, they are special, because I get back my city to myself. With all outsiders heading back to their hometowns, my city looks and feels as it should be.
Empty roads, except for a few buses and cars, with some cyclists and instantly reduced pollution and noise levels, it’s a joy for any Chennaivasi, who wants his/her city like this. For me, it brings back fond memories of Madras and my growing up years – the lovely seventies and eighties. I made it a point to go on a long drive this morning on the entire stretch of mount road, nungambakkam high road, cathedral road and the marina beach road, as these are precious moments bestowed upon us very rarely.
If only our governments worked constructively towards developing more cities and towns by creating job opportunities locally, people will not move to metros. Real estate prices will not sky-rocket, admissions in schools will not become so competitive, inflation levels would come down and importantly people would lead quality and healthy lives.
And lovers of Madras, Bombay, Calcutta and Delhi like me would get their cities to themselves… I wish…
