Chennai Times

The share auto in chennai, is like no other vehicle on earth, two of them don't resemble each other either. it is a strange contraption put together in a tinkering shop with steel rods and tin sheets and a diesel motor that can power this entire structure and drag a weight of approximately 8 people including the driver. so, obviously we load about 15 people into it. it travels at about 50 kms amidst the chennai traffic, which is against all known laws and sense. this strange machine operates mostly in the chennai sub-urbs and is a convenient transport at affordable cost for those who cannot afford an auto for themselves, particularly into the small million colonies into which the metro-buses don't venture yet. strangers share seats with each other at very close proximity sharing their breath, sweat and other body odour with strangers without a choice and hang on to their dear life mouthing prayers sure, twice every day as they commute from bus stands and railway stations to th...

Have been wanting to write this for some time now. I pass by on section of the road used by the CM about half an hour ahead of him everyday. Without fail I observe a series of thin, scrawny, women constables who decorate both sides of the road at equal intervals. They are everywhere, even on top of the flyover. The special white badge that police personnel in the CM route have to wear adorns their uniforms. My question is what are they doing in the hot sun? They are not controlling any crowds, on a normal day there are no crowds to cheer the CM in every street corner. They are not certainly regulating traffic, this we have important looking traffic cops who can appear in the roadside just a few minutes before the CMs convoy appears, shout, scream, shriek and ensure that the traffic is frozen till the convoy leaves and just as swiftly disappear after the stipulated number of seconds they are supposed to hold the traffic frozen. But, the poor women constables arrive well in advance and h...