TRAFFIC WOES RETURN ON C. V. RAMAN ROAD

We should have known. It was too good to last. The silence, the tranquillity, the clean atmosphere is gone. Our road is back to what it was one month ago – non-stop traffic from 6 am to 11 pm.

Powerful lobbying by traders whose businesses were adversely affected has brought about the change. The traffic authorities have bowed down under pressure, (posters pasted all over the place with demands for reversion were only part of it) and retracted the changes made.

For nearly 15 years, since the flyover was built adjacent to our road, and the first public bus came rattling down like a road-roller, we have been living in an atmosphere of pollution and dust. Why, I only have to stand still for 5 minutes, and I would be covered in dust.

To keep the house really clean, we have to dust everything every hour. Since this is not physically possible, we restrict it to twice a day. Our voices have been honed to a reverberating pitch due to constantly out-shouting the traffic with the effort of making ourselves heard.

Apart from the growls and roars of macho motorcycles and silencer-less autos, there is the dreadful honking when traffic comes to a standstill, on account of the lights at the corner. Don’t people realise that nobody wants to be caught in a traffic snarl? The person ahead of you is just as eager to get moving – so WHY HONK?

Surely C. V. Raman Road seniors also need some peace and quiet in their own homes, our children need to study in a peaceful atmosphere, and our babies sleep ?

I am thinking of asking the Traffic Commissioner to tea one day and serve it on our balcony, so he can see for himself. And too bad if the dust in his tea is not all tea.