The Great Pavement Heist: Where Did Chennai's Footpaths Go?

It's an everyday ballet of sorts, you could say, playing out on the streets of Chennai. Pedestrians, those humble souls simply trying to get from A to B on foot, are forced into a precarious dance with roaring traffic. Why, you ask? Because, honestly, the very spaces meant for them – the pavements – have, in many of the city's most affluent pockets, simply vanished. Eaten up, almost entirely, by a brazen mix of parked vehicles, impromptu ramps, and frankly, just plain old debris.

You see, take a stroll, if you dare, through areas like Kotturpuram or the rather swish MRC Nagar. These aren't your crumbling, forgotten bylanes; these are locales where property values soar, where folks pay hefty taxes, and where one might reasonably expect some semblance of civic order. Yet, for all the manicured lawns and gleaming facades, the pedestrian experience is, well, dismal. One moment you're on a path, the next, a luxury sedan has claimed it as its personal parking spot, or a steep, uninviting ramp has materialized, ushering you straight into the chaotic embrace of oncoming cars and bikes. And what's left? A scattering of sand, building waste, or perhaps a broken drain slab, all conspiring to make walking a rather treacherous affair.

It's not just an inconvenience, mind you. It's a genuine safety hazard, especially for the elderly, for children, or anyone navigating with a stroller or wheelchair. But then again, does anyone truly walk anymore? Maybe that's the unspoken question lurking in the shadows of these grand bungalows and gated communities. It feels, at times, like a silent concession: if you live here, you drive here. Pedestrians? Perhaps an oversight, or a quaint relic of a bygone era.

And who's to blame? Is it the car owners, with their often-unthinking appropriation of public space? Is it the municipal authorities, who seem to turn a blind eye to these daily encroachments? Or is it, perhaps, a collective shrug of indifference from a society that, for all its advancements, sometimes forgets the simplest, most fundamental right: the right to walk safely on one's own city streets? The footpaths of Chennai's 'posh' areas stand, or rather, don't stand, as a rather stark testament to this peculiar civic conundrum.