Recently had an opportunity to travel on the road in kerala literally almost the length of kerala . I love road travel because not only the changing landscape is very palpable which you never get the feel in rail or air travel . I enjoyed the travel thanks to the company of two people i like very much my cousin and his dad . And of course travelling in a high end SUV was quite comfortable . Part of the journey was done in a small hatchback .Its said all blogs should start in an optimistic note but when the road is filled with gutters (its a highway ) and though its my uncles cars suspension at stake i looked at the beautiful coconut tree laden landscape to be filled with optimism . But in between i couldnt help but look at the roads and wonder how inspite of being the most literate state and quarrelling for the silliest reasons with each other kerala has one of the worst roads in india . Its a paradox because countless amounts of media space and waking hour discussions is spend on this "road " topic but still roads are as bad as 10 years back . This would have been ok but at least two of our favorite filmstars had their lives ended in tragedy not because of "accident " but poor road state . And these are the same roads through which most malayalis kin drive to reach their loved ones and also when they drive to the nearest hospital in an emergency . Sorry , i wanted to be optimistic ...
Anyway after a brief shopping spree at kochi we travelled through a wonderful stretch of road to trichur one of the few well maintained roads in kerala . Having used to roads in other states even the highways in mumbai city i loved this stretch . What used to take double the time previously has been cut in half by this nice stretch of road . Further north the roads were not as tragic as the south of kochi stretch but head on collisions was always a possibility as though a highway overtaking was always a risk due to the narrowness and poor road manners . The saving grace was the changing landscapes each area showing the local culture with trichur , calicut , mahe , thalassery and kannur enroute ..The high end SUV trimmed out the uneven stretches of the road and in kerala the big size and formidableness of the SUV helped to some extent in getting some clearing in the road chaos .
The return trip at night through thin traffic was much better . Here too my uncle was wondering why tolls were being collected at numerous points especially when roads were horrible just metres from the toll booth . In kerala where people are more interested in what an undertrial eats in central jail (solar scam : sarita , shalu menon etc filling the news for the third week now ) i told my uncle please relax this is Gods own country .......In heaven there are no roads ....And yes .. i wont buy a BMW here because a BMW is not a boat :)
PS : Next time anyone of the people we know dies in an accident due to poor road conditions it would be good if a public interest litigation is filed in high court . Because even in Bihar (yes they are "supposed" to be less literate ) they were thinking of sueing their chief minister for pesticide tragedy of kids ...(vicarious liability ) .
During my time with automotive service, one of my duties was to keep an eye on the service trends. Monitoring the recent trend helps you anticipate for the immediate future. These report helped the procurement department to order required parts in advance and to operate more efficient. Out of these reports, it was quite apparent that our state generally consumes a significant percentage of ‘wheel and suspension related parts’ compared to our neighboring states. Premature wear on tyres, Frequent wheel alignment issues, Repairs or replacement of lower arms, ball joints etc are common occurrence. I felt pity for all the customers who bought the high end low profile vehicles as I knew it’s just a matter of time before they return with a damaged under side. So these roads are not only discomforting to us but also makes us spent more on maintenance.
ReplyDeleteOh Regarding most Keralites, I feel It’s our people who are at fault, as they choose to enjoy media hypes/hoax, and not to bother about the real events which affects them on a daily basis. In this age where we have unprecedented access to information which can help establish alternative thought and broader world view, ignorance is a choice.