If you are the gambling kind, how high would you be willing to go in placing a bet? Chances are you will set a limit of risk beyond which you dare not venture because there’s too much at stake. Not on the OMR. Here what is placed on the table is your life, or other’s, whether you’re a gambler or not. For the state of the road has driven the already indisciplined traffic round the bend.

The traffic flows on either side of the dividers, depending on the state of the road, or the whim of the drivers. It doesn’t matter if you are in your lane, and heading down the motorable part of it. You will suddenly see motorbikes or cars coming at you with wild abandon. With absolutely no caution, let up in speed or conscious of the fact that they are on the wrong side of the road.

Both two wheelers and cars will come right at you, depending on you to stop or move out of the way. It doesn’t matter if that means you are pushed into giant pot holes. If you don’t, there will be a collision and someone will get hurt, leave alone the vehicles damaged. It’s a finely tuned form of blackmail, where you become responsible for their safety. The kings of the road, of course, are the buses and trucks which drive rough shod over these roads.

The police are not much in evidence along the road, only at major junctions. One really cannot fault them, for the state of the road is causing people to take these diversions to save the wear and tear on their vehicles and, indeed, their bodies (With all the jolting and spine jarring holes in the road). So one can’t blame the drivers and riders either, except for the lack of caution or consideration for others going through the same fate (Not surprising given that the one thing we lack as a city is civic sense, and consideration for fellow citizens).

It’s the city father’s who have to take responsibility. For I suspect the condition of the road now falls between two stools. The Chennai Corporation (or the Highways Dept) would have handed over the road to ITEL, the nodal body building the IT Corridor (at snail’s pace). So they aren’t going to do anything about them. ITEL’s view is we are going to be developing it anyway, so what’s the point of repairing the road at this point? The point is that hundreds of thousands of people use this road everyday to go to and from work. And the state of the road is endangering their lives and well being in many ways.

Once again, I wish there could be a sense of responsibility or accountability for someone in Government who would look at the state of affairs and say, “No this is not right!”, and do something about it. Perhaps some one responsible for the city administration -like Stalin who seems involved and concerned. In the meantime, if you have to venture down the OMR, proceed with caution. And be prepared to gamble with your life.