Marina at random - puddles of water - rough sea - new born calf and buffaloes walking !!!

It rained and it rained – throwing Chennai out of gears  - here is something random ! Can the beach be kept locked, preventing entry – especially to cattle ? – perhaps, Corporation tried the trusted way ! 

At the famous Marina beach, there was puddles of water in the sands opposite to Vivekanandar Illam  – and on 9^th Nov 2015, when rain stopped for awhile in the evening, the sea looked very rough.   

Nearer home at Vijay Avenue, the cow gave birth to a calf and here is the new-born – on its birthday itself ! To some -: "Cows are amongst the gentlest of breathing creatures."  Cows are sacred.  There were hundreds of them with equal or more numbers of buffaloes.  One can find cows, buffaloes, horses and more at Triplicane and in Marina.  Recently, Corporation made arrangements providing enclosure for cattle nearer Marina ground, where the owners can tie and rest their animals, instead of letting them out on the roads.   The enclosure put up beneath the MRTS track has soil floors and fixed iron rings for tethering the cows and buffaloes.  This has reduced the no. of cattle on road, though not fully eliminated.

On the beach road, people drive mad – in the early morning when the visibility is poor, those driving – seeing the road free, tend to drive much faster.  There have been some accidents too.  Sometimes, some unruly youngsters organise illegal road-races too imperilling the other road users.  For children, we used to tell – that ‘beach would remain closed during hot day time – and will be opened only in the evening’ – so that they don’t insist on being taken to sands in the day time – and enjoy the cool sea breeze and lovely ripples of Ocean in the evening. 

Chennai Corporation erected  civil structures that will prevent cattle from entering the beach road.  It was stated that the cattle running on to the beach road from by-lanes cause accidents – some get injured or die – some vehicle drivers and other road users too get involved in nasty accidents.  Dinamalar stated that works at Avvai Shanmugham salai was on at a cost of 6.5 lakhs. 

A cattle grid (UK English), also known as a stock grid in Australia; cattle guard in American English; and vehicle pass, Texas gate, or stock gap in the U.S. Southeast; or a cattle stop in New Zealand English – is a type of obstacle used to prevent livestock, such as sheep, cattle, pigs, horses, or mules from passing along a road or railway which penetrates the fencing surrounding an enclosed piece of land or border. It consists of a depression in the road covered by a transverse grid of bars or tubes, normally made of metal and firmly fixed to the ground on either side of the depression, such that the gaps between them are wide enough for animals' legs to fall through, but sufficiently narrow not to impede a wheeled vehicle or human foot. This provides an effective barrier to animals without impeding wheeled vehicles, as the animals are reluctant to walk on the grates.

For more than a fortnight the traffic was halted – for constructing a cattle-grid in Sunkuwar Street, on the road leading to Thiruvallikkeni MRTS station and more. ..after many a days, it was thrown open to public – now walking saw a group of buffaloes casually amble across – actually it is slippery and even humans take a cautious walk on the ramblers, but, buffaloes appear quite comfortable – have they mastered the art 0r would the construction only prevent sheep, cows and not … !!!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

11^th Nov. 2015.