The road which was once the main access to the historical city mahabalipuram, which was later diminished by the arrival of ECR (East-coast road) where from people simply forgot its existence, and again came back as the main IT-Corridor of the metropolitan chennai, thus making its land rates soar to peaks.. OMR or Old mahabalipuram road as it is called now, was once a narrow road of jus two lanes which was jus dotted with a very few villages here and there.. the villages now boasts by housing the offices of major IT giants such as PayPal, Ebay, Polaris, infosys, Tcs, Hcl, and loads more..
About a year back, driving was a pleasure in OMR because of the well laid roads and an awesome chance to go till 110Km/h and more in a vehicle but now, its a road where you ve to drive with atmost caution of all roads in chennai.. the parallel, lane-switching races of vehicles, starting from a mere tricycle to big enormous buses and trucks.. and not to mention the cows, dogs and other creatures which play hide and seek with you in the middle of the road. apart from this adds the case of vehicles stopping abruptly or parked on the side of the roads exactly at the places where you overtake someone. four lanes dont do justice to the wide range of vehicles which passes. its the road where you can see the grand-prix of the large containers and buses with, small cars and two wheelers running along like mouses and ants running through a wild elephant herd.
And during the peak hours, youll pay for your sins. i dont remember any signal in chennai, where i had to wait for around fifteen minutes, switching off my engine other than the sholinganallur junction signal in OMR. Guarded as a fortress by all the toll booths around, you ve to pay a toll of 35 up and down too.i recently had a chance to drive through OMR in my car at 9 A.M. and experienced the feeling of "driving in peak-hours"perfectly. it was the clutch and breaks i used more than the accelerator. and for the whole stretch of 30kms i travelled it was like the dashing-cars you have in the amusement parks, except for the case you ve to drive straight.. a kind of drag-race. what makes it even more worse, is the presence of Police-Speed traps. At exact places where you think "Oh God! at last", and rest your leg in the accelerator, comes the police out of simply nowhere, keeping his hands wide and stopping you, without caring even if you are going at 98km/h, with an evil grin on his place. when he stops he comes near and says, "ÿenna sir? 50 dhaan sir limit..ninga 60la vandhinga.. " at that time, you dont have the chance to even think about being happy that he said the speed limit lesser than you were actually going or feeling sad that it was a traffic violation anyhow. and in that tension, you ve to pay the fine amount and get back on road, maintaining your speed at 50, only to see all the other vehicles crossing by honking at you and shouting "konjam speeda pona koranja poiduva? "
yup the next time you drive in OMR, make sure you fasten your seat belts and get ready for the most terrible Oh-My-God experience you had in your lifetime of Driving.
And during the peak hours, youll pay for your sins. i dont remember any signal in chennai, where i had to wait for around fifteen minutes, switching off my engine other than the sholinganallur junction signal in OMR. Guarded as a fortress by all the toll booths around, you ve to pay a toll of 35 up and down too.i recently had a chance to drive through OMR in my car at 9 A.M. and experienced the feeling of "driving in peak-hours"perfectly. it was the clutch and breaks i used more than the accelerator. and for the whole stretch of 30kms i travelled it was like the dashing-cars you have in the amusement parks, except for the case you ve to drive straight.. a kind of drag-race. what makes it even more worse, is the presence of Police-Speed traps. At exact places where you think "Oh God! at last", and rest your leg in the accelerator, comes the police out of simply nowhere, keeping his hands wide and stopping you, without caring even if you are going at 98km/h, with an evil grin on his place. when he stops he comes near and says, "ÿenna sir? 50 dhaan sir limit..ninga 60la vandhinga.. " at that time, you dont have the chance to even think about being happy that he said the speed limit lesser than you were actually going or feeling sad that it was a traffic violation anyhow. and in that tension, you ve to pay the fine amount and get back on road, maintaining your speed at 50, only to see all the other vehicles crossing by honking at you and shouting "konjam speeda pona koranja poiduva? "
yup the next time you drive in OMR, make sure you fasten your seat belts and get ready for the most terrible Oh-My-God experience you had in your lifetime of Driving.
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