In August 1990, I shifted to our house at Thoraipakkam with my two small children. The first Kuwait war was raging at that time and my husband was held hostage by Saddam Hussain’s soldiers together with all the passengers of the ill-fated British Airways flight .
He was held hostage for 28 days before he was released. Shifting our telephone took months and this incident added to our anxiety. The newspaper and milk used to arrive at six a.m. To renew our Aavin milk card we had to stand in a queue at the Aavin office in Adyar. The nearest hospital was ten kilometres away. There was a narrow road to reach Thoraipakkam. Areas beyond Eros theatre at Thiruvanmiyur, including Thoraipakkam, were unchartered territory. Interior roads were almost non-existent. Bullock carts were the only means of transport inside the area.
There was the pristine wetland at Pallikaranai. We had trees and pure air. There were a few houses, occupied by the original settlers. People were warm and friendly. There was peace.
A road to the airport was in the layout plan.
Things have changed.
Now the milkman takes care of Aavin milk card renewal for a fee. The narrow road has been replaced by the six-lane Rajiv Gandhi Road — the trees have been replaced by IT skyscrapers, hostels and garbage dumps. The airport road now is a four-lane highway, lined on one side by unauthorised hutments, sold and re-sold to unsuspecting people, and on the other side by burning garbage at Pallikaranai.
Famous hospitals are now walking distances away — so that senior citizens who faint due to toxic fumes from the burning garbage can be physically carried to the hospital.
Now, life has got better and worse at the same time.
(Mary Mani Joseph is one of the founder members of Thoraipakkam Ladies Club)
