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Snakes and settlers

December 20, 2014 08:55 pm | Updated 08:55 pm IST - Chennai

T.R. Raghavan on the days when doctors went on house visits every weekend and reptiles crossed people’s paths regularly

The Indian Air Force is celebrating its Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary). The picture shows an aerial view of the IAF Station in Madras.

The decision to buy a plot in the suburbs led me to East Tambaram six decades ago. The first day I travelled to my workplace from my new address, it was challenging. I had to travel by the Pallavan bus, which was packed with vendors who were carrying goods — vegetables, fish, meat and other eatables — to the market.

The daily commute was difficult for us. However, when we returned home, the open land and the breeze were a balm to our tired bodies.

We would use the only available bus service (route no. 51-A) between Tambaram and Agaramthen, because our house was located mid-way between these two areas.

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To reach home, we would walk through the IAF quarters, enjoying the tranquillity of the open fields and the aroma of the freshly made chappathis, saying ‘namaste’ to everyone we met on the way. From safety pins to groceries and motorcycles, the IAF Quarters was where everything could be purchased.

Now, when I walk through the thoroughfare near the IAF Quarters, I feel sad to see the area filled with more quarters leaving little space for breathing.

In our Association (Balaji Nagar & Padmavathy Nagar Residents Welfare Association,) we used to sponsor individual-endowment prizes to competent persons on achievements.

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There was a happy occasion when my daughter was crowned the best singer of that area.

There was a sense of oneness among the residents of the area. Our Association celebrated the Silver Jubilee with greetings from the then District Collector.

Near the Indian Air Force Training is the centuries-old Madras Christian College, next to Tambaram Railway Station and only a few schools in the area. In East Tambaram, sighting snakes was common.

When anyone would bring up the subject and ask, “How do we live with them?”, I would say the snakes should be asking the question because we had come to live in their area.

For almost every condition, residents turned to one lady doctor and a male doctor, who would pay a visit to every household in the neighbourhood on their motorcycles, every weekend, to find out if everyone was fine.

For medical emergencies, residents would go to a Public Health Centre at Camp Road Junction. Dr. Gangadhar Sarma, a skin specialist from Hindu Mission Hospital, West Tambaram, was the patron-doctor running the show.

He would travel by his cycle to visit people.

Today, East Tambaram has shed its sleepy character. It is bustling. The development of the section around the IAF Quarters, which would be idyllic in the past, is symbolic of the changes that have taken place across the area.

Every available space seems to have been occupied. Transport facilities have improved, but many of the roads are still bad.

(T.R. Raghavan, Former president,Balaji Nagar & Padmavathy Nagar Residents Welfare Association, Selaiyur, East Tambaram.)

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