They say the road to paradise is rough and rocky. And the road to the ‘Paradise of the South’, as Kovalam is known, lives up to the adage right from where it leads to the most beautiful spot in Kovalam, the Eve’s Beach.
The sheer drop of the road, as we turn from the main road to the Eve’s Beach, has been in pathetic shape fore over a year now, with the local people forgetting when they last smelt tar in the area.
Even on foot, going down or up the road, with a couple of sharp curves, is a tough task, particularly during the monsoon. And for vehicles, drivers say the road is the ultimate test for the efficiency of tyres and shock absorbers. For cars with low ground clearance, well, this is where the best of suspension setups could take a real beating with high chances of the car bottoming out.
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According to Sanal Kumar, who runs a garment shop right on the first curve as we head up from the beach towards the main road, the local people, after seeing their repeated requests, reminders and petitions to the Corporation being ignored, tried their own bit by patching up a few of the gaping potholes with concrete.
“That stood for about a year. But this road sees heavy traffic daily, with weekends seeing the traffic going beyond count. Now, with the road forcing drivers to slow down, not to forget that the width is not adequate for two vehicles to cross each comfortably, it’s daylong chaos on weekends,” he says.
Anish, Sanal’s partner, says the number of two-wheeler riders who lose balance and fall off as they try to rev up past the potholes is increasing, with some having quite rough falls as dusk falls. And this is the road to a beach that helped put Kerala right on the top of the must-visit destinations list across the globe.
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