He hops about as helplessly as a tailender targeted with sharply rising bounders by a pack of tearaways. On the front foot and the next nanosecond, pushed back to the backfoot. After a series of unsuccessful lunges, he decides to wade into a blur of passing vehicles. With another pedestrian next to him, he puts one hand up asking the motorists to rein in the horses for pedestrians to cross the road.
Welcome to a challenging pedestrian crossing in Nandanam, one that lacks a particular name, having acquired a variety of them from the institutions on both sides of Anna Salai. There is the well-known Periyar Building. On the same side, there is the bus stop that takes its name from Nandanam YMCA. On the other side, there is the fire and rescue station, Saidapet and the Tamil Nadu Housing Board office buildings. There is no dearth of names to ascribe to the pedestrian crossing, but a paucity of measures to make it safe for pedestrians.
The thinking to have a pedestrian crossing at this spot of Anna Salai is, well, spot-on, as the next pedestrian crossing on both sides is as distant as Neptune. In the current scenario where the focus is on having free-flowing vehicular traffic on Anna Salai through a quick succession of U-turns, seeking a pedestrian signal at this crossing would tantamount to asking for the moon. However, given the volume and the pace of the vehicular traffic around this crossing, making that request is par for the course.
Pedestrians can be seen rooted to the pedestrian refuge island for what would feel like an eon, as vehicles whiz past. It is disheartening that this pedestrian crossing has not been given the least of the essentials, a zebra crossing.
