P Yogeshwaran has taken numerous strolls down Besant Nagar 24th Cross Street, his steps declining from a smooth stride to a heavy lumber, age-induced.
A retired Tamil Professor from Presidency College, Yogeshwaran had moved into Besant Nagar 28th Cross Street in 1970, and the walk down 24th Cross Street has remained an irreplaceable part of his daily routine.
Now, this street — 24th Cross Street — is to fitness-walkers what a race-track straight is to tarmac burners.
There are no distracting turns, and with a few trips on Shank’s Mare up and down this road, the limbs and mind get sufficiently fired up for the day.
Residents of other Cross streets that lead into 24th Cross Street make use of this stretch for walking, just as Yogeshwaran does every day. The street would have enriched their experience with a dash of aesthetics, if a green strip lining it had been in fine fettle.
Over the years, this green strip has accumulated colours other than green, which detract from the original intention with which it had been designed by the Corporation.
Here and there, the brick-and-mortar defining the strip is not in one piece. In certain parts, the grill is as attractive as a smile with a couple of teeth knocked out of place. This strip is also affected by the squalor that comes from people leaving behind litter. In short, it hardly makes for a pretty picture.
Though this facility is already bad enough, Yogeshwaran remarks that it has become more presentable than it was sometime ago.
At that point in time, which the retired professor is familiar with, this green strip would have hit the nadir, but as it exists now, it is still way below the acceptable score on the cleanliness and aesthetics meter. Rajeshwari Arunachalam, secretary, Eliots Beach Flat Owners Association and a resident of 27th Cross Street Besant Nagar, expresses the collective desire to see the green strip on 24th Cross Street spruced up.
In addition, she echoes another sentiment of residents of the many cross streets linked to this street.
“On Sunday, 24th Cross Street is chock-a-block with vehicles parked on both sides.”
She elaborates that these vehicles come via Second Main Road and Fourth Main Road and end up here, and gum up the works.
“Residents are unable to take their vehicles out,” she says, adding that “on Sunday alone, 24th Cross Street should be made one-way, with entry being allowed from any one side.”
And of course, she emphasises, one-side parking of vehicles should be enforced on this street.
