Weekly Note 26 | 'A great movement', sleepy drives and 'giving company'

I realised after reaching the entry ramp to the Chennai - Blr expressway that bikes are banned. It was not enforced on the approach from bangalore, possibly because I entered it from the Satellite Town Ring Road. But I wonder what the value of banning bikes is, if the inability to maintain expressway speeds is the problem, why not ban bikes of a certain speed-power class?

On my way here and on my trip to, I crossed Pernampattu, a border village in TN after crossing a small strip of Andhra. There was a strong smell of old meat (atleast what I thought it was) and something I ignored the last time. This time I looked around and realised that these were tanneries. The wikipedia page of Pernampattu municipality reinforces this observation. Andhra and Karnataka have stricter regulations on cow/cattle slaughter ¹ and so cattle is often ‘trafficked’ to TN and Kerala for slaughter, making Pernampattu an ideal location at the border of two slaughter-restricting states.

Borewells seem to be great markers of what were previously neighbourhood social spaces. I find them in the middle of primary roads, and outside new and large walled societies/apartments.

When I was younger, I used to hear the notion of ‘giving company’ very often. My mother would ask me to accompany my father on his trips to their village. Why don’t you go with him on his evening walk? ‘போயிட்டுதான் வாயேன்…வேற என்ன பண்ணீட்டு இருக்க?’. I now see the value in the imposition to provide company, for as a kid, it was a very careless concern for me, there was not a lot to be alone with and boredom was real. Boredom seldom appears now, and company rarely is easy in this city and in my lifestyle.