Take diversion

Note: This post would be better understood by those who have travelled a lot in and around Chennai.

This week has witnessed me taking some great traffic diversions, partly due to traffic advisories from friends and partly due to my bulb nature.

On Thursday, my car pool was going to start around 6.45 PM. Luckily, we got word from a friend of ours that he was stuck along our route for more than an hour. So we decided to snack slightly more than usual for the delay. We effectively started around 7.15 PM. We checked with the poor soul stuck in the jam and he told us that he had probably moved some 100 metres since the last call!

So, we decided to take an alternate route, which was basically a circuitous one. Akin to touching the right nostril with your right index finger by supporting your right forearm on the back of your head. In a way, pretty much like the unnecessarily long sentence that preceded this one.

For those familiar with the topography of this region, the route we took was: Mahindra City->Chengelpet->Thirkazhu Kundram->Mahabalipuram->Chennai via ECR. We had to pay toll at two places - one for the GST road and the other for ECR.

The reason for the jam was that the bride at Tambaram (where the GST goes over the railway track), was having some trouble and traffic was being regulated on the bridge with the Police allowing only 1-2 vehicles at a time to cross that stretch.

The next morning, we took a detour again, since we were not sure if the problem was still there. We took the ECR->Kovalam->Kelambakkam->Vandalur->Mahindra City route. That evening, we were given few false alarms and so decided to take the same route as on Thursday evening.

The evening route was actually a total of almost 85 KMs and took around 2.5 hours. A normal return along the GST usually takes 2 hours these days. For 30 more minutes, we at least get to have the car in motion in the 4th or 5th gear and that obviously increases the fuel efficiency.

That completes the highway detour story. Now starts the city story.

On Saturday, I was hosting my birthday lunch treat at a restaurant at T.Nagar. This was on Thanikachalam Road and I was informed that it is closer to the Pondy Bazaar side of the road. So, when I started from home, I thought of entering Pondy Bazaar through Mount Road, then take the left into Thanikachalam Road. Or the other option was to go from Nandanam signal, along Venakatanarayana road and then turn right on Thanikachalam road.

Mui chose the former. At first, I thought of going thru Eldams Road and cut across Mount Road to enter the Pondy Bazar road. So, I entered TTK Road with that intent. Half-way thru, I suddenly decided that I would take the MKB Road and then make a right to enter Mount Road and then take the left to the Pondy Bazaar road. Reason - SIVET college on MKB road.:D

When I reached the MKB-Mount road junction, I saw the signal indicating a left turn. But the right turn light did not work. So I thought, perhaps it would come up next. I put up my right indicator and waited patiently. After a couple of minutes, the signal (which in the mean time had returned to red), once again gave the permission to turn left. Then a cop came into my line of vision and pointed me towards the same direction. I understood that there was no right turn at that signal. I still wonder how I missed all those boards that said that there was no right turn there.

After making that left turn, I went along Mount road hoping to see a U-Turn segment. But none came along. By then I reached Nandanam signal and at that point I had no option but to continue with the plan B that I ditched earlier.

Very good lessons learnt over the past 2-3 days, especially the alternate route from office to home. Actually, we are also planning to try another route to get to T'Kundram without having to touch C'pet. I also hope that the no right turn regulation that I experienced, stays put for some more months at least!