When travel mirrored the leisurely pace of life by railgenie on 25 August, 2013 - 07:56 AM | ||
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railgenie | When travel mirrored the leisurely pace of life on 25 August, 2013 - 07:56 AM | |
They moved like giant snails, at their own pace. But when life itself was leisurely paced, trams in Chennai — the service came to a stop in 1953 — did not seem as if they belonged to the Jurassic age.They travelled at a maximum speed of 7 kmph but have left behind pleasant memories of a time when every inch of city roads was not occupied by vehicles.“I would not call the journeys thrilling. But travel in a slow-moving tram, seated by the windows, offered me excellent sightseeing opportunities. At one anna (1/16th of a rupee), they were ideal for a pleasant journey,” said writer and Sahitya Akademi winner Ashokamitran.Run by the Madras Electricity System (MES), trams on rails dominated Chennai roads back then and remained a convenient mode of transport for office-goers.“People from Mylapore travelled in trams to reach the High Court and other parts of the city. They boarded and detrained as they pleased, as trams moved very slowly,” said Mr. Ashokamitran.A strike by workers who demanded wage revision led to a lockout. Subsequently, Chief Minister C. Rajagopalachari favoured the idea of ending the service, bringing the curtains down on 67 years of its run. “But the rails embedded on roads continued to remind Chennaiites of the tram days. For many years, they were not removed as they cost a fortune,” said Mr. Ashokamitran, who arrived in Chennai in 1953 to settle down permanently on an invitation from S.S. Vasan, owner of Gemini Studios. |