The Block

St. Lamentine’s phone has been ringing non-stop and there is a good reason why she would be worked to exhaustion today. I complained that I got bloggers block, little did I know that I shouldn’t have used the word ‘block’ so lightly.
The exact magnitude of the word was explained to me by the set of events that has left the most brilliant resources of the Chennai IT industry sun tanning themselves just a few yards away from the office….
A ROAD BLOCK
Tsunami formed a very persuasive reason for the slum dwellers of the marina coast to shift to the slum clearance board flats in thoraipakkam which is the start of the stretch of OMR (Ol’ Mahabalipuram Road) that houses software giants and pygmies one after the other all the way up to pondicherry.
But these city workers get just 2 buses going away from their present location back into the city…. a pittance for a force of 20000 people that have moved here.
Also for this last week, there has been no water or electricity for them. So they did what any desperate mob would do, hit where it hurts most.
As a result the artery to the IT offices has been blocked and the buses and vans stand paralyzed. The sardonic crowd says that this problem of getting to work and schools on time is something they are being made to face everyday and that they want the ‘upper classes’ (us IT guys) to walk in their shoes for just a day and see their pain.
Facing the undercurrent of the riots breaking out anytime many stayed back in the buses, venturing out only to the roadside shops to buy soft drinks and biscuits. But the plucky ones (like me) took the alternate route by the small alleyways that run parallel to the main road and reach the office now. The crowd of the protesters has now marked even that and I count myself as being lucky to have escaped the intimidation of a physical assault from the mob if anyone tries to get past them on the way to office.
“Call the collector to talk to us and we’ll let you pass”, they say,
“Call the Chief Minister to hear our case”.
All the administrative offices of the IT companies are no doubt in touch with the secretariat for a long time since the day broke. Mission Accomplished.
In all, if I were a protestor, I would call this a very clever and efficient way to attract attention to my cause.
The ‘sit-in’s were very much the 70s way to get things done in America and I am thinking, just like the 70s bell bottoms and the psychedelic colors that are making their way back into current fashion, may be the protesting styles are making a comeback too.
Meanwhile irate IT professionals have been giving St.Lamentine many earfuls since 8 AM, I think she needs resuscitation.
Time to get back to work (worship)
Rain