A walk to remember those who can`t
remember` screamed a banner carried by a
few senior citizens as a part of a campaign by the Dignity Foundation to
commemorate the World Alzheimer`s Day, recently. Terry Fox Run is an annual
non-competitive charity event held over 600 cities in 53 countries exclusively
for funding cancer research. Then there are Half Marathons, Full Marathons
organised by various bodies to create awareness about some issue or the other. There are also `Cyclothons` and `Swimathons` besides `Alertothon` conducted by an NGO
called ALERT devoted to first aid &
emergency care training. I am sure there are many other `thons`about
which I am not aware of. However, a few weeks ago
I was pleasantly surprised to see a small group of tiny tots in their baby
tricycles going up & down the Bessy holding
tiny placards with some slogans. It was appropriately called `Kiddathon`
organsied by EuroKids Preschools, a popular play school for kids. It was cute sight
to behold!
As
a regular walker at Bessy, as the Elliots beach front in Besant Nagar is
popularly known, I witness such events almost every other weekend. Bessy is
used either as a starting point or finishing point or both.
When I was going through a recent issue of a local newspaper, I read about seven such events over
one weekend in Chennai..Yes, the number of Walkathons, Marathons and Runs have
grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years that almost every other
weekend, Bessy is crowded with enthusiastic citizens of Chennai from all walks of
life, of all age groups and all income levels. Chennai can be truly described as the
`Marathon/ Walkathon capital`. Many come from distant suburbs to participate in
such events. The causes for which such
events are held are as varied as the kind of people who participate. For most
of them it is an interesting outing on a weekend morning coupled with a service
objective. After the event many of them, who come with families also spend some
time on the beach and patronize the food stalls nearby.
While
the events are for worthy causes, the regular walkers who use the Bessy for
their morning constitutionals find the events disturbing. Not only the beach
fronts but also the approach roads leading to the beach fronts are blocked by the traffic police for all kinds of
automobiles- both the two wheeler and four wheeler varieties. The locals, many
of them senior citizens, find the events of great nuisance value. They don`t
like the invasion of their privacy by `outsiders`. Many activists in the area have
started protesting to the police and corporation against granting permission
for such events not only because it upsets their routine but also because the
crowd leaves the beach front dirty. Bessy becomes ‘messy’!
As
one of them, while I have my sympathies with the locals, I do feel that the
`Locals` cannot claim exclusive rights for
using the Bessy. It belongs to
all Chennaivasis. If some of them want to use it as a venue for group activities,
we should not object. They have a right to do so. After all, these activities
happen only for 30 to 40 days in a year- the rest of the days Bessy remains the
exclusive privilege of the locals. While there is scope for the traffic police
to manage the crowds better, I feel we should not object to such events being
held at Bessy.
This article
has appeared in the 23 Feb.-02,March, 2019 issue of Adyar Tmes undermy cpoumn
`Rajan`s Random Reflections`
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