Seventy-seven-year-old Kuppuswamy and (below) Arjunan
| Photo Credit: Prince Frederick
At School Road South in Sholinganallur, a memorial shelter approximates to a public square. Overlooking a pond and shaded by a sprawling banyan tree, the structure essentially meant for the local community to perform 16th day rituals of the deceased, recommends itself as an all-season hangout. And local residents act on that recommendation.Under the maintenance of Ward 199 in Zone 15 of Greater Chennai Corporation, the structure is a roofed pavilion, largely open on the sides, thereby making for optimal ventilation, a factor encouraging people to have a spot of relaxation in a cloistered environ, particularly during summer.The space hosting the structure has another utility, designed as an add-on, but comes with an everyday relevance. Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) had installed a hand pump, and the pump is worked vigorously every day, a horde of people heading to it with pots; they do not have provisions for direct supply of water to their homes, many of which are hovels.And the handle is now being worked up and down much harder, but that does not help. The water flow is slow despite the efforts.School Road South has mixed housing. Apartments with round-the-clock amenities that can be had without raising one’s little finger. And on the other hand, the road has pockets that wear blue-collar fatigues as well as present a vignette of the locality’s pastoral past, rudely interrupted only around 20 years ago by the Information Technology juggernaut.Arjunan is running late for work, and the lethargic flow of water is adding to his stress. He is a mason, and every man hour he gives his employer is significant, and the latter would frown on late-coming with a more twisted visage than would a supervisor at an IT company.Arjunan notes that the water flow is slow for the last two months as the washer needs replacement.Kuppuswamy, 77 years old, is not in gainful employment, but has hardly retired to a life of ease and unaccountability. By the look of things, he never will. Under his breath, he mumbles that everyone at home wave their employed status at him, and march him off to the hand pump to fill ten pots of water in the morning.He is also the baby sitter of the family, having been tasked with taking care of its youngest member while the rest are out earning the daily bread. CMWSSB can ease his burden in the mornings.For the benefit of a group of low-income households, massed together at one spot, CMWSSB has provided water on tap, one connection for that settlement, but the tap is running dry.If this provision had been productive, this enervated senior would have been spared the strain of working a stubborn hand pump.Located at Kalaignar Karunanidhi Salai, the Sholinganallur Zone 15 office (Area XV) is not far from these spots, but the will to make things easy for people whose life is tough on any given day, seems to be light years away. Published - June 08, 2026 10:00 am IST
