Begin typing your search...
Residents go fishing on Velachery’s streets
Youngsters in low-lying areas of Velachery and Adambakkam made the most of the rain holiday by taking up fishing in their inundated neighbourhoods. Locals said fish from the Velachery Lake swam over into urban areas after the water level in the lake rose during the rains.
Chennai
There’s an old saying that goes 'make hay while the sun shines.' But for Chennaiites, battered by the monsoons, the mantra seems to be ‘go fishing, while it still rains.’
Residents living in Bhashyam Layout, near Vandikkaran Street (Cart Track Road) in Velachery were in for a little excitement on a rain-soaked Monday morning. Youngsters wading through the inundated streets with ankle-deep water were pleasantly delighted to find schools of fish swimming past their feet.
According to locals, the fish had swam across the roads adjoining the Velachery Lake when the water level breached the bank shores.
The school and college goers who were enjoying a windfall holiday from their institutions decided to make the most of the occasion and turned into hobbyist fishermen for a day. Darson, an engineering student from Anna University says, "Since one week, we have been under house arrest due to the rains. We were unable to conduct our weekly cricket match practice at a playground near St Thomas Mount Railway Station as it was flooded."
He adds, "With no electricity at home, I was anticipating yet another wasted holiday, when my father and brother woke me up this morning and said, ‘Let’s go fishing.’ So we gathered a few friends from the neighbourhood and got set for a big catch."
Various groups of boys in these parts set up rudimentary, but effective ways of hauling in their prized fish.
Armed with wooden ‘guiding’ sticks and makeshift nets, fashioned out of discarded veshtis, towels and even mosquito nets, the boys scored a catch that even professional fishermen would envy.
Darson summed up saying, "We have a busy day ahead of us. We caught almost one and a half kilo of fish today. We have our masalas ready and we’re going to start frying the fish by noon and feast on them for lunch today."
Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!
Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!
Click here for iOS
Click here for Android
Next Story