Those were the days: When Madras roads regained order

The war scenario in Asia after loss of Singapore necessitated the usage of Madras as a major military hub and that put the city under additional stress. 

Kalki Krishnamurthy who started his magazine in August 1941 in a small press just opposite the Egmore station reported in the very first editorial that it was the busiest times he had seen. Uniformed personnel alighting from trains in thousands and being whisked away to unknown destinations. There were many social problems with foreign soldiers set loose amid a civilian population. Constant complaints of harassment, rumours of women being molested and bicycles stolen were raised. 

Some hotels went ahead and posted boards saying ‘Out of bounds for troops’. At the same time, the state of Cochin went on a day’s strike when informed a contingent of allied soldiers were being stationed there. Amid all other glitches, one remarkably felt issue in Madras was the increased traffic on its out-dated roads. Hundreds of large trucks huffed and puffed as if the Japanese were on their heels all the time. And Madras roads were just used to slow moving trams and a few cars alongside the bullock carts. 

It was an April 1944 evening, when a military lorry driven by Sepoy Jan Mohammed was overtaken on Mount Road by another truck with military markings. The second lorry hit a tram as also the first one and went to the other side of the road. In the ensuing jerk the driver of the first vehicle lost control of his steering wheel and his lorry swerved to the left and moved dangerously close to the pedestrian sidewalk. And just there adjacent to the pavement and outside his parked car stood the Postmaster General of Madras Presidency, Rahman discussing a spread out plan with his officer. The chaos caused by the lorries put the pedestrians, who are used to more disciplined traffic, under peril. It was sometimes tragic with many foot-travelers getting hit, mostly fatally. When common citizens were hurt, it made very little news and accidents involving military personnel were brushed under the carpet in the name of wartime censorship. 

However, high profile accidents did bring the issue to the fore. And this was one. The PMG Rahman and his assistant Vasnaik had got out of the car parked on Mount Road opposite Christ Church and stood at the entrance of his office and with its door open, discussing a map of a site they had just visited. It was then the truck from somewhere off the road hit their parked car. People rushed to the spot to find two civilians lying on the ground. The PMG’s chauffer rushed to the spot and found his boss unconscious and bleeding through the nose. Vasnaik was conscious. Both were taken to the general hospital where Rahman succumbed without regaining consciousness. Vasnaik survived though remaining critical. The high profile accident sent ripples through the city. 

The President of the Theosophical Society Arundale even wrote to the press calling these military vehicles an ‘avalanche of danger’ who with their heavy vehicles could force their way through any obstacles. Arundale also confessed that he had instructed his driver to pull to the side of the road when he saw a lorry coming ahead. He demanded military patrols to be positioned to check the drivers from offending the decencies of the road. The military issued a communiqué stating most accidents could be avoided if civilians used the foot paths. 

As a solace they gave a phone number for civilians to call and report the accidents. Rahman was buried the same evening after a post-mortem. The body was kept in the Postmaster General office for the public to pay their last respects. A large group of employees and relatives had gathered and went by procession to the big mosque in Triplicane after a funeral prayer of Janaranamaz . 

Madras Governor Hope was represented by his man with a customary wreath. But the accidents did not stop. In July, the same year, Rao Sahib Balasubramania Mudaliar, 53, Superintendent of the Penitentiary (jail) suffered serious injuries when a military lorry hit the rickshaw he was travelling in. People suffered in silence and only the recapture of Singapore signalled peace on Madras roads again.