(Where are you coming from, where are you going to?)

I was walking down to Karumandurai yesterday, to pick up my bike from the battre (mechanic's). The brand new tar road which has been looked forward to for so long, has some unforeseen fallouts.

Earlier the traffic and the walkers occupied the same "space" so to speak. Since bikes moved slowly, giving a lift to a walker was par for the course. Bikes would routinely have two, and much of the time, three people on board..

By contrast, today, the walkers were off the road and the bikes travelling at high speeds were in a "different space". The bikers were loath to slow down and pick up anybody even if there was no-one riding pillion. I, too, noticed this the couple of times I have biked on this road: the speeds are such that one doesn't notice the walkers until one is far ahead of them.

For me, personally, there was a happy ending when Sakthivel, whom I know well, recognised me from behind by my hat and backpack, and gave me a lift to Karumandurai. But, by separating the bikers and the walkers, the new road has dealt another blow to the sense of community here.