Smoother Road For Ganapati Bappa!

1 Sep 2019

Ganapati Bappa arrives home tomorrow. He is the remover of all obstacles, but we thought we would make the road smoother for him to come home 🙂 Along with our friends at Wings, and with the help of Pothole Raja, we fixed 17 potholes on Cambridge Road – from Canara Bank to Rakhra Sports to Siddhanth Medicals.

Saurabh Sahu, COO Pothole Raja, had come over a week before to assess the spots and the nature of fix required. Accordingly, he came armed with the read-to-use cold asphalt mix, gravel, and the tools. We had a heartening response from our friends at Wings : 10 of them were up and ready before 0630! Pothole Raja Prataap Bhimsena Rao, and Shubham Sahu also joined.

A few of potholes were big and deep.
The one near the Adarsh Commercial building took 2 bags of gravel, and 4 bags of bitumen.
The one next to Cakehouse required to be packed with stones and gravel first. We added a couple of bags of bitumen there.
The one near Rakhra Sports required several bags of bitumen.
Between Canara Bank and Siddhanth Medicals, we used several bags of bitumen.

We noticed that in several spots, the inlets to the storm water drain have been blocked. In some places, it is cemented over. In others, it is blocked by debris, stones, plastic waste. Since these are blocked, the water tries to find its way on the road. This can lead to weakening of the road, and potholes! It’s apparent that we need to provide a proper path for the water!
Remember the old poem, “For want of a nail, a shoe was lost … ”
Well, we could say “For want of an inlet, the water was lost (i.e. it found its way on the road) … ”

Near Cambridge Hospital, we cleaned up the inlets to the storm water drain. Ms Kumari – our pourakarmika – helped us. She took the mud and filled it in a shallow pothole nearby!

A good turn begets another. Mr. Sriprakash and his wife Bharati saw us and brought us some home-made laddoos! It was a great energy boost! Mr. Sriprakash is an ex-PWD engineer. We discussed with him the water stagnation that is happening near Siddhanth Medicals. One of the reasons for this is that the inlets to the storm water drain have been blocked. He took note of it, and has taken the responsibility to create a proper path for the water. It is heartening when the public also join in and helps take these small steps.

A hearty breakfast together with our friends made this a memorable Sunday!

9 Sep will mark 5 years since we lost our beloved Aru. Every single day, we remember her. Sometimes, it is a completely spontaneous reaction to a word that is said, or read, or an event, or a sight, or …. And, as we have said, we try to remember her in deed as well. Such was the case today. We hope that the fix lasts for several months!

Thanks to our ever-supportive friends : Arati, Anita, Anuradha, Ajit, Ajay, Vinay, Raghav, Shruthi, Gauri, and Ira. And, of course, Prataap, Saurabh, and Shubham. You all made it easy for us!

Here are some pics from the event.