When I first had a fleeting glance of Thirumalai Nagar First Main Road, the word that popped up in my head was “marvellous”. I was seeing double. My mind quickly registered that there was not one, but two roads running parallel in a curious manner. Parallel roads are common and generally don’t pique curiosity. But these roads in Perungudi can’t be slotted into that category. These roads share a name — Thirumalai Nagar First Main Road — and are divided by nothing more than a thin wedge of land. They go on a parallel course for over 300 metres, which is quite a distance for neighbourhood roads. The strip of earth between them is what makes them something to marvel at. Two playground-cum-walking spaces and three small-structured buildings have been shoehorned into it, with some ingenuity. The first time I hit this twin-road, it was well past the crepuscular hour, and a significant aspect of it was lost on me. Later, when I undertook a study of this curious piece of Perungudi on Old Mahabalipuram Road, I was even more impressed, much like geologists returning to make sense of the mystery of the three parallel roads of Glen Roy in the Scottish Highs. One building functions as a police booth for the locality and is occupied by personnel from the J9 police station. It is located at the eastern end of this wedge-land and is a vantage point for a police booth. In the next building, an outlet of the Public Distribution System (PDS), functions. Then comes a playground-cum-walking space, which shares borders with a Metro Water facility. This building combines a small administrative office and an overhead water-storing structure. Finally, on the western end, there is another playground-cum-walking space. The entire wedge of land belongs to Ward 186 of Perungudi Zone, Greater Chennai Corporation, and parts of it have been parcelled out for three government agencies to serve the local residents. Says GM Janakiraman, a former councillor of Ward 186, “In 2002, the land dividing the roads was provided with a compound wall. Soon after, space was parcelled out for a Metro Water facility. And then, slowly, all the other facilities came, one after the other.” If it has not dawned on you yet, with its various elements, this wedge of earth makes it possible for residents and local civic officials and service providers to interface with each other. When I make my visit, I meet T Rangaswamy. A resident of the locality, he has finished his morning walk at the playground and has now hopped on to the PDS outlet. It simply illustrates the effectiveness of clubbing government offices with spaces such as parks, where people are likely to congregate.

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