Haste can bring an extra zip to any engine, even the wimpiest. Laden with plastic waste, a low-powered mini truck was hurtling towards Nemmeli and a deadline. The overtaking machine was leaving behind not just diesel exhaust fumes, but a sense of urgency and even unswerving purpose.
And then it happened. As the machine scurried up to the landing of the bridge, one that helps the Thiruporur-to-Nemmeli Road polevault across the Great Salt Lake, the wheels seemed hamstrung, and the mini truck slowed down to a trot. Nature can do the reverse of what supercars do: Decelerate from 100-to-0 in three seconds flat. The one at the wheel had obviously experienced a moment of transcendence, when the pull of the deadline eased, and he let himself soak in what lay by the bridge for a few fleeting moments.
Here is what that unknown driver saw. In a landscape that is largely stark, a massive expanse of water undulates like a gigantic anaconda. During the monsoon, the Great Salt Lake runs, packed to capacity. However, oddly enough, it does not significantly change colour from summer to winter. In summer, the endorheic lake is a ribbon of white, somewhat burnished like white marble.
Saltern watch
Along sections of what is called Great Salt Lake, there is land that belongs to the Central Government Salt Department, and there is also land that is under the ownership of Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation (TNSC).
TNSC was established in 1974.
Reportedly, TNSC is now keenly focussed on salt-making activity in the Thiruporur section, where salterns seemed to have taken an indefinite sabbatical.
Those crossing over from OMR to ECR — and in contrary fashion — would stop by the lake. From the section of the road that doglegs towards Nemmeli (on East Coast Road), the view of the bridge with a dropping organey sun is staggeringly beautiful.
A part of this section, the one closer to the bridge, is lined with young pongamia pinnata trees. The leaves of these young trees have erupted in what looks like boils on skin. When this writer checked with him about this stand of trees and their ailment, D Narasimhan, a member of the Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board, observed that this species is commonly affected by gall.
A majority of the hangers-on would not notice the canker on the leaves, and therefore for them, the picture is hardly marred. During winter months, paddle-propelled fibre boats are an addition to the landscape, as fishing is carried out on the lake.
These boats would be parked on land along the section of the road closer to Nemili, with palm trees towering over them.
The dab of green relieves the starkness, and at the height of winter, when avian movement is intense, this section would threaten to steal the show from the Great Salt Lake.
(Hidden Trails is a column that shows you how to be a tourist in your own city)
A salt department office and the flavour of urbanisation
On the road from Kelambakkam to Kovalam, a local office of the Central Government’s Salt Department stands as a striking relic of the past — one that is in the process of being cleared out of a desk cramped with the exigencies of urban existence. Its foundation stone laid in 1893, this building does not carry age elegantly anymore, but it still far from being labelled “vestigial”. Its wooden doors and shuttered windows still creak open, dutifully but with a stab of pain, through the week for the salt office to function.
According to sources close to unfolding developments, the land where the salt office stands, along with the surrounding land that also belongs to Salt Department, has been made over to the Central Public Works Department. On this expanse, a vast collection of buildings would come up. In that concrete structure, there would a space for the salt office and also offices of other central government departments. There would be a school, and the likelihood of a quarters is high, the source adds.
The source notes that due to its scale, the project by CPWD would take a massive amount of time for completion, and until that sees the final light, the salt office would funtion at a rented space on the main road (OMR) in Kelambakkam.
