‘Eclipse’ of traffic signals at two busy junctions

Form a mental picture of two workplace scenarios.

A manager eased out of a role and moved elsewhere still hanging around their erstwhile team, watching their every move, as also that of the new incumbent.

The other scenario: someone recruited to a managerial role showing up at work much before the HR-specified official date of joining, out of misplaced enthusiasm. The manager on the way out is still in the saddle; and the one on the way in is hovering around the seat of power.

On both counts, there is discomfort.

At the Ega theatre junction
| Photo Credit:
PRINCE FREDERICK

Impersonal analogues of these managers are can be found on various roads of Chennai, but nowhere as prominently as on EVR Periyar Salai (also known as Poonamallee High Road) with its maddeningly frequently occurring junctions.

At some junctions, the new traffic signalling device (installed as part of an intelligent traffic management system) has “joined work” before the date of joining. Though not made functional yet, there it is, standing in front of the old, still-in-harness traffic signalling device making the latter invisible for motorists, to their discomfort and possible danger. One encounters this situation at junctions such as Egmore Wesley Church intersection, where the new yet-to-get-started traffic signalling device is hopelessly in the way of the old device that is still on the job.

One encounters the opposite of this situation at the Ega theatre junction in Kilpauk. The new device is letting out glows to direct motorists only to find those glows “dimmed” by the uncomfortable presence of the old device bang in front of it. The afore-described scenarios at these two junctions were captured in images on June 20, 2025.