CHENNAI: It’s not every day that you get to experience the New York subway system. Not if you are someone who has spent all her life in one city. That six subway lines crossed paths was inconceivable, after having dealt with just two lines of the local railways in Chennai. I was truly lost when I was handed a map of the subway system.
Multicoloured lines crisscrossing through the city, transit lines marked by alphabets, numbers or both, every major intersection outside the stations plotted for reference — it was too much information compared to the yellow sticker of railway stations pasted inside our trains. I was happy to let my cousins lead the way. While it was the New York subway that had me floored, Ravi Shankar drew inspiration from its counterparts in Europe and decided to bring a slice of it to Chennai. And voila! We get an urban transit map that offers a rundown on every railway line, including the Metro, in the city.
