The offbeat bins at Conran Smith Road in Gopalapuram might need tweaks

Every pair of these bins is teamed up with a bench to promote a form of pedestrianisation on this road; while the thinking is praiseworthy, the execution betrays obvious lack of thinking in some areas

Flaneurs trying to decode roadside human behaviour, armchair philosophers seeking an alternative to the trite old armchair and pedestrians seeking to give their tired limbs a break would have something going for them if they hit Conran Smith Road in Gopalapuram. 

Greater Chennai Corporation has placed benches on one side of the road, spaced apart on the pavement. Each bench finds kindred souls in two garbage bins. It obviously does not share Key Performance Areas with the bins, and what it does share is morphology. 

All three are semi-permanent concrete structures; the bins are open-topped; and they are set in a colour schema different from the one defining the bench. 

The combo of bins and bench on the pavement outside the Gopalapuram playground on Conran Smith Road.    | Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK

When The Hindu Downtown ambled down the pavement to take in these new additions to the road, the benches were occupied, so were the garbage bins. Clearly, a heart-warming sight. 

And the fact that these concrete bins are on the pavement and neatly aligned with the bench that they go with, is a relief. With bins making it to the carriageway and getting grouted there, in recent times, road users are now bracing themselves for fresh surprises. When they are spared a surprise, the sigh of relief is almost thunderous.