The other day I had to go a restaurant. Unlike in Europe (and possibly US too), here we don’t use maps. And there aren’t many sign posts either. So how do we get to a place? Either we already know where it is, or we stop here and there and ask around. To avoid asking total strangers, I asked a colleague for the way. This is what he said, ‘Take the airport road, first you will cross Nehru Statue, go further down until Sardar Patel Statue, then take a left and follow the road until Thevar Statue, where you take a right. On the first left is the restaurant’. If you are not used to Chennai traffic system, this instruction will put you on a spin. But we are used to these statues for leaders of yester-years.

I don’t know how much of respect they got while they were alive, but most of them get at least a statue and multiple garlands whenever our politicians want to display a show. And for their part, these leaders stand still and be a part of ‘finding our way’.