My main memory of Chennai (formerly called Madras) was the awfully dirty waterways in the city. I think it used to be a river but was when I visited in the 2000

My main memory of Chennai (formerly called Madras) was the awfully dirty waterways in the city. I think it used to be a river but was when I visited in the 2000s basically a gigantic trashdump, smelly and rotting and probably spreading all sorts of disease. Utter and complete mismanagement by the city authorities and of course high disrespect by many of the local population for their lifeline. This is how waterways used to look in 18-1950 in Europe, with the added issue of plastic and electronic waste and of course much higher popolulation density.