नेति नेति 2

1

जो नहीं था
उसे ढूँढा,
यहीं था.
जो था
उसमें समाया.
ज्योति-वत्
पैदा हुआ सा,
कुछ नहीं,
संपूर्ण था.

2

नहीं से
उत्पन्न होता वह,
न कहीं से
उत्पन्न होता वह.
जो नहीं है,
वो यहीं हैं,
यहीं से
उत्पन्न होता वह.

It is so uplifting to witness a bridge being errected

India is a country on the move and is perpetually in road construction mode.

Despite the discomfort - that includes dust and traffic jams -  it feels nice to think that the road that is being made will make the travel in that stretch more comfortable some day in future. I also realize that all bridges do not lead to smoother traffic.

But the most soothing and uplifting feeling I get out of road construction is when I see a bridge being fabricated. If I happen to cross that way during the construction, I try to pause and marvel at the huge steel or concrete slabs suspended between giant pillars. The bridge starts bit by bit and one day you find it joining the two ends that would not join without the pillars, slabs and joints.

A bridge feels good also because it is a symbol of joining of creative forces, a synthesis.

The stories about how big bridges are erected over wide rivers, gorges a quarter kilometre deep, along steep mountain slopes and over seas, especially when you see them on Discovery TV, give a surreal feeling about how the tiny man achieves great engineering feats. Somehow, civil and mechanical giant structures give that feeling more than much bigger achievements in computer technology etc.

This is a photo of Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, United States, under construction. It was built 84 years back when today's technology was not available.

Below is a photo of a road bridge under construction, using pre-fab tech. (image courtesy: L&T)

And one more (image: Arvind Tech):

A quicker mode of travel coming soon? DT you said??

Drone based travel, call it DT for short, is coming a bit too soon, it appears.

Not really, because the technology might get ready to fly you, in a small cube, from floor to floor or from home to office, but the control systems may not be in place. Or, as it happened with many recent technologies, the tech would take the front seat and governments, law-makers and businesses would try to catch up.

Even if DT is not available to you and me, at least ambulances may run on it, people could be picked from disaster scenes and police may be able to chase offenders better. There are many situations in which DT would possibly be able to save lives and help the society in other ways. And think of flying in the sky for adventure and entertainment! At the same time, the possibility of misuse of this tech is very scary.

I am looking at not investing in a cube or pod even if it is offered to me tomorrow, as it would be very expensive in the beginning, but I'd sure try an air taxi at the first opportunity. We are hearing that Uber or Texla or Google or some other firm would soon start such a service in some parts of the globe. In India, perhaps before we come to hire or own these air travel vehicle, the entire production would be used by Ministers and other VIPs, with red beacon lights on top!

Sorry for that sarcasm, borne mostly out of envy, and let's come back to technology.

DT, when it comes to happen, will be more disruptive than driver-less cars. In fact, they might disrupt the progression of such cars , which themselves are threatening to disrupt the present vehicle industry. If supporting technologies develop as fast, technological solutions to possible mid-air collisions, bird-hits, crash-lands, weather-related problems, etc may come by equally fast. Perhaps grounded issues such as pollution and privacy-theft will be more difficult to handle - and who cares.

One thing is certain; for the first few years of DT, don't expect too much jam or drone pods lining up in the sky to land on an office compound.

Ten years? Five? How much time you'd like to wait till DT becomes a commonplace mode of travel?