Air supply

(Originally posted on my Medium page)


I can see the stars tonight,

Some dull, some twinkling, shining bright,

Pure, distant, cosmic, ancient might,

Fighting our puny city lights…

…

Just a dream!, I rubbed my eyes,

Waking up way past midnight,

"Alexa, cast some news, alright?”

“Right up”, she quipped, in cool calm voice.

…

“Its a foggy, smoggy winter night,

Ivy reporting for Weather Insight,

Wear masks and don’t dare step outside,

We’re almost out of air supply!”

Don't let the festival of noise kill the festival of light

Diwali or Deepawali, the festival of light symbolizes the victory of light over darkness.

Thus goes a beautiful prayer [source]:

Thamasoma jyothirgamaya, From darkness, lead to light,
Asathoma sadgamaya, From untruth, lead to truth,
Mrityoma amritamgamaya, From death, lead to life,
Om shanti, shanti, shantihi, Let there be peace, peace, peace

Diwali today has unfortunately turned unto an occasion that leads to more distress than peace. People with heart ailments, asthmatics, infants and animals will have a tough time today. There will be death and injury due to improper and unsafe use, transfer and manufacturing of crackers. There will be loud bangs and dark clouds of smoke instead of light.

A lot of money [Rs. 5000 crore+] is going to be literally burnt today. Crass commercialization has claimed this celebration too!

Don't let a festival of noise and pollution kill the beautiful festival of light. Do your bit to reverse this trend. For those who have not yet lighted the flames to your bundle of bank notes, please head to http://www.giveindia.org/ and see how you can really light up someone's life with the same money you were about to burn. Buy little diyas from the potters on the street-side and decorate your house with them.

Trust me, you will be happier :)

Happy Diwali!

I wish 7. Sloped toll-booth roads

I wish the roads leading to toll-booths at toll-plazas would by design be inclined at say 15 degrees. The slope (and suitable awareness drives) would enable folks to just switch off their engines and use their brakes to cruise in to the toll booths, pay up, fire their engines and zoom off!

Now, I know a few toll-plazas in India are pretty crowded and some people get stuck for upto half an hour, in bumper to bumper traffic, just to reach the booth and pay the toll. In a toll booth close to where I am, there are 16 lanes each in either direction and at peak traffic time, atleast 20 cars crawling in each. On an average, lets assume 15 minutes queue time. That's 32 cars x 15 mins worth fuel wasted every minute. Not getting into the exact math here (it would be great if someone could fill in here :), but I guess that would result in significant fuel savings, not to mention the value of time saved, headaches avoided and pollution reduced!

I know the ideal solution would be to not have the toll-booth itself or to be able to bill cars as they simply travel, but that's some time off in the future. Till then?

The 'I wish' series will be short posts highlighting simple, interesting, innovative and useful twists to daily random routines and objects.