Strong bridges?


Building bridges is the in thing in India at this point in time. One can see construction happening at the most unexpected of places. “Fly over” is a relatively over used term. Now we have more fancy words like “express fly over” , "elevated bridge” ,” mono rail bridge”, “ metro rail bridge “ and may be a few more about which I have not yet updated myself.

How a 60 year old country can keep her infrastructure projects alive and kicking even after so many years is a wonder in itself. Months after months we have new development projects being kicked off, whether they see the light of the day is a question in itself. Yet what amuses me is when can we safely pass on to “maintenance” stage and get over with development of basic necessities.

One other classic behavior of Indians is to build important transport points far apart and then wonder how to connect them. We build airports so far from the basic commutation like trains & buses and then start projects to connect each of these. Funny as it may seem, it is like getting a printed circuit board without the circuit in place.

Let me not crib more about our (wonderful) systems and talk about something which is a pleasant outcome of this exercise. As most of you may know the the Bandra- Worli sea link in Mumbai is a recent marvel which even I could marvel at close quarters. It is simply a wonderful experience to zoom across on top of the sea with the waves lashing below you. A typical travel time of almost an hour or more has been reduced to a mere fifteen minute memorable drive (of course for which you need to pay, but being the commercial capital of India, I am sure most Mumbaikar’s don’t mind it!).

After this wonderful ride and me raving about it to all my near ones, I got the jolt of my life the next day. I heard a friend had not visited his brother living across in another part of the city for a full three (YES THREE) years. And to think, just one bridge separated their homes. Really made me think what type of bridges do we need more urgently? The one connecting roads or hearts? No wonder so many pillars are coming crashing down, we need to get the basics right in any case!

Comments

kamalg said…
Hey that is so correct somehow in the fast paced life we just try to meet ends. We have forgotten that a bridge needs a strong Base. Without a strong base be it a concrete flyover, a culture or a system can collapse (like the recent one Delhi Metro). So lets start building a strong Base first
August 4, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Sathish said…
Hi Sucha,

As you rightly said we need bridges to connect to our near and dear ones. :)

Wonderful post. Keep writing em frequently.

Thanks,
Sathish
Collabnet
August 4, 2009 at 4:55 PM
Shruti Narayanan said…
thats a sad fact... but guess the busy n hectic schedule of the so called modern style of living is the culprit for all the gaps n barriers being formed... bridge to hearts, well thats wat mobile phones n internet r for :)

lovely post!!
August 4, 2009 at 8:33 PM
Sucha said…
Kamal & Sathish

Glad you got the message :)

Thanks for reading!
August 6, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Sucha said…
Shruti,

Liked your comment on using cell phones, but you know what in this age of communication we hardly communicate!
August 6, 2009 at 12:04 PM
angel from heaven said…
So rightly said that sometimes we fail to make the efforts even when a person is only a stones throw away!!
August 6, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Adisha said…
Nice analogy between relations and bridges. Made for a good read !
August 7, 2009 at 9:52 PM
S A J I T H said…
Wrote with lot of heart!!
Yes relationsships should be bridged!!!
cheers
August 8, 2009 at 11:17 AM
Aparajita said…
Should we build bridges to connect people or their hearts? It's a nice thought. Lovely post too, simple and touching. And the photos are very nice too.
August 10, 2009 at 6:22 PM
You Know Who said…
I never thought a blog about bridges would end like this. WOW, brilliant work and as usual it was touching.
August 11, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Preetham Sai P.V. said…
If a bridge could bring 2 brothers together, why not more number of bridges? :P We can have a bridge from Mumbai to East Africa and then a bridge from West Africa to US East Coast and so on! :-)) But mainly we need a bridge from the Posh South Mumbai to Mumbai Suburbs! Page 3 people will know the problems of their poorer counterparts!

A nice article! :-))
August 11, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Sucha said…
Hey thanks everyone for liking this sudden turn in the Bridge!

Preetam I agree with the bridges you have in mind :)
August 11, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Garima said…
Agreed..
even here in hyderabad..building an airport was one project, shifting it to faroff place was another and now connecting it to city is third :)
As far as building bridges to connect places is concerned, it was in the govt. list, but connecting hearts is still to be added in our to-dos..
Liked the write up and sense behind!
August 31, 2009 at 1:16 PM
mantiz said…
nice post.. I really dug the idea of relating bridges and relations.
goes on to show how important it is that we stick to our roots..
keep bloggin pal :)
September 1, 2009 at 2:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nobody is indispensable?

 Last few weeks have been particularly painful for the likes of me - where 'we' the nuclear family become an extended family of the place where our spouses work. The fraternity of any service becomes a close knit one - with all the baggage's of any typical family. We celebrate together, we cheer together, we gossip together (separately) and yes we also we mourn together.  The man at the helm of affairs of the Indian Coast Guard Director General, had an unexpected call from the heavens and he went away just at the snap of a finger. Imagine someone leaving the house in a perfect condition and coming back in a casket?  Hardly had we gotten over this loss that, we heard that an ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter) who was on the way to save someone from a merchant ship had to ditch it's course mid way and land in to the vast sea. Precious lives lost again. Incidentally the same ALH had saved close to 67 lives in a flood situation, just few days back. Unfortunately there was no s...
Read more

It could have been me..

Image
The past few weeks have been filled with news that made you shudder every morning when we accessed the phone. Shudder to think who has hit the bucket, who else has succumbed to Covid, which family has been brought to their knees by this unknown, unseen enemy. It's the first time that you actually felt your breath every morning and sent out a silent 'thank you' for feeling it! It also has made me think 'It could have been me..' It could have been me whose passing away was being circulated on WhatsApp groups and so many people replying a life less 'RIP' or  'Om Shanti' and forgetting all about it the next minute. It could have been me struggling to get an Oxygen bed desperately with the husband man running pillar to post for the same. It could have been my obituary in the newspaper, which by the looks of it may need a separate supplement these days. It could have been me who recovered from Covid but the lungs got so damaged in the process, that the bo...
Read more

Take care!

Image
The last fortnight I have learned so many lessons and has been laced with so many firsts, it would be a pity not to pen them down. To begin with, my husband and I earned the title of 'First POSITIVE couple' in the organisation he works for. In these times, you very well know in what we were found 'positive' in. No prizes for guessing! We gained so much attention that even the media houses can be put to shame for their coverage of current (in)sensitive topics. The only 'positive' part to it was were not hounded by any of them for earning this distinction.  It was the very first time our daughter went away from us for 'safekeeping'. It was so heartening to see my husband's side of the family step in to take her without any hesitation and with open arms. I must mention that my mother-in-love (do not want to use the law-word!) is close to 70 years and has a full time online teaching job. She dropped everything and took leave with just a firm assurance  ...
Read more