Wednesday, June 07, 2006

The Future

I was watching this cool episode of Extreme Engineering on Discovery once...

It was the best episode of EE I've ever seen.

I was staring at the future.


The Translatlantic Tunnel (New York City - London- Paris)

Most of us here must be knowing about this, either because of e-mail forwards, TV shows,
news, etc.

* It would span the atlantic ocean over 5000 kms, submerged inside it.

* There would be vacuum inside the tunnel, practically offering no air resistance.

* The Magnetic Levitation (MagLev) technology trains would be used. They can travel at speeds up to 5,000 mph!! ( about 8000 km/h) (two tracks in the tunnel, up&down)

* There would be practically no resistance to the train, because of vacuum and no
friction since the train actually floats on the track, due to strong magnetic fields.

* At such a high speed of 5000 mph, the time taken to reach London from New York city would be around 54 minutes. This is even lesser than the time required
for most people to reach the airport from their homes. In the train, people would
have dinner on one continent and desserts on the another!!

* The tunnel would be fixed to the ocean floor using around a lakh fastened and strong steel cables, using pressure anchors at the bottom. At some earthquake-prone zones, the cables will be almost 5 miles long. These cables will minimise the effect of strong underwater currents, earthquakes and collisions of sea creatures like huge whales.

* The tunnel will be continously monitored using a state of the art communications and control centre. This will reduce the chances of collisions of trains.

* To reduce the vertigo due to high speed, caused to passengers, there will be rotating chairs with a well-designed mechanism.

Reverberating Thoughts

I had been thinking about this for long... Wanted to write something about it.. so here I am.. dishing it out..

Most of us must be wondering what's the purpose of our existence on earth? Why are we born here.. in this very city.. in this very country.. on this very planet? Is there a reason behind this? Has the almighty charted out a path for us? Does God want us to make a difference or achieve something?

Or is it that God has just given us our life to live it to the fullest... that is by exploring the world, getting a taste of different situations- good and bad, experiencing different people, cultures, cuisines... In short, living life in entirety.

There are two worlds on the earth... one occupied by the filthy rich (why Filthy i wonder) and the other by the dirt poor. I sometimes wonder how the poor live life.. facing so many hardships, living in a small world, devoid of many basic facilities and education. While on the other hand, the rich cannot live without their ostentatious lifestyle.

I do not take sides here since not everyone has the ability to cross the barrier and get rich. For some, it is impossible, say poor disabled people. Some do work hard and cross the barrier... but that is a very small section. The poor remain poor all their life and die a poor ending, without experiencing the good life.

I feel very bad when I see those destitute kids squatting in different places. I wonder how a day in life is for them... what will be their future, et al. It is very unnerving when you hear that these kids do anything to fill their stomach... such as toiling in workshops, garages, embroidery units and living in inhuman conditions. Worse, most of them get into bad habits at a very early age and are introduced to the bad world of hatred,crime,drugs, et al. Plus, they do not pay heed to good advice by samaritans because they have lost hope in life, they do not know how beautiful life is or it can be.

Writing all this reminds me of Phil Collins' famous song, "Another Day in Paradise"
Listen to it if you haven't already.

Even Though I am not rich, I feel I am living in Paradise. I am satisfied with my life... The troubles and shortcomings seem secondary. I have got the basic facilities, that makes me feel like a king. We have got the basic education and the result of it is a beautiful thought process.

I am really inspired by a good friend of mine, Rishabh. We all were hanging out in Bandra once... went to this good bakery named Hearsh. A few street kids were squatting around the bakery. Rishabh saw them and immediately bought some food, especially for them and asked them to share it together! When the kids did not understand the word share, he said "mil baatke khaana" :)


Oh think twice, it's another day for
you and me in paradise
Oh think twice, it's just another day for you,
you and me in paradise

Finally, A Blog

Thank you,

Puneet Miskeen
Shashank Karnik
Amit Panhale
Priyank Thatte

For inspiring me to start a blog!! I finally decided I will publish a blog after one failed attempt :)
I am very lazy... but I will try my best to document my life as well as my thoughts. I hope you support me in my quest to make my blog successful and be my blog's frequent visitors, just as I am to yours ;)