A Bizarre, memorable Journey!!

I've been avidly waiting to post this stuff onto my site as it is something I would not want to forget very soon. This post is about the lone vehicle that starts from Tambaram and has its destination as Apollo Tyres, Oragadam (places in Chennai, Tamil Nadu). It basically has a structure of a vehicle similar to the bus, but with a few parts as exception. For example, the suspension :). You can't really imagine the nature of the road from Tambaram to Oragadam. I would split my journey to the company into three. The first part of my journey is the horrible one, the place where I get in to the a place called Manivakkam. The outskirts of Chennai. The second part is somewhat ok, as the journey proceeds on the highway road. Third is the place called Padappai to my company. The part of my journey to the company wherein I get my sleep, as the bus gets closer to the company( and that too at the last segment of the curve to the company). The bus stop is a few meters away from my house. As soon as I get over there with a fresh mood, there will be this one bus coming and showing itself to me at a farther distance. One can imagine the ride that he's going to have as soon as he witnesses the way the bus approaches him. Shaking its way, as though a dog wagging its tail or a bull forcing its way through people, it forces itself through all the vehicles present on the road. Finally, stops at the bus stop and that too not stopping fully but always in a hurry to take the leg out of the clutch, and above all, the commuters behind show their distress for having stopped the vehicle in front of them, after having overtaken everybody with so much effort. A sign that shows that the driver should have come behind them. The horn sound becomes so intolerable, because they've all the right to do it.

When I'm in the night shift and that too when there was no sleep in the afternoon, the bus journey proves to be terrible. When you climb up the stairs of the bus, and see the driver, that one instant is enough for you to get you back into deep sleep. The driver would be already sleeping. One thing that I've learnt is never see the eyes of the driver or else you forget the quality of the work that you're gonna do in the company. The first part of the journey starts off with some want of sleep( irrespective of the time of the day). But the road and the driver would be enemies now. He would not mind the condition of the road but he would drive in his trademark style. You gotto see the way he manouvers his bus. As though he is a Valentino Rossi, challenging a curve in his Yamaha. One cannot keep shut without describing the bus. The bus has got window glasses with loose fitment. When the bus encounters ups and downs on the road, you should see the window glasses shuttering. The sound that it produces makes it a really annoying ride. Constant tuttering of those glasses makes you forget your sleep. That is the first part of the journey. It makes you forget what your sleep is. That is how you get to know the importance of your sleep. Especially in the full day and night shifts. As bizarre as it can get. The second part of the journey is where you can see how quite it can be in a bus like the one of the Volvo's on a road like that.

The next 10 mins is heaven with a beautiful atmosphere around, but you can still hear those tuttering of the glasses. It is an annoying one, for the whole of the journey. Anyway, the sleep is gone, thanks to the great driving and a thousand thanks to the road built. The driver would drive the bus as though he is driving a cycle inside the lanes of a fully filled market. The third part of the journey is were you would love to sleep. I would already be thinking of what would happen in the company and that is a nutritious food for your slumber. Right when you know that in another two minutes you would be in the company premises, all the wishes of Kumbhakarna would be bestowed on you. At the end, atlast when you the journey comes to an end, you would feel like sleeping for five more minutes as everything would've come to a standstill( the tuttering of the glasses). I always feel like I can or rather anybody in the company can work for hours togethers without any pain but nothing can match the fatigue created in a journey as bizarre as it can get. But ultimately, they've made you realise that the job is nothing for you. How you go to the job is only slightly difficult. Thanks to our Valentino Rossi for having made it a memorable one.

-SATZ

Solutions as business!!

Travelling from Koyambedu to Tambaram, in the Chennai city, can be extremely irritating, first of all to this weather of Chennai and second to the traffic that prevails for hours as though people have got all the time in the world. It can take you a minimum of 2:30 hrs to reach your destination with the traffic. Traffic is far more better, but the congestion is what makes it uneasy for the commuters, makes them irritated and some people whose Emotional quotients are weak a bit, start swearing at people for no reason. It is not an unusual scene that you always witness, rather it is something that is normal when too many people are around you.

There is a reason behind why I started to write. In fact a very good reason to write this stuff over here. The need for transportation has increased to a tremendous level. Today, in a city like Chennai, at 8:30 am you can find kms of traffic on the roads. People do not know why they're stranded in the middle of the road at a time wherein they've to be in their offices. These cities need a strong traffic sense. An order that should be created in order to save the precious time of individuals. Basically, the fundamental notion of every transportation engineer. At a basic level, there is need for a road system to say that "people should go only like this."

At an instant when I was travelling from Koyambedu to Tambaram, suddenly an idea struck my mind. "Why can't we start a firm which can provide solutions to the traffic problem??" I'm a planning engineer currently. I deal with systems which should be implemented in order to keep the production line moving and the same applies in the field of transport as well. Keep the flow constant and steady. The flow should be maintained without the expense of speed and irrespective of the increase in the density of commuters. The concept is simple and making sure of it is the job that I'm talking about. A construction going on in the middle of the road can create a bottleneck. Channelizing the flow is the challenge with all the constraints, which are the already constructed roads and buildings that occupy the space. It is not about implementing new roads or a new way, it is about giving solutions to problems because of the already existing systems.

Making it a business is another very important challenge. I can tell you some successful companies that have come up and made profit with the same kind of solutions in the US. Certain companies give traffic information to customers and mint money. Names of companies goes like this, IBM, Crowd dynamics, Legion, Cellient and the list goes on. India with a population of about 1.1 billion is in need of such a company. The automobile sector is growing day by day, the buying power of people is increasing day by day and there is always a space constraint because of density. This makes it an opportunity to get in with the solutions. But all I need is passionate people, who can thrive to make it happen. A revolution can be created. The vision is to create a society which commutes with the minimum travelling costs contributed by fuel, time and hence money. All the three things have become indispensable. Especially fuel. A source that is depleting everyday. If I can reduce the consumption of fuel to a desirable level in each area of this country, this place would become better enough than what it is today. I would consider myself a success in the field, if I achieve this. What I need is the view of people on the idea of whether it will workout as a business or not?? I know that there are people, who're working on this. I can understand that the one mystery that transportation engineers can't solve is the prediction of human behaviour. An opportunity which can be used to solve the problem and at the same time, improve the road culture of our country.

- SATZ