Monthly Archives: June 2012
Mindfully Saying Thanks (sometimes you just have to)
The inclination to write this post crept up on me as I was doing my daily two-second (hah!) FB check this morning.
Something I saw there stood out so starkly…it appeared to be showing me the yin and yang of life itself.
As many FB users do, I subscribe to a few people and communities that interest me. Today, my FB wall had a juxtaposition of two themes that were such contrasts that it made me stop in my tracks and think.
Here is what I’m talking about. [It’s a screen snip so the links won’t work on the picture].
I don’t mean to wax philosophical so…but do you see what I see?
On the one hand, you have Mariam Tia. Courageous, tragic, bold, inspiring and as Mr.Kristof says “World leaders could use some of her backbone“. Do read her story and that of so many other Sudanese people caught in a merciless situation that they have to call “life”.
On the other hand, adjacent to her story, we have ….fashion designer Satya Paul – showcasing his beautiful, expensive creations that women love to drool over. [Satya Paul is the name of an eponymous Indian design house which creates and sells some fabulous high-end clothing, mostly for women].
It’s just that (through no fault of theirs!), sitting right next to Mariam’s story, posts on Satya Paul (and I?) seem so flighty, superficial, soft and silly. And yet, these thoughts would never have crossed my mind if I had not just spied those divergent images together, one right after another.
Both topics are of interest to me. Besides, Satya Paul is a substantial presence in the design world. How come then that just because I happened to see these images adjacent to each other, I feel so….well, icky? It’s also what got me thinking like this.
[Needless to say, if nothing else, I would like you to read Mariam’s story. Mariam, who named her baby daughter “Fakao” which means “bombs are dropping“…which was what was happening all around her when she was pregnant].
As I read her story, I thought to myself, Mariam and I live such different lives – yet here I am getting inconvenienced and unhappy with the most trivial of matters, despite basically living a good life where I have the time and means to lust after Satya Paul’s designs, using catch phrases like “life is beautiful“ so lightly, as banalities almost – without even thinking before spouting them.
How often do you and I truly acknowledge and value what we are so fortunate to have?
As I finished reading about Mariam, I simply came to a complete stop. Then, what I did very deliberately and mindfully was this:
I. Appreciated. My. Life.
And not just the happy stuff either but all of it – all that is inseparable, unchangeable and woven together.
I paid homage. To my friends and family, to my relationships and connections, to those who passed through my life and to those who entered and stayed. To my joys and sorrows, my successes and failures, my pleasures and regrets, my hopes and fears. In other words, to the yin and yang of a life that I am so fortunate to have.
And as I did this, I realized something else. Racing through life, giving more attention than they deserve to irritations, regrets, fears or troubles, I simply don’t give my holistic existence a solid pat on its back often enough. (How about you?)
Not to get too preachy, but whoever you are, as you are reading this, can I ask you to do something (and do it more than just once, please…maybe even once a day)?
Don’t just say it, but BELIEVE this: that your life is very beautiful indeed.
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Build a Bridge – Over the Weekend
Innovation in Construction
The civil engineers of the world knew all about this for years now I’m sure, but I’m just a simple lay person. It took a recent feature article in the NY Times to open my eyes about this fascinating, new work in construction (of all things!).
It appears that for the past few (very few!) years, a highly innovative approach to bridge construction has been underway. It is called A B C or Accelerated Bridge Construction. With this innovation, all the elements of the bridge are fabricated offsite and away from the roads and traffic. Then, when all is ready, the bridge is put in place in a matter of a few (very few!) days.
The article I referred to, called Did Someone Order An Instant Bridge? talks about how the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT) finished a bridge in one day. ONE DAY! It was accomplished over a weekend with minimal disruption of traffic.
Done the traditional way, that bridge would have taken months. And they have been able to bring it down to this – like I said, fascinating!
In addition to minimal disruption, this innovation is said to have improved work zone and worker safety (just the reduction in time of workers on site would do that!) and improved product quality due to the controlled environment and easier access to build the bridge. Offsite.
The US Appears to be Lapping it up!
Of course, I had to explore this some more! Here’s a great primer on A B C for anyone interested in learning more about it. Turns out that more and more state DOTs are using this method, or considering using it.
In Utah, they have actually transformed their thinking and now their default position for any bridge construction is to consider A B C first. They have used some form of A B C in 19 projects and 77 bridges. In one case—in Salt Lake City—construction time was reduced by 120 days, saving drivers an estimated $4.2 million in terms of construction delays. Wow!
The concept is to fabricate entire bridge spans off-site and move them into place with self-propelled modular transports (SPMTs).
Here’s an awesome time-lapse video of an A B C project in the state of Oregan. It lasts just over 1 minute. But what’s really awesome is the way that bridge is constructed – in no more than four days!
My hats off to the civil engineers that created this innovation. Multitudes of bridges (about a fourth of the 600,000 bridges) are in disrepair in the US and I can see how this is a boon to state governments, not to mention the people using said bridges. The federal government has provided funds for just this purpose. That’s even better!
Oh dear, as for Construction in India…
Now, here’s what I was thinking. Has anyone watched anything being constructed in India? If you have been here, of course, you have. And it doesn’t take months. It takes years….long years. So, on your second, third and fourth trip here, you will see the same construction project still very much ‘in progress’. For sure, the disruption around it has not gone anywhere. 😦
Traffic is entirely disrupted, people’s lives are disrupted, businesses along the way are disrupted…but what does anyone care?
Okay, let’s ‘Think Positive’
Imagine if India could adopt this approach!
There are no real reasons why it cannot. Cost is ultimately lower. Availability of technologies is not an issue especially with an increasing number of global infrastructure firms and collaborations operating in this country. If this innovation is needed anywhere in the world, it would be here.
Just think about some of the recent technologies that this country has adopted quickly – simply leap-frogging years of testing, research and development by other countries – just because it was late to the party. The best example I can provide is that of mobile phones. Today, India has more mobile phones and a more pervasive use of this technology than any Western country that started or actually developed it.
Well, couldn’t the same thing apply to construction of bridges?
I checked to see if there were any examples or leads where there was some experimentation or even talk of using A B C in India. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any.
Yet, bridges (including “fly-overs”) are being constructed in virtually every city, big and small. And huge numbers more are yet to be built.
Anyone who Thinks this Way, Deserves to get Elected!
I can only hope that somewhere in India – whether in the public sector or private industry – this paradigm-shifting option is being seriously explored and scoped out. [Progressive Gujarat would be a good place to start].
Think what a panacea it could be if India could indeed build a bridge. Over the weekend.
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Credits:
Photo: Ashlyak at ml.wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
The Yin and Yang of Life Anywhere 