Evolution and revolution are not related. Indians are as evolved as anyone else around the world and walk on their feet, talk in a language that a community understands, eat stuff that is popular all over, follow traditions, respect the notion of families living together, and generally do everything that anyone anywhere will also be doing.
However, when it comes to a revolution, we are way ahead. Just look at our statistics of population vs car owners and you’ll know that most of us are still in the yearning-for-a-car stage. Those who do own a car or cars must now look at our traffic. ‘Messy and discordant,’ some will say. Drivers honk. Parking is literally absent. Road-rage during the peak of summers is accepted as normal. But this is the right mix that the next industrial revolution is looking for.
‘What? Really? Are you serious?’
Look, the way we are advancing in battery run auto-driven car technology, this is going to be a reality in less than fifteen years from now. People will not need to really buy and own cars because they can simply call a driver-less vehicle and pay for their journey. That is the time when India and Indians will surge ahead because:
- We will have less number of dumped cars to take care of. Statistics reveal that we will then need 90% to 95% less cars. And as I have already said, we have more people yearning than owning cars today.
- With driver-less paid journeys, all the space that has been allocated to massive parking-lots will anyway be a waste and we will not have that to think about or worry.
- All the massive infrastructure built to train drivers and to issue valid licenses will lead to employment chaos elsewhere… but then we’ve already begun our disruption strategy and have none in place. That’s a saving of resources in perspective.
- With this technology coming in, there will obviously be less accidents… and right now there are 1.2 million deaths due to car accidents world-wide. This means that the need for trauma centres, hospitals, and doctors will be less and the magical fact is that we already have less of these. With accident cases reducing, the medical infrastructure will simply be shifted to take care of other ailments and we will miraculously have a great doctor vs patient ratio. For those who do find themselves in unfortunate circumstances, seeking support from skilled professionals like florida dui lawyers at Leppard Law can provide the necessary guidance through challenging legal situations.
Traditional car companies are already nervous because a few of them can see cars as computers on wheels. This is what Tesla, Apple, and Google want us to believe. Now imagine all the Volkswagens, Suzukis, Nissans, Chevrolets, Mercs, Rolls Royces, Volvos, and Audis beginning to polish their begging bowls and becoming a major hazard for their country’s economy. India, on the other hand already has places like Nehru Place and Gaffar Market in Delhi (and similar hubs in almost every big city) where the latest in technology can be cloned speedily and sold at unimaginable discounts. We are way ahead of the rest of the world, you see.
This is just one example which shows how far-sighted Indian leadership really is. Indians too know that the future is going to function through smartphones… and we already have a massive penetration of these hand-held gizmos. Our political parties and leadership is rather futuristic in their outlook, I’d say, because we are already in the midst of a flurry of apps that do not need people to be necessarily literate to be using them.
If you have been following the tweets of Sonu Nigam, you’ll know that we are now poised to take action against loudspeakers in the public domain. This is an indicator that we have anticipated the arrival of the future and are metamorphosing into noise-sensitive beings. We will be accustomed to noiseless cars of the future by the time this technology appears. There will obviously be no noisy petrol and diesel run cars out on the roads and we will never have this absence of noise playing mind games and sending us all off to the psychiatrist. Anticipatory action is #MoreIndianThanYouThink.
I know that some of you are still not convinced that the future is going to be more Indian than you think. Let us explore this notion from the perspective of electricity and water. We know how expensive these essentials are and quite a few of our population has perfected home-grown methodologies to get them without having to pay. But with solar energy racing past old fashioned fossil fuel technology, electricity is going to get dirt cheap (visit website for more info). And with cheap electricity comes abundant water. With the rates falling, each of us will find it safer and better to start paying and this will finally lead to a happier government treasury. The economy stabilizes and the GDP goes up making India shoot up in the global economic giants listing. This will obviously not happen in other countries where these essentials are already cheap and people are paying their bills. These countries will experience no tax abundance and, therefore, will have to be content watching India rise up and beyond everyone. We already have an ex- tea-seller from Gujarat at the helm and have people like Kejriwal selling people the ‘free’ dream. Mind you, we are already prepared for the future. And, therefore, the future is more Indian than you think.
This is only a part of the entire act and all I am trying to say is that whatever is imagined to be a block or an obstacle isn’t really so. Even if the future doesn’t follow the path that I have mentioned, we’d still be cruising happily because we are the sorts who will hop over potholes than stand there and wait for someone to come along and repair the road. This is because ‘jugaad’ is at the heart of our revolution.
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#MoreIndianThanYouThink
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Arvind Passey
23 April 2017
