27/12/2025
Smart City's 'Railway Track' Logic! 🛰️🚽
I was in Bengaluru recently for a tech summit. My companion was an 'Ultra Pro' level System Administrator from North India. His favorite hobby? Giving hours-long lectures on 'Make in India' and the global milestones our country has achieved.
"Bro, just look at this Hyperloop, the 5G network, these Philips smart bulbs... these are all made in our factories back home. The power of being made in 'Hindustan' and lighting up the whole world... Wow!" he exclaimed, beaming with pride.
I just gave him a faint smile. Checking his smartwatch, he continued:
"See these Hindware closets? We are installing them in every household back in my place. The system is becoming that civilized!"
The next morning, while waiting for our train, I took him to the far end of the railway platform. The sun was just beginning to rise. In the distance, on both sides of the railway tracks, several figures were visible. Holding their 'Make in India' water bottles, they were busy performing 'surgical procedures' on the tracks.
I looked at him and gave a slight wink.
"Bro, aren't those the same 'engineers' who manufacture these Philips bulbs and Hindware closets sitting on the tracks? Even with massive technology factories nearby, they've decided that the vastness of the tracks is the only place suitable for their waste. That 'system logic' is something really worth studying!"
He faltered for a second. Checking the time on his smartwatch, he slowly changed the subject. Even while talking about high-speed internet and Digital India, they can't seem to let go of that 'one-on-one' relationship with nature—it’s a massive paradox.
Manufacturing closets is a business, but using them is a culture. You can measure development by what is produced in a factory, but you can only measure a mindset by the habit of going to the tracks.
