In O Vation….engineering principles blowing in the wind…

Greetings,

Some-times, or perhaps all of them

We need to be without fear

of failure

of falling

of ossified principles

and principalities

of old mis-takes

and new consequences

…..

ne?

This is how engineering works in India. The vehicle featured in this post is a little bit of an old motorcycle, a big part of an old scooter, a three wheeled cycle rickshaw and a mechanical surgeon with an eye for what works.

No talk in these shops of bending moments and spring constants. No talk what so ever of the safety or lack thereof, just a deep knowledge of what works.

This thing works. The driver featured below spoke proudly of piloting this machine, of sublime design, at 70 mph on a highway, loaded with 1 ton of humans and straw.

My hat, if I wore one, is off to these mad-nificient men and their rolling con-traptions….

But first, a view from the kitchen window…. monitor lizards, basking their cold-blooded selves in the sun…. what a creature, hmmm?

And then I heard the familiar racket of the vehicle described above, known locally as a jugaad…

Once I was whole…

But now….

now I am complete…

take one part of this….

Jumble in the jungle…..

and a twist of this….

that and the other…

hang a tank…

by a pedal…

so it will never fail…

…. and when the day is done……

well, when the day is done, I have a great video clip to show you that I tried uploading on youtube, but because I am travelling, youtube/google, in their infinite, snooping wisdom and their panopticon-ian desires, tell me that my signing in from an unusual location forces them to make me verify my location/person…give us your Phone number…whatever.

I refused, so they refused to upload….

Later, someplace else, perhaps…

yessssss….perhaps vimeo….

check this out…..

https://vimeo.com/76587148

makes me happy, to watch these rule breakers…..

a certain kin-ship!

Vivek