Recently there was a lot of discussion in media and press about Steve Jobs and how his inventions changed the lives of millions of people all over the world. Here are some ideas which, if brought to reality would change the lives of millions of Mumbaikars (and perhaps of millions more in other cities).
1. Retractable spikes to be attached to the wheels of your cars: Most of the 40+ people would remember the Hollywood classic “Ben Hur” and the great chariot race. In the race, Messala (played by Stephen Boyd) drives a “peaked chariot” with blades on the hubs. The intention very clearly is to destroy any other chariot coming near him. On Mumbai roads, we need to at least repel all the vehicles, particularly the autos trying to come too close. So the retractable spikes will do the job. They will remain disguised for most of the times, except when they are needed to be out to deal with the autos.
2. Ultrasonic gun to smash the windshields of traffic offenders: As we all know, part of the traffic problem is caused by the undisciplined motorists. There has to be a way to discourage motorists from going to the right (opposite) lane when others are waiting patiently on the left side of the road. Fines slapped by the traffic police do not work. Disabling the vehicles or flattening the tires would cause further traffic jams. Here is what will act as a disincentive. An ultrasonic gun can send a strong wave to smash the windshields of the vehicles on the wrong side of the road.
3. Magnetic gun to silence the LOUD speakers: Notwithstanding the Supreme Court orders and the police rules, we are still subjected to very loud music or prayers or speeches or the silly jokes of the MCs in all kind of parties. Here is an idea to check this nuisance. A gun that can fire a strong magnetic beam that can instantly disable a LOUD speaker.
4. Plastic darts to silence the stray dogs: Even through the closed glass windows, we are woken up in the middle of the night by the stray dogs barking. The majority of Mumbaikars are not even privileged to have air-conditioned bedrooms. All of us remember the story of Ekalavya who shot arrows at barking dogs and silenced them without hurting them. We need guns that can fire plastic darts that can silence the dogs without hurting them. (The same darts could be used to silence even the dog-lovers!)
5. Sound reflectors: In spite of all the ideas mentioned here, some noises are bound to come to our house. Sound reflectors mounted on your windows can reflect the sound (noise) back and keep your house relatively quiet.
6. Laser gun to burn off the cigarette if someone smokes in public: Smoking is bad for everyone excepting the owners of cigarette companies. No campaign has worked so far to make any significant dents in this habit. True, the offices and airplanes are smoke-free. But there are enough people smoking on the roads as they are driven out of their normal offices for the “smoking breaks”. Laser guns are extremely precise and they can hit the target within less than a centimeter on moon. We are talking about much smaller distances here. We need a laser gun that can hit the target (a cigarette) within the precision of less than a millimeter. The laser gun can burn off a cigarette instantly with extreme precision without hurting the smoker. Hopefully the futility of attempting to smoke would make the person quit smoking.
7. Laser based remote paint brush: Once again, in spite of the court orders, we see too many hoardings of politicians spoiling the overall looks of our roads and our city. It is difficult to remove them because of the political / financial / muscle power of these politicians. Many of us would have fond memories of how we enhanced the visual appeal of the pictures in our text books. From Mahatma to Mountbatten and from Chandra Gupta to Chand Bibi, we added “Bindi”, dark glasses, beards, crowns and many other patterns and shapes to make the original face more beautiful and less identifiable. Imagine we have the same power to modify the faces on these hoardings using a laser based paint brush. And all this will from the safety of a distant location. Hopefully the hoardings would go away after the very first attack.
8. Tiny stink bomb to check the hawkers / encroachers: Every now and then we get a scare that a hawker zones would get created in our own neighborhood. So far we are successful in resisting the menace. But once the hawkers arrive, the game is lost. Also we visit other areas where hawkers are there permanently. Complaining to the police in such matters is futile. We can drop tiny, wheat-grain size stink bombs near the hawkers. The bombs can have a half-life of 8 hours, i.e. the effect of these bombs would last for about than 1-2 days. A few bombs in a week should permanently drive away any customers and therefore the hawkers also.
9. Mobile phone dis-charger for those using it in theaters or while driving: Portable mobile jammers are a reality and they are available in the market though not legally. Here is an idea that is complementary. Talking on mobile or worse, texting while driving is dangerous to the others on the road. An electro-magnetic gun can instantly discharge the mobile phone of an offender.
10. Garbage tracker and magnet spray: Yet another problem is the filth and garbage thrown on the streets by citizens. A DNA based garbage tracker and magnet can be sprayed on the garbage from time to time. The DNA based tracker spray can identify the “hands” that threw the garbage on the road and the magnetic chemical can make the same garbage stick to the same hands.
I know many of these are just fictions that can never become a reality. But we can at least smile by imagining the effect of such solutions and how that could make our lives better if they ever became a reality.
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