OF PAVING THE ROAD FOR TOMORROW

Long while back I had read an anecdote by an architect, a European guy at that. He had heard, way back in the 19th century, that in America the pavements were paved in gold. He packed his bags n moved to America. There he learned, first of all the pavements were not at all in gold, and second he was supposed to do the paving.

Well, thinking about that, a little push to the mind. Wasn’t it too beautiful an idea by the people to pave the sides of the road…dual purpose. People could walk without as much care for mud or slush, getting hurt by thorns or need to step in the way of the oncoming vehicles. Roads were a necessity sure, but pavements had been found to be a requirement by the Europeans as way back as the 18th century. Though the paving techniques were originally from Mesopotamian period but put in actual civic use in Europe before the Industrial revolution. The cobbled paths seen in Venice or Paris are a modification of the same technique. The paving technique which was later copied in most of the countries across the world reached the sidelines due to emergence of concrete coming into use and tar tar being discovered for laying of roads. In India we do boast of lengthy roads bridges etc, but we have not come to accepting the use of paving. The best help pavements provide is keeping the pedestrians off the roads. In addition, the dirt/ dust that rises in the air would considerably decrease as the dust would be huddled under the cobbles. An additional positive point being, the rain water can still seep through the pavement structures. This can not be taken up by the government on a large scale without a mooting for the cause. But I guess colonies can come together and try it out in their lanes, get the others to know of its benefits and slowly and steadily bring to fore the point of having pavements in our cities and villages alike. Small things big benefits.

We cant make a big change with small differences, but with small changes we can make a big difference.

WE CAN’T MAKE BIG CHANGES WITH SMALL DIFFERENCES BUT WITH SMALL CHANGES WE CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

NOTE: My recent trip to Gangtok was the spark for this writeup