All Aboard

My father, with some tedious observation, has a knack of bringing out the fundamental principles behind the systems and organisations we see around us.

His take on transportation is interesting, insightful and when you go a little deeper, so damn true. Here's his version of how all transportation works.

Waterways were man's first means of transport, any device that floated. Water though, isn't everywhere, and to get to the end point, the boat/ship/ferry or whichever aqua-vehicle was the user's choice had to have a place to make stop, at the interface of land and water. A landing platform, so to speak. Just a decent beach might do for a raft, a harbour for a large ship. This is the underlying principle for all transport. A landing place, a platform, or as my dad puts it, a "katte". (Kannada for platform, means the same but somehow when told in kannada brings out the sheer simplicity of what every means of transportation is based on). 

Ships have docks, trains have platforms, air-crafts have terminals or air-bases, buses have platforms too. All of which when brought down to their bones are nothing more than platforms at the interface between the user and the means of transportation. A common point. Edge of the sea, edge of the road or the end of the railway track. It's all the same.

Profound thoughts built by simple ideas lend true beauty and perspective to the world.