There are very few objective truths in this universe.
At the cost of sounding a bit narcissistic, I’ve always liked what I’ve written on this website. I have of course made plenty of mistakes, many of my opinions have changed with time, but I’ve enjoyed the freedom of being able to say what I want to say without any censor.
This, however, does not objectively make me a good writer. Being able to convert your thoughts into something that’s readable is part of being a good writer, but that’s not it. What you use your words for is important, so is the impact they have on the reader. One more important component is the feedback you get from your readers, but that’s something I’ve always chosen to ignore.
Most of my work till now has been observational, a commentary on what is, what is not, and what should be. I have been aware for quite some time now that this type of writing is more or less useless, at least in the long term. Sitting in front of a laptop and shouting obscenities into the internet is fun and exciting, but it does nothing.
I think a person can do 3 kinds of things on this planet, which have a progressively bigger impact.
- Observe: Use it, make fun of it, praise it, review it.
- Suggest: Discuss how to improve it, raise awareness of the improvement, push the people in charge to improve it.
- Do: Become a part of the system you want to improve, hold the power to improve, and do it.
For example, my article about the Mojo falls in the first category. I rode it, and then wrote about it, with a lot of added spice. If I wanted to take it to the next level, I would start trying to reach out to Mahindra and suggest changes to their bike, or I would buy a Mojo and modify it myself to show to them that my suggestions are valid. The final level would be to get employment into Mahindra, become a part of the team that makes the decisions, and then do what needs to be done.
I think a good writer falls in, or is at least willing to be in the third category. This obviously means that your field of writing must be extremely narrow, but I hope you got the overall idea of what I’m talking about.
At this point in time I’m not a good writer in the objective sense, but with this series I hope to progress to level 2.
Many of the suggestions I am going to make in this series, and in the subsequent ones, are going to be offensive to some people. When you do get offended with what I’ve suggested, please try to separate that emotion from religion, nationalism, regionalism, or politics.
I’m an atheist, I care equally little about the considerations of Muslims, Christians, and Hindus. I’m not a patriot, I don’t particularly care about India. Within India, I don’t care where you are from, and anybody who does care for such stupid little things is irrelevant to me. I’m apolitical, any leader who is a decent human being and does good is fine by me, anyone who’s a jackass with the IQ of a damp towel is not.
This series is a set of ideas that I believe would help improve the road infrastructure in our country. These ideas have grown out of 28 frustrating years spent on the Indian roads, plus a few beautiful trips to foreign countries.
It is important to understand that I’m just a random guy sharing his ideas to improve something that’s very valuable to him. I like cars and bikes, I like travel, I like the freedom of the open road, and I’ve spent most of life taking extreme risks to enjoy that freedom. I hold no qualifications that would make me eligible to write what I’m writing. I’m not an automotive engineer, or an economist, or someone who has even the basic idea of how a road is made. I’m a man of average intelligence, and that’s all the qualifications I’ve got.
It is quite possible that many of the suggestions I make could be deemed impossible by experts in that specific field. It is also possible that they might laugh at my ignorance. I have a thick skin, I can take criticism. As long as this series starts even the most feeble discussions among just a few people, it would all be worth it.
As V said, “A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having“. so let’s begin with a bit of Earth, Wind & Fire.