Akanksha Singh
When humans want to get from point A to point B, instead of walking, flying or swimming like other animals, they choose to build extremely complicated systems to carry them to B. One of these complicated systems is called ‘Railways’.
For this, they must involve other humans, larger in number than the entire population of some species. These people are split into several groups, each group focusing on a particular project. These projects themselves are also divided into different parts and teams, which, in turn, also have parts. The most remarkable thing about this endeavor, as with most human efforts, is that even though millions of people work on these projects, none of them ever communicate directly with all the others. There exist several such pairs(and permutations of larger numbers) of workers, who are working toward the same common goal, but have never met the other, do not know the other’s name and are completely unaware of the other’s existence. How is such elaborate cooperation possible between millions of strangers? A uniquely human concept of ‘currency’, which deserves an article of its own, makes this possible.
First, humans map out what they think is the best path to get from A to B. And then, one of the groups sets out ‘clearing’ that path. What do they mean by ‘clearing’? ‘Clearing’ involves murdering every being that exists on that path: butchering trees, annihilating creatures that take shelter in those trees, destroying bird nests, disrupting habitats and more.
While that is happening, another set of humans do something called ‘mining’. Mining is digging into the earth, like squirrels and moles do, but at a much, much bigger scale. After digging, inside the earth, they find different kinds of rocks, called ores. They then proceed to bring these ores back to the surface. Oh, and this mining also involves clearing land. Humans do a lot of clearing. And they prefer to call the act ‘clearing’, instead of calling it what it is: mass murder.
Then, a different set of humans, starts work on the ores. The ores are washed, spun around, heated and cleaned to yield metals. These metals are then heated ,mixed in different proportions, beaten into sheets, driven into twigs and moulded into hundreds of different shapes. Large containers made of metals are joined together using other metals. These containers have intricate structures and carefully designed interiors. Several such collections of containers called ‘trains’ must be manufactured for the railways.
Meanwhile, yet another set of humans pour rocks and gravel over the now cleared path. Then, the tracks are laid. The tracks consist of two major components: long metal stripes called ‘rails’ and horizontal supports called sleepers made of wood, concrete or metal. Rock platforms are also built at some points along the track. These platforms are called stations. Above these tracks, there are metal ropes called wires, hanging from tall tree like structures made of metal, called poles. These wires extend over the whole length of the track and originate at a ‘power station’.
The power station is where electricity is produced. Electricity is to trains, what grass is to deer. The trains, like most other human creations, need electricity to work. Most electricity is produced by heating coal, another material humans extract from the earth. The wires carry this electricity to the tracks and supply the trains with energy.
After this, and many other minor tasks are completed, the railways begin to function. The people travel inside the trains, the trains run on the tracks and the wires supply them with electricity. The trains halt at the stations to allow people to get in, and the people wait on the platform before the train arrives. In order to use the trains, an individual human must pay some money to buy a ‘ticket’. Money is how humans exchange goods and services. So, instead of exchanging a bag of rice for a bag of wheat, humans prefer to exchange a bag of rice for a coin, and then exchange that coin for a bag of wheat. A ‘ticket’ is a piece of paper that says “This human has exchanged a coin for a ride in the train”.
For the railways to function smoothly, there are workers who clean the tracks, engineers who monitor everything, ticket checkers who ensure no one boards without a ticket, cleaners who clean the stations, ticket masters who sell tickets, vendors who sell anything passengers might need on the trip, officers who ensure no one breaks the rule and many more people who do many more things.
This whole project took years, if not decades and cooperation from millions of people to build. It needs a lot of work from a lot of people every day to function properly. And yet, humans take the pain of doing it. Why don’t they just walk from A to B? Why must they make it so complicated? Well, like most human things, its….its complicated.