"Snow" -another Indian "Innovation"

Beautiful -minus the snow

Here cometh the next post on Indian innovation, after the Blouse piece story. It seems a marvel that a country of a billion plus can only showcase a couple of inventions that strike. It does strike me as odd, so, from all the travels in the recent past, I have been looking for nuggets of undiscovered innovation, convinced as I am , that there is a lot more to be found as i amble
 across this vast, magnificient country.I mean it, you should look for more posts, as I plan to unearth more than you ever thought existed.

And sometimes, it strikes, that innovation happens serendipitiously- right? Discoveries usually do, but so can innovations. That is how i discovered the innovation called "Snow " in Bangalore. Who ever thought that it doesnt snow in Bangalore? Even though fairly close to the equator, it does snow in Bangalore, and that too all the year round. In fact, it snows so brilliantly that one doesnt even feel cold.




Snow on Belandur lake

The snow itself is powdery,fluffy, white and very occassionally dotted with specs of grey. It is an innovation indeed, snow created by waste products . Instead of letting them go to waste, the municipality is actually utilising them well- by allowing them to fester,rot, and ultimately metamorphose into white powdery specs that greet you, flying across so gently, on the wings of the breeze.

If you are still wondering what and where this snow is, it is to be found on a gutter that flows from the Belandur lake.Tons of sewage, some detergent filled muck, finds its way everyday into the dregs of the canal, and blossoms and blooms, with the sheer force of its own self, to form soft ,cottony fluffy balls. And then, all these balls magically converge into one huge powdery mass of fluff- an avalanche of snow that sometimes spills over from the gutter to the streets around. Not a pretty sight, though! An Indian municipal innovation, for sure! Snow from waste! If only it could be put to good use though, to make a snow themed park perhaps... Taking the cue from the "Ugly Indian*", by Arun Pai, transposing ugly to beautiful instantly. Taking innovation to the next level. If anyone had the gumption to enjoy the theme, that is!

K

Regards,
Aina Rao
The amblingindian

* ugly indian - An innovative project run by  a former classmate, to transform ugly streets into beautiful ones.