Saturday, 20 September 2014

The Smart World

The concept of “smartness” in good old days was mostly attributed to personal qualities like quick wit and intelligence or stylishly dressed, such persons being called “smart”. Like my school friend Santhanam, when asked to indicate Newfoundland in our class room world map pointed out to some dot of a space two inches below Australia in the Indian Ocean saying that he newly found that place. We all thought he was smart but our Geography master was not amused and admonished him saying “Don’t be a smart ass”.

With the electronics revolution in the last century the concept “smartness” in devices has changed to mean their capacity to do many independent functions in addition to the main intended function. Thus came the smart card and the smart phone and now its extension, the Apple smart watch. The smart watch “apart from helping consumers send and receive messages, and post on social networking sites, can also monitor one’s heartbeat, serve as a pedometer, measure one’s calorie intake and facilitate cashless payments”.

The management gurus prescribed S.M.A.R.T. ( Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound) goals for organisations.

There is news that Mumbai’s Bandra –Kurla Complex (BKC) is to become the city’s first “smart district” by the end of this financial year. Under the Smart BKC project, five services will be provided- viz public wi-fi, smart parking, smart solar street lighting, a citizen portal or apps to spot utilities like reserving a table in a restaurant and video analytics based CCTV cameras to alert agencies about thefts or suspicious activities .Smart news indeed for Mumbai citizens smarting from the poor civic functions .If you ask me, Mumbai needs smart roads without pot holes.

I was curious if vegetables can be smart. I goggled and discovered the “smart potato, smart tomato and smart brinjal”. The first two are mentioned in the context of summer activities of kids and the third is mentioned for its the universality and good properties .

Next was my search for the” smart wife” in the belief that such a person does not exist but the following story dispels the belief. A man and woman were married for many years, even though they hated each other. When they had a confrontation, screaming and yelling could be heard deep into the night the man would shout, "When I die, I will dig my way up and out of the grave and come back and haunt you for the rest of your life!" Neighbours feared him. They believed he practiced black magic, because of the many strange occurrences that took place in their neighbourhood. The man liked the fact that he was feared. To everyone's relief, he died of a heart attack when he was 68. His wife had a closed casket at the wake. After the burial, she went straight to the local bar and began to party, as if there was no tomorrow. Her neighbours, concerned for her safety, asked, "Aren't you afraid that he may indeed be able to dig his way up and out of the grave and come back to haunt you for the rest of your life?" The wife put down her drink and said, "Let him dig. I had him buried upside down......"

The smart things of the future? Your guess is as good as mine.

3 comments:

  1. I have read your piece about the need for smart roads in your millennium city..

    I am happy you didn't talk about the smart bombs...It has been proved that like many of the smart phones, those bombs are also not that smart anyway..The story goes that one of those smart bombs assigned to take out Saddam lost its way and stopped at a way side Daabha in Baghdad to ask the shop owner ( who was a Saddam spy ) where Saddam's residence was....That gave enough time for Saddam to out-smart that bomb and escape..

    But let me concede..You are one hell of a Smart Alec!
    -Pattambi

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  2. A smart article, Sir.... If I may say so!

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