Distance Between Railway Tracks

We all have travelled by trains in our lives. But, have you ever wondered what the distance between the railway tracks is? The distance between railway tracks is 143.5 cms or 4 ft 8 ½ inches. Now the question is why such an unconventional measure? Wouldn't it be better to keep it 144 or 145 cms exactly?

The answer is simple. The rail carriages were made by using same tools which were used for making horse-driven carriages. The distance between the wheels of these carriages was 143.5 cms because the roads on which they travelled was of same length. Then, who decided the road’s length? We have to move centuries back to Roman Empire to answer this. When Romans built the first ever roads, they used this measurement. And why so? Because their war chariots were driven by 2 horses, specially trained for the task, which when stood side by side measured exactly 143.5 cms!

But what does this distance signify? This signifies the very nature of humans to follow rules without questions. The USA engineers while designing fuel tanks for space ships thought that tanks should be wider. But, they were to be transported through same tracks, and hence could not be made wider than 143.5 cms. Imagine the whole plan of space shuttles was to be changed just because someone decided the width of roads centuries back! Just like the distance between railway tracks, someone has also made rules for everything that we do.

Everyone believes that the life’s aim is to follow a plan. They never ask whose plan is this. So, they never question and just follow the rules. And these rules say that we must study things that we would never use, but what others thought is important (trigonometry, calculus, probability, etc). We must do jobs we detest. We must follow a religion. We must kill in the name of country and religion. We must maintain a status in society. We must work in tight schedules. We must buy jewellery or other expensive items just to show off. We must not make a fuss. We must be amusing all the times. We must always complain but do nothing about it. We must not behave differently. We must dress according to latest fashion. We must not help strangers. We must look down upon those who don’t have as much money as us. We must not follow our dreams. And we must not change the distance between railway tracks!

I’ll give one more example to show how blindly we follow, without ever questioning. Take today’s date. Its 29^th of December and December is the last (twelveth) month of the year. Isn’t it? But did we ever questioned why the twelveth month is called December which literally means tenth? The twelveth month should be called dodecember instead. Anyone who studied Chemistry would understand what I mean. Same is true with September, October and November meaning literally, seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.

Its not that everyone follows these rules blindly. There are many who challenged these rules and brought a change. Mahatma Gandhi, for instance, made non-violence a weapon to fight the mightiest empire of all times! We call such people heroes. I also met such a group of heroes on 22^nd August 2010. They are the Sankalp volunteers!

Before Sankalp, blood banking was doctor’s job. People were not supposed to save lives. Government and hospitals were there for the same purpose after all. Volunteering was just a past time. Social service was another occupation which people did for a living. But, this group of people decided to challenge these rules. And suddenly, college students studying engineering, started to take blood calls! They started to search for blood. They started to work for bettering blood banking. They started to do relief work during disasters. They started to save lives. And eventually, even doctors started to listen to these engineers!

The most amazing thing about Sankalp is the quality it delivers without even a single employee. Everyone in Sankalp is a volunteer and not a social service man. How many organizations are there which are going for ISO certification without a full time employee? I can’t name even one. People at Sankalp are changing the distance between railway tracks for the better of mankind. I don’t know about the challenges they faced in doing so, because all I know about this organization is SUCCESS, a 100% response to each of the blood request recieved in more than 7 years!

Hats off to this team of heroes.