Sky’s the limit
As if road rage was not enough, we might have to suffer hot heads in the skies too, if the flying car becomes a reality

Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of
asphyxia.
— Dr Dionysus Lardner, 1793-1859

What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives traveling at twice the speed of stagecoachs?
— Quarterly Review, 1825

Leonardo Da Vinci sketched a prototype of modern-day helicopter in the 16th century about 500 years ago, but it was much later, in the 20th century, that the flying machine of his vision became a reality. In the 21st century, the gestation period between dreams and reality has narrowed down amazingly. Everyday I — and I am sure you too do — secretly wish for a flying car that would evade traffic jams by taking off right in front of my office and landing in front of my home. But watching Ron Weasly and Harry Potter getting airborne in their car and following the Hogwarts Express, I thought such possibilities existed only in Magic world, not for us Muggles. Even the imagery of flying bikes in Phil of the Future, was not sufficient to convince me that a flying personal vehicle will materialise.

Never in the wildest of my dreams could I have imagined that such a car will ever come into existence. But I should have remembered the quotes mentioned at the top of this column, which we have earlier cited in Educare. Human mind is capable of anything, and that boring cliché ‘Nothing is impossible’ is actually manifesting itself each day. After all, who could have imagined multiple channels, mobile phones, personal laptops and cheap air travel in the Eighties? So the dream flying car too is being worked upon. Priced at Rs four crores, it will hit the markets two years from now. Surely, the billionaire club of India will be among the first ones to buy it. I can imagine the heartburn among the less fortunate ones, who will then wait for the prices to come down, the way it has happened in case of laptops and mobiles.
Once the prices come down, all heavens will break lose. Imagine the traffic chaos that now afflicts our roads, afflicting the skies too. The mad rush to get back home, breaking lanes, evading signals, drunken driving (or flying), road rage (sorry, sky rage) will now be enacted on skyways too.

Imagine the news headlines: ‘Car loses control, lands on a building’; ‘Mid-air collision kills two in air, three on ground’; ‘SUV comes in close range of airport, accident averted’. New jobs will be created: air traffic police, air traffic control room and perhaps new media beats.

Imagine the city skyline: A trail of lights during midnight, jazzy colours during day time; birds scurrying for safety, puzzled at this encroachment of their flying paths. Will new laws be enacted to prohibit kite flying to ensure safety of cars; will trees be trimmed further to allow smooth landing passage; can we land dwellers hope for safety from banana peels and Pan Parag pouches falling from the skies?

But my biggest concern is, what will happen to the talk of low carbon future, emission control, and global efforts to secure a greener, cleaner planet? Is the worst yet
to come? .