Chanakya | Mattha | Indian Railways | 110 V DC Bulbs and Fans

The story dates back to ~200 BC era. In Takshashila, two students of Chanakya, who had been waiting for him, saw him arrive.

While walking towards them, Chanakya happened to step foot on a thorn. It pricked Acharya, who simply bent down to remove the thorn and throw it away. Instead of sitting down and resting his foot, Acharya Chanakya simply walked to a near shop that sold Mattha, a cold sweet drink made of curd (lassi). Instead of taking a sip, he poured the drink onto the nearby shrub.

Instead of cursing, Chanakya simply decided to destroy it by its roots so that it could not grow back again. By pouring the sweet drink over the shrub, he gave an open invitation to the ants to come and destroy the shrub at the roots. Hence, the problem was be nullified at the root.

Acharya Chanakya used this principle of destroying the root of the problem to make Chandragupta the emperor of the Mauryan Empire

Recently, I came across this interesting piece of information, which, I am sure, will leave you surprised also.

Many Indians have this annoying tendency to steal stuff from public places. The Indian Railways faced this problem of passengers stealing away even the electric fan in bogies. What the Railway Authorities then did was ingenious. They designed the fans and bulbs in Indian Railways in such a way to operate at 110V and malfunction if used at 220V. In Indian households, either 220V AC or 5, 12, 24V DC electricity is used. This would make the stolen fans and bulbs useless for the thief J

Wasn’t this also quite an amazing example of ingenuity

In your organisation also, have there been instances where you have attacked a problem from its roots.