Making Ends Meet

A long perilous journey into forest and over craggy surface often brought the traveller to the end of the land, which then continued beyond a deep chasm or a quicksilver river. There always has been a desire to get to the other side, to wonder what there is in that mysterious distance, to connect the two sides, to make ends meet.

Quite often, the man who made a voyage was one in search of God who made bridges when he needed to cross over. But he could also be a trader on the Silk Route, for example, or one who had heard of gold on the other side of the chasm that beckoned him to cross over. Precarious bridges swung across rivers and high lands as man’s indomitable spirit made him defy nature’s whimsy.

There are a variety of bridges for so many different reasons. There are serious bridges that enemies destroy or inhabitants do, depending on the situation but the motive is disconnection, the reverse of what caused the bridge to be built. There are charming bridges over calm waters landscaped into gardens; bridges that celebrate technology like the Golden Gate in San Francisco or our own Howrah Bridge in Calcutta; comfortable bridges where one can sit and throw stones into the water to create ripples. Then there is the Waterloo Bridge forever linked to a poignant film by that name.

Sometimes, like one of the bridges in Hampi, Karnataka, a bridge can actually be meaningless, constructed not so much for connecting and convenience but to suit the vested interests of politicians, ruining the calm of the river by its crude structure, uprooting some ancient temples.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, chapels were built on bridges that had defied furious waters and were known as ‘chapel bridges’. These bridges were revered and had a certain sanctity. There is still a chapel bridge that survives in Avignon in France. This was also the time for ‘inhabited bridges’, where the bridge that spans the river is topped with an architectural structure. People lived here, continuing with commercial and social activities the way it would happen on normal land.

The Ponte Vecchio in Florence was built in 1345 and till today is crammed with shops and living quarters above. While walking on the Ponte Vecchio, one is not too aware that one is crossing over since the feeling of a bridge is quite missing.

And then there are the bridges of tomorrow, certainly futuristic and awesome.

But the most meaningful are the bridges of the mind, those that bridge the gap, close the divide and mend broken relationships. They are also the bridges of faith, where the ground never falls from under our feet and an invisible hand holds us firm.