India, March 3, 1990 — New Delhi, Ministry of Roads and Infrastructure
Aryan unfolded a massive topographical map across the cabinet table. Roads, rivers, villages — a living anatomy of India.
Opposite him sat Minister Dev Mehra, eyes wide with disbelief.
"You want to connect every village to a highway within 10 minutes' drive?""Yes.""There are over five lakh villages—""And five lakh reasons to do it."
Aryan circled several clusters on the map.
"We're not building roads. We're building a nervous system."
The BharatLink Framework
He turned the page of his blueprint document:
Silver Roads: Narrow local roads inside individual villages.
Gold Roads: Inter-village connectors forming rural clusters.
Platinum Roads: Broad, high-grade roads linking clusters to the national highway grid.
Each junction would also host a Rural Nexus Hub with:
Cold storage
Seed banks
Small clinics
Vocational training classrooms
Farmer market terminals
Telecom towers
Minister Mehra blinked. "Sir, that's not infrastructure... that's civilizational architecture."
Aryan nodded. "Exactly."
March 5, 1990 — PMO Press Room
Aryan announced Project BharatLink to the press.
Journalists looked stunned as Aryan declared:
"In three years, no Indian should be more than ten minutes away from a highway. In ten years, we will replace every bullock cart road with tech-enabled arteries."
"Every road will carry more than goods. It will carry knowledge, medicine, hope."
A journalist asked skeptically, "How will you even build it? Manpower? Machinery?"
Aryan smiled.
"They will build it."
Village Engineers Initiative
He explained:
"Every village will train one local engineer. We'll pair them with government engineers in 50-village clusters. Locals will construct Silver Roads using modular blueprints."
"Half the cost. Double the speed. Jobs stay in the village. Ownership stays in the village."
Minister Mehra added, "We're calling it: Make Way for India."
March 10, 1990 — DRDO Guesthouse, Pune
DRDO delivered its early designs for underground optic fiber-carrying conduits that could run alongside Platinum Roads.
Aryan pointed at the blueprint:
"Run power lines, telecom, and water pipes together. Every road is a bloodstream."
March 11, 1990 — Aryan's Office
Aryan stood by the window as Ramesh brought tea.
Ramesh asked, "Do you really think it's possible to civilize five lakh villages with just roads?"
Aryan sipped, smiled, and answered:
"Rome wasn't built in a day. But it was held together by roads."
"We build this right — in 30 years, these roads won't just carry trucks. They'll carry dreams. And one day, revolutions."