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I was only nine when my grandfather first described to me the horrors he witnessed six years earlier

我9岁那年，祖父第一次向我讲述了那场他6年前见证的恐怖意外事件，

when human stampedes killed 39 people in our hometown of Nashik, India.

当时在我们家乡印度纳西克，有39人因为踩踏事件而遇难。

It was during the 2003 Nashik Kumbh Mela, one of the world's largest religious gatherings¹.

那是在2003年纳西克的大壶节，世界最大的宗教聚会之一。

Every 12 years, over 30 million Hindu worshippers descend² upon our city

每隔12年就有超过3千万印度教教徒蜂拥而至我们的城市，

which is built only for 1.5 million people -- and stay for 45 days.

在这原本只能容纳150万人的城市中待上45天。

The main purpose is to wash away all their sins by bathing in the river Godavari.

这个节日的主要目的是通过在哥达瓦里河洗澡，洗去他们身上所有的罪孽。

And stampedes may easily happen because a high-density crowd moves at a slow pace.

踩踏事件往往很容易发生，因为人群密度高，行走缓慢。

Apart from Nashik, this event happens in three other places in India, with varying frequency,

除了纳西克，踩踏在印度其他三个地方也有发生，出现的频率各不相同，

and between 2001 and 2014, over 2,400 lives have been lost in stampedes at these events.

2001年2014年间，超过2400人因为节日踩踏事件而失去生命。

What saddened me the most is seeing people around me resigning to the city's fate

让我最难过的是，看到人们无视城市的宿命，

in witnessing the seemingly inevitable³ deaths of dozens at every Kumbh Mela.

坐视每次大壶节上看似不可避免的几十人的死亡。

I sought to change this, and I thought, why can't I try to find a solution to this?

我想要改变现状，我想，为什么我不能找到方法解决这个问题？

Because I knew it is wrong. Having learned coding at an early age and being a maker⁴, I considered the wild idea

因为我知道这是不对的。我早年学过编程，作为一个手艺人，我想到了一个疯狂的点子，

I considered the wild idea of building a system that would help regulate the flow of people

我想到了一个大胆的想法：可以构建一个系统，用来帮助调控人流，

and use it in the next Kumbh Mela in 2015, to have fewer stampedes and, hopefully, fewer deaths.

并在2015年的下一个大壶节，降低踩踏事件，希望这个系统能带来更少的伤亡。