A Long Journey from Home to Workplace

The luxury of travelling in an own vehicle was dragged away from my hands when my office shifted to RR Towers at Guindy Estate Area from GR complex at Nandhanam on January 6^th 2014. 

So leaving my Scooty Pep Babylicious all alone in a corner of my street, I took the next option of travelling by public transport.

For the past few days, my life has been centred on the 45B bus. Given that I've to travel to the Industrial Estate area from the heart of the city, boarding the bus from my place seemed to be the most viable option. This is the only bus that took to the Industrial Estate from Triplicane.

Travelling in a bus, that too in Chennai, is a poles apart experience. I am not sure about the other bus routes that run in the city, my knowledge is limited a very few buses .The people, the attitude of the driver, the frame of mind of the conductor, the endless noise that is always heard, everything is a fresh experience. Even the simplest matter will make the conductor go mad in the early hours of the day. For instance the conductor would sulk if you do not tender the exact change.

One might look at the people travelling in the buses and think of how unfortunate they are to travel so hard. Believe me getting there is not as easy as it seems. You have to be talented 3 aspects to be able to travel comfortably.

1.       To board the bus at the right time
2.       To be able to run with your bags
3.       To be talented to stand steady in a moving bus.

Let me elaborate.

If a bus is scheduled to leave at 8.00 am, in a perfect world, the bus would arrive at 8.15 am. Or in the other case it would arrive at 7:45 am. God only knows where the buses are.

Let us assume that the bus is approaching the bus stand. Here is the tricky part 2. Some bus drivers stop the bus at the bus stop. But, some of them refuse to stop the bus at the bus stop, making all of us (around 20, on any normal day) run with our bags and lunch bags, unmindful of the traffic. All this is because people prefer to sit and travel than to stand in a bus, which could turn out to be a nightmare. But in a way, I'm grateful to these drivers, they help compensate for the lack of any brisk activity throughout the day.

Here comes the tricky part 3. To be talented to stand steady in a moving bus. The problem here is, though we do not have enough space to stand, there is not enough support to hold on to. I guess the minimum qualification to be able to drive a bus is that, the person should have had experience in driving an auto, in Chennai. Now you get the idea of how a bus driver would drive and how the passengers would have to hold on to all the support they can find to avoid swaying in all directions. (Another workout of sorts is my guess).

Most of the drivers are known to be reckless when driving a bus, so much so that even the auto drivers stop to hurl abuses. Just imagine, an auto driver reprimanding someone for reckless driving. But on the brighter side, for all the Harry Potter fans there is something to look forward to. We did not have the privilege of going to Hogwarts; at least we have been given a chance of riding on the Knight Bus!

There are separate seats for women here, but when a seat is vacant and there happens to be a man and a woman standing, most of the time, the former offers the seat to the latter. When an elderly person steps in, people do think twice about offering their seats. One need not be alert all the time, you can ask someone seated to hold your bag and stand at the rear end of the bus, without having to check if the bags are safe. They will be. In fact men even offer to hold women's handbags.

I’ve been travelling for a month now in these buses and I make sure I board the 8 am bus. So there are a lot of familiar faces and people do not hesitate to talk.

The traffic sometimes irritates you. Stuck at a point for more than half an hour is irritating, but light music played on your mobile will keep you engaged. Even if there is no one around, the music played in the mobile would give you company. If that option is not available, just close your eyes and beg for forgiveness from God for all the sins you have committed.

The background score would be in sync :-)

On the whole, I am assured that my trip to and from work is lively and entertaining.

What a way to start (and end) the day!

Are we Smartphone-obsessed?

We adore our Smartphones. Don’t we?  There’s no disagreeing it. In fact, we love them so much that we never want to lay them down. Most of us relentlessly check for text messages, emails, and the latest  Facebook updates at all times of the day, whether we’re in a gathering, at lunch with a friend, or just at home in front of the TV.

Of course, it’s easy to justify our love for our Smartphone. Most people who own Smartphone use it as their alarm clock right beside them even during sleeping— making it too hard to ever feel unplugged from work and social networks.

Thousands of apps escalate the number of things you can do with your phone which is basically a hand-sized computer. These wireless devices have changed the way we converse, work and entertain ourselves. For many people, the last thing we do before we go to bed is check our Smartphones, and it's often the first thing we reach for in the morning. It's basically an extension of us.

Entertainment is another benefit of Smartphones with multimedia features that allow you to play games, watch television or movies, listen to music or read eBooks. They are portable, reliable and capable. We all love our Smartphones so much that we start buying their outfits (panels and cases).

Even after so many advantages, so what could be bad about them?

Though I am typing this on my screen on the PC, I'm still checking my phone :) 

A Smartphone knows us more than our mothers. A minute I miss my phone, I start panicking.

Psychologists are concerned about a troubling issue-The growing obsession among people who would much rather interacts with their Smartphones than with other human beings.

Many of us are so genuinely engrossed in our phones that we ignore the people around us completely. 

The more we convince ourselves that it's immature, the better off we'll be, because then we'll be prepared to make it the way we need it to be for us.

So my final question is “Are we using the Smartphones or the Smartphones using us?”

And remember….

It’s our own job as the phone owner to establish the rules, determine the boundaries and limits 

Why I don’t prefer encouraging people getting into an engineering college?

Young Indians have given up on engineering and MBA degrees considering the chances of getting a job to be very grim. Frustrated engineers and business graduates are now taking jobs for which they are overqualified and, therefore, underpaid.

In India, while some time ago, the number and quality of the engineering institutes were enough to produce technically skilled people in the country. Creamy layer used to be in IIT’s, Good students used to be in NIT’s and average people used to be in Govt. engineering colleges. Things were justified at that point. But everything got jeopardized when the number of engineering colleges rose up.

Needless to say, the popularity of the engineering was mostly due to IT and it's capability to offer even a mediocre student a job of Rs. 20K/month. In this jazzy world of IT, everybody forgot one vital fact. Engineering is NOT all about IT/Computers and IT itself is NOT equal to Computer Science. Today every sensible Engineer would say with me - IT has been very successful in destroying two streams of engineering that goes by the name Computer Science and Electronics and Communication engineering.

Some of the myths that parents and students get trapped into

1. One should be a professional such as a doctor, lawyer or an engineer to be successful in life. Other degree programmes are not useful.
2. Marks scored in higher secondary are a true reflection of one’s intelligence, and the one who has scored more than 95% is the most intelligent than others.
3. Those who studied higher secondary education in vernacular medium cannot shine in professional courses.
4. Unemployment is high, so campus placement is the only hope.
5. An engineering degree in the most popular branch, with 8.0 CGPA and above will definitely fetch a job.

In order to overcome poor placements and get most of their students placed, non IITs and tier two engineering colleges are coming up with alternative ways. They are plunging to newer industries apart from IT, compromising on lower salary packages, inviting more companies and bringing entrepreneurship in limelight.

                             

So here is my analysis of why I do not have an optimistic suggestion to pursue an engineering degree

Case 1 - If they belong to a Tier- 3 college in the outskirts of a metro city:

1. They undoubtedly took up engineering because it gets you an “established career" and somewhere somebody told them an engineering degree is a prestigious one.
2. All through those four years they realized that they made a huge mistake
3. They were expecting a placement at the completion of four years, but due to massive competition and lack of skills they failed to get one and that now look for other options for earning. 
4. Ramu, Somu, and Raju - all are doing MBA, so I’ll do the same 
5. But if they are among the 20% people in these colleges, who are actually interested in engineering AND have the recommended skills too, they fail to get a placement because they are not prepared to work in a small startup and want work in TCS and TCS will not hire them unless they belong to a tier 2/1 college or are exceptionally brilliant with super-duper communication skills. So they look for other options.

                       

Case 2 - If they belong to tier 1 college (IIT, BITS and all their copartners)

1. Companies willingly hire them ( I am talking about those companies who reject Tier 3 brilliant students but fluster for Tier 1 average students because of their "TAG" ) to provide them a steady life is foreseen.
2. But now they do not value the steady life.
3. They want more. They are IITians. They don't want to be working "under" someone. So they go on building up their “own startups” or go to California to pursue “MBA” and have "FUN".

Tier 3 engineering graduates always wonder what makes their education pathetic. Well its tiny bits of structure, admin, the students themselves and much more. Nobody is concerned on how to transform the already existing low grade colleges which are serving no purpose other than giving way an engineering degree at the end of four years

Well, I thought about what can be done to change the scenario, and here are some pointers that my brain came up with:

  1. Admissions not on the basis of competitive MCQ based exams or the score in the higher secondary:

 An engineer should have a bit of creativity, imaginative thinking, ability to research and a genuine interest in stuff. What AIEEE and JEE (sorry IITians) test is how a set mathematical problems can be solved in the minimum possible time. Now Euler’s theorem and Taylor’s series are important but what’s their use if you cannot apply them. And for application you need a brain which is aware, thinking and interested in the application itself, not in getting a job at TCS. Those kinds of brains can be sorted out when the admission selection criteria has some sort of analytic skills testing. People with real stuff should come forward to join such a course. Not anybody who can afford to repay an education loan for an engineering course.

2. Introducing practical based study in the curriculum:

 We have all watched the 3 Idiots movie a humpty number of times. So I needn’t elaborate on this.

3. Exams in the form of minor projects based on theory studied throughout the semester:

 This is an extension of the point above. Chuck away as much theory based exams as possible. This will stop the trend of people mugging and passing exams. In Tamilnadu and other major states all the muggers are tagged as toppers. But when these enter into corporate world they rarely shine.

4. Introduction of personality development sessions in curriculum:

 Many students may have the talent and aptitude but lack awareness and conversational skills. Now these sessions are available in many colleges but they suck big time. Again, there is nothing beneficial standard on in that part. We requisite to have people who know how to create an impact on the student’s personality and any XYZ with good English will not do.

5. Batch of not more than 25 to 30 students in a class:

 Putting up a herd of students into a single class room will fetch nothing except noise.

6. Tie ups with various start-ups and not just high end companies:

 Everyone needs practical talent. Be it TCS or a startup in sake. The college admin must have tie ups with these companies and show them the practical projects these students make. The companies will definitely be interested in hiring these children rather than a mugger who is a 9 pointer.

7. Encourage students in all ways possible:

 Every student will have their own talents. Institution should be able to find them out and encourage them in their respective interest apart from books.

8. Provide students with ample knowledge on various streams of knowledge:

 Institutes must provide ample knowledge on the real world. Don’t make students glued to books and exams.

9. Don’t prioritize students based on the marks:

 Don’t rank people according to their marks rather find the real star among the group.

10. This is for the students - Don’t consider engineering a money fetching mechanism:

 If money is the only purpose of taking an engineering course, then wait for surprises.

There is much more to say…