Monday, August 20, 2007

We.. The Engineers

Recently I’ve been bombarded with some silly engineers joke. Well I’ll have to say them silly. After all I’m an engineer at heart. Sample this:

Take 1
Two engineering students were walking across campus when onesaid, "Where did you get such a great bike?"
The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want."
"The second engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit."
Take 2
An architect, an artist and an engineer were discussing whether it was better to spend time with the wife or a mistress.
The architect said he enjoyed time with his wife, building a solid foundation for an enduring relationship. The artist said he enjoyed time with his mistress, because of the passion and mystery he found there. The engineer said, "I like both." "Both?" Engineer: "Yeah.
If you have a wife and a mistress, they will each assume you are spending time with the other woman, and you can go to the lab and get some work done."
Take 3
A pastor, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers.
The engineer fumed, "What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!"
The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude! "
The pastor said, "Hey, here comes the greens-keeper. Let's have a word with him." [dramatic pause]
"Hi George. Say, what's with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?"
The greens-keeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind fire-fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime." The group was silent for a moment.
The pastor said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight."
The doctor said, "Good idea. And I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist buddy and see if there's anything he can do for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't these guys play at night?"

Ouch!!
Traditionally engineers have been viewed as geeks or nerds who do nothing but study strange kinds of things and manufacture big machines and buildings. Even nowadays when some coaching institute puts up an ad showing engineering aspirants they would put up posters of people with formal boring shirts and a metallic cap which the mechanics wear in garages. Whereas the doctors they’ll show are all smart and dashing with matching colourful shirts inside their white aprons.
I mean why such discrimination against engineers. They would make serials like sanjeevani and dhadkan for doctors. Do only doctors have the charm to woo girls. And engineers are all boring people found glued to their computer screens or buried inside a pile of machines.
Come on, engineers are not like that. At least not what I’ve seen and known.
Then who are engineers and what are engineers. Well understanding this species is extremely difficult. However the common characteristics are:
Extreme
Whatever they do has to be on an extreme. No study for the 4-5 months of the semester and no sleep for the 4-5 days before the exams. The same student who you’ll find with his torn jeans and the college t-shirt jumping out of the class(or rather bunking out of the class), impressing the panel of interviewers from the very best companies of the world.
The same stud whom you found half-conscious and fully drunk lying outside the hostel gate in the garden, can stun a gathering full of scholars while delivering a speech on consiousness.
Adaptive
Engineering students are supposed to be the most indisciplined and rude fellows on campus who are always clumsily dressed. But what happens to these guys/gals when they hit the corporate floor. They are the most smartly dressed people and present the face of India Inc.
They are as comfortable in the college-side khokha(dhaba) eating maggy sitting on the mat as they are while having lunch with their clients in a 5-star hotel.
Matter-of-factly
The 4 years of engineering teaches engineers how to learn. Learn different concepts, languages, techniques and anything else. Engineers are basically learners. Engineers doing well in CAT and other entrances are not because they are engineers but because they are good learners and can adapt to the changing situations.

To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

4 comments:

sandhya said...

nice take on engineers, Mr. Narad. u r a real pro. I hav a query. wud b pleased if u reply!
i'm a chem engg , worked 4 reliance petrochem , surat, right after graduation. last yr i decided that an mba is a must 2 fast-forward my career. so i attempted cat. realised my english sucks. so i quit my job n right now reading - basically improving my english! wud my profile look good in the PI's ?

Chota Narad said...

Sandhya,
It would really not be sensible to stay idle for whatever amount of time you may take. What I would advice you is join some social organisation/NGO etc or any part time profession. This will solve your problem as well as make your profile attractive and diverse.

Abhilekh said...

Hats Off to u buddy!!!!

I think your views should be propogated to as many as possible!!

Raman said...

And Abhilekh is doing a good job(publicity)...
Every engg would knw what u have written Buddy but the way expressed it is absolutely amazing... Nice work! :)