Management Studies to Practice: Theories that I experienced in a short while

From the last time I wrote the blog life has changed from campus to corporate. The joy of working and earning is making me happy in heart with the search for growth of career in your heart.

The feeling of a MBA in the highly engineering focused company is going just awesome. The world of machines and the thirst for improvement that is driving the organization is awesome to watch from the eyes of an MBA. When the theories you learnt in the classes seemed obvious that time, to real life where things are nowhere near those obvious rules.

Thanks to the opportunities that still make us work in the case study mode.

Change management seemed to be just another set of cases I used to listen in the organizational behavior days but that seems to be the one which actually works in the organization. The resistance to change from the root to the top. People accustomed with a certain style of working, employees who see any action as an encroachment on their rights seem to be a challenge the organization face.

But in the other angle, the management philosophies turn towards the most important resource of the organization as the human resource. In the government organization though lately, people have started using that word with more importance, I find very less focus on that area. Money is something the government has decided to pay the people as salary. In every organization, there is a limit to which money can work towards the employee satisfaction. There are different things that would bring an employee closer towards organization.

In this context I always draw parallel between the private firm where I worked as an intern and my present employer. Though the firm was involved in heavy engineering like my present employer, the level of hygiene and focus on safety being hard pressed by the organization had made me feel like being in any other MNC I found in the software parks of Technopark or Infocity.

If the employee is the prime focus of the organization definitely the employee will be loyal to work in the organization, else he will just be present in the organization. But in Government, the employee is taken for grant that he/she will not leave this organization and hence facilities are enough. 

Another theory of organizational behavior, where I totally agreed with Prof Satish Pandey was on the cleanliness of toilets and the link to the organization’s values. Toilets talk volumes about a house, a street, a place, a company according to me. You need to give people good sanitation facilities. Better canteens, cleaner toilets should take prime focus of managements.

Safety, should become heart of the organization. The focus of safety has brought companies into MBA classes and people will love to work for such organizations. The feeling that "You are safe with us" is the best slogan any company can give to an employee. In this context I have heard foreigners have heavy focus  and Indians do it just because its another compliance. No single employee should lose a single day of his life due to unsafe work practices. But this should come from the top down as who should bite the bullet is the head of company. Else none takes the pain to start biting the bullet.

Enjoyed working on these two great management theories for sometime in my plant. To pen down my thoughts and views and to hear from you on the same will be great. Winding up the small post after a long time.

The World of Counterfeit: Implications and way forward

It really amused me when I stepped into fashion street in Pune, when we went for our NDA tour in 2006. The reason was I could buy banyans worth `80, shoes worth `200 and all items at very very low cost. Why such low cost shops are not famous in Kerala was my immediate concern. But I have heard about such a hub where you get all sorts of CDs of new films- Beemapalli in Trivandrum. The same had applied to theen darwaza at Ahmedabad. Theen darwaza was a different experience altogether. It gives you the variety that no shopping complex or mall can give. Not in terms of the ambience, but in terms of the wide range of products that are on offer.

It was the class of Mr Pramod Palliwal, Dean, School of Petroleun Management that made me think the other way round. Things, which we do not look into while buying a counterfeit good.

Is it just shoes and CDs? It is bigger. From the duplicates of the Ferrari to the vital and critical Medicines that we consume, come from these counterfeit producers. Apparels, Drugs, Software, Film CDs, Currency, electrical goods, Currency notes etc. are all faked in this world.

How are these people selling at such low prices? These goods are never taxed. These people produce goods that actually resemble the original product in terms of looks and brand name.

The whole system of smuggled goods industry if checked can bring in crores of money to the exchequer of our country. Although no records are available on it, it is believed that 6% of global trade is in counterfeit goods. India loses taxes of goods worth $ 5 billion annually( (Keshri, 2012).

It is not just about smuggling. Every registered good that comes to you comes from a registered supplier, who again pays tax to the government. The factory that makes this good product will be employing employees with minimum wages specified by government. The raw materials will be sourced from genuine suppliers.

But think of it when it is the low-cost theen darwaza. Where these goods are sourced from? It might be from some foreign countries, terrorist centres. None of the persons in this supply chain pay money anywhere except as bribes to officials. The kids who sell to you are also not paid properly. The margins lie with the bigger businessman who manages to sell his goods by not paying taxes.

If all Indians start buying Chinese goods, or these smuggled goods from Dubai, it’s the Indian taxes that are evaded. In the long run, the bank balance of our government will be reduced. If the government doesn’t have money our country will face the fate of Greece or Europe which has its people ultimately suffering due to the government not having balance.

You may say that taxes to a corrupt government are again harmful. But the taxes not only takes care of money to govt. But a taxed helmet is being checked by Bureau of Indian Standards and is given an ISI mark, so that if an accident happens your head won’t break with helmet. A taxed medicine is checked for its quality.

After all, the genuine suppliers who provide you goods spend handsome money on branding their product. After branding that name, people buy addidas and not adidas. So the loss is for the people who spend money to get their original product reach you. 60 companies start with the name “Nike”, 65 companies with “Rolex”, 217 with “Intel”, 136 with “tata”, and over 400 with “Reliance”(Source: FICCI). Counterfeiting means 600 crores for music industry and 4000 crores for the film industry.

In a way it contributes to Criminal activities by pushing black money into the economy, unemployment, as a consumer you suffer due to the low quality of products ( which may be even death if it’s a medicine), the government suffers due to tax evasion, the good companies which genuinely do business suffer.

Industries have to work with the government to counter this. Strict laws followed by strict enforcement can bring down this crime. Awareness among consumers must be created about these effects on their lives.

Therefore, as consumers, we should contribute our bit to these social and economic problems by not purchasing these goods. It may be difficult for the poorest of poor to quit buying goods, but I am sure those who are privileged to read this article using a computer and internet in your hands can certainly do it.

DEMAND SUPPLY GAP…

Sitting half awake in Lahiri sir’s class which was about supply, demand and price relation, my thoughts plunged into the case when the buyers have enormous buying power. If demand increases supply increases. If the demand cannot increase the prices will surge.

So with this, friends, I welcome you to the story of my home state kerala wherein some market forces heavily influenced the price of land.

Kerala is one of the major states in India that brings in huge foreign wealth to our country. Majority of the skilled and unskilled youth in kerala finds it his dream to go to dubai and work because they believe that is the path which will lift the financial position of the family.

The belief is not totally false.

You earn double or triple with the same knowledge if you can get to dubai. When converted to Indian rupee it will fetch you returns enough to build the dream home or buy the dream car that you want to.

The story I say is of a middleclass person who migrates to start the living. But 10 or 20 years down the lane that person has enough wealth to buy acres of land in the state,  has the power to give a higher price for anything he wants.

Naturally the prices of items go up.

 It is not the same for all those who go abroad. But a majority has the same story.

I feel this inflation in prices is most prevalent in the case of land.

 Now come back to the other middle class who didn’t take the flight to dubai-the ones who joined the government services, the ones who could get into only the daily wages kind of jobs, the ones who put up a small shop in the native.

These people will just wonder what happen. In all the cases mentioned above even if I take the case of the government servants who are considered to be having better financial stability among them they won’t have any bargaining power in the system.

 I went with my brother in kerala to purchase a land/house for him and saw that you don’t get a cent for less than 5 lakhs anywhere in Trivandrum.

Even if you take the salary of an IAS officer I don’t think he will be able to buy the land without going for high austerity measures in family. Then what will be the case of the poor people who struggles to have their daily meal.

I came down to Ahmedabad some months ago.  In ahmedabad city I found that a good house wherein my uncle stays could command only 65 lakh, which is the prevailing market price. The city is Ahmedabad, the location is inside the city. Even then the price is only 65 lakh!!!!! But for sure the same in Trivandrum city would go beyond 1 crore. Its because there are people who are ready to pay 1crore. And from where does one crore come to kerala economy??

This inflation in prices I believe is a dark side of the foreign wealth flowing into kerala. The common people will find it hard to survive. Even a government servant will have to put in his whole life’s earnings to buy 5 cents of land.

Now another question arises.

 If he did that, how will he get his daughter married?

Gold is again getting costlier. Today it is 3200 per gram.

Again the highest demand goes to my state….

Fed up by the low wake up rate of the class Lahiri sir shot a question in a thundering loud voice..”Now what wil happen to the price of the good if demand increases????”

I woke up and replied

 SIR I HOPE IT INCREASES…

The great mad rush for engg/med..

A week back I found a family at my village in allepy going to the near town changanassery to enrol for medical entrance coaching. The head of the family is a soldier and for sure is striving hard to make a living. The fees at the entrance coaching centres will surely be high enough for that man. But medicine is still a job that many parents like to gamble for. For a student from a general category to have an admission in a medical college, he has to secure a rank within 500 to have that seat. So you have just 500 from the 77000 who took the exam this time. If he/she is not that brilliant enough will end up doing a nursing or a veterinary which will be something that they’ll have to bear because they dreamt of being a doctor and has nothing else to do now.

During my journey to Hyderabad I met a girl who is the 2^nd among 3 girl children and their father a driver is the sole bread winner of the family. They invested 4 lakhs at Hyderabad again with the so called medicine mania and later the dreams of getting 6 digit salaries at foreign countries. But the truth is majority still remains here itself. Nowadays conducting strikes at almost all hospitals due to the extremely low wages which a student with that much education can’t imagine. The care that they provide is another matter which makes us think whether they are having a fraction of what they deserve.

Medicine is surely a respected profession no doubt unlike engineers who are the ‘chendas’ for all pedestrians to bang. The insult of being an engineer is surely not there for a medicine student. People see engineering as a low class course nowadays. But for being an engineer you can rely on the numerous colleges which give you education with nominal fees which you can repay if you work a bit. But the fee at a private medical college is definitely not the same. It’s still a rich man’s cake.

Trying for a medicine seat from my view is a gamble for only if you are sure and that passionate you should try it. Engineering still is not so because it can give you ‘n’ number of avenues (engg languageJ) to have an opening like that of a software sector. The options in other areas are not at all looked into nowadays.

Repeating for entrance is a waste unless you make it into iits, nits or the best ones in the state. So its an advice to my juniors not to go for repeating unless you are sure to make it into the top brass

.

Again education is not just confined to engineering and medicine. People should look beyond it. Btech is a 4 year course which pulls out a lot from your pocket. The degree courses in literature, commerce and all has a 3 year duration and won’t cost you too. All the options like bank, civil services, defence etc are available to a degree holder too. Any degree holder with a grip in computers can opt for a software job. You need not be an engineer for that.

So parents, teachers and gentlemen please turn your eyes to the brighter options in the other areas too. Just don’t ignore engineering but do consider others too.

AHMEDABAD

As I had read in some books, gujarathis were always known to me as good bijiness people. It was fun to observe the business too. The yatra was also to give an interview to learn business.

A ride to the grocery shop once in a week is a routine affair for my parents to get all vegetables and palavyanjanangal. Things were different in ahmedabad. The person who wakes you up is the Fruit wallah who shouts “ Appal wallah, Orange wallah, kela wallah…….”a pause and then…”with xtra energy charged”..ankur wallah, mosambi wallah………”That  song rocks your ears for about half an hour.Then comes the kachara wallah, doothwallah,sabjiwallah….Delivery at home..

The streets are always filled with people which may be due to the reason that gujarathis seldom stay indoors if they are free. Either you can see them sitting in front of the house and chatting or sitting in the roadsides.. The government  also seems aware of this fact and has put up concrete benches all along the road near KK nagar char rastha..

Lots of food shops everywhere which you seldom(I haven’t) see without business happening. The scenes at the beverages outlets are seen at a Pani puri wallah in the ahmdavadi evenings..But gujarati pani puri consumers are not as disciplined as the keralite drinkers.. Those people do crowd around that man like a swarm of flies which usually happens during a small accident at the road sides in kerala.

The journey to Nirma was the very next day. It was a long journey in auto with my uncle. The rickshaw wallah put on the meter. He asked not a penny more than the meter reading of 80 unlike our great meter less rickshaw wallahs…The return journey was again smooth with the person not fighting with me and talking with respect . Had it happened in kerala, I would have given him a tip of 10.

Next day I went to my uncle’s house. I asked my cousin brother for a walk at night after dinner and he suggested a ride through the city. I took the bike after some time and started riding.. Vastrapur lake, an artificial lake which was constructed after rehabilitation of the slums resided there is what I understood. IIM Ahmedabad was near and we headed to the dream destination of any CAT aspirant. 11 45pm was a bad time to go to iima but as the college won’t sleep  I felt like its day time. Saw it from the front and drove back. A funny thing that happened was he took a wrong shortcut and we went away from the right path. At last we had to drive back to the same road we took to return to the place.  This happened because he studied at anand and uncle’s family went to surat for 2 years from Ahmedabad due to their transfers. Although he stayed in that place for 17 long years he couldn’t understand the roads since the fly overs built on the roads were such in number and the roads were widened a lot.. And I drove into one fly over and took a toll on the 12 pm drive. Developmental hazards.

Next day we had a temple visit and the drive back to kk nagar. Driving is not as easy as it is in kerala. Rashness is so common that people won’t stop to call bad words at the fellow who did it wrong.

Drive-in is a cinema theatre but not a multiplex or an ac theatre.  The idea that we see in the festivals in temples screening on open ground. But what’s different? People can drive into the ground in their cars, spread the sheets you brought from home or take out the chairs you brought. You can sit near your vehicle. There are bumps on which you can park the car so everyone can see clearly.  Speakers with size of a small stick are installed in between each parking spaces. A different experience it was.

Pandit deendayal petroleum university was my next destination which was a university that had constructed buildings and excellent to see. The interview finished by noon. The sun was too hot. I saw a new Mercedes benz car being brought in a truck hopefully for some exhibition to the campus.

BRTS(Bus Rapid Transport System)-  A system which encourages public transport system. I saw it all along my journeys. The 2 middle lanes next to the divider in usual system is converted to another way. It exclusively carries a particular group of Public buses called BRTS buses. When the CEOs in Audis and bmws are stuck in the heavy traffic of amdavad the BRTS passengers will fly through the road. No other vehicle enters that way. Bus stops dedicated for these buses are in middle of the road. Its comparable to delhi and Bangalore metros since the ticket is taken before the journey. Info about the next bus arrival timing(which is exactly how many minutes left) and the destination flashes through the electronic display. 

Kangeriya lake was the place we visited in BRTS. A lake which is now modified and made a tourist spot with many rides, boating, laser show etc. Cost is too high inside for the rides.

Overall I had some good time at gujarath and got admission to deendayal and nirma too. Hope gujarath will make my life a splendid one…..

DAY 1 AT SAINIKSCHOOL

16 JUNE 2000

I got up earlier than usual because it was the day I had to join Sainik school, kazhakootam. I got ready. All the items were packed in advance. Achan had arranged a taxi, something in which I rarely travelled. I was filled with huge excitement and all my neighbours were there ready to bid goodbye to me. The scene would now look to me like a jawan saying good bye for a war. I waved hands at every one as the taxi rushed to Kazhakootam.

We passed the great walls of sainik school and the car entered the large 300 acre compound which looked almost like a forest area at first and then passed to the school building. Achan took out the trunk, specifically saying the 33 inch trunk which was bought from chalai market.

We assembled at a place where I met my fellow batch mates many of whom in the future became my very close friends. I was almost living a dream for all the things happening there seemed to be interesting. A peon came and sat on a chair. He had a file in hand and started reading out the name and house. I had my friend jayakrishnan who came to school a year ago and I knew he was in a house called VKK. The names went on and came finally NANDAKISHORE-VALLATHOL HOUSE. I went sad because it was not VKK. We didn’t know where to go or how to go as the school building was far from all these houses. There were two men coming from a distance, one of them I later realized was the then senior master S H Sharma sir. He showed us the way. Unfortunately the car had left and Achan had to carry the heavy trunk. I and Amma followed him. Big Buildings with very nice construction, a plane or a gladiator whatever it is which were working decades ago was kept by the side. Volley ball courts, basket ball courts, football courts, the boxing ring…I was living a dream…

Soon I saw groups of boys marching like policemen in khakis. One of them was saying something loud, Op right op or so. which I didn’t understand. The squad was marching and behind the khaki squad was a small squad with white shirt and white shorts. I recognized my friend Prince john in that squad who was there with me for the coaching class. He smiled at me and so did I. But he was helpless to come out of the squad as the person in control of the squad seemed to stare at every one inside the squad and so he was afraid to come out. The squad continued marching and many squads walked past.

Several houses all packed in an area. Names were displayed in big letters at the entrance. I passed through a road straight from the auditorium to reach my destination Vallathol .A building in a very nice location. The name seemed not so familiar to me at that time. We entered the house following the other new students who joined along with me. It led us to a hall the size of a class room but with four large tables at each corners. Each family occupied one table each and when more people arrived two families shared one table. We just displayed the items we had brought and waited as said by some of the other parents. The new comers always have a list of things with them which get lost as soon after they become students. Terry cotton shirts, Pyjama & kurtha, hockey stick, Blanco, polish, Oxford pattern shoes, baniyan, socks, underwear, needle thread and so on to every minute thing some one needs to live. (Blanco is that thing which is found only in sub junior houses and never seen at junior and senior houses except before PT competitions and Inspections). The funny thing or the most celebrated fact in sainik school is that by the time the boys passout in 12^th i.e after 7 years they will be living with none of these things they bring, let alone blanco and polish.

 There were six of us. Udaykrishnan, Vaishak P R, Nivesh Gupta, Vikram Singh Choker, Arun paul … Vaishak was the person who got the chance to share the table with me. The boy with a round face with his parents, uncle and a younger sister. Achan meanwhile enquired their whereabouts and soon the families became friends. We had to write the roll number on all the things that we had. Fabric paint which again something that I never saw afterwards was used for this. Vaishak and I shared my fabric paint. We also talked with the others, of which Uday was a boy who had a family history of Sainik school. His father being from one of the first batches of school and his brother an officer in Indian Army who passed out in 1996 from the same school. Vikram and Nivesh being hindiwallahs had a special attention among the others. I was seeing some hindi talking people may be for the first time in life. By this time through the window I saw a lady walking through the road towards the entrance of our house. It was Geetha miss, the matron who is considered the mother of vallatholians and veluthampians(boys of veluthampi house) in those days. I successfully completed the first checking in school and went to auditorium.

Men from office assembled there as we sat in the auditorium. A stage and a theatre like seating arrangement. I had sat there before for I wrote my sainik school entrance exam at the school and had to be seated there before the start of the exam for senior master’s guide lines before exam. The boys and the families started talking each other, everyone curious to know how the other house was.. Rohith’s mother said “ Tagore is considered the better one by seniors but still the hall looked not so good. The benches were broken.” “Vallathol is good, my cousin has told” said some one else…went on the talks….

In the meanwhile my name was called. Achan had to remit the fees and soon a file opened and a number written on it. It was 4007, the roll number a sainik school student has to carry through his entire life. Every day we use it a number of times. It’s your identity in the school, more important than your name. Again we left to house.

Lunch was arranged at the school mess. We all went to have lunch. A big building with a small garden in front. We entered the mess. The first table near the door was reserved for newcomers. Table in the broader sense but a row of tables joined lengthwise and benches arranged on either sides of the table which could occupy about sixty people facing each other. It had ample space in the middle to keep bowls of rice and water. The first meal at sainik school was fried rice, salad and mix vegetable curry (the scientific name being Veg Pulao or so).(Vegetable curry is the most ferocious curry as far as junior students are concerned because you have checking for wasting food after every meal and if you are found guilty wasting the foods you get punishments from your leaders, and most people found it difficult to dump that curry in your throat) The mess was vacant when we started eating but soon the school rushed in to have their food. But they all sat idle, not eating but talking… Soon an army man, the head master Lt Col J A Rocque arrived and the school stood up. A bell rung and a well built man with some extra fittings in his uniform when compared to the other students started saying some prayer loud in English and the whole school repeated..’O Lord’ ‘We thank Thee’….’For what we are about to receive’…., the school sat down. The head master along with the one who chanted the prayer sat in a separate table at the middle of the mess. I looked at them anxiously to see what was special with them. They ate with spoon and fork while others in the mess ate with hand. Soon we finished the food and moved out.

We waited for the boys inside to come out. Some boys came out of the mess after lunch and they started talking with achan and we walked with them towards Vallathol. They were not from Vallathol. They were from ‘PATEL’. They explained to us the house systems.” Ten houses with three categories. Seniors, juniors and sub-juniors. Seniors were the 11^th and 12^th. Juniors the 8^th, 9^th and 10^th...And sub juniors were 6^th and 7^th”. Patel was a junior house. “Vallathol is nice, they do well in academics” said the patelian. But I didn’t even know at that time that academics meant studies. I had to listen to everyone for finally it’s my fate.

Afternoon we went on to buy the mattress and some canteen items which we had to get from the school. I ran through the house in front of my house ‘ASHOKA’. Seeing me running through house, the senior boys stood gazing at me. I smiled like a new brother who joined them. It was the next day that I learnt that the gaze was not the welcome for the brother but none other than 12^th and 11^th were supposed to even enter the compounds of the senior houses. If at all anyone had to, they had to get prior permission from their leaders. If anyone unknowingly stepped into the compounds he was done with.

The day went very fast. Achan and Amma finally left me by about 7pm. Slowly some feelings started cropping in. The house had two wings and two study halls. The wings were two halls which housed about 30 students each. There were two wings in vallathol- ‘Fraternity’ and ‘Liberty’ (the second thing which you never find as a junior in sainik school). I got my bed in Fraternity wing. Arun who was in the same wing of mine joined me after we both became alone. He brought some mixture packet to me and we shared it. It was the start of huge sharing experiences. The two hands which went into the mixture packets later became twenty and thirty sharing all the bit of chocolates cutting it to micro chocolates. It’s relieving to have a friend to share your emotions, but being the only child of my parents I seldom got some company at home. We talked and passed time. Only we both were in that wing and the rest of them in the other wing. No seniors were in that house for all of them had left for studies. Clock passed 8 pm and we heard the sound of an auto passing through the road outside and soon a loud voice like the howl of a lady. We rushed to the spot to see any accident occurred. Geetha miss appeared at the door of the wing and said “Put your shoes and come for dinner”. It was the Siren of the mess that we heard. We ran back and opened the new pair of shoes and socks for I wore sandals all these times. All of us were taken to mess by Geetha miss. This time parents were absent.

Thus we entered the school routine. I had read the school routine a hundred times while in house. Everyday I would take the prospectus and read the daily routine starting with Reveille-0530 hrs. And now it was the turn of dinner which happens at 0825 hrs. There was another thing mentioned in the prospectus which was called pocket money which I thought would be put in my pocket by the school once the fee is remitted but unfortunately that thing didn’t find place in my pocket.

The mood inside the mess was now different unlike when we had food with parents. Each house had a separate table. Vallathol’s place was at one corner of the mess near to veluthampi which was at the extreme end. The other students in the school arrived after us. All wore white shirt and pants. Geetha miss handed our responsibility to the senior students. The seniors were the 7^th standards and they had huge bunches of weight on their heads as they have become seniors for the first time in their life. We had poori and beef that day for it was a Friday. I had vegetarian complements for beef which included vegetable curry and banana. Friday dinners and Tuesday dinners were poori and beef which is the most sought after meal in the campus. The pooris were about nine in number (although small) in my plate which was 200% more than the quantities which I used to have those days. After dinner we came out to wash our hands. A washing area where the juniors are supposed to wash. The senior washing areas are out of bounds for subjuniors. I lost the seniors who were in charge of me during the rush for washing the hands. I pleaded for help to someone whom I found there. I told him I am from vallathol. He handed me to Vinay V S(another 7^th who was an amiable person) who took special care to take me back to house.

We changed dress to Pyjama and Kurtha and went for Roll call. Roll call is something where people assemble together and the head count is done by the teachers or the appointments of the house. A new  teacher arrived along with Geetha miss after dinner. Mrs O.K.Supriya Rani. We call her supriya miss. Supriya miss was the maths teacher who loves all students like her children. She too had a lovely character. Supriya miss took the roll call as the house captain Benny stood by her side. She welcomed us to the house and I don’t exactly remember whether I had to introduce myself to my housemates.  She then took the head count and left. After the roll call one of the seniors, Govind M R explained “ She is the master in charge of our house for the time being ‘ Assistant house master’. The actual house master is not here. He has gone to Haryana…’K R SIR’ The name sort of triggered a small thunder among the seniors in the area where we stood. All the eyes turned to govind. Pin drop silence prevailed. ”You are lucky. K R Sir is not here.” KR meant K Rajendran. ” Govind gave an account of the hectic routines of Vallatholians. When the whole school used umbrellas during rains, Vallatholians use only raincoats. It was K R Sir’s order. Like this many rules in the school were special for vallatholians. I lost half my life hearing about the beatings he gave with his cane. I don’t even remember an occasion when my father bet me. Slowly my eyes started watering the eyelids. I thought why I had fought with my parents to get this jail term. Cursed myself, trembled at the thoughts I lay quiet in the bed weaving memories of the sleeps at home. Slowly thinking all this I plunged into my sleep thus ending the first day at my Sainik school.

 Vallatholians and Veluthampians

                         

THE MAKING OF AN ENGINEER

It takes me back to those childhood days when I used to help achan (who is an electrician) with his small electrical works in and around my house. Being a small child I knew nothing more than fixing a screw. It was in one of those times that I heard the word engineer at first hopefully from him itself. He explained to me that an engineer is a master of all these works that I even went on to ask him whether an engineer also knows how to fix a tube light.

Engineering of course is the application of laws in physics and chemistry to make and enhance technologies that help to improve conditions of life on earth. Making of an engineer should hence be aimed at making him apply those laws effectively. Unless we learn the basics in these areas we are not going to put these things to make the so called technologies. Being an electrical engineering student here at University of kerala, I find that the three years that I’ve gone through has brought out little out of me or for that matter from any of those colleagues of mine apart from some formulas and theories.

A person with a huge passion for the subject might end up with a robot or a good project at the final year of his B.tech. which is the maximum that I’ve witnessed in my college days. I’ve even felt that certain subjects are there in the syllabus because they have to put eight papers before us in each semester. Instead the system could be redefined in a better way so as to equip the students with the minimum practical knowledge of engineering.

Even today we write exams explaining about rotating machines, transmission systems circuit breakers without even having seen some of them even once. I am sure the same would have happened with my friends in other branches also. The study of theory and proofs should have gone hand in hand with the practical applications of the same. The initiatives that a University could have done in this regard would have brought out a better engineer who is of some use to the society.

The labs in the colleges would have had facilities to make students see and understand those basic laws and machines. Demonstrations of the theories could have been a part of the curriculum. And until it is made so none of the college managements are going to take an initiative. And unless that initiative is taken the engineering degree is going to be a bunch of papers put together to make a degree. These things can’t happen overnight but can happen in a couple of years. But as far as my University is concerned it’s said to have revised the syllabus from 2008, but the papers in the new syllabus are nothing but rearrangement of the old papers without even having changed the contents in it.

The bodies like AICTE and UGC set up by the government have contributed very less to improving the education standards rather it concentrated more on enhancing the perks of teachers. There were two reports regarding technical education reforms of which the last one came two decades ago and haven’t found its way to implementation yet. Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) fellows made an observation in 2002 regarding technical education that none of the graduates entering the industries have an idea of the problems of the industry. Why that is so? It’s because they are not taught any real life problems. They only study the faults like why an equation didn’t end up the way it ought to be. In this context I would like to compare engineering with medicine where a student who comes out after completing his degree is at least able to fix the problem of a patient, whereas we engineers find it difficult to do the same with machines or circuits. The period of internship similar to doctors should be made mandatory for engineers also because any one who wants to excel in this field needs to have some practical experience before he actually goes into it.

I don’t think any colleges other than IITs, NITs and some other colleges, which will have these things as part their making of an engineer. At the final year of electrical engineering I still end up being with achan trying to fix screws back in place and seldom found successful in fixing the problems inside my house.

So I hope the whole technical education system in India will be reoriented to make the students see learn and understand things more effectively.