The Illusion of Reality

The weekend comes with a series of discussions for me. Within me, with my friends and mates. Time sometimes looks like the biggest illusion and sometimes it may seem like the only reality in this twisted, fabricated environment. Well since we can't be so sure, so let’s just not say a day or a few hours earlier, let’s just say earlier.

Earlier within a series of discussions on the need to write, I heard a very interesting argument that, "I can’t write on engineering topics, because I can't think of real stuff, the stuff that exists". This small argument has two vast topics within it.

Firstly, what is thinking. Is it like reciting, or remembering, or repeating? Or its the search of something new; things that don't exist. If you write on anything that exists or is real, it’s not thinking at all. It’s an effort to remember as much as you can, it’s a repetition of an event within your brain; it’s not thinking. So, my answer to this is, "you can't think of the real stuff".

So, don’t worry. Develop an idea, no matter ho stupid it is, feel it, think on it and one day it will be so crystal clear that you will be envisioning it, living in it and then there will be a search within you to make it real. Leave the last part on time. Or if it’s an illusion, on faith. Just write. Because every engineering marvel was once a stupid idea, that someone felt, though, envisioned and loved.

Secondly, what is the reality? Consider the macro figure, what if this entire world is a connected dream? What if we woke up one day and the test is over? In this prefabricated world, the reality is something that we are willing to accept. This word 'we' has many individuals that speak differently but hate to interrupt. They are the dreamers, the world operates because of the accepters, world changes because of the dreamers.

The reality was once a stupid idea, for which an individual searched some practical means. Just write whatever is in your head. Because in this scenario "whatever" is lesser important than "write".

Power of a mistake

Lets just not say, "once upon a time". Lets be very very honest and say, "most of the time" .... this happens.

An engineer was inducted in the company, fresh, energetic, full of impractical ideas and false inventions. Glorifying the profession, passionate about the job, willing to make some marvels and totally non-aware of the actual situation, he entered the scene.

After a few lectures and meetings, he was assigned to design a road connecting two localities. He picked the project, researched it and came up with a new idea. When he pitched the idea infront of the individuals in control, he faced a lot of criticism. And finally he was instructed to follow the previous projects' methodology. Job was important so he followed the instructions, designed the project as per the previous methodologies. The art and passion was burried in the uniformity of correctness.

Now he is at a very very senior post, with 100+ projects' experience in his cv. Suddenly a junior came with a wrong idea and he realized, because of the uniqueness of this wrong idea, that he doesn't have 100+ project in his experience belt he has only one, with 99+ copies.

Of'course his idea was wrong too. But this was the biggest plus point. Because this shows that he was thinking differently. This is the power of the mistake. It opens new venues.

Its was once said but only a few understood that, 'when six people are 100% sure about something, its the duty of the seventh to perceive differently.'

Small Wins

Whenever there is a discussion on betterment. We usually focus or  actually stuck in eyeing the big wins. Everyone wants to be the prime minister to initiate some change. But they don't realize that every big change is the collection of some very very small wins. Few days earlier I was in a discussion where everyone was arguing about how backward we are in the field of engineering. We don't have any manuals, codes or standards of our own. We are following the standards and all the guidelines made by other countries, which is very very true.

So hating to interrupt, but when it is necessary, one has to. A question was pitched that who will make these codes. The bureaucrats? The politicians? The army? Or the engineers?

"Engineers", everyone said.

"So who are you guys?", That was the next questions.

After a pause one "engineer" asked that 'okay! so how to do it?'

So he was told to study the manuals made by the world and select the most appropriate best suited for your environment, and then modify it.

This solution did not receive a charming response. Everyone said that we are not willing to copy. Now we are motivated, we will do it from the scratch. Like re-inventing the wheel before making an SUV.

This thought has two common problems.

Firstly, that we don't know the history. Because most of the western inventions were launched after they stole, copied or changed the name of the author, of the books they vanished from libraries of ottoman empires. That's why you see a hint of Al-Farnas's flying machine in Wright Brothers' invention and things like "to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" in Newton's theory. Hence it is more salient that smart people do not reinvent the wheel, they take the wheel and invent the next part. (They stole it, that is not smartness of'course)

Secondly, there is no harm in copying the good stuff. Its not a religious battle. Its true science, which will remain true even if a Non Muslim states it.

So the same argument was made and now there was calm among the enthusiastic individuals. 'What will now be the way forward?', was the next question.

"In chapter A, there is one factor showing the value of X which is suited for America, lets find the best value for our country" was the reply.

And suddenly, all the enthusiasm was gone. Everyone was thinking, 'are we here to do this small thing?' And that's the biggest problem, bigger than the two discussed earlier. We want a quick, sudden big win. We want a magic stick to make a manual or guideline or a code book for us.

They never realize that line is actually a collection of millions and billions dots. A big win is a collection of millions and billions small wins.

Now what is the actual start point of betterment? Stop blaming the past, blame the inner self. Because when you will realize the root of the problem, things will change. Which means, 'you' will change, 'we' will change. And just like line, a big win, millions of "we" is called a country.

A City of Cars

The argument commenced off with, "we need mobility" as stated by the authoritative.

Need is although a strong word, usually applied to something which is a life line for an entity. Unluckily, this word is always confused with want. Sometimes with the luxury of power, limited interaction with humans, above average living, no accountability and mile long VIP protocol, people are henceforth unable to understand the difference between need and want.

Well the governors or the men in power decided to choose access instead of mobility. For a city of 20 million in actual and 15 million after all the cutoff due racism, divisions and political strategies. But still they did not choose 'increase in access' instead of mobility. And the work began. All the relevant footpaths providing access for the most economical mode of transportation i.e. "feet" were removed. All the green belts comprising of old trees vanished. All the service roads providing increased safety and access were transformed into the highways. A city which once performed 50 percent of its trips by walk or cycle was forced to use motorised vehicles from one destination to another.

There are design standards for every area; Urban areas need urban access roads, Highways need mobility. But someone thought about Karachi as "Not" a city and even with a population of 20 million people, they designed every other road as a rural highway.

So the argument became reality. Power when held irrespective of accountability usually creates the biggest mess. Once a lively city, which was well connected is now converted into a lot of segments between connected rural highways. Parks were destroyed, because the priority was highways, beautiful roundabouts were replaced by underpasses because aesthetics do not matter it is not what a city need. Focus of the city governors shifted from community gatherings to repairing pavements. Beaches became dustbin, but the roads near them are well paved. Huge skyscrapers were built all along the roads with no consideration of their frontage.

This created a huge influx of more and more cars. So a meeting was called again to access the need. And again it was called by the people enjoying the luxury of power, involved in very less interaction with people of the city, confident about no accountability and accompanied by a mile long protocol. So they decided that wider roads, more mobility and lesser access create more cars. So it’s time to widen them more to accommodate the new addition. Just like a person, trapped in debts, takes more to manage the situation.

Meanwhile when this decision was being made. A man was on the road with his child. They visited every park and beach, once very beautiful; and at present not in a shape to spend the quality time. Then the child asked, "no parks, no good beaches, no nice community festivals, just big wide roads, is this a city for humans?" The father was quiet, but there the SUV mumbled, 'This is a city of cars.... Get out....

A Bridge OF Hands

What we learn from teachers has to be recited and memorized. But what we learn from events is embossed forever. Definition of event is pretty vague, it’s all about how you define it. Well, the event I want to discuss is the internship season in our office. When I told some of my friends that our team shortlisted 03 second year and 03 third year students, some of them said, “in bachon ko kia sekhao gey bhai tum loag?"

And it is actually the general perception. But in reality, people with more experience are more difficult to be taught. Do you know about the coconut tree? If you want to plant a coconut tree in a new soil, select the smallest. With more old trees there are lesser chances of growth. For students, industry is a new soil. Since our engineering industry is divided into two extremes i.e. a) the necessary theory and b) the practicality. The older you are, while jumping from the soil of necessary theory to the practicality the lesser chances you have for growth.So the internship began and my team mates tried their best to teach and the interns tried hard to learn. But other than that I learned two things, a) their hidden talents and b) a bridge of hands.

There was a person, who, from the very next hour looked like the part our team, took no time to adjust and from the next day this intern was comfortably roaming around and communicating. Let me tell you a secret, it’s not just students or juniors sometimes the seniors wants to feel comfortable with the juniors. This person never knew but it was the best skill. The next intern was a shy personality. I never saw full face of that intern in first two weeks. Then I realized that this one was speaking more boldly and soundly with the words and written statements. Writer I gave the name to that one.

Next was someone struggling to find a relationship with the beautiful illustrations and illusions and the ugly practical drawings. This struggle is actually a positive skill. When you accept the practicality with all its ugliness you can’t change anything. Only when you don’t accept its entirety a beautiful change is developed. This change itself has an amazing balance between the illusions and reality. Another intern was a bit aggressive, a bit more enthusiastic to learn and a bit angrier. None of them are negatives. These people are good leaders. People say, “Raise your argument not your voice”.  But actually, to manage a team, sometimes, raising the voice is as important as raising the argument.

Whenever I roamed around the hall during internship days, I saw one person quietly looking at the software and trying to do the level best to solve whatever was the task. The good thing about this person was that whenever I asked the issue, I find a new one. If I had to select two people for design with equal GPA, I’ll go with this one. Another was more difficult to judge. But within some last lectures I realized that a very good listener was among us. A “silent mode” most of the time but always listening and nodding the way people who understands node. These people learn quickly than the others.

This was the first thing I learnt. The second thing was the myth that was solved during this interaction. The myth was how to connect industry with the university. Practicality with the necessary theory. We, with our biasness towards industry and university with a sound argument of standards can’t solve this. Only a mind fertile enough to grow both seeds together can do that. So with in these six individuals, I found a bridge of hands, quite able to connect these two entities together.

All they need to do is, learn thoroughly within the learning years and in stay connected with its implementation. 

One step before your self esteem

Mostly, if not all of them, there are two type of engineers in Pakistan.

First are those who are highly casual. They take everything for granted. The projects they are responsible for, the routine they should follow, the behaviour they must adapt, everything almost every necessary thing required to excel in their professional life is harnessed informally. All this will not help them much in their professional life, but the most important thing which they take casually is the project specifications and quality. When they are made responsible for the projects, all they want is take this devil out of there head as soon as possible. No matter what they prepare, no matter how they do it. It should be done well before the time line.

This attitude can never make you a very good engineer. Yes, most of them gradually gain good positions. Because there is one thing they are good at "Buttering". This vary skill can raise you up but never raise your respect. I have seen many departmental heads whose colleagues abuse them when they are not around. Ultimately they realise that they are rich in wealth but poor in respect. The final output is a grand loss.

Second type is my preference, they can improve if they rectify some of the practices. They are the perfectionists. When they are being made responsible for the projects or any part of the project, they try to learn about it, develop methodologies to execute the tasks and prepare teams as good as they can. Usually they are very interested in maintaining the quality. But then they miss the most important thing once said by bill gates, "The world wants something from you, well before you can satisfy your self-esteem". They unintentionally delay the projects so that it can become perfect.

Actually here is the thing which everyone needs to learn. A project is considered as a perfectly completed project when all the points mentioned in the scope of work are achieved and the objective is fulfilled. But for them, a perfect project is something which satisfies their self-esteem. They should realise that a project worth millions can't have a budget of billions. A project that has to be completed in 04 months is considered perfectly complete, if it is completed in 4 months.

Everyone has an artist hidden inside them. Studying engineering has never accomplished the destruction of this person. These studies actually gives the art a perfection. Art gives you, ideas and engineering? Engineering never underestimates those ideas, it shows you how to make them look real. An initial sketch on the pad, is made practical using Auto-Cad. An identification of problem by personal observations are reinforced by numbers given to you by engineering methods. If you don't maintain the balance between the concept and practicality, you just waste more and more time. For all the people who stand in the second zone, they should know that a decision has to be made before the time is over, before self-esteem is achieved, before you are very, and very happy.

They need to learn that first and most important quality of a good decision maker is not that they take good decision, but, they take them on time.

Want to be a good engineer? Be an artist

After successfully conducting 3 interview sessions for recruitment since the last three consecutive years (Alhamd'Allah) I've met some incredible writers, beautiful poets, good readers, amazing team players and people with notable talents. Sadly their strength, for them, is their greater weakness.

Whenever I ask them, "Aur is sab (engineering) kay ilawa kia kartay ho?" They usually state; studies, studies, studies. As if, being a painter is not a notable thing to mention. When I ask a poet to share some of his verses, he assumes that I am joking, and then he expects that the next question will be; "define traffic engineering".

Yesterday, I asked a fresh graduate during her interview, what type of books do you read? She said, "sir you won't be interested, because they all are novels and mostly fiction". She never realized that every constructed structure was once an assumed model, once a part of someone's imagination, was once a 'fiction'. The strongest plus point of a book reader is: That he or she can "read". The person who can read lengthy novel, it's quite easier for him or her to read reports.

Same day, I asked another person what do you sketch? And believe me he was half disappointed and half shocked that what type of questions I am asking in a professional engineering environment. He never realized every good detailed design was once just a sketch. If a person can sketch the most complex machinery of the world i.e. humans. He can sketch any of the most complicated ideas of the engineering world.

Third most interesting person I met yesterday was a programmer. An urban engineer and also expert in programming. I asked, why you leant this language. He said, (totally embarrassed) I seriously don't know. I saw some videos of Python and I just learnt this. For me it was like hiring two persons at the same time. Two majors in one person. Or even better than a team of traffic engineer and software engineer. But he was only embarrassed.

The last different person I met in this interview session was a person who had no desire to travel, move, or even snore for fun. He explained that, a) he does not like traveling, b) he hates to get up from his desk, c) he is not a team player. So he was totally confused what to do. He never knew his strength i.e. not getting frustrated by sitting at one place and to perform highly technical work.

Please note my dear fresh engineers:

1. A poet can write a better report
2. A reader can grab quickly
3. A painter can explain well
4. A programmer can learn the software easily
5. A very social person can propose most socially acceptable design

It's just about transforming the art, to make a real world object