My presentation in ECI conference on 16th Nov’15

Theme of conference was “Make in India: Role of Engineers & Technologists”. It was organised by Engineering Council of India(ECI) at India International Center , New Delhi on 16th November 2015. I was one of the keynote speaker. I spoke on preparedness of Engineers & Technologists to take the challenges. This presentation is available in pdf format. You may like go through it . I am expecting large number of comments on it. So go ahead .16th NOV ECI presentation_MM – final

बड़े दिनों बाद..

आज बड़े दिनों बाद यूँ ही खाली बैठा हूँ और वेब पर हिंदी में टाइप करना सीखा हैं/ नया नया शौक लगा हें/ लिखलिख कर ट्विटर,फेसबुक और अन्य सोशल साइट्स पर पोस्ट कर रहा हूँ/ तो सोचा ब्लॉग पर भी हिंदी में पोस्ट करूँ/ सुबह के तीन-चार घंटे गौशाला में बीत गए/ लौटकर  आया तो हिंदी टाइप सीखी और लिखने बैठ गया/ आज मोर्निंग वाक पर भी नहीं गया / अब तीन बज गए हैं और में नहाया भी नहीं हूँ/ लकिन लिखेने में मजा बड़ा आ रहा हैं/ सोचता हूँ अब शाम को ही नहाऊंगा, तब तक कुछ लिख ही लेता हूँ/ घर पर भी कोई नहीं हैं/ बच्चे हॉस्टल में हैं, भारती मार्किट गयी हे और में अकेला हूँ/ मौसम आज अचानक बदल गया हे / बादल हें और बूंदा बांदी है/ मार्च का महिना समाप्ति पर है गर्मीं भी लगभग आ ही गयी है पर ऐसे में बारिश लौट लौट कर आ रही हे / लगता हैं जैसे बारिस भी इस बार बहुत ढीट हो गयी है/ बाहर पेड़ों कें पत्ते टूट टूट कट ज़मीं पर फैले हैं/ मेरें घर कें एकदम सामने एक नीम, एक गुलमोहर, एक अमलतास, और एक जकरांदा का पेड़ हें/ सामने ही पार्क हैं, उसमें भी बहुत से पेड़ हैं / आजकल के मौसम में जरा सी भी हवा चलती हे तो पेड़ो के पत्ते सारी सड़क और पार्क में बिछ जाते हैं/ सुबह सुबह जब में पार्क में वाक करने जाता हूँ तो उन पत्तो के बीच रास्ता बना कर चलने में बड़ा मज़ा आता है/ हवा से पत्तो की सरसराहट और पैरों के नीचे आते पत्तों की आवाज बेहद अच्छी लगती हें/ दोपहर में अगर तेज हवा चले तो पत्ते उड़कर एक जगह से दूसरी जगह पहुँच जाते हें , पर अक्सर सुबह जमादार झाड़ू लगा कर सड़क साफ़ कर देता हें और पत्ते इकठा कर के आग लगा देता है/  क्या कहूँ एक तो आग लगा कर प्रदुषण करता है और एक सुंदर अहसास से मुझे वंचित कर देता हैं/ सोचता कल सुबह वोह न ही आये तो अच्छा हैं/  मुझे नहीं लगता लोग मेरी इस बात से सहमत होंगे- पर में तो में हूँ और यह मेरा बेतरतीब विचार हें/

Life is like long run

Few years (5 to be precise) ago I never imagined that I will start doing regular brisk walk @ 5 km in 45 minutes or so and then gradually one day will start running on regular basis. Now participating in organized run like Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on 15th December 2013 seems like a sweet dream. In Oct’13 I decided to run Half Marathon 21 Km. before D-day I had completed 14 km in 1 hr 50 minutes. Practicing for long runs in City like NOIDA or Delhi is not that easy. Roads are unsafe as well as there is  lot of pollution and noise. Running early in the morning say at around 5 AM makes it further difficult. I ran sometime on roads but mostly in the park in front of my house. I registered myself for half marathon on the last day of registration almost at the last hour. I somehow wanted to complete it in the stipulated time of 3 hr. I don’t know what happened on the 15th December morning I simply managed to complete the run in 2 hr 26 minutes and 41 second. My overall rank & rank in my age group is also very encouraging. I completed first five km @10.2 km/hr and overall speed was 8.6km/hr.  Running with thousand of people from all walk of life and further completing it with reasonably good timing  was a great feeling.

In my view long running is just like life. Just keep going with determination and courage. There is no need to hurry either in long race or in life. Every small step will take you to your destination. Further enjoy every step. Often during running I get time to think about my daily routine, complex issues which I am facing in professional life and sometime I get brilliant solutions to them.  After completing the race (I am not mentioning my age) I thought next time I will try with much better aim. I hope to live life-like a long run. Just a Random thought.Image

Perfection??????

Willing to do something and doing it are two different things but are inter-related.One can not happen without other.Willingness is important to do something.But just willingness is not sufficient. Perhaps doing is more important then willingness to do.I often wants to blog but my postings are proof of my inaction.I often wonder what could be the reasons? Perhaps many.

 Many times we want to do work perfectly. This perfection too leads to inaction or delays.I think it is true in my case.What is perfection? Perfect way of doing a work !  Is it really so?  OK then what is perfect way of doing a job? Is there a universal solution? I am sure somebody else might do the same job better then me and in a better manner.It means perfection is also  relative . It is not absolute. Should we not do the work in the best possible manner with the available resources & constraints without waiting to achieve perfection? Will it not avoid delays? Swift thoughtful action is more important then perfection although willingness to do is  prerequisite for any action. Just a random thought.

 

unsafe structures

I don’t have any authentic figures on unsafe structures in Delhi or in India. But I know for sure majority of the structures standing at present are not safe. What is meaning of safety? Is it a relative term?  Safe by what standards. Can a structure standing and in service for the last 20 years be termed as unsafe?  If we desire we can debate on this issue for hours without any conclusion.  In engineering terminology a structure can be termed as safe if it meets the requirements of National building Code of India and other BIS standards. If not then a structure is unsafe whether it standing for 20 or 50 years or more. BIS codes do gets revised time to time. At any moment of time a structure has to pass the test of latest code. It means if a structure was safe prior to the revision of code it may become unsafe after the revision. It seems funny but this is the fact. If this can happen with structures which have been designed and constructed according to the provisions of NBC under strict quality control then what to talk about majority of un-engineered structures.

 

Many structures don’t need an engineer to certify that structures are unsafe because their condition is so pathetic that any sensible person can make out that it is unsafe. But most other structures will need an experienced engineer for technical audit. There are systems & procedures to do it. Even it many cases structures can be repaired,rehabilitated  or retrofitted. There are several cases where it is advisable to rebuild the structures. But it is not that easy to implement.The problem is very complex in nature. It involves identification of unsafe structures , ,making people aware about it, persuading (or forcing ) them to get it strengthened, getting trained persons to do it, necessary bye-laws & govt notifications.

In my view it should be declared a national problem and must be tackled in that spirit only. Unsafe structures may be more dangerous than a terror attack. Even a single mishap kills several hundred people.  We have already witnessed Gujarat earthquake. We need a clear government policy and strong will on the part of government. But I wonder , After all these efforts can we say our structures are safe forever. Just a random thought.

 

 

Randomness & Symmetry in Nature

 Often we think every thing in nature is random. Trees plants,flowers, fruits .. weather ….every thing . Some time we feel humid and on the same day we may also have a  pleasant weather or even rain… Every plant or tree have different shape & height . If you think of time .. you never know what is going to happen very next moment. Sometime time flies like anything and sometime it looks as if it has freezed. Is it just a sate of mind which feels so or there is more to it. Has Einstein been able to correlate it correctly in this famous theory of relativity ?  I have doubts.  7.00 AM ( or any other time) as per clock looks different on different days may be due to weather (cloudy/sunny..) , due to our daily schedule( office day/off day ..) ,due to state of mind ( happy/sad…) or due to any reason or due to combination of reasons or …  does it have any other dimension. It looks random ,uncertain and beyond any rational justification at times.

For some of the activities we have scientific explanation but still we do not have any control over them. But are natural things truly random? We may find similarity , pattern & symmetry in them. We must be curious enough to be able to identify it.   Just a random thought.