Some Emotional Thoughts, Engineers’ Day and Steve Irwin

Someone had once told me that a successful life stands on three essential and equal legs—professional success, family (friends) happiness and a healthy body. The stress on each has to be equal to achieve maximum result. If all the legs had an equal score of 10, when multiplied (10x10x10), one can score the maximum of 1000. Any other combination as long as the total sum is 30, will always be lesser. And if you ignore one of them, then you are a big zero (25x5x0 =0). [This thought I got from Rajeev Karwal, CEO, Consumer Durables, Reliance Retail]

My little daughter Tamanna is an amazingly notorious questioning machine. Whenever she finds time to interact with me, her talking sentences start with What, Why, How, When…etc. Through these simple words she reminds me how we hesitate to ask question when we grow older. I remember the famous quote of Edward Gibbon.
“ The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.”

On fifteenth September of each year we celebrate Engineers’ Day. Sir M.Visheshwaraya, the famous engineer of India, was born on this day. When I asked some engineering students and my colleagues what they mean by engineering, I was surprised to know that they didn’t have right answer. There may be many definition of engineering, but this one I think is the most appropriate one.
“ Engineering is the profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences gained by study, experience and practice is applied with judgment to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind.”

In the morning hours of each day, I and my daughter Tamanna, used to enjoy Crocodile Hunter’s Diary on Animal Planet. And it is quite shocking to know that Steve Irwin died of a stingray barb while filming off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef on September 4. We will really miss you Steve.
The Kerala government will rechristen a crocodile park after Steve. This might be the first time a memorial was being marked for Irwin.
For more details on how stingray kills other click.

The Places Around CUTTACK

In our busy day-to-day life, we Kataki miss to celebrate small things like visiting nearby places etc. Being in the field of education, I get ample free time during which I explore the places surrounding the millennium city, Cuttack. On a Sunday afternoon after a sumptuous meal, I decided to start a merry go round type journey starting from Sikharpur area of the city. The first place at which I stopped was the Mahanadi Barrage. It was a manifestation of engineering endeavor. Due to incessant rain in previous days there was flood in Mahanadi and all the gates of barrage were made open. Oh what was the power of this mighty river [Pic1, Pic2]. The famous Taladanda canal originates from this place. This river fed canal is stretched up to Paradeep, the port of Orissa.
The next interesting place on the bank of Mahanadi is Jobra Barrage Works. It is a heritage building constructed by the British people. Initially it was a factory at which boats and streamers were repaired by English mechanics. During that time the rivers were the most popular paths for communications. The chimney of the factory is now called Pillar of Jobra [Pic]. The dilapidated building shows an ancient Wall Watch and a Bell at the top [Pic]. Mahanadi boat club is established near his structure.
Bhubanananda Orissa School of Engineering (BOSE), the oldest engineering school of orissa, is one of he milestone at the periphery of Cuttack. SCB Medical College, the premier institution imparting medical education with all modern hospital facility, is another proud possession of this ancient city.