Diary of kaustav sarkarhttp://kaustavsarkar.rediffiland.com/Diary of kaustav sarkaren-usTHE INDIAN ODYSSEY


Basically being interested in tit-bit writings , someone told me that writing is effective when it spat fire.Now I don't
compare my hand with the fire-emitting legendary dragon.....yet I do think in a democracy as ours I can put my opinion
forward and let people match it with theirs.

Being an engineering graduate to be from Computer science branch, engineering,of course, falls within my perimeter of
things.

"ENGINEERS MAKE THE WORLD" - yelled out our first graphics sheet.As future engineers on our very onset it was pretty
triumphant feeling on our part to think that we make the world...we build the world....we create the world.....we
decorate the world..... . As Er.Tiwari was taking his classes on manufacturing technology Miss.Upadhyay,our topper,
had a simple question for him - "As computer science students why are we being forced into subjects like economics
and biotechnology that has little or no relevance to our stream?"

Tiwari sir offered a smile before uttering the following quote - " Engineers should have a touch of everything".Wow
it was quite a remark.Indeed afterwards as I have seen engineers are quitessentially thought to belong to that
echeleon of society that radiates a potential of everything.Why even certain people believe them to be a bunch of
smartasses!

But things have changed - the transition has been for the better or vice-versa.Engineers are not that elusive brand
anymore - engineers are now found at stone-throwing distances from you- hither, thither and hither .The curve
accomplishes steeper heights each year.

But the fact is about that old adage -its good to have quantity.....yet not before quality!Its not always to be like
broadening the horizon....sometimes looking up at the zenith we should try to measure our levels.


The engineering revolution had been a tumultous propaganda.The country has made a meteoric rise in its number of
capable individuals called engineers....what was left out was appreciation for the subjects....and of course love
for the subjects.With 40 plus subjects being shoved boom-stuff-bang in the brain-crankshafts of a mere individual
in four years - leave alone projects,assignments,...- the deciding and ultimate criteria that remains is marks,
marks and marks.... - pass marks for the ordinary and good ones for the better.



Thus engineering catered to the nation's need in the form of magnitude - Da Vincis and Aristotles of all trades were
cropping up from all swamps.....the scope and dazzle of the IT industry seemed like the all-absorbing sponge!

The writing was spotless and glittering on the wall - a knockout punch to a certain entity called 'Specialization' and
a helluva oomphy welcome to another entity called 'Manpower'.


Ya....that's what we have been doing - pushing up our able boys and girls in the curriculum called engineering to join
the bandwagon called manpower.So when movies like 'Transformers' portray us as callcenter representatives we don't feel
the blood throttle up our throat.Even as callcenter people we are a constant source of labour.


But lets not intertwine and knot up my point - providing manpower is good....with multitudes of the masses getting a job
to feed themselves and their family - its an excellent proposition.Yet somewhere down the line the string of balance has
been shredded between specialization and manpower.


Why can't we have lesser subjects so as to let people develop their complete potentials....why don't we have the
indepence,the freedom of optional subjects.....why can't we blend the traditional and the modernistic...we can even put
a healthy dose of the futuristic!


The problem gets on more intense.With streams-crossover,guys are actually pulling their axes and scheduling a doomsday
for the future.Even with the creamiest and spicy cuisines here in this land you got to call foreign imports in the name
of specialists.


C'mon folks - you know that we have lagged behind in the industrial revolution....we have lagged behind during
renaissance - its high time to show the world that we aren't only about mythical heroes , we aren't about snake charmers
- we have in us to bring up the James Watts and the Thomas Edisons of this brand new revolution - say it The Indian Odyssey.


Knock ,Knock.....here comes the call....are you all raring to go?


- KAUSTAV SARKAR




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