Last few weeks saw a lot of News emanating from a new manufacturing plant of an Indian automobile Major being built for a new car, which, co-incidentally, is the hope of many an Indian who have always dreamt of owning a car. Right, there's every reason for the manufacturing plant to be in the News- It symbolizes the resurgent West Bengal, which seems to have awakened under an able (and willing) leadership to stride the path of progress; the car being built is going to be the cheapest ever, and that would mean more people can afford to buy it. So what's the Big Deal?
The Big Deal is that, the plant is in the News for all the wrong reasons. It is in the midst of a big, probably political, turmoil unfolding around it. Some so-called political do-gooder Lady has ostensibly taken up the cause of the farmers who have 'lost' their lands to the factory. She had put up dais in front of the site to protest, and her loyal followers are making sure, one way or the other, that workers don't turn up for work. I wonder. Why now, when the plant is on the verge of completion? Why there, at the site, when if the farmers were not compensated adequately, it is not the Company but the Government which is to blame. If at all, there is something that can, or has to be done, that has to be done by the Government. Why make the hopes and aspirations of the common man suffer? Some of the workers in the plant are those who have lost their lands too, but were absorbed by the Auto Major for the work at the plant. Moreover, most of them live on daily wages- a day without work is a day without food. I am not even mentioning the bated breath wait of many Indians who are looking forward to the launch of the small car which was supposed to roll out of this plant, and how this wait just got prolonged. Indefinitely. This well-fed fat Lady sits pretty on the dais and plays around with the fate of The Masses. Sad. Unfortunate.
India's been churning out winners in every facet of life it seems. Every, except Politics.I wonder. Are we really the same nation that saw great politicians like Chanakya? Or have we de-evolved into some degenerate nation, a nation which has chosen to forget the illustrious, elaborate, and well-documented political history and become something that most of us find hard to relate with. It all seemed believable, worthwhile, for sometime. She might have had a point, this Lady, and people almost believed she had a cause worth fighting for... that she was leading on a Crusade for The Masses. And like every crusade, there were going to be people who had to suffer, all for the greater good of The Masses. Until when the bargaining started. What the F***?! A compromise? How can someone compromise when that someone is fighting for a cause? For all I know, for all that I believe in, when you fight for a cause, you dont compromise... you dont even rest till you have got what you stood up for. It's either your way or no way at all. That's the way it's always been. That's the way it always will be. There's something else, a side of the story that goes beyond the stated purpose. Something that I cant comprehend, or maybe, something that I shudder at the thought of. The farmers are mere pawns being sacrificed for something that their simple minds cant think of. They have placed their life, their fate, in the hands of a Rebel Without A Cause, someone who can ditch their side anytime and leave them clueless as to what really happened. The lambs are being led to sacrifice. And as usual, they are being made to believe that they are moving to greener pastures.
A more humane face was shown by the Auto Major when they stated that they will move out of the place, and just so that the workers at the present side are not left in the lurch due to this political hullabaloo, it said that it will ensure their absorption at the Major's other production plants. Standing Ovation. A good company is the one that is made by it's employees, and a good company is the one which realizes that and stands by them when it is needed. Are you listening, Lady? Are you paying attention? And as the political imbroglio continues to unfold, the Nation loses its interest and just prays that it all gets over soon.
Go home, Old Lady. Take a rest. You are a Rebel Without A Cause. Come back when you have a Cause. Come back when you are strong enough to stand up for the Cause. Come back when you really can Lead. Till then, I just pray for your foolishness to end. Amen.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Day The Machines Come Alive
What makes us humans different from the other animals? What is the power that is specially bestowed upon us, which other living beings dont possess?
I am sure most of us have pondered over this, and each one of us has come up with their own answers, and explanations thereof. Well, so have I, and according to me, what makes us different from other living beings is our ability to create. We take lessons from our surroundings, from Nature, and create things. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes just useful, but always, something new. Something that excites us, pleases us, makes us happy, and makes our lives a little better. Be it a painting, a new car, or just a new film, it's always a joy to create. Ask anyone who has created something about how it feels to create, and he will tell you how beautiful the feeling is. That's what I am going to do now- tell you the story of creation. About how it felt to create.
At some point in my life, I had been working on Uninterrupted Power Supplies, UPSes for short. For those who (still) dont know, they are the machines that make sure there's power even when there isn't. What we used to start off with was an empty cabinet that used to some from the foundry. The skeleton. Then we used to put wires into them, which would be used to connect the various working parts of the UPS. The veins, arteries. It was an art, a science. Using the right colour wires, cutting them to the right size, so that we minimize the wastage, and optimize the amount of wire that we used. Then came the part of crimping, which is where we prepare the wires to accept the right kind of 'jacks', which are usually kind of plugs, which go into special sockets. All that kind of work requires passion, just to get it right. Once the wires are prepared, then come in the PCBs, which are small electrical circuits 'printed' onto a board. Machines onto themselves, each has a unique function to accomplish in the working of the bigger machine, the UPS. The brain, the organs. Fitted onto the cabinet, they are connected to each other using the wires already put into place. After that, it is the heavier parts like the transformers which are put into place. Then the machine makes its way to the testing rig. There, all the parts are tested for their performance- the PCBs, the transformer, the switches et al. Once successfully tested, the covers and doors are put onto the bare machine, and it is ready to leave the workshop and begin its productive life as a UPS.
It was an amazing experience to work with machines. Even though it was routine, and there was actually nothing new that I was creating, everytime I touched the parts, put something in, I could feel the machine responding to me. It felt like I was transferring some of my life energy to the machine, doing my bit, playing my part in making it come alive. So did everyone else in the factory. That made me wonder- why do some machines work and others dont? Why do some of them develop faults (become sick) much sooner than others? It was not hard to find the answers. It lay in the passion that the team put in while building the machines. Sometimes we do things just for the sake of doing it, sometimes we do it because we feel that we can do nothing else. Yet sometimes, we do things just because we want to do those things. Not necessarily different things, but it might be the same thing, something that we are doing day in and day out. It is only sometimes that we really get involved, and thats when the transfer of positive life energy takes place. You decide the fate of your creation the moment you create it.
It might seem to be a non-living thing, but it develops a life of its own. More so, when you are the only one who creates it- it develops mannerisms, characteristics, that mirror your own. Not only that, sometimes machines reflect its owner's mannerisms, responds to him/her in ways that it responds to nobody else. If you sit up and take notice, you will realize how true that fact is. Something similar applies to creations which may not be machines, like works of art, among other things- they tell a story about their creators. They come alive too.
The day the machines come alive, is the day we rejoice. The day the machines come alive, we do justice to the fact that we are humans.
I am sure most of us have pondered over this, and each one of us has come up with their own answers, and explanations thereof. Well, so have I, and according to me, what makes us different from other living beings is our ability to create. We take lessons from our surroundings, from Nature, and create things. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes just useful, but always, something new. Something that excites us, pleases us, makes us happy, and makes our lives a little better. Be it a painting, a new car, or just a new film, it's always a joy to create. Ask anyone who has created something about how it feels to create, and he will tell you how beautiful the feeling is. That's what I am going to do now- tell you the story of creation. About how it felt to create.
At some point in my life, I had been working on Uninterrupted Power Supplies, UPSes for short. For those who (still) dont know, they are the machines that make sure there's power even when there isn't. What we used to start off with was an empty cabinet that used to some from the foundry. The skeleton. Then we used to put wires into them, which would be used to connect the various working parts of the UPS. The veins, arteries. It was an art, a science. Using the right colour wires, cutting them to the right size, so that we minimize the wastage, and optimize the amount of wire that we used. Then came the part of crimping, which is where we prepare the wires to accept the right kind of 'jacks', which are usually kind of plugs, which go into special sockets. All that kind of work requires passion, just to get it right. Once the wires are prepared, then come in the PCBs, which are small electrical circuits 'printed' onto a board. Machines onto themselves, each has a unique function to accomplish in the working of the bigger machine, the UPS. The brain, the organs. Fitted onto the cabinet, they are connected to each other using the wires already put into place. After that, it is the heavier parts like the transformers which are put into place. Then the machine makes its way to the testing rig. There, all the parts are tested for their performance- the PCBs, the transformer, the switches et al. Once successfully tested, the covers and doors are put onto the bare machine, and it is ready to leave the workshop and begin its productive life as a UPS.
It was an amazing experience to work with machines. Even though it was routine, and there was actually nothing new that I was creating, everytime I touched the parts, put something in, I could feel the machine responding to me. It felt like I was transferring some of my life energy to the machine, doing my bit, playing my part in making it come alive. So did everyone else in the factory. That made me wonder- why do some machines work and others dont? Why do some of them develop faults (become sick) much sooner than others? It was not hard to find the answers. It lay in the passion that the team put in while building the machines. Sometimes we do things just for the sake of doing it, sometimes we do it because we feel that we can do nothing else. Yet sometimes, we do things just because we want to do those things. Not necessarily different things, but it might be the same thing, something that we are doing day in and day out. It is only sometimes that we really get involved, and thats when the transfer of positive life energy takes place. You decide the fate of your creation the moment you create it.
It might seem to be a non-living thing, but it develops a life of its own. More so, when you are the only one who creates it- it develops mannerisms, characteristics, that mirror your own. Not only that, sometimes machines reflect its owner's mannerisms, responds to him/her in ways that it responds to nobody else. If you sit up and take notice, you will realize how true that fact is. Something similar applies to creations which may not be machines, like works of art, among other things- they tell a story about their creators. They come alive too.
The day the machines come alive, is the day we rejoice. The day the machines come alive, we do justice to the fact that we are humans.
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