Engineers Aren't Nerds- Breaking the Stereotype

When I was a kid, I got glasses. Plus power. As a reward for getting them, my mother gave me a book. That is how I started my journey into the world of literature; and what a journey it has been! I love to read. I carry books everywhere. Previously I carried them in my schoolbag, taking them out during lunch break to hastily read a chapter or during a free period when I was bored. Keeping up with the times, I own a smartphone and carry books on my memory card. I also adore music. I listen to all kinds of music-from American music to that in Iceland.

By the way, I'm an engineer.

Are you surprised? I think you might be, because after all engineers are supposed to be nerds who don't do anything but study and solve huge sums aren't they? You're right I went there, to the forbidden realm of the stereotype.

I've faced this so many times. You read? You write a blog? You listen to music? Why are you an engineer? You should have taken up Humanities! I have heard these statements from strangers on the metro or on the street, from friends and acquaintances and even from my own professors! That's right, my own professor told me I was wasting my talents studying engineering and I should have been a Humanities student. She said this after I had won a debate.

Yet, I went to college with an actor in plays, a great guitarist, both of whom were part of my batch. I also had a senior who played the sitar and another one who took great photos.

So without further ado, let me smash this stereotype to bits. Reading a book, writing an article or story or poem, taking a photograph are all hobbies that can be pursued with gusto by anybody, even engineers. I am not apologizing for bursting your comfortable stereotype filled bubble that you spent so long constructing and hiding behind.

My point is this. Engineers are some of the coolest people you'll ever meet. We love chatting about everything under the sun. Some of us are guitarists, others poets, photographers and even singers. We are not "nerds" who spend all their time studying but we aren't lazy either. Our course is challenging, it is interesting and rewarding- just like any other course you may find yourself enrolled in.

So the next time you meet an engineer, ask him about Kafka on the Shore. If he hasn't read it, give it to him/her to read. Broaden your mind a little and look at the person behind the label you've stuck on. Above all, befriend an engineer and you'll never stop laughing or running out of things to say and do. Our imagination can be phenomenal!

The Bilge Master