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

The Art of Exile

This is the story of a man

Living in a city of masks

Where everyone puts one on

And rarely takes it off

Such is the culture of this city

The man also conforms

But inside of him beats a rebel's heart

And so he dares

To imagine the city without masks

And he sketches faces in his spare time

Some smile, others frown

And society treats him as an outcast

They find his ideas a threat

And shun him

But still he draws

And draws

'The Bilge Master

Memories of My Grandmother

It has been eight years

Since my grandmother breathed

Her last breath

So much changed that night

A person became ash

A boy became a man

And someone we all loved

Ascended

Eight years hence we

Have seen two graduates

And one job acquired

Yet still her recipe books

Litter our shelves

Filled with magical combinations

Of spices and utensils

Her memory

One which will never fade

From my mind

As I cling desperately to those memories

Wishing she was here

Because I need her

And that will never change

The Bilge Master

Weight

Have you ever wondered why the sky has not fallen? What keeps the sky up there all the time, day and night?

The answer to your query is Atlas, son of Iapetus and Clymene. Like Iapetus he is also a Titan and he was punished by Zeus to hold up the sky for eternity. Got to love the Greeks, their mythology is so vibrant and diverse.

Let me paint a picture for you. Picture if you will, a man with a great weight on his shoulders, going towards his work place, bogged down, unable to move at greater than a snail's pace, with sweat pouring down off him in rivulets, gasping for breath and yet still moving. You can see the blood pour from his knees, smell the stench of his clothes and were you to touch his hands, they'd be clammy.

What would you say to such a man? He has no way of setting his burden down that he can see, and also nobody to take over his responsibilities. He is alone, carrying that demonic weight on his shoulders as if shackled to it by some invisible chains.

I present to  you a man who should in all aspects put that weight down and start running free. But, like Atlas he too has been tricked into carrying that weight on his shoulders, even though it makes his knees buckle and ruins his posture and takes away his strength.

Now imagine fifty such Atlas clones, each carrying a heavy weight on their shoulders. The weight is made up of anger, fear, negativity and depression. What would you tell these people with their illnesses to do? What would you tell Atlas to do?

I would just say one thing to him and these other hollow men and women with weights on their shoulders

Shrug

The Bilge Master

14 Park Lane

Situated at 14 Park Lane

Is a book shop

It is not too large and not too small

And it's owner has read 'em all

Customers frequent her book shop

Which smells of jasmine and cinnamon

To sit in seclusion with a cup of strong tea

And the latest in prose or poetry

The book shop holds all kinds

From mystery to romance

And to its owner

Is the oldest friend I have

Whom I know from childhood

To be a Thomas Hardy fan

In this book shop, nobody is an enemy

And come rain, sleet or snow

It remains open

So the next time I go there

Come with me

And let us meet there time and again

The Bilge Master

Our Right to Privacy

A is a regular twenty something in his first job. He graduated last year and has been around for seven months at this company. But A has a "secret". He has a camera attached to his person at all times. It records everything.

This is the plotline of a movie I just watched called The Circle starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, in which a system is developed that potentially shares every aspect of your life-personal and professional with the world.

Let me press pause here for a second.

Imagine every email, every phone call, every photo, every video, every movie you ever watched-all of it available worldwide. How would you like that? Before I go any further let me add that I have a twitter, Facebook and Instagram account on which I am quite an active user. However there are certain tools that ensure that some privacy is given to me (although all my posts are set to Public on Facebook and Twitter), and I want to thank the sites for allowing me that.

Privacy is a very  important thing. It's like the clothes you wear. Without it, you're basically in your birthday suit all the time. 

Facebook gives us a platform to share and it's amazing to see posts from all your local and international friends and your family on it, but there's a dark side. Do you really want to broadcast your life- all of it-like that? The answer is obviously "Hell no!"There are some things that are too personal to be out there for your college mates to see. An individual has a right to privacy and without it they are nothing.  The first thought (and it's still in my head) that I had after watching The Circle was "I am deactivating my social media!" and I logged on to Facebook to do just that.

Truth be told were it not for this blog that so many of you wonderful people support, I would perhaps seriously get off social media.

I think it's time we thought about what it is we share with our friends. Only close people deserve to be in your private space. You might wanna check your posts' privacy. Perhaps it's time we got off social media coz let's face it- do we really care about what Fred thinks of our pyjamas?

I don't have anything else to say so I'll just wrap this up with a friendly suggestion- as it is said "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? " or "Who watches the watchmen?"

Because people are watching you know. Be careful and stay safe.

The Bilge Master

Babble

Tonight I want to talk. I want to talk about ice cream and cake. I want to talk about Diet Coke and tell you  about anime and hold your attention for a second about splitting the atom. I want to talk about the universe, of suns going nova and embryos being created. I want to talk about gender equality and gay pride.

I want to talk about anxiety and the blues, how they sneak up on you and take away your strength like leeches. I want to talk about The Witcher 3 and how mesmerizing it is. I want to talk about everything and nothing, about hypocrisy and faith and how 

sometimes these two go hand in hand.

I want to know what lies beyond and ahead of the horizon and why we strive to better ourselves. I want to know why 2+2 will always equal 4 and not 3.99999999. I want to challenge everything and accept it all at the same time. I am a timid boy with the heart of a rebel in him.

Most of all I want to know if Schrödinger's cat will still be alive if we don't feed it for ten days

The Bilge Master