What is generation gap ? Getting a 10 minutes lecture (sermon) for being 5 minutes late for an appointment from a senior citizen (a very senior engineer) is generation gap.
This post is about a brilliant engineer and equally witty gentleman by name H.Jayakumar . The title may not be the best suited for this post , however this is the best i can think over.
I was supposed to meet Mr Jayakumar (68 years) at 6:15 AM at his residence on Saturday 4 April,2015. The appointment was fixed on 2 April at his office. He had given me a map for his house and later in the day had sent me an e-mail with the co-ordinates.
This was my third meeting with Mr Jayakumar. My First meeting was in a training program couple of weeks back. I was impressed by the energy in his talk and the passion he had for engineering. The 68 year old gentleman had arrived at the training hall at 9:20 AM for the 10:00 AM lecture by public transport from his house 22 kms away. He mentioned in the class that he had never been late to his work in his career as an engineer of four decades. Mr Jayakumar had retired as the joint director of Central power research institute (CPRI) in 2008.
I was so impressed by his talk that i requested him to perform a earth resistivity test in one of my sites. He readily agreed and my third meeting was fixed at his residence on 4 April at 6:15 AM. Mr Jayakumar an orthodox brahmin had finished his morning ablutions and sandhyavandane (Prayers to the sun god) and was ready by 6:00 AM. He called me at 6:00 AM to find out my coordinates. When i reached at 6:20 AM, he very politely acknowledged my indiscipline.
Nevertheless, we reached the site at 7:30 AM. True to his passion, he was immediately on the job. He took out his instruments , drove the pegs himself, took the measurements and his job was done by 7:45 AM. He explained the tests, interpreted the results and packed up by 8:00 AM.
Mr Jayakumar raised in the ranks in CPRI out of his knowledge, skill, hard work and competency. As he mentioned many times during his lecture, being just a diploma in electrical engineering, he rose to the rank of joint director and was instructing Phd and masters degree holders. No doubt, Jayakumar is very sound in his engineering
Mr Jayakumar reminded me of my dad. I had earlier written in one of the posts that with many domestic reposibilities and daily chores to attend for, my dad was never late for any appointment domestic or professional. In fact he was well before time. With no domestic chores to attend for, with all possible facilities , with most modern gadgets to track my time, i am seldom on time to any appointment.
With all possible tools , i do not think i am any close to the engineering skill that my dad had. With no sophisticated tools, with no land line phone let alone a mobile phone, my father was manager par excellence. I do not think i can ever attain his level of managerial skills inspite of half a dozen computing devices at my disposal and almost a supercomputer in the pocket. This is generation gap...
I was so impressed by his talk that i requested him to perform a earth resistivity test in one of my sites. He readily agreed and my third meeting was fixed at his residence on 4 April at 6:15 AM. Mr Jayakumar an orthodox brahmin had finished his morning ablutions and sandhyavandane (Prayers to the sun god) and was ready by 6:00 AM. He called me at 6:00 AM to find out my coordinates. When i reached at 6:20 AM, he very politely acknowledged my indiscipline.
Nevertheless, we reached the site at 7:30 AM. True to his passion, he was immediately on the job. He took out his instruments , drove the pegs himself, took the measurements and his job was done by 7:45 AM. He explained the tests, interpreted the results and packed up by 8:00 AM.
Mr Jayakumar raised in the ranks in CPRI out of his knowledge, skill, hard work and competency. As he mentioned many times during his lecture, being just a diploma in electrical engineering, he rose to the rank of joint director and was instructing Phd and masters degree holders. No doubt, Jayakumar is very sound in his engineering
Mr Jayakumar reminded me of my dad. I had earlier written in one of the posts that with many domestic reposibilities and daily chores to attend for, my dad was never late for any appointment domestic or professional. In fact he was well before time. With no domestic chores to attend for, with all possible facilities , with most modern gadgets to track my time, i am seldom on time to any appointment.
With all possible tools , i do not think i am any close to the engineering skill that my dad had. With no sophisticated tools, with no land line phone let alone a mobile phone, my father was manager par excellence. I do not think i can ever attain his level of managerial skills inspite of half a dozen computing devices at my disposal and almost a supercomputer in the pocket. This is generation gap...
From the status of a User to facilitator, the gadgets have taken the place of a decision taker in our lives, making us dependant on them. Our traits of discipline have taken back-seat, unfortunately. A conscious effort should put us back on driver-seat hopefully.
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