Celebreting Teacher's Day!

 “For me those who give knowledge are more important than those who give birth, as giving birth is giving life but giving knowledge is giving meaning to that life”... Aristotle.

Well, no need to tell who the great man is as the Greek philosopher himself was a great teacher & on the occasion of Teacher’s Day lecture for which I have been invited at PCCOE i.e. Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engg, I felt this quote as apt to start with. Usually most people write down the lecture & then speak but in my case I thought reversely i.e. sharing the lecture with you by writing down what I spoke! I don’t know since when celebrating Teacher’s day funda started in our country as in our college days I don’t remember doing so though in our country since long back Teacher’s Day has been nominated after Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, our Ex President. 

Here is my sharing…

Dear Ajay sir, who is my friend as well, is a rocking Principal of PCCOE along with all his team & you all engineering friends & despite the myth that engineering colleges have dull & bore crowd at campus, I must say PCCOE rocks! It’s not just the looks on the faces of you guys but the energy is in atmosphere & I must thank you for making me re-live my college days once again by allowing me to be here with you all! Let me share truthfully that even today when I was entering in cabin of your principal my pulse rate went high as not used to visit principles cabin; in my entire carrier of engineering hardly I would have visited rather being summoned is proper term to principal’s cabin & not once for the good cause! So today I have to remind myself, I am here as a chief guest & I should not be worried about the lecture I will get from him but I have to deliver one!! One more thing, please ignore whatever my introductory biodata your classmate has read before my I stood to speak, just consider someone who is supposed to sit all the years on back bench has been pushed at stage & sharing whatever he feels. In my college days the concept was pretty clear, the bigger the biodata the bore is the chief guest & I am no exception! One more thing I will like to add to that biodata, I got 93 marks in M3 i.e. Math’s 3 of Second year & to add more, it’s my three attempts total!! Out of which 60 I got in third attempts & 15 each in first too, joke apart the only reason was I didn’t study in first two attempts!

Well now you got clear idea about your today’s chief guest let me congratulate you from getting admission to Engg College & that too civil engg as its considered as mother of all branches & for your first step in real civil eng as now you are in third year of the course! Let me be frank that though I am here proudly as a civil engg, I never wanted to be one! I passed tenth some 28 years back & has been admitted to diploma civil when I didn’t know what civil meant! My father wanted me to be a civil engg so he filled my form & as in those days sons are not supposed to be a rebellion, I signed it when I actually wanted to be a mechanical engineer! And as I got in diploma civil so I have to take the same branch for degree but it’s my teachers who made me understand what is civil engineering & what’s role of a civil engineer for the society & now after 28 years I can proudly say I don’t regret anymore of not going to any other branch!

So, most of you must be happy & feeling elated for being here but have you ever thought why you have joined civil engineering & what you will become after your degree? Its Teacher’s Day today i.e. 5^th Sep & ten days down the line i.e. on 15^th Sep it will be Engineer’s Day, which we celebrate in the memory of Sir Dr Vishvesaraiyya!

Here I will like to share a joke about engineer,…”A man drifting through the air in a hot air balloon realizes he is lost. Just then he spots a man on the ground and shouts out, "Hey you down there. I need some help, I am completely lost." The man on the ground looked a little puzzled and shouted back, "You are in a balloon, 50 feet in the air, 40 degrees north by 80 degrees west." The man in the balloon replied with disdain, "Oh, I get it, you must be an engineer." The engineer exclaimed, "How did you know?" The ballooner stated, "Well your comment is technically correct, but it doesn't help me much. I'm still lost." The engineer responded, "Ah, a manager I see." The aeronaut was astounded. "Right again, how did you know that?" The engineer answered, "It's pretty simple really. You don't know where you are, you have no clue what you are doing. You expect me to solve your problem for you and somehow it's my fault."

Many will say what’s joke in it? As has not the engineer guy delivers all the information? Friends it’s not the information or knowledge but what you do with it is what matters in life! Well, what is the difference in engineering & other branches like marketing, accounts, management etc? First of all understand that I am not criticizing any branch as knowledge in any form & about any subject has to be respected. What I am trying to show is the difference in concepts of these branches of knowledge; a person is born or has to have basic attitude or flair for marketing or management! You can’t make someone a good marketing person out of nothing as its attitude which you can refine, but can’t create in some one. Same is with arts, an artist one has to be from within & you can only develop what’s within. But engineering is a science, it can be learnt provided you learn it from bottom of your heart as then only you will become an engineer from within or else you will study the books, attend the lectures of your teachers, recite the formulas, write them in the exam & get a degree! That will make you an engineer by degree not by attitude or mind in reality! What it means being an engineer is you should learn to use what you have learnt here in these four years! That’s where the term logic comes in picture! In shortest term as per me, Engineering is applying logic! Engineers are respected for their ability to solve the problems the society faces on various technical fronts but as per me the true engineer is the one who sense the problem before it comes & applies his knowledge to avoid that problem than to solve it! That’s what makes you a good engineer & for that you have to give every tiny space of your brain today in what your teachers are teaching you as tomorrow you will need that every word of knowledge to see the problem in advance. Agreed, civil engineering is a vast term & you will be going through at least twenty odd subjects to get that tag of Bachelor of Civil Engineering in front of your name & you will be lucky if you ever get a chance to face more than two or three subjects which you learnt in the field!

But the why we learn all these subjects? Exactly this question I used to ask myself while trying various attempts of Math’s in my engineering days! Why we learn all this when we won’t be facing more than one or two subjects? Answer is as you don’t know which field you will end up in & at that time what will be with you, is the formulas which you have recited & the logic to use it in the field!

I was listening when I was being introduced here & they kindly mentioned that Mr.Sanjay Deshpande is a successful businessman! I am honored but will like to ask you how you judge my success? By the big car I drive or my turnover in crores of rupees, is it the hotels I dine in or the latest brands fashion I follow? My friends, success can never be measured on any of these scales. I agree that money is important as I don’t work for charity but that’s not the only scale of success; I count my success standing in front of the projects I have worked upon & feel proud about being part of them by looking at the people using them & living happily in them! I am in real estate so my output is in form of the buildings which my team has built, tomorrow everyone of you all, will be in the field & some will be working on highways, some on airports, some may be part of building dams & list is endless in civil. But remember one thing that someday your brother may be driving his bike on the road you built, some where your parents may be coming from abroad & their plane may be landing on the run way you have built, some where a friend of yours may be farming on the water from the reservoir created by dam you built! So many people will be relying on your knowledge & its application & standing to their trust will be your biggest success! And one more thing never say I built this project, always say I was part of the team which has built this project, as knowledge without humbleness is not pride but ego!

Here again I will share a short story about the attitude towards work at hand… “Not many years back there was a hard working civil supervisor with a contractor, whose business was building homes. After working over years the supervisor thought it’s time to retire & put his resignation to his employee. The employee reluctant to lose a good working hand agreed but put a condition to complete the home the supervisor working on. The supervisor has no choice but agree so started working on the home his firm was building but with no heart in it, as his mind has been already away from the job at hand. Somehow he completed the home but he himself knew it’s the worst job he has ever done as he thought it’s no more his job. When finally he completed the home & handed over the keys to the employee to his surprise the employee with a smile gave him the keys back saying, he has planned to give that home to the supervisor only as token of appreciation for his years of service! That day the supervisor realized his mistake that he will be living in his own worst creation!”

Friends I am sure the story is an eye opener for many of us & we all behave this way considering this isn’t my job type attitude but then you don’t know what will be really yours at the end!

Lastly on the occasion many will wonder why I have got along my mother here with me; it’s not to show off my status or a style statement but she too is a teacher & what better honor I could have given to her by seeing her son delivering a lecture to so many engineering students & professors as well! Whatever she has done for me as a mother & as a teacher was not a deal yet she has tried to give me whatever best she could, so this I feel is the best way I can repay her for all her givings to me! Same way think how you will be repaying all your teachers & parents for all the efforts they have taken for you? As it won’t be money or costly gifts they will expect from you but you can gift them a better tomorrow for the society we live in, by designing & building best of the structures that has ever been built! And take them to see those, that will be best honor of your teachers as well parents & make them use it, that will be their repayment! Believe me when you will do it that’s will be the proudest moment of your life which only you can experience & enjoy!

One more thing these are the best years of your life, don’t waste them! As right now only expectation from you is to grasp & learn as much you can. I haven’t deliberately used the term study, as that’s not the only meaning of being engineer. Keep your senses open; absorb everything around as that’s what will be helping you in coming years. Once an engineer is always an engineer, so not necessary you will have to see the problems only for which you are being paid for but look for the problems around you & try to apply your mind for the same. That will keep engineer in you alive & ticking always, & ready for any battle ahead! Lots of seriousness lies ahead so have as much fun you can in your college years, read every book coming to your way & watch good movies, spend time on play ground & with your friends too! It’s these times which will be going to be your memories; and when you will be successful in your carriers & look back, that time you should not be ashamed or regretful of your memories, mind it always!

With this note I sign of, keep rocking! All the best & thanks a ton!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

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