A touching story on leadership

The Line of fire

A quite touching story that inspired me to create a blog for such articles. I do get a few stories of this kind, so i guess this blog will always have newer updates.

A must read for every engineer
------------------------------

Vivek Pradhan wasn't a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the First Class air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi Express couldn't cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin guy, it was the savings in time. A PM had so many things to do! He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

"Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

"You people have brought so much advancement to the country sir. Today everything is getting computerized."

'Thanks," smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a detailed look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stocky like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a Railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.

"You people always amaze me," the man continued, "You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside."

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naivety demanded reasoning not anger. "It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it." For a moment he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a single statement. "It is complex, very complex."

"It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid," came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence came into his so far affable, persuasive tone.

"Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in." "Hard work!" "Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office doesn't mean our brows don't sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing."

He had the man where he wanted him and it was time to drive home the point.

"Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database at a given time; concurrency, data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?"

The man was stuck with amazement, like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination.

"You design and code such things."

"I used to," Vivek paused for effect, "But now I am the project manager,"

"Oh!" sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, "so your life is easy now."

It was like being told the fire was better than the frying pan. The man had to be given a feel of the heat.

"Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I don't do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. And to tell you about the pressures! There is the customer at one end always changing his requirements, the user wanting something else and your boss always expecting you to have finished it yesterday."

Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with self-realization. What he had said was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth.

"My friend," he concluded triumphantly, "you don't know what it is to be in the line of fire."

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

"I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire," He was staring blankly as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.

"There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolor at the top only 4 of us were alive."

"You are a..."

"I am Subedar Sushant Singh from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a land assignment. But tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier."

"On the dawn of that capture one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded. His own personal safety came last, always and every time. He was killed as he shielded that soldier into the bunker. Every morning now as I stand guard I can see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire."

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of his reply. Abruptly he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a word document in the presence of a man for whom valor and duty was a daily part of life; a valor and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station and Subedar Sushant Singh picked up his bags to alight.

"It was nice meeting you sir."

Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This was the hand that had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger and hoisted the tricolor. Suddenly as if by impulse he stood at attention, and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute.

It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

PS: The incident he narrates during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true life incident during the Kargil war. Major Vikram Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and his various other acts of bravery he was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra - the nation's highest military award

Thought for a DAY

How to poison your Mother-in-law

Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law's habits. In addition, the mother-in-law criticized Li-Li constantly.

Days passed, and weeks passed. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even worse was that,
according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappinessin the house was causing Li-Li's poor husband great distress.

Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law's bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about it.

Li-Li went to see her father's good friend, Mr Huang, who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all.

Mr Huang thought for awhile, and finally said, "Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you."

Li-Li said, "Yes, Mr Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do".

Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs.

He told Li-Li, "You can't use a quick-acting poison to get rid of yourmother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspects you when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her. Don't argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen".

Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.

Weeks went by, and months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother.

After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Li-Li had practised controlling her temper so much that she found that she al! most never got mad or upset. She hadn't had an argument with her mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.

The mother-in-law' s attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in- law one could ever find.

Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter.

Li-Li's husband was very happy to see what was happening.

One day, Li-Li came to see Mr Huang and asked for his help again. She said, "Dear Mr Huang, please help me to keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law! She's changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her".

Mr Huang smiled and nodded his head. "Li-Li, there's nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her".

THE MORAL OF THE STORY..
How you treat other people is exactly how they will treat you.

There is a wise Chinese saying:
"The person who loves others will also be loved in return. God might be trying to work in another person's life through you."

Shooting the Applications

A trend in our institute is that, students after submitting thesis, move out for their postdoc. If someone, waits for their defense, I bet everyone welcomes you with a sympathetic smile. Ph.D. draws so much energy and after this course, everyone is going to run behind, money, wealth and fame. My question is , y should notI relax for sometime, and live lief the way I wanted ?

I leaving a simple, happy life, reading books of my interest, watching movies, whenever I like, cooking my favourite dishes, moving out with my friends, taking care of heath, joined in GYM , for body building. Sparing sometime for Spiritual activities too.

I yearned for this relaxation, thorughout my Ph.D., Now I am enjoying...

relax............

Elan

Our proposal got rejected

Dear Friends,
My proposal, for idenfitying loci governing tuber quality was awarded 'C' grade and got rejected. I am thinking of resubmitting the proposal again, by making small and necessary corrections. Also, I heard that one of our batchmate, has secured this fellowship.

One thing is for sure, this fellowship is very competitive, every single mark, makes a wide difference.

Ok, hard luck, better lcuk next time. Last three days I was thinking about this result and assessing if and not , possiblities, and counter action. But, once, I got to know that our proposal got rejected, I just, stopped thinking about it, looks I have a wonderful fighting spirit.

regaqrds
Elan

Result tonight- willing to take, whatever it may be

Dear friends

I will receive the decision regarding our Marie curie IIF proposal tonight ( 7 th Dec). Now, I have reached the state of taking the result without much expectation. The beauty of any task lies in its performance, not in its end result. What I have learnt, enlightened, others regarding this fellowship is more important and does not matter for me even if I lose.

This fellowship will reduce my search and improve my career in an accelerated manner, that's why I worry.

Will write you all in detail, tomarrow

regards
elan

only one day remaining for marie curie IIF results

Dear friends,

Today I made an extensive search for Marie curie International incoming fellowship holders and found that, some are well experienced and contributed a significant achievement in their field. So again my hopes have become dimmer, as my chance to hit the fellowship becomes narrow.

So, from today onwards, I have started to look for alternative, plans suppose if this fellowship is out of track. Seems, after submitting thesis, the researchers need to be more strong and focussed.

I read, some information about equity analyst in biotech companies, that one also looks interesting. Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed till, day after tomarrow and will let u know, about my other plans.

Today, I applied for some positions, in the area of quanititative genetics, but I am too scared of some sectors involving study of genetics of birds heredity, etc. God, I dont want to do postdoc and just Survive in science.

Science is my passion, I cannot do it just for earn my bread and butter, rather I will do some other stuff, to survive.
OK, enough of wenting session, I need to rush up for my workout session, I have put on lot of weight in last six months.
ok friends, bye
elan

The initial result of Marie curie IIF programme out

Hi friends

I have applied for Marie curie FP7 fellowship, under the category individual actions. I applied for this fellowship through a german host of Max planck society, klon. The proposal submitted by us got selected in the first round, but with a marginal cut off mark. The final stage selection result will be avaliable by 7th December, thats is after two days. Its bit tensed and I am very anxious about the result, because, this fellowship is very competitive and very few (41) candidates around globe are selected and funded.

I keeping my fingers crossed, because this felloswhip will definitely helpful in briding my Biotech company dreams.

Let us See, where ur proposal gets ranked and is there any scope for our project to be funded. So around 41 proposals, will be funded from the pool of 116 proposals, which passed the threshold. The chance for winning the fellowship is 41/116  = 35.43 % , that  is my chance to win
fellowship is not very bad. 

In 2005, aorund 83 proposals got funded, among 580 eligibile proposals. But this time only 41 proposals are going to get funded, I think elgibile proposals were 
3 times that of the 116, so the total eligible proposals are 116 x 3 = 348. Roughly 10% of the 116 proposals were 
from India and I think around 4 - 5 will get funded.

So, my proposal is 1 among the 12 indian proposal, that met the threshold cutoff mark. I think the project which I have written is more relevant to current application, with some basic research interest.
Again with indian scenario, 4 proposal among 12, makes 30% success rate.

So, statistically, there is every possibility that, our project can be funded.

Let us hope for the best............. Thanks for all  those hearts, that pray for me.

with regards
Elan