Slow and Steady, ___?___ the race !!!!!!

Well, well, well. Where, or for that matter of fact, when do you think you heard this phrase before? Bingo, you guessed it. Its the famous saying, "Slow and Steady, wins the race".We all have definately heard it from our grandmothers in childhood. Life used to be a breeze then. Nothing to do, just feed the stomach, sleep as long as you like, and just laze around. Hmmm, from the word 'laze', it does strike you about the hare, doesn't it? Poor fellow, had he not 'lazed' around, he would have clearly been the winner, and we all would have been deprived of a classic in childhood. They say, children are quick learners and remember better than their adults. Well, the saying "Slow and Steady..." has impinged with such force, that we dont quite seem to harbor any intentions of parting ways with it. Its a nice little support to hang on to( especially for the elite group of lazy chaps, me included), until you enter the big bad world, where this very saying suddenly experiences the force of gravity, and comes crashing down. Wait a minute, maybe I took my stance too early. Anyways, lets discuss it.

First things first, Where does this phrase come from? Well, it is from the story "The hare and the tortoise", which is one of the many Aesop's Fables. What one needs to remember, is the time frame of when this story was given birth OR when we heard it, and the present. The difference lies in the wide open vacuum of competion. In a way, we all are competing to win a race. The choice we need to make is, do we want to be the hare or the tortoise? Forget what happened in the story. Miracles don't happen always. The competition is now at its pinnacle, infact it has even dared to surpass the tip. In an organization, there are hundreds and thousands of employees. Each set or group of employees are given a particular task. This is similar to the finish line. The scenario now is such that, each employee tries to find short cuts and much efficient and faster ways, so that he can cover longer strides with the same sized feet. The finish line, for the person who emulates the hare, appears within striking distance.

But hang on, Fables contain valuable sayings, which are meant to be learnt. The crux of the matter is, the advice to be imbued is not "Be slow and steady and you will ultimately win", but its "Dont lift the pedal on the accelerator". No divertions untill the goal is achieved.So, if in the present scenario, if we behave like the tortoise, then I am must regret that our promotion will happen after our hairs turns grey (Or the hare becomes old, ha ha, that was a good one). We might even be demoted or worse, thrown out. Nowadays, no one wants a tortoise or better yet, a slow coach. Company heads rely on dynamic and quick thinkers, who want to only increaase their speed. Even sky should not be the limit, forget a simple finish line.

Its true, slow and steady, does work in some situations, but these situations are like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Speed is in, slow is out. Of course, no compromise on quality otherwise the entire exercise of speed will prove to be futile. The second lesson, which is quite evident to all of us, is that overconfidence never pays. Infact it depletes your pay. By the time you woud be counting your unhatched eggs, your competitor may have passed by, as happened in the story. Some might argue, that the main reason for the hare to lose the race was its overconfidence. But then, the hare knew who its competitor was. Nowadays, no one can be underestimated. Everyone is equally capable.So overconfidence doesn't quite come into the picture. Its just an added caution.

So I think thats about it from here. I would like to know, what you all still follow and what you want to follow in the future. So, lets have it from you, my friends.

An Engineering student's 24 hours

Engineers rule the world. Well, not exactly. But they do, at least, in their day to day activities. This comes from an Engineer who has written this article i.e me. An Engineer, has to involve himself with complex real life problems, of which only he has the solution. An Engineer, has to suggest various ways of improving the effciency of the products, has to develop new and better mechanisms to get things moving in the forward direction. Well, lets take a peep into a day of a life of an Engineering student. Well, the Engineer here is replaced by "he" or "they".No offence to females, they are great engineers too.

Well, the day starts for everyone at morning, and so too for this Engineer. College starts at 9. But he thinks, why go so early. So he gets ready at his normal pace and by the time, he reaches college, its 9:30. Proffesor first instructs him, "Sorry, not allowed". Other students in the class also try to take his case and shout in unison, "No, No, Dont allow him Sir". With a sorry face, pat comes an all weather reply, "Sir, Train came late" or "Tyre Punctured Sir" or "too much traffic, Sir" or the really honest would say, "Got up late, Sir". He is allowed to sit amongst a shout of boos. He is being told, "Attendance will not be given to you" but later on, he gets his attendance. All well and done.

Lecture gets over. Snack break commences. He removes his tiffin box only to find that everyone surrounds him.At the end, he does manage to get 40 percent of food. After all, Thou shoud not eat his own lunch. Remaining part of the break goes in chit chatting, talking to the girls and getting to know what lectures are going to happen in the day. Armed with this knowledge, he and his colleagues try to cancel the lecture for whatsoever reasons. If they succeed, then move on to cancel the next lecture. If not, then they succumb to the fact that they can still shorten the duration of the lecture(Only they know how to). As Sir enters, there is a scramble for places in the last few benches, the corner seats and middle benches where one gets an adequate amount of cover. Once lecture starts, he finds out what practical he has and what journal he has to write. Quickly he gets a copy of the written journal and starts copying down word to word. Never mind what the proffesor will tell, even they know everyone copies.

Lecture terminates due to shouts of "Please Sir, next lecture. Enough for the day". Attendance takes place smoothly untill a proxy happen, and commotion reigns. All know, who has done it but would rather keep quiet. Thats a strong bond between fellow engineers. A few advices later, Sir leaves. Well, Practical starts, and he submits his journal and goes to his place. Ultimately he will get a seven on ten, no matter what he has written. If the subject has a practical exam, then he will be interested else he will lazily watch the other members of the the group perform. He would be the last to enter and the first to leave, to avoid restoring back all the equipments to their right places. After all, time is precious.

In case if any free lectures or periods happen to occur, then there is a toss between cricket and football. Even if there is a lecture, what is the harm in bunking. If there are any tests on that day, he would take special care to seat himself next to the most knowledgeable i.e the topper. After all, even a topper serves his purpose some day or the other.But in more ways than one, Engineers have tremendous efficiency. They seem to be able to prepare for the exam at any point of time. Even if the exam is a good one week away, work will start just a day before the d-day. And they still get away with it. Amazing, isnt it?

The day ends, with a nice snack in the canteen and a walk back with the entire gang to the station from where everyone bades farewell, only to know that they will encounter the very same the next day. After all, it is enjoyable. At home, the engineer has three options, eat, enjoy, sleep. Varying the proportions, the day finally culminates into night, where he downs his shutters and dreams (Please dont aslk what he dreams).

So thats about it, from here. Dont be mistaken, not all Engineers are like this. But most of them are, and i think every fellow engineer would have taken pride in reading this.Anything i missed, you can append it in comments. So, lets have the experiences from your side, my friends.