As a child, before I even knew what an engineer was, I would enter my father's workroom at home and be amazed by the blinking lights, the little blue and red cylinders and cuboids, all fitted so precisely on a pretty green board. This was a time before the common man even knew what an IC was. And there was my father, working, measuring, soldering little things to create something. I did not know what it was or even what all of it meant. I once remember him calling out to me and asking for some graph paper, a protractor and two fine-tipped felt pens of contrasting colors. A week later, when I went to the room, my crude blue school graph pad sheets were covered with fine 0.075pt red and black lines that ran amok with an organized chaos the sheet. Even then, I could see that each line meant something, that it had taken pains to derive this drawing of exquisite clarity. And even at that age, it struck me how my father had so much elegance in his work (I have worked on PCBs and I probably am not enough 10% as organized and sure of my design s as he was fifteen years ago). And at that time, I knew, he would have made an amazing scientist. That what I heard from visiting families that he was a genius, that what my mother said about him being locked up for days in a room just working on a thesis, was true. People say scientists are haphazard, eccentric. But I disagree. The people who are clear headed usually manage to translate it onto paper. In fact, handwriting experts and well as examination paper checkers will vouch for the fact that a person's handwriting is much more defined and consistent when he is firm and sure of purpose. I also believe that it leads to less rework, better and faster ways to get to the next step and helps you find the missing part of the puzzle when the pieces you already have are well laid out. Often, with students today, they end up re-inventing the wheel or simply not being able to solve complex problems because they are not even sure of the basics.
And I think that is what today's generation lacks. We do not teach our children approach. We teach them to get at the answer. I do not know how many times I look back on my old work and wish I had been more lucid and made less havoc on those sheets of paper. It is something that translates into your notes as well. My father, as well as a friend's father (who is a doctor) have crystal clear notes, color coded, underlined, that take you from basic principles to the highest level of complexity.
I remember an incident that is attributed, I do believe, to Einstein. He said to a student who wanted to show him some work he has been working on, "Son, go from the beginning, and do slow down. I'm not that fast a thinker."
I have often found that people who are deliberate speakers, ones who take forever to pick up a subject we think we have mastered just because we've understood it, are the ones who have understood the human mind. They know to learn is to turn the concept over in your head. To form a couple of conclusions, to divert and come to the same conclusion as a sort of double proof. And we often underestimate these people.
Completely unrelated, but I do wish I would be able to write disconnected from my thoughts. I am not a plagiarist, but yes, I write after inspiration. I do wish I could write from threads of philosophy that are devoid of fragments of what is happening around me. I do believe that is true creativity, not the mere symbolism and 'art imitates life' kind of writing (esp. in Indian fiction) that is selling on the fiction stands today. This is especially true of Indian fiction. To give a trite description is not fiction, its just narration.
The day I can do that, I think I will be ready to be a writer. Maybe its good God put that dream of mine on hold. I have so much to learn.
