Wednesday, September 29, 2010

My Pal...

Buddy, tomorrow is my Fluid Mechanics quiz, and I am preparing. It is 2:46 a.m. in the night. Weather outside is wonderful, it has just drizzled, and at the moment, the atmosphere is perfuming with the typical sweet fragrance that blends with air after rainfall. Branches and leaves are unruffled, and it’s cool outside. In this pleasant and amusing weather, I have decided to write about you. This should give you an idea of the value you possess in my eyes. You have helped me in tough times, you have made things easy for me, and you have offered me short-cuts. Sometimes, I imagine how life would have been without you?! Mate, you rock! My dear, much-loved, and friend in time of need, yes pal, I am talking about you; my solution manual.

There are two instances where we meet, one is where I need to check if I am doing right, and the other is where I just don’t have time to do things on my own, which can be due to several reasons, ranging from laziness to immense workload. I quickly read the question, may think about it, and unswervingly start taking your advices. Today, the latter is the case. In this scenario, you are just the man, man!

HOWEVER, if I get addicted to you, you are going to turn into an enemy. You will make me helpless, and can spread like cancer, uprooting all the abilities I may have developed for problem-solving. So, we have to be cautious here. Actually, it would have been best if we hadn’t met. Hey, no offence meant partner! I hope you understand the harms involved. This is how it is. You are one chap whose presence can be a paradox, see how I feel the affection for you, and at the same time, I am being repulsive.

So bro, If I am doing all the problems by myself, and use you as a check, that’s excellent. If I face problem in any question, after giving my best try, I come to you, help me out. But if I am doing so otherwise, just turn your face away from me.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The Knack of Objectivity - Part 2

The Companions of The Beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him) were very smart and intelligent people. You must have read many very wise saying of Sayyiduna Ali (Radiy Allahu Ta'ala Anhu). There is a very powerful saying by Sayyiduna Umar (Radiy Ta’ala Allahu Anhu):

“Do not put off today’s work for tomorrow.”

Today, when our juniors take advice from us, there are a lot of things that come to mind, and we try to give them the crux of our experiences. The aspect on which great stress is laid is to keep things on day-to-day basis. I have personally experienced the benefits of acting according to the above-mentioned saying, and have also suffered by doing so otherwise. It is natural that things get pretty smooth if we mend our daily-routines according to daily works. What ought to be done today, should be done today! And then, during those days of stress and anxiety, you will feel comparatively light, and at weekends, you will have quite a handsome amount of time with you. In short, these beautiful words are really some tremendously worthy gemstones.

There are some activities, which spread over much stretched periods of time. The prime example that I see in my social circle is gatherings with leisurely talk. Sadly, sometimes, I also become a part of this, and when the process is on, we never seem to get tired of it. To talk is not bad, talk a lot, but keep it objective and productive. Then, at times, we just need to relax and talk to our family and friends; bingo! What I am talking about is long hours of worthless and unproductive talk. These activities, which eat so much of our time, are counter-productive. With time, they also suck energy out of us. Another example is watching 3, or even 2 movies without a break or a whole season of a TV-Series or anime in one go. As far as my personal experience tells me, this tendency is what I should say ‘slow-poisoning’.

I conclude this piece of writing by telling you an interesting tale. There was a king, who was a very wise man. Once, his people brought him some pebbles, which they had collected from outside the king’s palace. The king took the pebbles, examined them, and then ordered his citizens to find out who these pebbles belonged to. The court-men were surprised, but couldn’t say anything to the king on his face.

“It is rather stupid of the king to order us to locate a man who has disposed off useless pieces of rock.” One of the court-men said during their own conversation.

People began investigating, and ultimately found the person who had thrown these little stones. The man was taken to the king’s palace. When they reached the castle, he was given a glass of sherbet, and then after he was relaxed, the king asked him:

“Why did you throw away these pebbles?”

“They are worthless pieces of stones, what could have I gained by keeping them? I threw them because I knew that they are of no use to me.”

The king looked deeply into the person’s eyes, and then waited. After a long pause of pin-drop silence, the king said:

“Certainly, this is not your mistake. If you knew the truth, you would have never done that.”

Everyone, who was present in the court of king, was surprised. They started giving each other curious looks. The king stood up from his royal chair, and then what he delivered was one piece of a legendary talk:

“These stones are not just worthless pebbles; they are extremely expensive pearls and gemstones! They could make this man a millionaire, but he threw them away considering them to be any other pieces of rock. The reason is that he did not know their worth. My countrymen, same is the case with the time we have. Each second, and each minute that passes is a gemstone, but we fling it away, because we do not know its value. God has given you life as a gift. When you pass your life, every second passed should be in obedience to your Creator, and then you may acquire the actual worth of each pearl!”

The court was dismissed.

Later on, the man was returned half of the treasure, and the other half was donated to the state for a public project.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

One...

Today, in one of the lectures, our instructor, Dr. Bannikov, pointed to one of the students sitting in the middle row, and said:

“One.”

The student, like everyone else in the class, thought that he must have meant to give him a first warning because teachers don’t want someone causing nuisance in the class. However, after a second or two, Dr. Bannikov himself asked us:

“Do you know what ‘one’ is?”

“It’s the first warning…”

“It means that next time he will be asked to leave the class…”

These were some of the responses. However, Dr. Bannikov cleared things up with the following fable:

“O.K. Let me tell you the story. Once, this is almost 100 years back, when there used to be no cars, a newly-married couple were travelling in a carriage. During the journey, the horse slipped, on which the husband shouted ‘One’ to the horse, and lashed him. After some minutes, the horse slipped again, the husband said ‘Two’ to the horse, and lashed him yet again. Then, after a little time, the horse slipped once more, this time the husband…”

“.. said ‘Three’” We thought. But, it was something else.

“… took out a gun from his pocket and shot the horse dead.”

The class burst out in laughter, because they just did not expect this. And then the cute Russian accent of Dr. Bannikov also added to its flavour. Well, it is bad that you are laughing on someone's cruel act, but it was really the "One" that was said to the student on which the class was amused. So, Dr. Bannikov continued:

“But, the story does not end here. After a short while, the wife said to the husband:

‘Sweetheart, can we take our mother from the way and drop her to the next street.’

One’ said the husband to his wife…”

It ends here, and was a healthy ingredient to enliven the class.

“I will not kill you people, but…

One’” Dr. Bannikov pointed towards the same student. And finally we came back to where we were; variation of pressure in a fluid inside a rotating cylinder.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Knack of Objectivity - Part 1

Do you think that you waste a lot of time? Or when it comes to time-management, you are just not the one for it. Well, same is the case here. So, let us try, and crack it a bit. Time-management is a very potent tool. This is something all of us know so fully, yet many of us do not succeed to gain from it. Even after formulating comprehensive time-tables; rows, columns, some may even use colour-codings; we fail to follow them consistently. But think for a moment; what actually drives us to make time-tables or let’s say, read articles on the subject of organization of tasks? If you ponder, you can perceive that many times, it is basically motivation, which, in reality, is the driving force. So, the time-tables that we form, are all the result of the fire of motivation that burns inside us, and when we lose consistency, the fire had been extinguished, the colours fade away and hence, things return to ‘normal’. However, if we keep ourselves inspired, it may be realized that constructing time-table (on paper) is not even ‘strictly’ required; in no way does that mean we do not devise a time-table, because its benefits remain firmly recognized. They are, though, not the focal point of this discussion.

To touch objectivity, elucidation of the role of motivation in achieving goals was indispensable. Motivation is the driving force, and objectivity is the vehicle. Once you learn to be objective, it becomes easier to focus. Put otherwise, to give the finest shape to motivation and yield maximum results, objectivity is the key. If you learn this “Knack of Objectivity”, the ability of being objective, you will be able to maintain consistency for a longer time. The rationale being the verity that many times, not always, motivation is a timely phenomenon, it may die away, whereas, objectivity can develop into a part of your very nature, hence its benefits retain for an extended period.

The initial and primarily, the main aim should be to define your tasks precisely, specifically and absolutely clearly. This is of utmost importance, because wandering without clear image of your chores results in unproductive time-wastage. Once you know what to do, it will become quite simple to begin with. You should remember from your secondary school or O-Level/Matriculation when we were given an essay to write. The very first step taught by our teacher was to chalk out an “outline”. At the start, it was brainstorming, but then, main points were collected and put in sequential order. This really facilitates in producing a piece of good writing. The reason is, before you start to write, you have an unambiguous image of what you are going to carry out. Objectivity in this case was more knotty than it is in the long-term or short-term responsibilities of life. So, relax, mark your aims, smile, and embark on.

To visualize things in parts is a talent. It is easier for an engineer to be objective than it is for, let’s say, a poet, obviously, only if he thinks akin to an engineer. The reason is that he has worked more on structuring things from parts. Mark that this is not a direct criticism on poetry. Or else, tomorrow we may say that writers also let their thoughts flow and reflect about random things, and hence a writer cannot be objective. By the way, an “Engineer who writes” is someone different from a “writer”. Though, this statement is not mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, this is generally the case if both are passionate about their own profession. Anyways, beginning with small parts and then moving on is a practice you have been carrying out when you didn’t even have to worry about completing your homework, let alone managing several tasks. Parents bring their babies Lego blocks and different puzzles to play and learn with. Among other colorful plastic bricks, they also have Lego blocks with alphabets and numbers printed on them. We can see that this is the trend that suites our nature. Once again, know that it does not entail that we start disassembling everyday jobs that are already defined. We just need to mentally categorize our assignments, and have a vivid image of them.

Optimization is another tool which helps to cover much in lesser time. Irrespective of which field you belong to, everything is not equally important in life. Tasks are given preferences depending on different factors. For example, during the days of exams, we leave recreation and cut off other activities that offer us entertainment. Similarly, during the vacations, we find ourselves and study, poles apart! (Definitely, this is not an example of optimization!) If one is able to manage and put his or her activities in the right preferential order, the person is utilizing time capably.

Just yesterday, I was reading an article on The Beloved Prophet’s (Peace be upon him) Guidance on managing time, and what should our preferences be? It was worth reading. The transcript can be downloaded from this link, http://www.sacredknowledge.co.uk/ Do read!