Speech for Engineers Day 2012
A world without an engineer is just like a bike without wheels. Today happens to be the 147th birthday of one of the great sons of India. September 15th is designated as Engineers Day. I would like to share with you some interesting snippets from the life of the great man. Any state should be lucky to have a minister of Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya's ability. How many such selfless patriots’ do we have? Free India honors great servants of the country every year by awarding titles. The highest of this award is 'Bharata Ratna'. In 1955 Visvesvaraya was made a 'Bharata Ratna', the Gem of India. He was a gem of mankind itself.
Visvesvaraya was a genius. The Block System which he invented, the automatic doors which he devised to stop wasteful overflow of water, the water supply and drainage system which he planned for the city of Aden - these won high praise from engineers all over the world. His memory was an amazing as genius. We saw how in 1908 he tamed the Moosa. Fifty years later, one day, there was a discussion about the river, and he referred to some detail. In 1906-07, Government of India sent him to Africa to study water supply and drainage system and the project prepared by him was implemented in Eden successfully. He was a very great engineer in India and the first engineer too.
How did Visvesvaraya use his genius and his extraordinary memory? This is the important question. He was never late by a minute and he never wasted a minute. Once a minister was late by three minutes; MV advised him to be punctual. A man should do any work he undertakes methodically - that was his firm faith. Every man should understand his responsibility and do his best - which was the essence of his teaching. He practiced this very honestly, and there are hundreds of instances to show this. Until he was confined to his bed he was very particular about his clothes. Even when he was 95, people who went to see him were surprised - he was so carefully and neatly dressed. He once said “Remember, your work may be; to only sweep a railway crossing, but it is your duty to keep it so clean, that no other crossing in the world is as clean as yours”
A hundred such instances of his discipline and devotion to work can be listed. He once said, "The curse of our country is laziness. At first sight everyone seems to be working. But in fact, one man works and the others simply watch him. As someone said with contempt, 'it looks as if five men are working. But really only one-man works. One man will be doing nothing. One man will be resting. Another man will be watching them. Yet another man will be helping these three." It all seems to be a lol situation.
The dams built by him are still functional even today, a testimony to his brilliance, skill, honesty and dedication. So 15th of September, Engineer's Day 2012, is quite a remarkable tribute to the greatest Indian Engineer Bharat Ratna M. Visvesvarayya. After him, reaching his admirable destiny; through his kind heart and intellectual brain in all directions; so he could finally sleep in peace on 14th April 1962. We miss him ever and never such a person in the world is seen.
Engineering Community in India is celebrating Engineers Day on every 15th September. Now at 2012 number of Engineers rising in various Engineering branches is very high. Even Engineers number in India grows, it’s sad to say that Engineers doesn’t have much knowledge about this day.
The Engineering Community across India is celebrating Engineers Day every year. If we ask the date of celebrations to Engineering students they may kill them by asking…Engineers Day, what? We don’t hear etc.etc. We can’t find any fault in these engineering students behavior, because a most percentage of colleges never celebrate this occasion.
Engineering is not merely to know and being knowledgeable, like a walking encyclopedia; engineering is not merely analysis; engineering is not merely the possession of the capacity to get elegant solutions to non-existent engineering problems; engineering is practicing the art of the organized forcing of technological change. The ideal engineer is a composite. He is not a scientist, he is not a mathematician, he is not a sociologist or a writer; but he may use the knowledge and techniques of any; or all of these disciplines in solving engineering problems. Engineers operate at the interface between science and society. Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems and will develop a number of ways to solve them.
Now lakhs of Engineering graduates coming out every year from various parts of the country. Colleges should celebrate this day with seminars about past to present scenario in Indian Engineering. Engineers Day should be a day in which all zested minds in Engineering sector should be treated with zealous by the authorities. Other-wise this day will disappear from the history, as time passes. With this hope let’s celebrate the day with all our efforts into this auspicious day.
We are the World and its creator’s because; Scientists invented the world that already exists, but we ENGINEERS create the world that never existed; so, we are proud to be an Engineer. With this conclusion, wishing you all, a very happy ENGINEERS DAY.
