Class work

I read it somewhere..... don't remember (sorry for no acknowledgment)

A teacher asks her student to write about what they want to be when they grow up? One of the student had written only 2 words "Be happy".

Looking at the student writings teacher says "you didn't understand the question". Student replies, "You didn't understand the life......"

Listening! The critical communication skills

All through 4 years of Btech at IIT Bombay, communication skill seemed one thing that would make or break ones career. Everyone acknowledged its importance, but no one seemed to do anything about it. It seems people didn't do anything about it because all of us had a very narrow view of communication skill. Communication skill was associated with speaking good, fluent, and continuous English. The core was speaking. Sure speaking is the core when one is giving a lecture or a speech. But interaction with individual or a group is a two way activity, in which listening is as important as speaking.

Everyone consciously appreciate the importance of listening in effective communication. The gurus such as stephen covey have emphasized on listening being imperative to effective communication. But I have come across no one who puts in some efforts and time in order to improve his listening ability. Of course their are people with excellent listening ability but even they have built their ability over a period of time and experience. Their seems to be no exercise or academic program that can help people improve their listening ability. Why? if listening ability is indeed so important then why I don't find people working on it or people teaching it.

There can be several reasons to it. One could be that people like to talk but no one likes to listen. Another could be the fact that listening is thought to be a choice rather than an ability or practice. Or we just know it is important superficially but we don't understand why is it really important.

So I started examining the importance of listening. Lets me first assume that I am talking to a 5 year old kid and I speak because I want make an impact on listener. To make that impact I convey a thought in my mind. That thought manifests in my mind from all sets of models, information, logic, experience, knowledge, etc. I am carrying in my mind. Obviously the thoughts seems to be the right message in my frame of mind. Imagine 5 year old kid listening to me. He would use his sets of models, information, logic, experience, etc. etc to interpret what I have said. This where the gap is. The impact will never happen because the two frames of mind can never be same. Larger the gap more skewed will be the reception of the message. To make the intended impact I first have to understand kids frame of mind, then craft my message targeted towards impact I want to make. Which requires excellent listening not excellent speaking.

A guy from an indian village joins an US university and his roommate is an american,
They happen to talk about virginity one night

A: Dude when did you loose virginity
I: I am still a virgin
A: What! seriously.....
I: yes! I am not married
A: You mean to say u are not going to have sex before you get married??? you must be crazy
I: Why whats wrong with that, I don't think not having pre-marital sex is crazy, when did you loose yours
A: When I was 14 (with a smile)
I: My god! Western culture......

Indian ends up thinking that americans don't have any values or character and American ends up thinking Indians are conservative stupids. I am sure that wasn't the message both side intended to exchange.

Don't Swim, just float!

Osho was reluctant to tell people what to do. He preached indulgence. He wanted people to break the barriers of religion, community, etc. and live their life the way they want to. He wanted people to use their unique ability to think and indulge. He didn't want religion and community to dictate life of people. He advocated the fact that each individual is unique and should have the liberty to pursue his own unique journey. Once Osho was forced to give his commandments and one of the things he said was "Don't swim, just float".

"Don't swim, just float" is not only a remarkable statement but also a bold one. Osho was always notorious for making seemingly offensive statements under the existing sets of paradigms, But I found most of them remarkable and thought provoking. It is a common belief that one has to be ambitious, disciplined and hard-working to be successful. And success is the key to happiness. Some how no one has the balls to ask the question "why only success brings happiness?".

To this one can argue ambitious and hardworking people are always worried about the future, instead of indulging in the joy of present. They are always worried about how well they are doing compared to their peers. Right from the childhood people are forced to perform. They have to top in their class, then work hard to clear a competitive examination only to find himself in even more fierce competition. Make more money than all his peers. Worry about the promotions. Having achieved all this he is now supposed to maintain some status and hold onto his power. Given the fact all journeys end at the same point, isn't it better to just float and enjoy what life has to offer on each day.

This is not an appeal to stop swimming :P Perhaps all osho want to say is:

1. Indulging in a joy can't be sinful, Because joy is a gift of nature.

2. If swimming gives you joy then swim, just don't swim because everyone else is swimming or some one is asking you to swim. But if floating gives you joy then there is nothing wrong with floating.

3. Don't be bogged down by the past and don't worry about the future, present is the reality make sure u derive maximum joy out of it .... :)

Breakthrough Innovators

(re-construction of something I read in HBR)

Finding and grooming breakthrough innovators have been the key to successful firms. More often people replicate previous best practices of their seniors or counterparts. But breakthrough innovators don't even rely on their own previous laurels to replicate success.

What do breakthrough innovators look like:

• High cognitive ability, and analytical skill
• Ability to focus on important data and separate it from peripheral issues attached to it.
• Restless and never content with their success. (Creative envy)
• Ridiculously socially aware of their surroundings at all times.eg: someone who able to walk into a meeting full of customers, investors, bosses, vendors, workers and quickly discern each ones motivation.
• Persuasive and charming
• Ability to garner organizational support for an innovative idea which might sound obscure to everyone else.
• Extremely curious
• They are efficient in managing tension between their independent mind and their social engagement with colleagues

By definition an innovator must access resources and recombine ideas in ways that are unfamiliar to the organization. Doing so moving beyond the conventional boundaries and safety of the existing position ,which can be a lonely experience. At the same time innovators must be able to bring the knowledge they have gained back to traditional hierarchies , which can be frustrating. After reading this article the first name that came to my mind is Steve jobs , I wonder if Apple would find his replacement.

Circle of concern!

I first read about "Circle of concern and circle of influence" in seven habits, Theoretically speaking its a very obvious concept, Covey says effective people don't spend their time worrying about things they can't control, but they concentrate their time and energy on the things the can influence. Mumbai has been hit by fierce summers this time. My flat on the 14th floor sizzles even in the night. I have been trying to install a AC in my bedroom since monday so that I can sleep peacefully after having worked 10 hours in office and traveled for 2 hours in mumbai local train. But because of one or the other reason not in my control AC installation has been delayed, yesterday night finally when the AC was installed and plugged in the plug turned out to be defective. Thinking about covey and effectiveness I moistened a bed sheet and covered my self with it and went to sleep. Its friday today I am worried whether the thing would work out today or not. And I am all the more perturbed by the fact that I m not effective :(



In practice it is almost impossible to not to worry about a concern just because one can't do anything about it. Concern is a child of expectation, expectation on the other hand is manifestation of ones aspiration, identity, etc. etc. If one has to go deeper and ask a question why do people aspire, evolution seems to be the answer. Evolution to me seems to be the purpose of life. Life through-out the time and space has led to evolution. Without any further philosophical inquiry, I would get to the point I am trying to make here :



Only thing I want to do here is to negate a theoretical obvious argument by another, If I were to stop worrying about things I can't control, I would have to control my expectation, there by programming my aspiration, identity accordingly, which is essentially controlling evolution "the purpose of life".



It is true that nothing happens by worrying about a concern, But worry is caused by something beyond a living creatures control. One can control his worries and try to focus his energy on things he can achieve. Seven habits of highly effective people is a hit, but appreciating a theory without the understanding of its limitation could be futile!

Modeling

Modeling is one of the most versatile words in terms of its usage. Perhaps everyone starts modeling the moment they are born and they see a new world. I was explicitly introduced to modeling in my first job at lehman brothers. We called evaluating a real estate's price as modeling, in which we populated a big excel file with data and ran some inbuilt programs. Sure it was modeling but a process level modeling which today softwares do. A model is a map of reality, its a purposive description of human experience. Because a model is supposed to help others understand and predict, it always has a scope. Studying a road map of las vegas would not have the same human experience as actually taking a walk on the streets of las vegas. And on the top of it human experience of walking through the same street will vary from one person to another. It is this uniqueness of every human being which has made universal modeling impossible. Newton laws of motion is also a model to understand motion, for centuries it was believed to be a universal model. But when scientist delved into sub-atomic levels new experiences emerged, Einstein and others then modeled same reality but with a larger scope.




Models can be assimilated through studies or can be built through experience. Models can also be explicitly perceived in term of language, mathematics or models can recite tacitly in ones mind. The models we know of consciously are a fraction of all the models that actually effect our action, judgments, value association, happiness, mood, feeling......etc etc. If you ask a successful salesman about secrets to his success, he will only give you a fraction of models which help him do his job better. This is the fraction of which he is consciously aware.




The difference between explicit and tacit models is evident. But complexity of modeling a human experience is actually a function of its scope. Larger the scope greater is the difficulty. One of the greatest modeler is Siddhartha Gautam (budha), he sought to model a solution which would liberate human beings of their sufferings. He modeled buddhism, a religion, a practice which would eliminate models of thinking that lead to suffering. Thus scope of his model was entire human life. In science one of the greatest modeler(who keeps appearing in my blogs now and then) is Einstein who modeled the understanding of phenomenons which are impossible for a human being to experience using their sensory perceptions. Scope of his model extends from a sub atomic particle to speed of light.



"Toh kya karun????" is wat would strike your mind right now. Infact that is what I am also thinking at this point of time... :P This blog is an attempt to understand modeling and models. To understand a model without understanding its scope is pointless. And to model without assimilating its purpose is waste of time.........:)

Management!

Time and again I have asked myself "Do I really wanna do an MBA?", "What is so special about management that an engineer can't handle it","Is actually going to transform my career or I wanna do this because everyone else is doing it?".

I want to do an MBA for a career leap, MBA is like a pole vault, if I can do it I can crossover to a managerial position. But then MBA is an answer to my question only if my ultimate goal in life was to become a manager. How many of us dreamt of becoming a manager in our childhood, As a child I used to dream of making a car that would fly as well. There were others who dreamt of becoming a pilot, doctor, engineer, scientist, etc. But why all of them today are appearing for CAT.

Management is a separate knowledge domain, Engineers do not have management knowledge and the way a electrical engineer cannot do a civil engineers job well, similarly engineers without the management knowledge cannot handle a managerial position.

Management is a definitely the hip thing today. It pays well, but with evolution wealth has moved from one section to another depending on economics. There was a time when cattle were the measure of wealth, then farmers were the riches, then probably engineers with initial industrial revolution. Today it is managers. But what about tomorrow. Management has been around for long enough for it to be the thing of future. Management was actually born because of engineering. Engineering brought industrial revolution and large scale production. Large scale production required semi-skilled employees to perform repetitive activities competently, diligently and efficiently. And then coordinate these efforts to produce complex goods and services in large quantities. So management was born. Essentially management looks at human beings as machine and because these machines are not governed by n number of fundamental laws of science(which is static) management is much more complex compared to engineering. Human beings are dynamic which makes management dynamic. But important thing here is that management has same philosophical foundation as engineering has. Both the knowledge have enabled large scale production. They look at everything as production units/machines and try maximizing efficiency and the quality produced by such a unit.

Human beings are not machines because machines cannot manage themselves. If management is not going to be the hip thing in future then what else would be????? The answer can be easily deduced if we look at current revolution. After information revolution today human beings are moving towards innovation and co-creation. Human beings have two unique ability to adapt and create. With the changing times these two are becoming all the more important. Why lehman brothers a 156 years old organization which made 2 billion dollars in profits in 2007 could not adapt to changing environment of 2008 and collapsed. Having worked for lehman I can say it had one of the world class management systems in place. All its managers were world class. It collapsed because it lacked the human dimension of adaptability and co-creation. In fact in the coming days of recession a number of large organizations might come down, but small individually run business will not because they have the adaptability. Other large organization which will survive recession are organization like Apple, Toyota, which have exploited the creative dimension of human beings and have become centers of innovation.

Entrepreneurship is going to be the hip thing in future. The wave has already started. Entrepreneurship has the same philosophical foundation as innovation and co-creation. Every entrepreneur looks at his employees as complete human beings who have adaptability and creativity. A true leader today is an entrepreneur who does not lead by means of his position but by means of his ability to inspire employees to bring gift of initiative, imagination and passion to work. Tomorrow's successful organization will be more human, every human being then would manage himself, management will then become a trivial knowledge.

Luck by chance!

For a change I am watching a lot of movies these days (courtesy vinay sharma) and i m lucky last 2 were good. Good in my language means something which is created out of sincere efforts and with a vision.



Movies can be source of ideas, reflections etc. apart from entertainment. The current economic crisis is lucky for none but India. In my view the fundamental reason for the crisis is the exorbitant consumption by the west and the blind production by the east in the service of west. If you consume more than you produce you will one day deplete everything your forefathers earned and left for you. And if you presume that there is infinite wealth in west and keep accepting credit bills assuming they are against a real treasure hidden in the west, it will only leave you with paper and a lot of it. US and china are perfect examples of the west and the east. US crude consumption is 30 times that of India for a population less than 1/3rd of India, China exports are 9 times that of India. Today US does not have money to support its consumption and china does not have a wealthy sethji to serve.



India is lucky by chance. Being a poor country we could not afford to be a sethji and being lazy we weren't really interested in serving the sethji. There are two fundamental dimensions to out nature, maximum return in minimum efforts, and save as much as possible and consume as little as possible. Both these dimensions has put us in a unique position: "Luck by chance". We don't have a trade surplus so we don't care whether there is a sethji out there or not and because we have been saving for the future we have deep pockets. India is in a unique position to develop itself to a most powerful economy provided we break our notion of being a underdeveloped or backward nation. This very notion has lead us to follow west and not recognize the leader inside us. Instead of running for a better life to western countries, we can create a better life in our own country. Provided we see ourselves capable doing it.



I know by now you have got into pragmatic mode. "Blog likhne se development ho jata hain kya" Nah! it doesn't happen because of writing blog , blog likhne se time paas hotaa hain :) Development needs resources and productive human beings. We have 1/6th of the total human beings on the earth and resources are getting cheaper day by day, crude is 38$ a barrel today, it has fallen from its peak of 140$ a barrel in july 2008, so is the case with other commodities. Only thing we have to do is consume less than we produce. If we build new roads there will be enough cars to occupy them, if we build new public transport there are people waiting to travel in peace, If we produce world-class consumer products , there are plenty of buyers in the country with a taste for them and even deep pockets to buy them.



So as long as people are willing to produce first then consume, we don't need the world, we can achieve rapid development indigenously! see "Luck by chance"!

Rel@tiv!ty.........

It was perhaps Einstein who first saw things from a frame of reference which never existed before in the world of physics. My mind boggles at the thought of how would this world look, sitting inside Einstein mind or may be Dev D. mind for that matter. Sure everyone knows that there are different frames or paradigms which exists in the world but the fact that the same world appears so much different when seen by different individual is what is exciting the hell out of me....an IIT undergraduate looks at 500 rupee note as a means of his weekend daaru/sutta/movie/food, for an autowala it is half of total revenue from his daily hard work which would sustain his auto, his family, at last himself, for a teenager gal it is a hair cut or a beauty parlor session, for a beggar its a miracle, for a investment banker it is a peg of JD. The obvious question "so what", anyways 500 rupee is just a means for satisfying different needs. I know ....but point here wasn't about how many ways one can utilize 500 rupee but; there is nothing out there its all inside..... :)


It was perhaps Socrates who first saw a self or a ego, a universe which was made of segregated materials and souls, together with Aristotle & Plato they laid down foundation of what we see today as western philosophy.Where individual material and souls exists in various relationships. Essentially opposite of western is eastern philosophy where universe is one, for western philosophy god is outside the universe above all directing this universe whereas for eastern philosophy god is inside in the heart of people. The two philosophies have created two different worlds. Clearly western philosophy is a market leader by volume with 90% market share.


By western I don't mean the geographical west world, although that is where it was born but today it is the most prevalent philosophy. The people living in the eastern globe by geography are also living in the world shaped by western philosophy.


Like stock market everything has a cycle what goes up has to come down....... if today western philosophy is booming then tomorrow eastern has to, I m not saying eastern is better or western because good or bad is again frame dependent. Current economic crisis is sign of power shifting from west to east who knows it might triggers end of another boom which is western philosophy.


It is clear I want to see eastern philosophy boom. But because isme sabh kaa bhala hain :)
Western philosophy has made us to see ourselves as individuals interacting with rest of universe, we always see value in what others have and no value in what we have, it is fundamentally a state of suffering. In such a frame need to evolve arises from unhappiness!

Markets will grow in orderly manner: PM

I was always mystified by the bull and bear runs in the market and their causes. As usual I was clueless that morning after reading all that was available to me (black Monday/blood bath/FII selling pressure/inevitable correction sensex slipped 1408 etc etc.), But wisdom as they say is where you never expect it to be. I was sipping my tea in the evening the same day, and there it was this headlines in the economic times web page
"Markets will grow in orderly manner: PM"
If you still haven't read this link let me highlight the important line in the news "Let me say orderly growth of the capital market is a priority concern for our government," Singh told reporters. It was such a relief to see even economist like manmohan singh could not resist the bullish run of Indian stock markets. I wonder how much money government has in stock market. It is the priority concern of government, obviously it got to be more than the budget for infrastructural projects, empowerment of the poor, public health, environment protection etc etc. I used to wonder when analyst talked about Indian growth story, and its impact on stock markets because it was hard to correlate the rate at which stocks were growing and the country was growing, in the last 3 years i.e. from June 2005 when sensex was 7000, it has climbed to about 21000 in dec 2007 i.e. an increase of 200% whereas the road project in front of my home in powai, Mumbai has not progressed more than 10% in last 5 years.

My dear Mr. Prime Minister I understand everyone likes to make easy money but what are we going to do with that money if we don have roads to drive our car, if environment becomes un-habitable. If you start worrying about sensex then what would traders and investment bankers do. Please give a thought to some of my concerns for the country and let me know your government priority on each so that citizens of the country can make informed and prudent decision in the next lok sabha elections.

1. Orderly growth of infrastructure.

2. Orderly empowerment of poor.

3. Orderly growth of primary education in the country.

4. Orderly environmental conservation.

5. Orderly growth of employment.

6. Orderly growth of agriculture and manufacturing industries.

7. Orderly control over corruption in the country.

8. Orderly increase in security and decrease in crimes.

The first dAtE!

When I first wrote a blog I was told by my friends, the next one will come after u score a job and probably that would be the last one. So far they seem to be right. This is my second and as no one likes to take fundaes (one thing I love to give) I m trying a story this time.

It’s a strange story although I have read it, seen it couple of times in all the books and cinema. I had always dreamed that this would some day happen to me but after 21 years, like every other human being I satisfied my self saying these things happen only in movies.

As a child I remember looking anxiously and wondering why does every hero in a movie has to have a heroine. When I grew a little older I got my ans, I preferred spending time with friends who were gals or I enjoyed playing langdi over cricket for the obvious reasons. Anyways I had to face the harder facts and one day my friend told me all about heroes and heroines. Although his explanation was consistent with all the observations but it took time before I could digest it. From that day after watching a movie or reading a story I always use to have my version of the story starring me and the gal next door. A lot of time as well as gals passed by before I realized not even one of them did their roles properly or even recognized who the hero was. Anyways they were unlucky and couldn’t realize opportunity at their doorstep.

But now that I was no more a kid, I started perceiving the real world, where in I was supposed to study then get a job and then my parents will look around and arrange my marriage. I could now understand why marriage is such a big celebration. And until then I can keep my enthusiasm up by watching movies and reading stories. 

One fine afternoon I was offered a date and that too with a beautiful gal,……… Ok I won’t be skipping how I got this offer but I would say it was by luck, I never had anything in my mind as such. I was chatting with her friend and as usual flirting. When she asked me whether I would like to go out with her, I said I would love to only because such promises were made a million times before and no one even talked about it the next morning. This chat left me thinking whether she was serious. I spent rest of my time swinging from yes to no but at 21:00 hrs when the time was running out and I was at the yes side I buzzed her and said “when are we leaving” she said “for?” I had already crossed my threshold I wasn’t ready to fall back I said “I thought we had a date” she said “alright in 15 mins, will that be fine”, I tried to look cool “that’s too quick for a gal unless u were already dressed up waiting for my IM”, she said ”No I m not”, this wasn’t required I thought anyways quickly wrapping it up I said “ok I all be there at 9:30 we will go to CCD” she said “fine”.

I had to dress up for the first date of my life, and I was shocked to find out that a big lot of my clothes were at laundry and I didn’t have a decent clean dress. Oh I forgot to mention I was asked to come well dressed that was one and the only condition I had to agree to. Borrowing was not an option because of obvious question” kaha jaa raha hain” and at 9:30 in the night u don’t have many ans to that ques, I finally settled for a cotton jacket and a simple jeans. When I got to her place I was already 15 mins late, I was ready to say its Indian standard time but with the first glimpse of her I forgot every thing, All I could do was stare at her and curse my self for loosing 15 wonderful minutes of my life. We exchanged a smile and set off for CCD. No one spoke anything for sometime. Now that I was in a real date I felt much more confident and started off saying “you looking wonderful today” she replied “U too looking good today”. We reached CCD at 10:00 ordered 2 chocolate truffles. Her lack of interest in the menu could mean two things either she was not there for the treat or she liked chocolate truffle over everything else.

“How many such dates have u been to?” I asked, “does that really matters” she answered with expression on her face turning to disgust. Another bad start I thought but then she took some pity on me “not many actually, I go out with frens and I would not call that a date”, 

Well you wouldn’t call this one a date too….…, I thought. “ Is this a Date” she said with a capital D, promptly I replied “no no its just 2 frens hanging out I thought!” I tried to bring some innocence on my face, “then why did u call it a date in the first place” I felt like in a interrogation rather “because that’s what I call it when a gal and a guy hang out” this wasn’t going right I had to turn the direction “wont u agree in such a situation there is a feeble chance that the two end up liking each other and become a happy couple” finally I saw a smile on her face “ ya there is” she said “ there you go that is what I meant when I called it a date with “feeble” being the key word”. She was smiling and looking down, I was looking at her with a broad smile I knew she would catch the sparkle in my eyes, but I couldn’t help staring at her. “You are very good at words” she said “wow that means I m good at heart that’s where these words came from”. She started laughing now “oh really” , “ ya you don’t believe me ?” ,she was no less than me “that’s not good enough” , “I never said I m only good at heart” , “then what else” “I m not telling you, you must be already thinking I m trying to impress you” “And you are not“ “why will I“ “because you think there is a feeble chance” “what you and me no no you got it all wrong” “then correct me“ “I thought you would know feeble means pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness so I meant our chances are next to impossible” and so on we went.

We talked about a lot of things, place we were from, our school, our college, our friends, what we like, what we dislike etc etc. For the first time some gal told me I m cute and there are gals who admire me. Although it was only after a long time I realized that was her generosity because I was paying the bill. I wasn’t aware of the time all my energy was focused on impressing her. Finally CCD waiter asked us to leave as they were closing down. My luck was on its high and it started raining. We were on bike so we had to delay our departure and we sat on chairs in front of CCD. It was only after the warning from the CCD owner that police would be here soon and we would be in trouble if we are found sitting here, I looked at my watch it was quarter to 2 and we finally set off for our hostel. I dropped her at her place and said “I had a great time” she gave me a smile and turned around. From there I drove my bike as if following a snake trail and singing some song dil ne tumko chun liya hain tum bhi iseko chunonaa. 2:30 am I went to bed with a broad smile still on my face.

But like every other dream this one was also short-lived until I realized that it is not even close to what I was expecting. I never heard from her, she neither replied to my IMs nor did she reply to my SMS. I was not left with courage to call her.

Disclaimer: This is work of fiction. Names, characters, place and incidents are product of author’s imagination or used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organization, or person is entirely coincidental.

Standards!!!!!!

After studying 5 different courses on structural mechanics (The most challenging of all undergraduate civil engineering courses!) I found it amusing that when it comes to actually designing a structure all that structure engineers do is follow Indian standards, Which dictates "the spacing between transverse reinforcement is 8 times nominal diameter of longitudinal reinforcement". By now you must be looking for something interesting on the page. But if I say above is not a fact rather a Metaphor!

I believe we are all structural engineer following standards that exits in our society, region, culture, etc. Our judgments and Inferences are based on very few standards and stereotypes. These standards exits everywhere although they vary from place to place n generations to generations. We bargain with sabjiwalas for 5-10 Rs saying that we value money. We donate same hard earned money to already billionaire temple and consider it an Altruistic act, I guess daan dhram is about helping poor people but the thousands of rupees we donate to these temples either go into ghee diyaa at the temples or in the panditji's account. We consider fasting a religious act but we don’t consider eating three times the capacity at a party as non-religious. We condemn laloo when he utilizes his opportunity n earns wealth, but we are inspired when already billionaire Bill Gates utilizes his opportunity and earns another billion dollars by acquiring a company and displacing thousands of its employees. Ya! Bill Gates owns Microsoft so does laloo, He owns* the largest railway network (*for 5 yeas). And even laloo has improved railways and made life of thousands of people easy. I am not justifying laloo's way of life. But I dont see a reason why he does not deserve to be rich. Afterall Wealth at any point of time is constant and everyone is utilizing his opportunities to get a bigger share of it.

By these examples I m not trying to justify a particular practice or belief. All I want to say is that we all learn and understand so many things but when it comes to actually applying it we follow the standards like any other structural engineer. And the best example of it is you think everything written above is sarcasm.