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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Talking of Technology to my Grandmother

               I visited my grandmother a couple of weeks ago in my hometown Hyderabad in India. She is in her late 70's. I was very happy to see her after approximately a year. She was equally happy to cook yummy food for me :). After we had all the yummies (actually I had most of it :D) we sat down for an absorbing afternoon conversation that stretched itself into late in the evening. I am quiet sure you are wondering as to what  such a conversation offers to future engineers. But it did turn out to be an interesting conversation that got me to realize two very important lessons.
              My grandmother decided to stay alone since my grandfather passed away a few years ago. My parents visit her every now and then to see how things are with her. Given that she stays alone I asked her what her favorite pass time was. I thought she would say "I watch religious shows on TV" or something like" I am on a knitting spree" or even beyond" I plan a tour to temples" which probably are the most common answers one would hear from an Indian grandmother. But to my surprise she is really busy on a huge project. She is working on compiling the work of many ancient scientists, philosophers and religious heads unknown to the world. Are you wondering if she is even educated? She is a post graduate and a poet. So now with all her experience and expertise she is working very strongly towards her goal.
               I got inquisitive about what information she gathered so far. She has been extensively reading for the past several months. She started off with explaining how sages (Rishis) left family and friends and lived in seclusion in forests while working on great scriptures. (At this point I actually felt, well though we might not refer to scientists as sages any longer, that is almost true with great scientists who spend countless hours on research!). Then she told me about how ancient Indian sages envisioned   communication between people staying far off without the use of a gadget. They (and my grandmother while explaining to me) were referring to wireless communication. She told me how ancient sages also thought of a devise that would help human beings watch what was happening a different place in small box like gadget. She was referring to a TV!!! She also talked of some mathematicians how figured out some interesting theories through (what she calls) "meditation". Well, research is all about focus and concentration and that is exactly what meditation is. So I would love to go with the word meditation in place of research :).
                Then came the interesting question after an extravagant explanation of great work in ancient times. She asked me what I was working on! I told her that I work with sensors that communicate wirelessly. She asked me to explain. Then I had to translate it to her to fit her understanding. I reminded her that we humans have panchendriyas i.e 5 senses namely vision, touch, smell, taste and audio. Those devises that artificially sense the environment in one or more perspectives of the panchendriyas are what we call sensors. Then she asked me a couple of questions on cellular technology which came down to electromagnetic theory. I saw her get excited. She said some of these ideas had already been in thought in ancient India.
               The important lessons that I learned from conversing with her are
1. If only we knew the language of the great scientists, ancient science and math is like a gold mine. The more we dig into it the more we learn.   Sometimes this saves a lot of effort. We don't have to rethink what has already been thought of!! This is not just about a quick literature review of a field for the last 20 years. Its more about going back a few centuries. Whatever be the place we come from, we all have ancestors and going back to our roots surely helps us go forward! Because after all if we neglect history, history keeps repeating!!!
2.While I am "researching", I tend to loose an important connection with nature. When I had to use the word panchendriya, it suddenly occurred to me that nature is smarter than we are. Merely imitating the mother "nature" to automate natural processes helps create wonders!!!
               As future engineers we are all definitely excited to fast forward into the future. The best way to get into an automated super fast future is to not only use our natural instincts and intelligence of this age but also make a beautiful re-connection with the past.