A system called Human Body

It had been a week since one of my co-workers accidentally cut his finger with a knife while slicing a carrot. We were in the middle of a discussion during evening tea break when everyone observed his finger. It was heeling by itself magnificently.

"Who on earth has instructed this finger to heel all by itself?", he remarked.

"Yes, very true! And we software engineers boast ourselves as being good programmers of complex systems!", everyone agreed.

No system can be as complex and as efficient as the human body. Each component functions independently without  his master's notice. It doesn't need notification of any sort. All parts integrated so perfectly well that they operate very proactively and each part (considering the smallest unit: cell) is highly responsible and very accountable. And we find it very painful to maintain a computer application integrated with two or more sub-systems.

Who sends hunger signals to the brain on time when the stomach is in need of food and it is yet to release energy for the body. The brain in turn signals our senses. What's the communication entity? What data is encoded in these signals? How does this signal know its start & destination address? God knows man. All we know is to satisfy our taste buds accounting some nutritional facts here and there. The human digestive system takes care of generating proteins, minerals, vitamins and sending them to appropriate places of the body.  What's more, the system advances itself by growth. Yet, till today, we can't handle connection failuires over the network.

Consider a simple example which occurs in our day to day lives. I have lost my keys and I am trying to recollect all the things related to it. Now, see what my mind does. It will start back tracking according to the said order; chronological order or reverse chronological order, not to forget, with audio visual images giving me precise location, people related to it considering every minute detail. Memory being bigger than any computer database, all processing of this kind is happening within a quarter of a second! We struggle to write a back tracking algorithm for a "computer program" having simple data structures. Now considering time and space complexity is another headache!

When I lift my arm, what command is issued from the brain so that it is my right arm with palm stretched and all the fingers aligned straight and I wave it to slap your face? The interprocess communication is really fantastic. Nobody knows correctly. To create such a system, in fact system of systems, which is so perfect & highly complex, there has to be the great almighty to whom all of us owe our lives.

If there is a study in modern science about mapping of systems in the human body to the programs of computer systems, then man would start building flawless systems. Its very difficult to find exact mapping or associating a part of human body to that of computers, but its possible to get fair amount of idea to give birth to an entirely new breed of computer systems.

The Last Minute

I found myself in front of the examination hall. My friends, students wandered everywhere. They were filled with anxiety. And I was even more anxious; I couldn't remember a thing, my mind seemed completely lost.

The exam finally commenced. When I held out the question paper in my hand, I couldn't read it; some text appeared before my eyes. It was something related to engineering. I couldn't read it though. In the back of my mind, I knew something is wrong. I derived that I couldn't answer a thing. I was dominated by fear because I never fail in exams! But, this time, it was very clear; I am gonna fail!

Suddenly, I observed the supervisor got disappeared from the hall. The hall turned into frenzy. Every student scattered all round the campus in search of answers. I found my friend who knew some answers. We began answering the questions on the stairs of college library. I was glad I was able break the deadlock.

The cops appeared behind us. They chased us, scolded us and made us rush back to the examination hall. It was all happening. This time, there was no chance of cheating. Failure was near. I was not ready to accept it anyways. I folded my arms on the desk and rested my forehead on them. It was haunting me: "You are going to fail, there is no escape from it now!". Time was running out.

I started hearing a voice. I recognized that voice. It was calling my name. It was someone I knew; a dear one. My name was being called again & again. My body was shaken many times. I opened my eyes.

It was my sister. "Wake up! You are getting late for work". She was uncomfortable seeing me; I was shocked and feeling relieved at the same time. I looked around the room, I made sure it is real.

"Thanks a lot!", I said being grateful to her.

"Another exam in a bad dream?", she guessed.

"Yes! A nightmare. I hate early morning dreams."

"You failed, didn't you?"

"Almost!"

"I am very glad I didn't take up engineering!"

"I bet you are right!"

Have you any dreams?

Everyone has dreams; desire to become "the" person, aspirations to accomplish things. But how many will chase that dream to make a reality? 

Always have a dream - a big one! It will refrain you from losing the right direction. You start thinking accordingly to achieve it. Its not at all easy to run behind a dream, it will test your patience and your  perseverance.

Some catalysts may occur. You might get influenced by people's thoughts and they might pursue you to change your mind. Or people are wicked enough to alter your path. Be clever to identify such things. Bear in mind - "You are what you are in this world and no one's gonna make a damn about you!" Get inspired instead of getting influenced! If people think you as an idiot, they are not minding their own business, but you stick to the plan.

"I failed in lot of subjects during my studies, but my friends passed. They are employees of Microsoft. I am the owner of it!" - Bill Gates

Achieving goals & objectives is a very painful task. Its not a freeway. But, once your are sure you have achieved it, you will definitely know that its because of the painful efforts you have put in or painful situations you went through in the past. You will cherish those moments once you are experiencing the joy of being successful. Hard work will certainly pay off. You will prove every one wrong who has thought about you otherwise.

"Failure is everything that success never teaches you."

Sometimes, you will be going through unbearable pain despite your efforts; the dark days, the lonely and sleepless nights, the times when you think "Damn! Nothing is going right with me!" Then, stay calm - don't panic. Think that your destiny is being tested. Just don't give up! If you are working hard, work harder! Try to figure a way out of the mess. Be sure there will be fruitful results in the near future. And you will say "Pain? bring it on!"

"Be what you wanna be... taking things the way they come..." - Bacardi

What have you done about it?

A wall post on Facebook: "Hazare starts a 'fast unto death' to exert pressure on the government of India to fight against corruption!" Within a day - 15 people like this. View all 5 comments.

One comment reads: "He is a great soul. This country needs many men like him."

The point is - What have you really done about this situation? You think posting such things on the wall will make you really cool, sound awesome and make you a cool dude or a super cool dame isn't it? Some people think that you are up to the mark or you are the master of current affairs of this country.

Let me be very honest and frank here. Posting such status on Facebook, Orkut or Twitter might make you famous. But, do you really understand the gravity of the situation? Or have you really been through fasting for some days? Trust me; your balls will drop off! Okay, I agree you will be having innumerable reasons for not going through. At least try to contribute something, however trivial it may be, for the betterment of the society. Post your ideas on how to save society from evils like corruption. Create awareness such that people will start considering your point and make some impact.

Let’s not forget the fact that if Facebook is made a country, it is third most populous nation in the world. Your words will reach across the country. But NO! All you want to do is register maximum number of likes, comments, etc. Can't you see, the nation is bleeding with scams! And you are just making fun of it!

The bottom line is plain and simple. If you are posting just the facts on the political situation, then go find a place somewhere else other than Facebook, Orkut, Twitter or any other social network. You are misleading the younger generation which is growing behind you. Instead post something that is helpful or useful to the state. Be constructive! Think about solving social issues or problems.

If you think I am blaming you, fine then, I can't help it. At least I don't post something which I don't have knowledge about it or I cannot do anything about it.

Please upload your resume

Sunday, 11:30 PM. It was a rainy night and I was waiting for the bus to arrive from Belgaum. The bus was supposed to arrive at Hubli by 11:00 PM, load its passengers and take off to Bangalore. I was already losing my patience as I had a huge luggage with me and I was completely drenched by rain. The bus finally arrived. I took a note of my seat number, placed my luggage above my seat and I settled down.

I found that I had a co-passenger beside me. A dark thin fellow wearing specs took a moment to have a glance at me and then looked outside through the glass window. The bus finally commenced its journey at 11:45 PM. Fifteen minutes later, we had an interesting conversation.

"Bangalore?", he asked.

"Yes, you?", I responded.

"Me too. Software Engineer?"

"Yes, you too?"

"No, I am a District Officer..."

I thought for one moment that he is a high profile government official. But, he looked quite young to hold this position.

"... of ABC Cements.", he completed.

Ahaa! he proved me wrong!

"Very nice. Pleased to meet you. And my brother works for XYZ Cements.", I said.

"You know ABC Cements is very popular as compared to XYZ Cements. XYZ Cements is quite new and lacks quality."

"I don't agree. You cannot say that. You might be knowing, XYZ Cements is one of the tough competitors of ABC Cements. Although it may not be as popular as ABC Cements, its popularity has grown rapidly in recent years."

He took a step forward and started explaining what ABC Cements is doing to fight for being the best cement manufacturer across the country. And why should people work for ABC Cements. And slowly he began to project himself as superman of ABC Cements. "I am doing this... I am in charge of many units...blah blah blah", etc, etc, etc. To all these things, my replies were "Good, good!", "Oh, that's nice!", "Cool!", "You are doing a great job!", etc. This went on for 15 minutes.

"Now then, why don't ask your brother join ABC Cements, I'll take care of him. Here's my card.", he said. Obviously, his phone number, e-mail address and company's website were mentioned in it. "I am not sure whether my brother is looking for a change now, it seems that he is quite happy with what he is doing. But, yes, if he changes his mind, I will ask him to send his resume to you." I said.

"No, no, no! Don't take the trouble of sending his resume to me, just ask him to upload the resume in our company's website.", he responded spontaneously. I was completely taken aback and baffled by this reply. How could he ask me to upload a resume in his company's website when he is acting as a direct reference to me. I would have sent the resume to this guy. Moreover companies will be more considerate if an employee recommends a potential candidate directly, as it may cut down few steps of their standard procedure. I did not show any surprises and I calmed myself down quickly.

"By the way, I also have a younger brother", he said.

"Oh, I see!"

"He graduated last year"

"Hmm, that's good!"

"He is in search of a job now. Please give me your business card."

"Cool! Here you go."

"Are there any openings in your company?"

"Oh, yes! There are many open positions. I am one of the interviewers."

"Fine then, I will ask him to send his resume to you."

"No, no, no! Don't take the trouble of sending his resume to me, just ask him to upload the resume in our company's website. Its mentioned on my business card", I responded instantly, without a second thought!

Rest of the night was spent without a word between us! I reached Bangalore with a smile on my face.

This short story based on the experience of my co-worker.