Never underestimate anybody......

A renowned engineer once had to travel alone in his car. On the way, he encountered a punctured tyre. He did not have any help nearby. And no mechanical shop in the vicinity. Of course he knew how to change the tyre.... With no help at hand, he started unscrewing the nuts on the punctured wheel and held the 4 nuts in his hand. When he was about to keep them on the ground and start removing the tyre, the nuts rolled down on the slope and fell into the ditch nearby. He did not dare to get down and plunge his hand inside the ditch water to retrieve the nuts. He was perplexed and could not think of any solution. Suddenly he saw a man in tatters approaching him. The engineer thought that if he gave some money, this man would get him the nuts from the ditch. The offer was accepted by the man in rags. However, before he could get on with the job, he gave a pragmatic solution to the engineer. He said that from the other 3 wheels he could take one nut each and fit in the spare tyre where the punctured tyre was removed. And when he reaches a 'spares selling shop', he could get the required 4 nuts and fit them in place. The engineer was surprised by the practical solution offered by the layman.

This (please see the video clipping below) is the 'Z" reversal in Darjeeling railway at a place called Rangtong. The terrain in the mountain presented a difficulty for the engineer who designed the railway line, as the space was not sufficient to have a "U" turn, for the railway line to go up. Seeing her husband scratching his head over this problem, the engineer's wife gave the "off-the-cuff" solution, that is, to take the train up, backwards! Please see the video to understand the solution better. The engineer could not thank his wife enough!

We could come across many such situations where practical and simple solutions are offered by ordinary people (whom we presume as worthless...!) for vexatious problems. This simply means that however much a person is educated or for that matter experienced, there could be situations where a simple solution might elude them. But that simple solution might come from an unexpected person. So, we should never underestimate anybody.

A new model truck was manufactured in a motor vehicles plant. While designing the truck, the designers missed a crucial point. When they were about to take out the truck from the plant, it was noticed that the height of the truck was slightly more than the height of the plant door. Some engineers suggested that the door could be removed and the truck taken out. And some other bright engineers mooted out the idea of reducing the truck height (chiseling off the top portions...) to the extent necessary. The CEO did not agree to any of the ideas. A low-key mechanic suggested off-hand that the air in the tyres could be let out to make them a bit flat so that the truck can pass through the door. It was accepted and the CEO rewarded the mechanic. Brilliant, on-the-spot ideas could come from anybody.

On the contrary, has any of the expert economists predicted the forthcoming economic crises? But they will reel off the reasons for the crisis, after that happens. We need people who can, through their education or experience predict what is about to befall the world. We need such brilliance. Now-a-days, the weather forecast seems to be more or less on the spot. Those days, when the weatherman said, it would rain on a particular day, you could go out without the umbrella, for sure! It would not rain that day. People had such confidence in weather reports of yore.

The younger generation now has better brains than the elders. Their intelligence and analytical ability should be nurtured and guided in such directions to benefit the world.