Few days before a regular reader of inspire n ignite asked me to write something related to negative surroundings all around us and how to deal with it. As soon as I read the message an incident from back PhD days came to my mind. I immediately added it to my “To Write” list but got delayed in completing the post. Today, finally with a coffee and enjoying bright weather I completed it. Here it is for you all.
This was my first week at IIT as a PhD student. Things were totally different than I imagined. Usually we think if IITs as heaven, where you wish something that would come in front of you and you don’t need to wait for anything. I thought, I am exposed to the world class education, excellent teachers and most importantly a great supporting stuff. So happily registered and felt proud to own an id card saying that from now on Zahid is a citizen of heaven (IITian).
It don’t took much time for me to come back to the real life and realize where do it stand. After the registration it took a week to see all PhD students to get their advice about professors and then two more weeks to see all professors and ask for their guidance. After two weeks I was allotted a room where I can sit and start working on the research assignments.
The clrack who assigned me the room also told me that there nothing in the room. They usually give a chair, table, fan and a tube light. For computational work I need to go to lab and work there. I was very happy wow being a student I got an independent room in the department huhu and was happily heading towards the door. The Clark shouted, Zahid babu one room is allotted to two researchers and please contact the other researcher before you go to your research room the room.
I tried to contact the senior PhD student who was my roommate too. I could only meet him after two days, because he was in his lab or hostel room, first time I met him he gave me an appointment after two days and he didn’t talked much. I asked about room he told let’s talk about it when you meet me after two days, I am busy now. But he told me that as everybody does mostly computational work they stay in labs and almost never open the research room in their entire PhD. Therefore, Zahid don’t be in hurry you have lots of time here we can talk about it later. I was totally pissed off with the attitude of this guy, who was famous in department for his typical research attitude. He spent good time in IIT and was supposed to finish his PhD in a year or two. Therefore, I was supposed to respect him and his busyness, which he considered that I didn’t do.
As scheduled I met him after two days and he told me that as rooms are on third floor and most of the researchers work in lab these rooms are left unused for years together. He himself went only once and never went their again. He also permitted me to use the room as if its mine alone. I felt that the key to complete PhD in record time is to use this room. I love working when everyone else is not and no one is around. That room was a perfect gift from god to me. I thought no one goes to that floor and I can sit and concentrate and work toward my goals.
I happily took the key and went up to the third floor. I was really surprised to see no one there, not even a single lab too. Its big building and no human presentence for a long, lots of dust, and pigeons’ droppings there could scare anyone. I dared to open my room and I was not surprised to see its looks. A lot of papers everywhere, tables and chairs were not proper and as the window was not closed and I can feel pigeons made their home and would breed many generations there. Neither light nor fan was working, over all the room and floor was totally scary and unfriendly for research. Now I realized why no one goes there for research work and assignments.
I ran to the ground floor to check the sweeper and electrician. I asked sweeper to clean the room and he denied and told that he have lots of other places to clean and the floor turn comes on next Tuesday and institute electrician told me that he will come on the same day. I waited for a week to get the room cleaned. After a week I approached them, sweeper told me someone died in his family a week before and he cannot work for next one week though he come to office. Therefore, I have to wait for till next month. With anger I went to electrician and he shown dependency on sweeper and told me sahib (sir) let him clean first then I will for sure repair the fixtures. I ran around them for two weeks without any results.
I was on a morning jog and was thinking what is it going on for two weeks? I am just running after two uneducated people and neglecting the research. Then I decided to do something with that. After the jog I took shower and then went to breakfast. After that went to department and checked those two guys and again there was a same statement and no progress with the work. At 11AM I got an idea and I went with that.
I took my bicycle and moved out to city, which is just outside the gate. Looked for a labor (construction ones), as it was 11 AM there were few standing who didn’t get a job on that day. I asked one to clean the room and whole floor, he agreed and I told he him that I will pay the whole day wage even if he finish early. I bought him a broomstick and took him to department. Shown him the place and left him there during lunch time. After lunch and pray went to an electric shop bought a tube light with frame and asked the shop owner if he can arrange for an electrician. He called the electrician and he was ready in 5 minutes. When I reached the department the whole floor was clean and the labor was waiting for me. I paid him and gave Rs 5/- extra and asked him to take the crap with him and dispose somewhere. He was too happy. And after that electrician did his job in an hour and the room and whole floor was ready to be used.
It was sensation in department and every professor was surprised and told why did I do that? when we have personals for that. That was remembered for a long and I think my beloved professor will tell it to many students.
After two years and nine months I printed and submitted my thesis and was very tired and wanted to sit in room where I spend most of my time during IIT days. I started walking on the third floor and looking into memories. I saw many of the rooms where open and most of the PhD students started using their rooms. It was just a great feeling to see how things changed in couple of years.
I just wanted to share with you all the there is a lot to see ahead in life rather than just running around some personal and procedures and get annoyed and stop working. Just open your mind a little and think in a positive direction without harming anyone you feel happy and leave your mark wherever you go. It already became a very big post, and I will stop before you all run after me for taking so much of your time. Have a nice and time and stay positive you will be happy.
Please don’t hesitate to share your stories where you came over negatives in your surrounding and reached your goals and targets. Hope your story will help many others and inspire one too.
Thank you for posting this. Even this same scenario happening for me too
That,s really a great post sir!
very nice sir !
assalamu alaikum.well zahid bhayya your post was good.i have a great trouble which i think you could help me solve.iam now engineering first year student.in my 18 years i went through many phases,lots of turbulence and i have narrowly missed my so-called goals owing to the fact that i cant remain steadfast with a particular work.would you please suggest me something to overcome this trouble.iam seriously alarmed because for the past 3 years i have been changing priorities at breakneck speed.please do reply.JAZAKALLAH
“salam walekum” Zahid bhai..
you are doing a great job.i feel positive and more confident after going through your website.
but i have a problem.please help me out if you can…
the problem is that after some time my motivation goes in air(i feel happy and motivated when i read,but the problem is that i m unable to read continuesli )
please “BAde Bhai” give some advice from your personal experience how can i read for hours?????\
i m preparing for GATE 2013….
and thanks for hosting such a great website and thanks in advance for understanding my problem..
i m waiting for your precious answer…
sir, it is awsm!!! 🙂
SIR AWESOME 🙂
thank u sir:)
super sir. ur article really impressed me. thanks alot. will never forget ur words sir. thanks again
Really impressed with the attitude
Our admiration for u keeps increasing sir:)
really encouraging post…..
thanx a lot for sharing…. 🙂
zahid boss..hats off 2 u…seriously blaming situations around is easy…there is very beautiful line my mummy usually say to me..””you will fine 1000’s of reason not to do a particular work,,u just need a single reason to complete that work.””..soo thank you 4 sharing dis with us…
very nice post Zahid sir. Every reader will get a positive thought on reading this… no doubt.
excellent post. very heart warming.
realy inspiring
it must have made you very proud sir… 🙂
as u was always a hard work u achieve what u hv due to ur atitute and total determination ……..i would to inculcate this in myself …………very inspiring really
Zahidbhai always remind us of the fact that
Though the battle is lost, a war is still to be won
Zahid sir , u was right , i will take care of that. During my previous post , i was frustrated. Thank you and those who rad my views and supported me.
again i am repeating , that having a gate or net score doesnt mean that u r meant for m.tech.
Before making a decision , explore urself first , bcoz ur decision doesnt effect only you , but effects the nation too…
This is not a game pals…….. n dont be like copycat……..
n if u have some innovative thinking for nation’s interest , then go for m.tech at any cost….
for personal guidance related to gate score … u can call anytime …. it would be a pleasure for me.
Aman Sehgal ( 9873831400 )
great post sir…
Thats great work, But i never thought even IITs are like that…. Its horrible these days, Sometimes I think Does Scientists in India work properly and do they get proper encouragement from Indian Government as most of the things and research works are bought from Foreign countries itself………
thank you sir……….
excellent post sir.
i like it motivated story. i feel that any type enviroment can not stop us if we have good thinking to do the work. There is not heaven in the world. you can make heaven any place with your well working style , attitude and hard work. your working style was different than other. so you got success there.
itz really inspiring, thanks a lot 🙂
too good sir! u deserve to be the best.
awesome sir!!!it will inspire all the readers.
Sir I must say that you are simply superb! Your posts does inspire and ignite us a lot… Thank you for your great work, it would have been really difficult for me to randomly search for colleges, having absolutely NO ONE to guide me through this! You made it a lot easier and orderly. I got a little annoyed when you did not reply to my query, but after reading one of your posts i understood that its impossible for you to reply to everyones’ questions…I was late in following your posts, but i read them everyday since.. Thank you once again sir…God bless you…
Anu
Great work Zahid sir
Good one bro, its best to learn from somebody’s personal experience. 🙂
yeah its a nice deal against ur surrounding. its all depend on ur think n ur positiveness. mostly we think tht abt result and people “what will they say?” but here u do not need to think abt result just do ur work n leave all on god…he never do it wrong against any person just we cant see tht which gud thing happnd in tht.
its an excellent post… Many of the readers wil inspire to develop positive thinking… Great post sir..
very inspiring.
Simply awesome!!
NICE POST SIR…………
very enduring and thought provoking…appreciate the time you spent on the post..superb message..glad to have good samaritans around..will definitely try to contribute something to the country in an apsect we bourgeoise seldom ponder on….
thanks a lot sir for ur post…
I had always been positive towards all my problems. but this time things hd been worse, i am nt able to concentrate n my work. It seems as if evryone z creating a barrier around me to stop me to proceed ahead.
Realy thanks to your statements, it had given me a zeal to start up my things once again.
superb sir .all that we have to learn from history is this.(i.e problems and sufferings are not permenant).even i am surrounded by many negatives as my gate result ended as a gerat disaster(3167 rank which i never even expected in my dreams)……….
but now i would like to share something with all friends.this is a word said to me by one of my lecturers in my intermediate “THE WORLD IS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO WORK CONSISTENTLY EVEN AFTER THE FAILURE BUT NOT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO WIN”.
thanks…….
That was so natural and inspiring………..
U have lots of fans of ur work & point of views & certanly I am among those
@aman
i totally agree with u bro….
Thanks zahid Brother..PLZ WRITE MORE ON PHD..
!)what are rules to join in IIt for p.h.d?
2)means 10,12,B.tech,M.tech must percentage ,or only THEY WILL SEE
ONLY M.tech percentage/or gate percentile (How much)..?
3)when will be the notifications and what is the process of phd in iit.
4)what in phd…means what we have to do ..is it completely different from M.tech….
PLZ PLZ PLZ ………
from Average student…
Sir at the final year i appeared for GATE and have a very unsatisfying score like 20 despite of hardships, external coachings and notes.
This year i am going to have a drop after graduation and once again stand up.
But really i feel some negativity because all my friends approaching jobs unlike me.
I feel a bit confused the stream i am going to choose after passing GATE.
Sir my kind request to you to please start the [b] question and answer section [/b] that we have previously discussed off.
Dear Zahid sir…This is a nice post from you.
We should make the negatives around us to positives and thus can make our world a bit more beautiful.
Sir, I would like to share a few thoughts with you. We tech’ies are seeing only great things around us. But think, India is a developing country. Majority of people are living below poverty line. A lot of people are there who are pushed away from the main stream of the society. I think its too late for us to think of them, do something for them. Think their NEGATIVES are with them from the time of their birth onwards. They can’t simply convert them into positives, right?
So, shall we do something for them? Sir, if you get time, please think on this issue and spread this message through your posts.
I congratulate you for your great work…helping the students in achieving their goal. May GOD bless you for this.
Really Inspiring Zahid Bhai.
really awesome
🙂
sure you have lots of positive energy zahid..it reflects in all your posts ..keep it up ,may good god bless you,all the best
Appreciate you doing things that others will take benefit from….
Nice post!
great work!
nice post……..i have learned many things from this post..u are great sir
Too Good..thanks for inspiring us !!
THIS IS THE REALITY AND I APPRECIATE THAT……..
FIRST OF ALL ….. I WOULD LIKE TO SAY … IN OTHER WORDS ITS MY REQUEST TO ALL INDIANS …
WHY WE INDIANS ARE SO BLIND……..? AND ARE LIKE COPYCAT…………… I NEED A DISCUSSION ON THIS TOPIC………
INDIA SPENDS ONLY 1% OF ITS GDP ON R&D ….. AS COMPARED WITH CHINA IT SPENDS 60% GDP ON R&D……
AND TODAY ALL MARKET OF ELECTRONIC , ELECTRICAL , MECHANICAL AND IT IS IN HANDS OF CHINA.
THIS IS A REQUEST TO ALL M.TECH SEEKERS , TAKE ADMISSION ONLY WHEN U WANT TO DO SOMETHING FOR UR COUNTRY……….
I HAVE SEEN THAT MANY M.TECH SEEKERS ARE TAKING ADMISSION ONLY FOR FUN N TIMEPASS..
PLEASE DONT DO THAT……………………….. IF U R NOT INTRESTED IN ANY RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT , PLZ GIVE CHANCE TO THOSE WHO R INTRESTED……..
PLZ … THINK …. NOW ITS HIGH TIME ………… ALSO I NEED SUPPORT AND VIEWS ON THIS TOPIC………
ONE THING MORE …. M.TECH IS DIFFERENT FROM MBA …….. NOT TO GET ONLY HIGH PACKAGES…..
M.TECH IS TO SERVE THE COUNTRY AND SOCIETY ……… IF U HAVE THE CALIBER DO IT ,,.. OTHERWISE LEAVE GIVE CHANCE TO OTHERS.
Aman: I totally agree with you. We invest lots of our GDP in worthless things. Mostly in the areas where there is a great scope for politicians to make money. Thanks for the input. Aman I have a request to you and all other readers to not use all caps for comments, because in open forums where we can not see a person we read his writing and all cap shows anger, frustration and annoying nature. You are an awesome guy and your ideas are really great and should be appropriated.
Thanks you so much for such a nice thought.
Wow its really inspiring sir….
thanks a lot sir ,
i blown away my negativity and feeling so happy ….try to do all nice things that i wish to do ..
today i am feeling very low…and ur site is the first that i opened….and amazing thing is that today u have posted such a nice post…..
i have regained my positivity now….and feeling like..”i can do everything that i want” and i don’t need to worry about my surroundings that disturbs me a lot…
thanks for such a nice post sir….
Good words from GENIOUS MAN—