It all started a week after we rang in the New Year, a series of articles on Jan 6th and 7th, 2016 mentioning high end cars now being available at throw away prices.
Like people of Chennai, these cars too were the victims of Chennai floods and insurance Co’s have put them on sale in auctions.
My first reaction was of disbelief and then heart wrenching feeling; many of these cars are deeply adored and admired for their engineering & design world over, yet this state?.
For the uninitiated, these cars are brilliant efforts in engineering, encompassing hundreds of patents, thousands of man hours spanning many a decades, design thinking, ingenuity and sheer passion.
They represent amazing engineering milestones man has achieved in automobile industry and now these were being sold as scrap.
This for me was flushing German engineering in the filth of Koovam River.
In angst, unable to digest this, I sent these article links to my friends and fellow startup buddies, asking for ways and means to salvage them.
Many use cases were talked, from teaching aids for engineering colleges, automobile museum, a conference room in office, car as a bar, to shacks for homeless, etc
One common response I received endorsing my idea was that of engineering colleges and students getting hands on skills working on these cars, the real engineering…:)
Let them learn what goes inside these beauties, how are they built, how do they connect, why this type of design, why are these buttons positioned this way, how did these cars win the hearts of so many admirers, What were the break through innovations for these cars? From Mechanical engineering to design to cognitive intelligence to brand marketing, they had so many aspects to learn, there was a lesson for all from just one high end car.
One thing was way too obvious for us: most of the colleges or students wouldn’t get a chance to explore these cars if they were running fine.
This was an opportunity on a platter knocking on their doors to understand, appreciate, create (if they can) something new.
Post these thoughts, I was blinded by hope that someone somewhere would think of these cars and change the way they learn engineering, but alas my suspicion came true and it’s the scrap dealers who were making a heist of it.
My pain compounded further, why didn’t these institutions and students see this opportunity?
Was our thoughts like vitamins for them, were they just blind folded like horses not being able to steer away from the syllabus pains?
But isn’t this the real engineering? Isn’t this a great avenue learn to be an engineer and not just be a certificate holder? Doesn’t practical knowledge far exceed theoretical gyan?
Amidst all this, couple of us startups went on to attend PNgrowth, a boot camp for statrtups to be category leaders by Stanford, Duke & iSPIRT (A pay it forward policy think tank of Indian startup ecosystem).
A few days later we went on to attend the StartUp India event launched by our Prime minister, where he unveiled a slew of new policies to endorse and recognize startups and help build the next wave of engines for innovation & job creation.
With euphoria and renewed vigor we came back charged up to pursue our vision, but a common cry came up from peers during these meet up was that of getting quality talent.
Such is our talent crunch pain, that most of us startups grapple seeking Doers and not Degree holders, while the market is filled with the later.
As we got back to our daily grinds, what remains with me still is this pain, why are we still stuck in this “in the box” attitude ?, why are we unaware and unwilling to break the norm, question them? , why aren’t we seeking value in knowledge rather going by just texts?
When will we go from a degree being used to get a job to pursuing a passionate subject and being a master at it?
The pain further forced me to pour this out in the form of a post, unwilling to give up.
Here I am steadfastly believing that our system will change, making us a knowledge nation, a product nation and a greatly valued nation.
“As I cry in pain and wither in vain, I dream of India, one which is mine,
as I cry in pain and wither in vain, I promise to build India, one which is mine”.
Ps: For those who still want to work on these high end cars, last heard 2013 Audi Q3 2.0TDI Base being bid for 75K, A Jaguar XF being bid for 21K , oh boy, It does look like an early black Friday sale for someone.
About the author: Founder of a startup, straddling between technology and management, ardent optimist, maker in India, making efforts to enable a product nation.
Image credits: Peter Fristed — CCL
