Some of My Mentors in Professional Life

islamabadikurri:

Thank you for your kind feelings. More often than not, my thoughts and ideas are contrary to the prevalent traditional views and some people get offended. My intention, however, is never to hurt anybody`s feelings. A person has every right to disagree with me but needs not feel hurt by differing thoughts. I support freethought and open minds. Thanks again for your kind feelings.

Dear Gill Sahib,

Its always a pleasure to read your articles. I don`t know what draws me to them as I`m not an engineer...but my dad surely is! That is why I was pleasantly surprised to know that you, too, studied from UET, Lhr, and are an immigrant.

Hope to keep hearing from you!

Thanks.

ZJ! I am doing OK and proceeding ahead (although slowly than I expected). Thanks for the concern and comments. Your pieces of advice have always been very helpful for me. All seniors should be like you. :bigthumb wala icon here:
Charlie

Charlie: Howdy. Hope you are doing well and proceeding ahead. I agree with your observation on ``earth shaking``. I think the most important factor is that you are able to relate to a competent person who has more exposure and experience than you in your field. This is the best part of being in a professional life. It excites the mentor to find an enthusiastic and innovative soul whereas it provides immense contentment to the mentee for being able to share his or her vision, goal, objective(be it research or a mission critical and high visibility project). Last but not least, I may consider someone as a mentor deep down inside, but the other person may treat me as an equal and a professional colleague. It does not have to be a formal relationship.

One of my good friends who works for the US Army always commented that whenever she had to learn something new or rise up the ladder, nature introduced her to the right individuals. Being an EE & Software Engineering major, she has done pretty well by making the appropriate strides.

Take Care.



Freethinker:

Point Taken.

friend:

Thanks for your input. Wishing you well,

Mohammad Gill

Gill Saheb,
It was in interesting read. I am not a civil engineer myself, but was fortunate to be part of that great institution at Roorkee. BTW, Mr. Gerald Lacey was first Research Officer of IRI Roorkee (in I think 1930s). Thomson College of Engineering was established much earlier, I believe in 1846 and (Mr? or Brig?) Cautley was its first principal - if memory serves me right.

ZahraJ:

I’m sorry if the impression was created that I removed the cushion from beneat the pedestal, as you put it. Charlie and ahmedmadani have also commented on it. It was not intended like that. This is an important way in which science differs from other disciplines. It constantly evolves and improves itself. I had included these three gentlemen who were active in my own field of interest because they impressed me most in ordinary human way. Their contributions were quite significant but there were others too.

I had mentioned Bagnold in my article; he could have been a great source of inspiration and he probably was to some extent. Others included Hans Einstein (exchanged only one letter with him), J.F. Kennedy (I gave his lecture course at Iowa Hydraulic Research Institute when he was away on sabbatical in Europe), Hunter Rouse (met him briefly a couple of times), Vanoni, etc., who dominated the field. I had said only in this frame of reference that their contributions were not “earth shaking” although important in their own right.

In spite of the above, those three were the ones who inspired me more than others. I still cherish them.

Having finished writing this post, I noticed that Charlie and ahmedmadani had also come on board. Ahmedmadani has opened a complete Pandora’s box. I don’t think I can comment on all his questions here. Regarding the alluvial canals, I like to explain (without boring the other readers, I hope) that the sediment stable channels (that I discussed in my article) are the ones that are designed to flow without experiencing excessive bed and banks erosion, and deposition of sediments. Such a balance is considered over a cycle of several years. This is a very complex problem because the sediment content in the river water that feeds the canals is never constant; it varies from day to day, week to week and season to season.

Mohammad Gill

Thanks Mr. Mo. Gill for the article.
I very much like idea of mentorship. To be mentor one does not need to be great thinker but one should have great depth in what one does. Also feel it is our duty to impart if all we have gained to one`s colleague, student or coworker. Even not so famous people can impart knowledge (not information) at end at least. I have worked in Hospitality business. I came across a carpenter cum construction man from minority Sikh community. He was not smart but his hands were good. Other workers understood but never did right way. While this man took extraordinary time, took long time to percolate things in his brain but once he mastered he will do best as his brain was little lazy but but brain and hand coordination was great. He will to teach young workers to do things right way and those who respected him from his skills learnt lot from him. Many times people want to give many times not good students. I always tried to help and teach juniors and seniors what little I knew and gives satisfaction to see these people doing fine .
I do not understand engineering but have reasonable knowledge about mathematics. Due to that some times help retard engg students if asked for money (tution).
I have used irrigation subject guide to help also people working for BSc, MSc and civil , mech bacsic stuff. So kindly if you feel answer few questions
I have heard Sir GangaRam of Lahore had hand book and he complied knowledge for Canal design and they worked well. Above Gentlemen used that data and ways to develop above formula`s . Any comment?
Are these formulas for steady state flows ?
Sediment transport design for Channels / does not develop on any formulation at least guides do not ( now a days most use guides mostly scientist type-PhD future type use book- it may be surprise to you.)? Are they totally Imperical rules developed or theory behind them ?
How one decides which sediment is cohesive and which is sandy ? are canals in our country carry cohesive or sandy sediments?
Flow assumes uniform distribution of sediments or depth variation and sediment transport amounts related?
Do above laws assume erosion will balanced by deposition?
The soil- sediment are very fine materials and suspended so neither soilid or liquid are there more precise theories for such mixed material flows?
Are these formula`s applicable for river flows ( large areas without much depth)?
Engg guides use hydrolic radius term but never define physical necessisty or significance< any light on this term.
People in engg say put concrete lining to reduce losses? As any concrete will need construction joints water will seep and same as no lining ?
Concrete lining cannot eroded by small speed of wates in secondary canals and always less water means great deposition of silt in canals ?
Will it be better to transport water in large diameter half cut pipes least seepage and no erosion?
Are usa irrigation chanals lined all stages ?
As you work in Sanitary dept in cold weather. It is my feeling the bacterias work on solid waste and break it to least ill type of stuff. But country like usa with snow and cold stops or reduce that decomposition during winter snow times?b are there any problems in winter for this matter. Thanks for article.

Another very interesting Article by Gill Sahib.

I am very much impressed by the whole episode of publishing your paper. Surely, during 60s, in the absence of internet and living in Pakistan and Nigeria, it was not easy to find the state of the art of the subject and to know the previous contribution of what have been already published.

The first thing which came in my mind was that if in today`s world, a person have a genuine sincerity towards knowledge, it is very easy for him to access its resources. As a matter of fact, there is no excuse for not being knowledgable in modern world other than having no interest in it.

Secondly, from my very little experience of research, I feel that it is extremely extremely difficult (and may be luck plays its role also ) to make earth shaking contributions. Mentors don`t need to be earth shakers. They only need to be good and sincere people.

Lastly, I am happy to know that you are an Ex UETian . :)

This link was also very interesting. http://www.paksef.org/civil.htm

Dear Mr. Gill:

Hi. Thank you for sharing an interesting memoir with step-by-step details :)

I was attracted to your article because of its subject. Personally, I strongly believe in the highlighted concept. At first, I decided to comment on the subject only; since, I have immense respect for my own mentors mostly in the Corporate Life. Then, I decided to reserve my comments till I invest some time in reading your article. The effort was definitely worthwhile. I also detected something that I have highlighted later on.

I found your journey quite interesting starting from The Engineering College in Lahore. I can see where you are coming from and where this narrative is headed, but I have to point out a pain point in your last paragraph. In my opinion, it was kind of weird the way you have summarized your memoir at the end. Specially, since you had articulated your brief encounter with the 3 gentlemen in a very precise and succinct manner earlier - I did not see the need to re-iterate the % of their contribution in your life and put them in their right place.

I have issues with two things:

a) Firstly, I think you undermined the capability of your reader to decipher the content of this article.

b) Secondly, your approach seemed like putting the mentors on a pedestal at first and then removing the cushion from underneath. uff, that’s was brutal :)

By the way, it’s written in your fate to run into them and vice versa. I am with you and have the same belief on how the paths cross. It`s not coincidental. That’s why one has to be alert and out there to be able to spot the people, with the right mettle, who can contribute to one’s life.

Hope all is well on your end.

Best Regards,

Zahra

Gill Saab,

This was another piece of good, clear narrative. Some of your pieces, to my mind, fills a nice gap in diasporic writings...currently full of nostalgic, or stand-taking, brand of multi-culti. The earlier wave, when it was still starting out, was about questioning nationalisms and identitiy. Identity still seems to a major issue, but wrestling with the symptons seem to preoccupy the most popular ones.

This narrative of an early immigrant, his crystal clear freethinker`s soul, and the details that you record is a very worthwhile material when someday we celebrate the coming of age of Sub-continental writing. I know some say we have already got the driving license, but it is most notably in fiction.

Thanks for an invigorating read. And, please continue the efforts.

HN

Dear Interactors:

antihypochrist, fnahmad, and temporal:

Thanks for your appreciation.

BeeJay:

Hans Einstein was definitely overshadowed by his father who wanted him to follow in his footsteps. But Hans was interested in his own things and became a civil engineer against his father`s wishes. He apparently was influenced very much by the creativity of his father whom he also influenced in some small ways. Not many people probably know that Albert Einstein wrote a `general` paper on river meanders; it`s not much quoted in technical publications.


Mohammad Gill

Dear Dr. Gill:

An excellent article. Highly inspiring. It is not too often that individuals who have attained a certain level of accomplishments pause and reflect on the course of events that shaped that professional career, and acknowledge the roles of individuals who went before them. Virtually everything is life is temporary, however, objective research and the knowledge that it generates is best able to stand the test of time. I find the account of Hans Einstein very intriguing (about whom I was unaware) that although very accomplished in his own right, he would probably have been overshadowed by the fame of his father. Thanks for this thought-provoking piece.

Muhammed Gill:

…you appreciation of your role models and recollecting here for us evident and admirable…

…by nature you are observant and studious and in no small way this tribute is a reflection of the kind of person your parents brought up…

…are you a calming influence in real life too?

rgds

t

This article is lot encouraging and clearly shows ‘where there is a will there is a way’ and also that there are still a lot of good people in this world who help others selflessly. Definitely a very good guideline for our rapidly morally degrading, self centered society.

Its a shame that people did not find enough interest in this article to post any responses. It shows with what things people of the subcontinent are preoccupied. Anyways, your experiences, your pursuits are inspiring, Sir.