Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday photo...
There are days when I just feel like slacking off a bit and just go through the motion at work... sometimes out of extreme exhaustion, sometimes out of comatose work-related inspiration... most of the time, out of frustration - a precipitate of mediocre and poorly-functioning outdated work systems (if there were "working" systems at all, that is). When the temptation to slack off creeps in, I close my eyes and pray... and then images of the wonderful learnings I have been so lucky to have experienced over the years and the endearing way by which the faces of my students light up as they learned something new in the classroom or in the lab play like a slide show in my head... and that swats away the temptation to slack off.
In the "slide show" are mentors, who have been good influences in my teaching career... if you could call what I do now as that. One of them is Prof. Syed S. H. Rizvi. If there was anyone who has pushed me to my limits... and a few inches farther from breaking point, it would have to be him (and he alone, actually) - my daunting professor at the Institute of Food Science in Cornell University! At many points, my corner in his lab became a "valley of tears", as I tried to comply to the demands of the Program he's drawn for me, which was extremely TOUGH... but TOPNOTCH! Many times, I was on the verge of giving up, almost believing that, really, there was such a thing as "unconquerable, impossible, insurmountable"... and a PhD Program in an Engineering discipline - in an Ivy League institution - was it, and that I was unworthy to even just step in it, much less worthy to conquer it! But the challenge of overcoming the impossible was so strong - he made it so, too - it kept the fire of courage burning in me. I wanted it - unconquerable though it may seemed! His daring strengthened my resolve.
In the beginning, when he challenged me to a duel of intellectual substance, I cowered... like an unworthy good-for-nothing that I thought I was. He didn't stop. He kept pushing, challenging, taunting, hurting - reducing me to nothingness. I think I have called all saints and angels to come to my aid everytime I stepped into his office for yet another "duel". :) Until, one day, I discovered strengths I never thought I possessed... and they all came out as products of extreme and brutal hardwork and perserverance! He pushed, I found the strength to push back! He reasoned, I found the wisdom to reason back. He challenged, I found the courage to engage him in a fiery discussion of hard science and engineering - and I wasn't the first to blink either! Until one day, from some kind of divine intervention, I won the battle... and he himself handed me the prize! :)
Finally, he accepted me as an "equal", of the same level of capabilities as him - and that is a lot for me. I pushed through the boundaries, and I got through! In many respects, he helped me through, too. And the rest of my time in Cornell was an enjoyable learning and glorious days of fascinating discoveries in the scientific realms. And my little corner in his lab became a reservoir of joyful learning. And that made me finally understand what he once said, "your best mentor is also your worst tormentor." Needless to say, he was both to me! :)
Today, it feels truly wonderful to look back, to have been under his supervision... he, the scientist and engineer - professor par excellence - highly accomplished, but remains focused in maximizing his intellectual gifts, these days, for bringing greater global understanding through science and technology... and I would be extremely happy to try and be able to accomplish a little fraction of what he has accomplished, and still accomplishing to this day. Therefore, maybe it is time to move on and follow that path.
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