CHAPTER 4: PROFOUND SELF-CONFIDENCE
The Professor’s Challenge
Ever since he was a toddler, Anand had been making things in his father’s woodshop and over the years had developed some impressive skills with hand tools. Now that he was 12, Dad was introducing him to power tools and letting him complete small projects on his own, such as wooden toys for his little sister Meenakshi. §
Dad was a computer engineer at a big corporation, but had learned carpentry as a boy from his father. He was a natural craftsman. By the time he entered college, he had helped Anand’s grandfather build an entire addition to their house over two summers. Having gained a lot of confidence by mastering this skill, he wanted to pass on that skill and confidence to his son. “This will help him, whatever profession he follows,” Dad thought, “just as it helped me.”§
“Anand, let’s build a rocking horse for Meenakshi. This is a more advanced project that will give you experience with some new tools.”§
“Like the wood train you made for me when I was her age? That was so much fun! So, what do we cut first? Here’s a nice board!”§
“Not so fast. Every project starts with a plan, right?”§
“Yes, Dad, like you always say, ‘First we build it in our head, then we build it for real.’ I’ll google ‘rocking horse plans.’ ”§
Within minutes they had found several free plans on the Web for rocking horses and printed one out. After making a few adjustments to the design, they created a list of the needed pieces and started selecting materials.§
Meenakshi got wind of their project, which was a secret, and burst into the workshop when the rocking horse was half finished. “Where is it? Where is it?”§
“Meenakshi, this was supposed to be a surprise for your birthday!” Anand groaned.§
“That’s OK, I won’t tell anyone, so it can still be a surprise. I want the legs to be brown, the saddle pink and sequins everywhere!” §
Anand was silenced—both by her five-year-old logic on secrets and her request to put sequins on the horse. He looked at her and surrendered, “Sure, can do, whatever my little sis wants.”§
Dad showed her a rocking horse in a picture book he had on Indus Valley, the ancient civilization in northwest India. “You see this? Some child 5,000 years ago played with this little rocking horse that looks a lot like yours.” Meenakshi loved the birthday present her father and brother made. §
“See, Anand, how much joy and happiness can come from a simple project?” §
“Yes, Dad, I’ve never seen Meenakshi so pleased with anything.”§
From then on, the projects got more complicated, and Anand became more skilled. Father and son rebuilt the shrine room, made cabinets for Meenakshi’s bedroom and a new dining table for Mom. By the time Anand turned 18, Dad confided in Mom, “You know, he’s a better carpenter than I am in many respects. He has learned the right way and has no bad work habits.”§
Having done well in high school, Anand gained admittance to UCLA, which had one of the best architecture departments in the country. That was his chosen major. The family’s budget was tight, so Anand moved into cheap housing near the campus with several other architectural students. The house was in disrepair. One of Anand’s housemates, Jack, complained that the door to his room didn’t close properly. “Will the landlord fix that?” he wondered aloud to no one in particular.§
“Why don’t you fix it yourself?” asked Anand, “It’s just loose hinge screws.”§
“How?”§
“Don’t you know basic carpentry? You just take the screw out, pound in some thin slivers of wood, add some glue and put the screw back. Presto, the hinge is tight and the door closes again! What kind of architect are you going to be?”§
“Hey, I’m good with computers, and someone else is going to build what I design. It’s not like I’m going to be swinging a hammer!”§
“It might be good if you knew how. In this economy better to be a carpenter with a job than an unemployed architect!” Both laughed.§
Soon he and Jack got to be good friends. Jack would visit the temple in Malibu with him on weekends and sit in meditation after the puja. The temple’s peaceful atmosphere calmed them down after a demanding week at school.§
As freshmen, they enrolled in Architecture 101. The professor had a down-to-earth approach. Indeed, he expected his students to know how things are made and what they are made of!§
In the second class, he set out samples of eight kinds of wood and asked if anyone wanted to try to identify all eight. Anand alone raised his hand. He walked up to the table, glanced at the pieces, smelled a few and rattled off the names: “Oak, pine, douglas fir, walnut, balsa, cedar, ebony (expensive), and Hawaiian koa (equally pricey).”§
The professor smiled, “Impressive! Only once before has someone gotten all eight, especially the koa, which is rare.”§
“Now,” the professor continued, “pay attention, all of you! The best form of learning is based on practical lessons. Your assignment for this week is to make a one-foot cube using balsa wood sticks glued together. It may not use any metal braces. You will be graded on how much weight the cube can hold before collapsing. Pair up with another student and use your creative skills to design the strongest cube you can. The record in my courses is 225 pounds. Break it and you get extra credit for the project. You have one week.”§
Anand and Jack discussed the project during break time. Jack was puzzled. “Whoa, what is this? We’re making something physical? I thought we would doing exercises on the computer!”§
“I’m glad it’s something real,” Anand answered confidently. “You think the buildings you are going to design aren’t going to be real in the end? Sure, they need to look pretty, but even more so they need to be strong and withstand things like earthquakes. This is California, after all! I like the assignment. We’re going to beat that record and get ourselves extra credit.”§
“You’re pretty cocky. What makes you think it’s so simple?”§
“It isn’t simple, but it also isn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever had to build. My Dad taught me carpentry, so I’ve had a lot of experience in this area. Before we touch a stick, let’s make a plan.”§
“I already googled ‘balsa wood cube plans’ and got nothing.”§
“You what? Why would you think anyone would have made a plan for a balsa wood cube?”§
“Joke, dude; it’s a joke. I didn’t google anything. I know we pretty much have to start from scratch on this.”§
“Not exactly. The problem to me seems closest to a bridge design, where relatively light steel girders are combined in a way that creates a very strong structure. We can apply those concepts to our cube.”§
Meanwhile, the other students had been quickly building flimsy cubes. Some did not even support the course textbook.§
It was midnight before the deadline day when Anand and Jack finished their cube, a forest of posts with cross bracing every which way. Once it was completed, they decided to test it. Anand pressed down on it with his hand to start with. “Seems pretty solid.” §
Jack got a big stack of books and piled it on. “So far, so good.”§
Anand suggested, “Put it on the floor.” Jack set it down, and before he could object, Anand stood on the cube. It supported his entire weight!§
“Wow!” exclaimed Jack, “But you don’t weigh 240 pounds. Let’s take it to the engineering department, where they have those machines that measure the strength of concrete.” Excited at their success so far, they convinced a graduate engineering student to test the cube—in the middle of the night! 250, 370, 4oo. The cube finally broke under the weight of 450 pounds, double the previous record!§
Anand and Jack reported back to the class with a video of their cube in the compression testing machine. The professor was impressed. “You two didn’t take the easy way out and just make a simple cube. No, you did your research and used your brains to make the strongest cube you could. The extra credit I promised is yours, and I’ve got a feeling you will both do well.” §
“Well,” replied Anand, “I have my Dad to thank, who taught me to plan carefully, to work precisely and to love a challenge.”§
