Yes! I am a Mechanical Engineer...

When you read the title of this article, most of you would get a picture of a man; for a change, I am a woman, not a delicate one. And yes, I am a mechanical engineer, says Sindhu vaddi proudly

The journey of a single girl child of working central government parents from being pampered with all the verities of doll in the market to graduating as a mechanical engineer and then pursuing MBA, that too specialising in sales and distribution, was like a roller coaster ride, with lots of ups and downs, full of surprises, and thrilling at every turn.

And I thank the government for this entire thrill as, this wouldn’t have come to me, if my parents didn’t have the transferable jobs. Well, as a kid, everything was usual in my life, mom and dad pampering me with all the latest trends let it be clothes, food, dolls, and trips.

Till primary schooling, I was just another typical south Indian kid, studious, into painting, singing, dancing, and public speaking with all the support, training and encouragement from parents. But then, things changed when my mom was transferred to a place in northern India, where I would be staying with mom and dad would be at the place where I spent my initial 10 years of my life.

Things were different now, being a dad’s girl, it was quiet difficult to stay miles away from him, but who knew that this was what has made me what I am now. Initial months in this new place was a bit troublesome, as I didn’t know how to communicate in the local language, Hindi and whenever I had to speak, I would speak in English, which made my classmates say “lo angrezan aagai” (here comes the English).

Those taunts compelled me to learn this language, to the extent, where I started writing poems in Hindi, which were published in school magazines by the time I was in high school (i.e. 9th and 10th grades). Staying alone with mom, going to sabzi mandis (vegetable markets) along with mom, getting mom’s bike repaired, taking the list of groceries and house hold items required and going shopping alone on bi-cycle; going for tuitions after school hours, managing studies,

house hold chores, home works etc, not to forget the play time with my neighbors which included chor-police, chupan chupi (hide and seek), gilli danda, dancing in the rain on streets, playing holi (festival of colours) and diwali (festival of lights), carved me into a woman who can take care of herself that I am now.

This was the time, when my dolls and teddy bears were replaced by remote control cars and bikes, books and paints and paint brushes. This was the time, when the librarian of the school used to give me as an example to my classmates for concentration. This was the time, when my first basket ball coach; Khan scolded me for not utilising my physical strength and introducing basket ball to me.

This was the time, when I used to sneak out with my dad’s racket and go to a nearby stadium to practice badminton. This was the time, when I started growing up, not only physically, but also mentally. The rigorous modification period in my life made me my parents’ beta (boy) from a beti (girl). Mean while, dad was transfer to the place we were in.

Now, if there was any activity to be done, let it be shifting heavy objects while re-painting the house, or getting some house hold items from market, or getting gifts for friends and family on various occasions, or repairing the bike or computer, the name that came to the minds of my parents’ and our close family members and friends would be mine.

At that point of time, I used to get irritated and tired of doing others chores, but now, when all those memories came flashing, they bring a smile on my face. Now came another twist in this story. Mom got transferred to another place, this time in southern India, Hyderabad. And once again, mom and I would be living here.

We moved to Hyderabad with lots of enthusiasm, and excitement of meeting new people, learning new things, expanding the circle of acquaintances. The first day of school was awesome, as some of my classmates from my primary schooling were here in my new school. All of a sudden, I was a new girl in school once again. Being a faculty’s daughter, everyone around me made it a good place for me to spend my time.

Similar to two sides of a coin, this new place too, had its other side. In this side, girls and boys wouldn’t speak to each other in my class, if someone spoke with a person of opposite gender, they would be looked upon as if they had committed some crime. One fine day, in a free hour, I happened to visit the basket ball court to practice some shoots; somehow, I happened to get the ball and had few successful baskets out of some shoots, I was the only girls in the court.

After sometime, all the boys were dividing themselves into teams to have a friendly match, so I approached them to let me join a team; all of a sudden, they burst into laughter and said “Ee place abbailki. Ammailki kaadu” (this place belongs to boys, not girls). It was humiliating, I was into tears and I started moving out of the court when I saw our school’s coach.

Therefore, I went running to him to report the issue. His reply was even more shocking, “You are an intelligent girl, and your mother is a teacher here. Put your energy into things girls do, like painting, singing and projects. Don’t waste it here.” This made me run home and sit thinking about it. Then something came to my mind, “Be a Roman in Rome.” So, I decided to be something which I am not.

Three years flew away being what someone else wants me to be. My parents saw what happened to me; therefore, they gave an option to choose regarding graduation. And the passion for disassembling and assembling my toys, repairing bikes, and mechanical engineering showed up. “I want to graduate as a mechanical engineer.” were the words that came. Dad was beaming in pride, mom was confused and my relatives were shocked.

My relatives tried to talk me out of it, but every word of theirs against this decision was in vain. All they could say was that, mechanical engineering would require using a lot of physical energy and it’s a course of study which could be passed only through physical strength and that mechanical engineering is for men. But none of their arguments could change my mind.

Then people were trying to convince my mom to make me change my decision, which they were successful in. Mom made up her mind that she wouldn’t let me do this course, and started giving me few examples where girls couldn’t finish the course and dropped out of college.

I had my own set of arguments, like, “mom, you used to call me beta, and say proudly that my girl can handle anything. What happened to that now? Don’t you think that am capable enough of finishing something I started?” this changed my mom’s argument to, “What kind of work will you do as a mechanical engineer? Repair bikes? What will people call you? A MECHANIC!!” I didn’t have an answer to this.

This was when dad gave examples of the mechanical engineers who work at his plant, a central government firm. He took her on a tour to the plant. This brought her close enough to accepting my decision. And then, my one statement made her support my decision. The statement was “maa, there is no industry where they don’t require a mechanical engineer.

There is lots of demand for this field. And government has passed a rule long ago, which states that every organisation (especially government) must have at least 33.33 per cent of female employees, and how many girls do you think will choose mechanical engineer? How many of those would want to work rather than getting married and sitting at home? And how many of those who want to work would like to work in a government sector?”

This statement was succeeded with a line of actions of mom, dad and me defending my decision of being a mechanical engineer, getting admitted in a good college for the course of mechanical engineering, going through the subjects, study projects and live projects in college on par with my male classmates, being one of the 34 girls out of the total 170 mechanical engineers graduating for my college in the year of 2014.

The period of 4 years for graduation was filled with all the activities I was into before coming to Hyderabad, writing, painting, singing, playing basket ball, badminton, going on trips with friend and family, in short being me. At present, pursuing MBA from a reputed college, again in Hyderabad, when my teachers or batch mates or seniors(previous year) or juniors or recruiters enquire about my graduation field,

I say that am an engineer, a mechanical engineer; most of the time they taken a back and ask me how it has been being the only girl in that field in my college (all because of general perception that girls can’t be mechanical engineers) and I say, “I was not the only girl, we were 34 girls out of 170 mechanical engineering students”. This makes their jaws drop. Then they would say, “hamare yaha tho ladkiya mechanical engineering nahi karti.

Tum tho alag hi ho yaar, mechanical engineer huh!” (Girls from our place don’t do mechanical engineering. You are different, mechanical engineer huh!). To them, I proudly say “yes, am a mechanical engineer.” When our family friends whose kids would be joining colleges soon enquire about the various fields and ask my parents “mee ammai mechanical engineering chesindi kada, emi problem avvaleda?” (Your daughter has pursued mechanical engineering, if am not wrong.

Didn’t she face any problems?). To this my parents reply “Please change this perception that mechanical engineering is for men not for women. Both perform equally well in every filed, let it be medicine, teaching, computer science, rocket science, social service, or mechanical engineering. Our daughter never faced any trouble in the entire four years of mechanical engineering course.”

And they proudly say, “Yes, our daughter is a mechanical engineer.” Now when I recollect the debating phase of choosing a field to graduate in, the argument put forth by me regarding the job opportunities (which is partially correct) seems lame to me. The best argument would have been “my passion lies in mechanical engineering, I want to pursue it.” This would have answered my mom’s doubt.

Another decision making stage regarding the career came in, when I decided to pursue masters of business administration (MBA). Everyone wondered, when I am so passionate about mechanical engineering, why not pursue MTech or MS in mechanical engineering. But this time, there no prolonged debate sessions, as my parents said, “We will support her with this decision.” And we, mom, dad and me, as a team of three can win over anything.

But on choosing sales and distribution as my specialisation, for a change, dad was a bit confused, as this field requires lots of travelling and socialising, which he thinks that would be tiresome for me after a certain age. But still, he said, “nuvvu ide chadavali anukunte, chaduvu, but okati gurtunchuko, oka sari adugu munduki veste, malli venaaki teesko kodadu.

So, alochinchi decision teesko.” (If you want to study this field, go ahead. But remember one thing; once a step is taken in a direction, there is no going back. So, ponder over all the pros and cons and then decide). Well, I might be a MBA graduate in another year, but whatever I am now, and whatever I will be in future, will never happen without the support from parents.

So, this is what I would want all the parents whose children would be selecting their field in near future to understand, every individual has a unique potential, help your kids find it out, don’t go by the existing perceptions about any field, let them explore it with your encouragement. And yes, mechanical engineering is not only for men, it is for women too. “Yes, I am a mechanical engineer. Am not a muscular man, but I am a woman.”