ENGINEERING THE JUGAAD

The word jugaad typifies the essence of jugaad. Jugaad is a phrase used for a resourceful person - for a quick fix or a work around engineered to compensate for a lack of resources (both tangible and intangible).

Jugaad in its third sense is both an art and science. It conclusively puts an end to the engineering-management debate by effectively validating that they are one and the same thing. A jugaad may not necessarily fix the problem. But it does provide an alternative method to avail it - a technique that is often used as a temporary solution to a software bug.

our college embraces this concept with a lot of spirit. College events and fests are filled with numerous instances of how an ingenous jugaad saved the day. consider the possibility (or rather the certainity) of database of your software getting connection fright a few hours before an event. They obviously didn't teach you to fix that. The only available solution is to well, jugaad another one to replace the rummy traitor.

There is no limit to what and how one can jugaad things during the course of engineering - once you get the hang of it, it sticks with you. Final year projects, seminar slides, guest speakers at an event, library cards, flash drives, fake identities, assignment sheets, certificates, notes, money for flawless spending in canteen --- they are just the tip of the iceberg.

Engineers are often thought to be cranky figures poring over large intricate blueprints,planning meticulously for hours together. Of course actual engineering students with a real engineering degree would find the very idea of blueprints and flow diagram quite laughable, atleast back home in the land of jugaad. As opposed to the ingenuity and quick thinking that an efficacious jugaad demands, plans and designs sap the punch from a problem. Why bother wasting those extra hours on designing when a quick solution jugaad is not only adequate but also has the added advantage of saving extra time for fun and celebrating.

Jugaad versus the actual thing is like a fight between Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. While Bruce Lee uses technique with a finesse that is delightfully fluid, Jackie Chan's style is more on-the-spot, more creative, more jugaad-ish. No one can say with certainty who the winner would be in such a event, but in a bare empty room Chan would probably feel a little lost..