Being a production engineer:

31st May 2007


The Entry:

DhawanSaaB enters the control room. He takes off his shoes and puts it aside, searches for his sleepers, finds them to be unavailable, terms the culpable as a “chappel chor” and pledges to write His name on the sleepers in Bengali the very same day. Looking at the control room clock, being once again on time, with head held high he marches forward and forward to the MSQU panel.

Relieving the previous shift incharge:

Somebody has been waiting anxiously for Him. His mere entry and an eye-to-eye contact relieve him of immense responsibilities. “The Great Metamorphosis”, as He terms it, from state of deep anxiety and nervousness to a state of profound success and relaxation is wholly acknowledged by Him. He receives a warm welcome there.

“ Aaieeyeeee Dhawan SahaB aaieeeyeeeee…..aur Dhawan Sahab sab theek thaak hai”

This is followed by a brief conversation to know the condition of the plant.

“ haan Singh ji sab badiyan hai, aur aap batayeieeee”
“hamaara to sab theek thaak chal raha hai”

“aur Singh ji batayeeiiaaee yeh apna plant kaisa chal raha hai, sab normal to hai naa”

“ haan sab normal hai, bas thoda T007 ka level dekh lena, decreasing trend hai, aur 85C01 steam leak ka online job ho raha tha….woh log kar nahin paaye…to phir se aayenge evening mein”

“theek hai woh to apne aap hi kar lenge, mere jaane ki to koi jaroorat nahin hai”

“naaan , jayeda se jayeda wahan khade ho jaayeee”
“matlab aaj bhi kuch kaam nahin hai naaa….aaraam hi karna hai”

Singh ji feels confident and smiles a bit. Aakhir woh bhi to aaraaam kartein hain”

“ theek hai Singh ji aap nikaliye, bas pakadiye”
“haan nikalte hain, abhi Purty da yahan aa jaaayenge”




Now rests the responsibility of safe and successful operation of MSQU unit on the shoulders of DhawanSaaB.

DhawanSaaB sits there in front of the panel. He takes the log book and reads the previous shift comments and finds them to be very normal. Then He has a cursory look at the control panel, shifting from one page to another, checking all the important and most varying parameters But suddenly a figure emerges besides Him. DhawanSaaB turns his face briskly and remarks excitedly, “ Purty Daaa”

“Dhawan Ji……., Dhawan Ji aapka aaj evening hai”

The most redundant question, evening hai tabhi to wahan baithe hai, but nonetheless it has deeply penetrated our lifestyles…

“ haan Purti da”
“ aur Purti da yeh sab normal hai, bas thoda T007 ka level dekh lena, Singh ji bol rahe the, decreasing hai”

Dekh lena matlab dekh lenaa, kuch karne ki jaroorat nahin hai….bahut level hai, ab jaane waala insaan kuch to kaam deke jaayega.

Then DhawanSaaB writes certain data in the log book which he knows would be part of mankind’s history immediately. With such optimism He is bubbling with enthusiasm.

He makes a call to the field operators but they sare unreachable. It is 14:14 and He feels almost through…..

But…..

A number of people starts coming towards Him, each holding a red coloured paper in his hands. Just at the sight of this, He gets excited.

“eta MSQ”

“haan MSQ”

‘eta kare do sahab”

He reads the paper and suddenly writes something obscure, something esoteric on them. It is nothing else than His very own highly valued signatures.
They have come for “Work Requests”, i.e. the permission to carry out any type of job in MSQU area. And He is the one who alone can allow them and is held fully responsible for any undesirable incident.
He again makes a call to the field operators and they are reachable this time.

“ Kae bolchi”
“Ami Sandeep”
“ Afternoon Sandeep Da, ami Dhawan bolchi”
“Afternoon Dhawan ji, boliye”

These days there is no need to say “Good Afternoon”….only Afternoon serves the purpose.
It is only about informing that it is afternoon…

“kaun kaun hai aaj field mein”
“main, Indu aur Numendu”

“Theek aachhhe” DhawanSaaB bhi kissi bengalan ke karan aajkal Bengali bolne ke liye poori takat laga dete hain……

“aur kuch kaam to nahin hai naa abhi”
“ naan , kuch kaam nahin hai…….”

It is 14:30 and it is almost over. There is hardly any job left undone. So He feels relaxed and decided to pay a visit to shift office to use internet. Half an hour and it is probably the most awaited time in this giant public sector organization. A person came and yelled,” Chaa IOC”
Yes, it is time for tea, a period of respite from day’s hard work. Yes He does deserves a cup of tea, since he is the man behind the production of high quality EURO III grade motor spirit or petrol as we know it more commonly. Along with all these responsibilities and innate professionalism, He never falls short of what He terms as “Professional Ethicism”. It is time to take the charge of the Control Panel, and ask the Control Panel expert of MSQU unit, Purti Daa for a cup of tea. “Professional Ethicism” exemplified.

His Boss comes to panel of MSQU unit and asks
“ sab theek chal raha hai naa…kuch problem to nahin hai naa”
“ haan Sir plant bilkul normal chal raha, koi problem nahin hai”
“tum apna batao……sab theek to lag raha hai naa…koi dikkat to nahin hai yahan”..

“ETHICISM INDEED”

“nahin Sir yahan koi dikkat nahin hai, Sir yahan ka work culture bahut achha hai, koi tension nahin hai”

His previous boss, who has recently resigned, although extremely competent but was exactly opposite.
Your very own has been made to hear these statements in very early days of his career:
“Then, you are not fit for industry”
“I will issue a letter against you”

Consequently, He has introspected a lot,
”maine kya kiya, abhi to maine kuch kiya bhi nahin hai”

It is going to 15:30, and He declares it a time to make a visit to the field and meet his ground level implementers, The Field Operators.

He takes his walkie-talkie, helmets and marches towards the field.

Field operator room is filled with trainees and deputy manager apart from field operators.

“aaiye Dhawanji, baithiye” with somebody offering a chair.

“ yeh trainees aaiye hue hain kya”
“haan main inko aap hi ke paas bhejne waala tha”

Trainees made me reminiscent of my training days. But reminiscence was evanescent, I was again taken over by the people at hand.

Field operators and one deputy manager (Sh Somen Kr. Mondal) has been giving them insights into the refining processes. But He finds himself more interested in just looking at them and hearing at what everybody is talking about.

“trainees aisse swaal poochte hain jaise ek hi din mein pata nahin kaunsa jahan jeet lena hota hai”

“ aap IIT Kharagpur se hain”

“haan log to aissa hi kehte hain”

“Aur aapne internship kahan se ki”

“Yahin ki thi…”

“Mere saare dost IIT’s se to internship ke liye bahar gaye hai, koi boston gaya hai to koi new york”

It made Him to think, “Yeh kaisa swaal hai”
“Actually bachpan se iccha thi ki main apni internship kissi refinery se karoon”

Trainees leave. Now it is time for a small discussion on plant current problems. He listens to field operators with Solemnity. It is followed by an informal talk on various subjects, His Bengali skills especially reading skills being deeply appreciated.
Now He is being taken to see the two leakages by Indu Da. Leakages are on column top. He has to reach 7th - 8th floor, he considers it a part of the job and moves forward.
He sees the leakages and decides to take proper care of these during shutdown. From that position, the view of refinery and Haldia as a whole seems wonderful. Indu Da clearly points out all the important locations of Haldia and IOC Refinery….” The Tank Section (Feed tanks, Product tanks, intermediate tanks), various units, Haldia Petrochemicals, Haldia Fertilizers (which never produced even a Kilo of fertilizer), The Petronas, HLL plant, Haldia Dock Complex, The Jetties etc

/* It has started getting too big upon Him, I mean this Blog and therefore He has decided to pack it up.*/

After this He again goes to control room, has his snacks, fulfill his “professional ethicism” by asking Purti Da to have snacks, then reads newspaper, wanders around a bit, again goes to shift-office to use internet, talks with fellow colleagues and has some enjoyable time, then sets out for dinner, opens the IOC’s (Fortune 500 company’s) dinner packed in a Tiffin, have a look at it, declares it “Awesome” and instantaneously closes it. Dinner is done.

Its 21:20 and it is time for writing log book. Lot of expertise finishes it in 10 minutes. Its time to relax, goes to shift office and have nice conversation with fellow colleagues, again checks orkut scraps, again checks her scraps too, and decides not to do it again ever after.
Next shift-incharge arrives, The Great Metamorphosis repeats itself.

He is proud of having made possible the production of 350 tonnes of high quality motor spirit and a hell lot of LPG for usage in your households.

While leaving, He takes a lot of pride in saying to the next shift incharge these two words (normally elusive in contemporary era)

“ Everything’s Fine.”