Sachin gives city students a ‘master class’ in engineering

Tendulkar displayed the same enthusiasm for car assembly as he did at the cricket pitch when he quickly got into the act of assembling an engine along with four students of the College of Engineering, Guindy – Vignesh M, Koyal Mishra, Siva Prakash and Selva Dharshan. Koyal, a student of electrical and electronics caught Tendulkar’s attention and he asked her why she chose this line. Without batting an eyelid, Koyal replied she was fascinated by technology and cars. She also went on to say one must have the courage of conviction to chase their dream and passion, like how the cricketer pursued his passion. Tendulkar encouraged her and other young engineers to rise and shine by leveraging the hands-on training initiative. 

Tendulkar’s emphasis on handson training came at the right time at the Chennai BMW plant, where he announced the ‘Skill Next’ initiative to mark the German MNC’s 11-year operations of the Chennai plant. 

He began by saying, “It is one thing to have theoretical knowledge and go by whatever the book says; the other thing is to work on the engines. For these youngsters it is a special opportunity; it is like me playing book cricket without a bat. The results won’t be the same. You still need a bat to score runs.”

The luxury car manufacturer would provide 365 BMW engines and transmissions to various engineering and technical institutes across the country ‘free of cost’. In his words, this was the beginning of a solid chapter that would chart out the course of the Indian automotive industry. Such an effort would mean the rise of “promising, upcoming and reliable guys” who could be trained to handle high-end cars.

Earlier, when he posed questions to TV Geetha, Dean of College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, her response was “automotive technologies are advancing so fast. It is not enough to learn from text books in the world of mobility.” Instead of remaining confined to text books, experiential learning has to be the focus with passion (like the legendary batsman) as the key driver.