No Substitute for Experience

There is an unmanned toll plaza a few km before Paonta Sahib when traveling from Dehradun. A few days back, while returning to Chandigarh from Dehradun, the sensor could not read the FASTag as my car approached the plaza. An attendant came a little later with a handheld reader. He was about to position the reader above the tag stuck at the top centre of the windscreen but stopped at the last moment and gestured to operate the wipers to clean the windscreen, as he had observed dust on the tag. I followed the instructions, and within no time the barrier pole started lifting, and the vehicle number along with the toll fee deducted appeared on the screen. I profusely thanked the attendant and moved on but kept musing for a long time about his experience that solved the problem without any hassle. The incident reminded me of two other incidents where experience played a crucial role and solved the issues in a simpler and advantageous way.

The first incident relates to one of my colleagues who had gone to the USA for technical training in the early first decade of the 21st century. He developed a fever and abdominal pain just two days after the training commenced. Initially, he ignored it, but when the situation became acute, he was admitted to a hospital. The doctors conducted tests but could not diagnose the disease even after the lapse of two-three days. The hospital administration then called an Indian doctor. The doctor examined the symptoms and the reports and immediately surmised that the patient had typhoid. The disease was confirmed by further tests.

The issue was that, as typhoid is a rare occurrence in the USA, the doctors in the hospital were not very familiar with typhoid symptoms. My friend had acquired the bacteria in India itself, but it remained dormant, as the gestation period for it is 5 to 14 days.

Another case happened in the last decade of the 20th century. One of my uncles in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, developed a tumour in his right eye. Initially, it was small but kept growing and started affecting the vision. He came to Chandigarh for treatment and was taken to the eye department of a premier government hospital. The doctors suggested the surgery. He was admitted to the hospital ward the day before the surgery. The next morning, all the preparation for the surgery was done, and he was about to be stretchered into the operation theatre. Luckily, a well-known eye specialist who had come for another patient was also present there. The doctors treating the uncle thought it prudent to have his opinion also. The specialist examined the uncle and reports and advised that surgery is not required and radiotherapy will cure the disease. Uncle was brought back and was given radiotherapy. The tumour was cured, and Uncle lived about 15 years after the incident without any further trouble in the eye.

Experience has played a crucial role in human evolution and civilisational growth. Its role in professional and daily life is vital and cannot be ignored even after the tremendous advancement in technology and AI.