A bridge of friendship

AIndian colleague "S" asked me for advice on the construction of a bridge crossing at the site of a Hindu temple. He had earlier volunteered to help his temple committee to produce working drawings for the construction. It seems that a philanthropist had donated money and purchase material including steel H-section beams for the construction project.

After examining the preliminary sketches that he was working on I felt that the steel beams that were procured seem adequate for the job, and I rightly told him so. After awhile he returned to my desk with more sketches to show. I then realised that he wanted more specific details than just a general opinion from me though he was too reluctant to say it in so many words. Probably he was under some sort of peer pressure from the temple committee to produce some details and he wasn't confident enough to do it on his own.

I then decided that since I had agree to help out I should take responsible for my action by doing it properly, and not just offer some general opinions. So with his preliminary sketches I sat down for about one hour to do the necessary stress calculations and also work out the construction details of the beams, foundation, deck, connection arrangements by hand-sketching on A4-size papers. After completing the calculations and sketches I asked him to xerox one set for my record and he take the other set to start work right away to produce the construction drawings.

Towards the end of the day he came around to my desk to invite me to have tea with him. I guess it was his way of thanking me for helping out, although I am not expecting anything in return. It is something that I could do and I did it unconditionally as a service to a friend who asked.