Aerostat Recovery Device (ARD)

Well, when I began writing this blog, I had promised to post some random stuff here. And it would be like throwing a biased dice if I don't include any technical GYAN.

So here it is- the fruits of my 2 months arduous efforts in IIT Bombay during summer 2009 The project title- "Design of an Aerostat Recovery Device (ARD) in case of accidental breakage of tether". Full pdf is available for download. Do check out this link, and refresh as many times as you like ;)
http://www.casde.org/index.php/casde/article/view/4

Well apart from that nothing much to share. Well yes, we said tata-bye-bye to BITS, our home for the last 3.5 years. It was a little sentimental moment, but considering that there is lots more in life ahead, I didn't feel that bad. Lots more includes Mercedes Benz PS in Bengaluru and job at John Deere. But yeah, I will miss DC++ badly :(

Anyways life has been great and will continue to be, Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Last Fortnight in Mumbai

All good things come to an end and so did my Mumbai stay. If I am asked to weigh what I gained during the internship against what I lost (a few kg weight thanks to travelling) I would definitely say I have gained more in terms of knowledge, experience and confidence.

Surviving for two months in a city like Mumbai, in the traffic, in the rains, in the waterlogged streets, and without having had to pay fine/bribe though I had risked not purchasing bus tickets on two occasions, deserves an applaud. (Clap, Clap, Clap!) A few memorable instances besides the scrumptious KFC ‘Zinger’ 100% Chicken burger that I ate are cited below:

Time: 14^th July 2009, 14:09:42

I have to complete editing the video of my project work and realise that I don’t have sufficient time for it, as today is the last day of my internship. I hadn’t got accommodation in the campus; I worked till 7pm and then left for my uncle’s place in Vile Parle where I stayed. So I took a hasty decision to stay overnight in the lab with my project engineer, Mr Kaviresh Bhandari. It turned out to be a good idea because it was raining heavily and it would have been really difficult to reach home that evening thanks to the water-logged streets.

Time: 14^th July 2009, 21:29:17

After having my dinner in Tansa Mess, fully sponsored by my project engineer, I returned to the lab to start working on remainder part of the video. I needed a high configuration desktop with Windows-XP to run the software. I had done all other work on my Vista laptop and for the first time I was using the lab desktop. I had installed the software on the previous day and started my work. I estimated that I would need 3-4 more hours to finish my work and after that I would watch TV series or movies for the remainder of the night. Suddenly I receive a shock as my project file refuses to open, a few minutes later I realise that the desktop is virus affected. I try to shift my work on the next desktop but I realise all the comps are affected by the network virus. The realisation that this would mean a waste of all my previous efforts chokes my throat.

Time: 14^th July 2009, 23:25:13

I don’t realise whom to curse for all that had happened and finally decide that a better solution would be to start making the video all over again, which also meant I had to scrap all my plans of watching BBT and Prison Break.

Time: 15^th July 2009, 05:46:07

After slogging for six hours, I am finally done with my video. I pack all my project stuff into a box, label its contents and keep the box in a corner in the lab, wondering when next it would be opened. I also burn a copy on a DVD of all data regarding the project for the lab records. I show the video to my project engineer who is happy.

Time: 15^th July 2009, 07:35:50

The rains have stopped and the morning is smiling at me. After bidding adieu to my project engineer, I take a bus back home. It turned out to be the third time I had kept a night out for making a video, a memorable one in IITB.

As this is my last post on summer internship in Mumbai, here are a few guidelines if you are new and plan to spend a few days in the city. If you have to travel by local train, don’t take the shortcut and jump across the tracks to go from one platform to another, use the fly-over or you might land up in jail for a fortnight; cops wait there to catch and fine you if they see you leaping over the tracks. (READ MORE)

TCs also wait on the flyover to catch you if you are travelling without a ticket. They are specially trained to smell fear hormones emitted by those who don’t have tickets. It is best to purchase a monthly pass for train, which is quite cheap and you don’t have to stand in the queue daily to buy tickets. In case you see a TC and you don’t have a ticket, just walk boldly past him with a gentle smile without trying to avoid eye contact with him, probability is higher that you will not be caught than when you try to slip past a corner by avoiding his sight.

For bus travel, it is best to purchase Rs 20/- daily ticket with which you can travel unlimited for the full day in any BEST bus up to Bandra. Buses have two doors, one at the back and one in the front, only the back door is used to climb in and the front door to get down. And you have to stand in a queue at the bus stand if you want to get a seat. In the rains, it is better to purchase a small polythene bag worth 5 bucks for your mobile lest it gets wet in the rain and you lose a thousand bucks. There is no need to go to gym, if you are traveling by bus, just make it a point that you travel standing [:P] And yes unlike Goa, there are special buses and trains for ladies only; in the first week I had almost jumped into one before realising this fact.

First time in Mumbai?

I had been to Mumbai before, but never alone. And I was supposed to spend two months in IIT Bombay for summer training. I had got a project in Aerospace Engg Dept.

Waise I am not a good travel guide, never tried that before, but I am sure my experiences would be useful for a first timer in Mumbai. Here’s the preparation that I did, apart from the mental preparation of staying away from home for two months. This is what I packed in my bag apart from clothes: My shaving kit, toothpaste and brush, soaps for taking bath and washing clothes, my digital camera, alarm clock, cello-tape and scissor, pillow cover, laptop, mobile with charger, calculator, pen, refill, pencil, passport sized photos, ruler, umbrella, a keychain, RJ45 and LAN cables, towel, comb and most important, I took printouts of two maps that I thought would be very useful, Mumbai city map and IITB campus map, which I would always keep in my wallet. They did come handy in the first week especially. Apart from this, one may take other things like a notepad, an emergency address-book in case your mobile gets lost, itch guard, medicine tablets, etc. I had a total of three bags, one with lappy, one handbag and a main luggage trolley.

Thik hai, packing-shacking ho gayi, but you can’t leave your home until you get the necessary instructions from your mother! Like don’t eat or drink anything on the roadside and take care of your wallet and other belongings when you are travelling in local train, etc...

My uncle from Mumbai was in Goa for a few days and would be going back by car, so I went with him. It was a tiring journey of more than 13hrs. I stayed at his place at night and next morning my cousin gave me a flavour of travelling in Mumbai city. We travelled in auto-rickshaw as well as local train to reach another uncle’s place at Vile Parle. I was to stay here till I got hostel accommodation in IIT campus.

It’s been over a year now since I know to drive, and I always thought I am a good driver, until I saw the traffic here during the rickshaw ride, especially while crossing the narrow lanes and penetrating the pedestrians who walk on both sides. The pedestrians have become immune to the honking and don’t give a heed even when the vehicle is one metre away from them. I believe they have wrongly interpreted the saying, “who can harm the man whom god protects himself”.

And what do I say about the local train journey. The compartment was fully packed and we had two bags each, me and my cousin. I didn’t understand what happened in those 20 secs, yeah the train stops for only 20 secs on each station and people get out as well as get inside in that much time. I had studied long back that two bodies can’t occupy the same space. But I had also been watching Heroes where D. L. Hawkins could pass through walls and objects. I began to wonder if I too had some amazing abilities and whether I had passed through men when I had boarded that local.

The next day I went to IITB in my uncle’s car. I met the Professor Pant, who’s a very nice person to talk to and I became sure that I would get a very good experience by working under his guidance. I also met the project manager who gave me a report of the previous work that had been attempted on my project area. I grasped it quickly and the same night I had my own idea ready which I would present to the professor later. The summer interns were given a separate space to sit in the lab and of course we had high-speed net access. :)

Back to off-campus activities, I learnt how to travel in bus and local train on my own within two days. It was a bit tiring journey but it helped me get a feel of Mumbai life. I’ll always preserve the tickets of my first journey.

The traffic is pretty much unpredictable in these big cities. Just one independent variable (distance) is not sufficient to know the time for riding between two cities. A drive that can take 30 mins with less traffic can take over 1.5 hrs the next day in midst of traffic. In fact there is a 3m wide lane which connects Andheri station to bus stand, to walk 10m it can take 5min.

So I usually reached home at 7pm on an average and watched heroes until it was dinner time. Exhausted from the day’s work I would fall fast asleep by 11pm. That’s how I spent my first week here, six more to go.