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.

It Finally Happened

After a long time, it finally happened. Before I tell you what ‘it’ is I have to tell you the background. So read on!

This weekend we planned to go to Elephanta Caves and also roam around a bit at Churchgate. Frankly, I am not much interested in history, so as expected I didn’t love the caves much. A few pics here and there, especially of monkeys, a snake and shops there, meditated a while there; but what really rocked our moods was the boat trip while going to and coming back from the caves, which are located on an island. This was the first time I had adventured into the sea; luckily for us, it was not raining that day; but the currents were still strong and they almost threw me off my feet a few times while I tried to stand on the deck and take a few pics. We decided to go on the top deck by just paying Rs10/- extra which were worth the amount of fun we had there. The driver even allowed me to manoeuvre the boat for a while, (when it was docked of course :P). The view was amazing, awesome, breath-taking, overwhelming, (even MSWord Thesaurus won’t provide me enough words, so let the pics say the rest. For higher resolution pics see my orkut album).

And yes, the boat trip begins and ends at Gateway of India and Hotel Taj. Earlier that day we took a few pics there.

After returning from the boat trip my friend did a bit of shopping at the Fashion street, we had ganne ka juice and went and sat at Marine drive for a while. Just then there was a drizzle, light enough for us to enjoy getting wet in it and strong enough to cause the rainbow behind us. My friend and I (both mechanical engineers) had a good discussion on how tetrahedral shaped concrete slabs, piled on top of each other, would help to disperse the stresses caused by splashing sea water tides and prevent the wall from falling. For nature lovers like me, apart from bird watching :P there were variety of crabs, (no pun intended here if it exists) and in all sizes. And finally I think I have told enough things to tell you what ‘it’ is. Unfortunately, ‘it’ happened. My DIGCAM battery got discharged, I had not charged it for a long time! I cursed myself over a hundred times for letting ‘it’ happen. So I could not take any pics at Marine Drive.

When the sun was almost about to set, we decided to retreat. I had a hamburger at Wincy and took a packed local back home. It was neither BCC, FCC, nor hexagonal packing; but worst kind of packing I have ever encountered, the density was highest I assure even without any calculations.

On Sunday we went to Juhu Chaupati, which was not much different from Colva beach, only it was more polluted as the tides brought with them polythene bags in addition to sea water. However, some things that you won’t get to see at Goan beaches are the Bombay Pav Bhaji and other chat stalls, the kalakhatta, chana masala, fruit decoraters, flute-sellers and the state-of-the-art fortune tellers, not humans but robots! (See the pic). We transformed our jeans into shorts and enjoyed the splash of waves for a while and then fed our hungry bellies at the Chat stalls.

Bandstand- Week2

After my exams finished on 14^th May, I was all set for my internship in IITB, for which I was supposed to leave for Mumbai on 17^th, but then I changed my mind and postponed it to 23^rd. It was one small decision, which changed the whole story of my internship. Had I reached on 17^th, I would have finished all the formalities before 20^th and I would have got hostel accommodation as well. But all hostel rooms got booked by 21^st and I had to stay at my uncle’s place at Vile Parle and travel everyday spending a lot of valuable(?) time and most of my energy in it. I wished I was Isaac Mendis, I would have painted my future and known the outcome of my decision beforehand. Or if I was Hiro Nakamura, I could have teleported into the past and changed it! (Courtesy: Heroes!)

Anyway, apart from travelling there was no other inconvenience I faced, thanks to my uncle. And the highlight of the week was ‘friendship’ with my four year old niece, the cutest girl I know, a blue-eyed fairy she is. Playing with her I felt like I lived my childhood again. We played “Cook and the kitchen”, “bat-ball”, “teacher-student”, “mummy-baby”, “going to the beach”, and with puzzles, dolls, cars, her cycle, etc. I went to such an extent that I got an idea for my internship project from one of her toy :P See this post

On Saturday, Divyanand, Ankit and I decided to take a break from our regular schedule and roam around a bit. We went to Bandstand in Bandra and it was finally time to put my Digicam to use.

After seeing the pics and the video, if you feel that this place is a bit familiar to you, then you are absolutely right, it was here that a part of the song “kabhi- kabhi aditi” from “jaane tu” was shot. If you can’t still recollect, see the video again, and watch carefully the para- “Tu khush hai toh lage ke jahan mein chaayi hai khushi...”

When we climbed the stairs we realised that it is basically a hang-out for couples, we saw a few live smooches, etc etc... :P We rubbed ours eyes enough number of times for the next few minutes. I was in two minds, I looked at my Digicam, but finally I decided to respect their privacy. Then we changed our focus from the couples to the beautiful scenery. The whole atmosphere was so pleasant and calm, altogether different from the noisy city life. My friends sat on the stones to enjoy the breeze, while I kept my fingers, eyes and Digicam busy. The sea was the same as it is on Goan beaches, but the rocks replaced the sand. I didn’t bother to go into the Geology to find out the reason, but just sat down and enjoyed the serenity.

It was time to leave, but we were not aware of the excitement that was awaiting us, it left me wondering whether Essel-World was in Bandra. We were waiting at the bus-stop for a bus, but decided to take an auto instead. We were four of us, a guide-cum-friend called Thakur had joined us. Rickshaws normally take just three passengers, but we were happy to find a chap who took the four of us. That’s what we thought, until the driver found another customer a little ahead and then we were five passengers excluding the driver in the auto!!

For the first time on Mumbai’s streets, traffic made no difference! Even when the road was blocked, the rickshaw kept moving. How?? Well, the lane had a divider, the left side was blocked, and to our surprise the driver drove on the right side of the lane, and that too in full speed... lol! He almost banged into four girls trying to cross the road, and remarked “Sorry se kaam chalega?” Divyanand, who was sitting uncomfortably against the exit door, suddenly burst out “Dhire chalao bhaiyya, meri aadhi gand gaadi se baahar hai” :P The whole ride was full of sparks and bursts, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing and took a pic as well.

We finally reached Bandra station and I caught a train to Vile Parle. There I did a little bit of shopping. I bought a kit for my project called “Technica”, which consisted of many small metallic bars and pipes that could be joined with bolts and nuts to form various assemblies. I also bought a game called “Bullet Train” for my niece and she liked is so much that she exhausted the battery within one day :P