FOUR STROKES (Last Part)

 4^th year – Exhaust

Final Year opened with a lot of confusion regarding electives and project groups as the summer had yielded irreversible reactions which were forcibly reversed. While most seemed satisfied with 3 courses per head, a few like MK and his son were hell-bent on finishing their BTech at the earliest. The placement season started with a bang with the most elusive and unseen members of the class being offered huge packages in COAL INDIA. Bajaj, TATA, Reliance and L&T followed suit and most of the batch was comfortable placed in ‘CORE Companies’ by the end of the semester thanks to the efficient PCs in A, A and A. We came to the sudden realization that the disastrous mock-GDs we had sat through in PC and club activities were actually quite similar to the real deal. Some exploited this loophole and got lucky quite early, while others waited a while to get their turn.

Classes were few and far between, and prompted students to take courses based on the timetable rather than interest. Nuclear Energy, bound to save the earth from impending doom and disaster, resulted in the teacher being more enthusiastic than the students.

The Heat transfer lab ended up making us gain more calories thanks to frequent outings during lab. This semester had us bid adieu to workshop where we had learnt a lot from the foremen. The industrial seminar presentations stayed on paper while the major project evaluations went off in jiffy without causing much harm. The BAJA team from class graduated to competing in the more formidable FSAE competition at Michigan, USA.

The final semester began before the penultimate one seemed to be over. However, not much improvement was seen in the confusion regarding credits, courses and requirements of the BTech degree. December was spent in fighting hammer and tongs for courses and often assessing losses from loss of courses. A brilliant suggestion however was to look out for open electives from neighboring colleges! The OR course made us efficient calculators and the instructor at the outset had optimized the number of students in the class for effective transfer of knowledge.  The class finally obliged to take CM and FM after they were offered for 3 consecutive semesters. Also, contradicting courses meant that we discussed about polluting machines in the morning and controlled it in the afternoon, both taught by the same ‘gendelman’.

The first admits trickled down into the hands of Chinta and he soon went on to conquer most of Europe. Paro put 3 in his bag and is awaiting a few more. Jhonny cracked the CAT with calls from almost all the IIMs. This semester also opened up multiple job opportunities with a lot of people having more than one to choose from.

With the exhaust stroke almost complete and the last drops of the mixture remaining, we hope to go out into the society as good human beings in accordance with the vision of the institute. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the HOD, faculty, teaching and non-teaching staff and the institute for their support.

Credits: Chit, Chaitu, Bhejafry.

Concept: Basu.

The Class: Kant, Chatto, Paro, Roy, Chinta, James, Smiles, RooOOy, Eddy, la HOTie, Bhejafry, Anil, Jhonny, G, Deep, Chit, Rastogi, Simone, ARao, Tas, Ayush, Basu, Fundananda, Siva, Chaitu, Kohli, Chintoo, Deboshi, Channa, GShah, Gary Potter, Harendra, Chintoo Khabri, JaJu, Shinde, Joel, Toma, KJ, Kaydee, Kella, Sahu, Kumar, Shengar Khan, Subbi, MK, Patel, Malli, Mojo, Cum-in, Mau, Lekha, Macha and Pach-aunty.

FOUR STROKES (Part 3)

3^rd year - Power

The most important year of mechanical engineering was upon us, but most of us were just glad that we did not have to use the drafter or board anymore. Through DMD, caliculating the efficiency of Chynne drives and Belt drives using a Caliculator became the order of the day. The promises of mobile phone funded parties were sustained in this semester as well, and we also learnt how important it is to appreciate the humor of professor just for the sake of reaching that magic number of 75/100. MIC class began with the entire board being scribbled on within 10 minutes, but any subsequent doubt was met with the sheepish, smiling, “I don’t know sir”.  Mugging: Theory and Practice (MTP) made many people reconsider their MBA aspirations, and saw the revival of the I-don’t-agree kurta gang protests. The famous adha-credit Metro lab made us slog it out, while its better half gave us an insight into the ‘help files’.

5^th semester saw the advent of ‘non-compulsary’ electives. Mechatronics, chosen by the daring few saw them on their toes, staying back after the semester to finish their mini projects. GOD continued with TM which made it the most popular elective though the regular attendees (read girls and MK) were assured a perfect 10. IPDP by SMK, brought about technological advances in teaching methods which was highly appreciated by all. HPC taught us everything to do with valves and [intelligible gibberish], while also giving most of us the opportunity to catch up on [more intelligible gibberish]. The almost non-existent course on energy made us turn our backs to the board. Our very own green engineers thought of innovative methods of saving the planet by reducing paper wastage and graduated to MK_notes.jpg.

The 6^th semester began with the duel about the choice of instructors for two out-of-phase subjects. The end result was a compromise with both sections being given a share of sweet and sour. MDV made us sweat it out with the search for the elusive reason to DO than compiling 101 reasons not to. The industry-institute interactions in the class increased to such an extent that chocolate sellers and typists were repeatedly flushed out. The moody moodle ran on Chinese Standard Time, leaving those following the NITK Standard time unable to submit the results of their hard labour. The deep blue mountain setting with often very bad type-setting gave us colossal insights into the world of heat transfer, which we would normally shift to cooler sections of the main building to enjoy rates of higher heat transfer and lower information transfer. The Economics program saw many build budding careers in finance, as GShah topped the class, much to the surprise of MK.

A completely new course was introduced so as to avoid the already infamous fluid subjects which saw maximum registrations and minimum attendance. The hard core fluid subjects made us learn what ‘potentially’ fluids could do. Coding in CFD gave us an opportunity to admire the department at night, in the august company of our instructor and our MaTtak seniors. The Controls course instructor had no control on the class frequency and thus students had to be content with a high damping ratio and faulty feedback loops. He continued his association with us by sitting through the self-taught course on Automobiles. MEMS class taught us to see a whole new dimension of ‘size zeroes’ but the course was easy sailing thanks to the seniors inputs. This year’s elections saw another big mass Chaitu replace the former big mass Basu as the CR. The proud BAJA boys brought accolades to the college by winning the Virtual BAJA competition and the Best Cost Award at SAE BAJA 2010. Also, Spanish Boy Chit continued to stream FIFA World Cup 2010 live from SA through summer. Chinta started putting seeds in EU as a precursor to his conquest. A trip to Kaiga was undertaken to gauge the importance of Nuclear Energy, which was rather a good holiday for all of us on a river-side resort. The class also had the only trip in its four year history, to Sita Falls. 

FOUR STROKES (Part 2)

2^nd year – Compression

The 3^rd semester saw the rise of Paro as the CR again. The welcome to the department was quite warm with us having to slog on 7 different pillars of mechanical engineering, apart from the all-famed drawing. We also welcomed the Tas’s baby sitter for the next few years from civil, but alas KD parted ways to head towards the Silicon Valley. BTD instructor’s inventive methods of teaching (whenever there was class) drew criticism and admirers at the same time! JB’s feedback forms with roll numbers for ‘identification’ purpose created quite a stir and also ensured reduced grades for a few students. In MOM, we were introduced to one of THE greatest linkages in mechanical history (The 4-bar linkage), to which we were exposed to extensively throughout the sem. (read: we did only that and nothing else)

The Clear Glass erased a few problems, and showed us the way forward. The classes were full of mind-bending cubes sitting on their ends in godknowswhere, which only TomA could wrap his mind around. Also, the Headbanger tried to entertain us with notes and anecdotes although none of those seemed to be sufficient to rivet our brains to the course! Some adventurous folk walked in very late from the front of the class, and were thunderously successfully, much to the chagrin of their compatriots.

The even semester brought about the realization of the greatest fears of the mechanical engineering student. The Glass cleared the path for drunken revelry to progress as usual on weekends, but there were the few who stuck to their drafters even in face of mounting adversity and back pain, to say nothing of sore eyes.

CAE was the first exposure for M1 to the Deadly Duo from Manipal. G01 [out of class] was the preferred command, but we were held rooted to our seats. We were introduced to concepts of how confiscated mobile phones could fund parties at LL, while poor Mr. Shankar Khan was constantly asked to sport the Ghajini haircut, and the CSI boys were asked to explain how computers communicate with each other. Unfortunately (and perhaps predictably), none of these events ever happened.

But the semester did have its good moments as well, when 100 odd eeediots experienced the presence of God via Yem Kyu See. Our BUDDY from the Navy went to the extent of addressing our very own MK as “abeeyyy cartooooon”.  The NM class gave us a major insight into hostel affairs rather than efficient number punching on the calculator. The hydraulics lab literally consisted of opening and closing taps at regular intervals of time, while the mechanical lab taught us how beneficial friends are when it comes to facing things like group viva. By now MK notes had replaced text books as the reference material for the exams. The elections at the end of this year saw Basu taking over CR responsibilities. Chit seemed to gain a Spanish connection which saw him do an intern in Bio-mechanics, while the rest of us were spread across the subcontinent in the pursuit of knowledge.

FOUR STROKES (Part 1)

Inspired by the machines and the engines, we gathered to etch our own place in the history books. And if nothing else, we’ve at least left our names on the desks of our classrooms. At the end of the 4 years we have gone through the full cycle: The strokes of Suction, Compression, Power and Exhaust! And although we’re ready for the next cycle, its time to take a look back.

The first year: Suction

Some of us were ‘Mech by choice’, others ‘Mech by chance’. However, all distinctions dissolved in July 2007 as we were sucked in to form what was branded M1.

Of course, the mechanical instincts had to wait a little longer to shine, as the first semester courses dealt democratically with all the branches. The spirit of democracy continued in the Chemistry class, where the fate of many compounds were decided purely by the vote of confidence (Those in favor of the motion say I , say I , yes the I’s have it, yes the I’s have it! The bond is passed!!). Other villains included the smiling assassin, who stuck out his teeth and executed us, while his counterpart from the tronixs department never smiled. She fliff-floffed when told that her class was over, but regained her composure by the time the grades came out.

Euler became an instant hero among a select few as his stories pervaded math classes like never before. Classes perked up further with the replacement teacher Ms. Tom-and-Jerry, but that was no reason for attendance figures to go up.

The impetus to remove the ‘Roadblocks to proper communication’ was lost when we realized we had to call Tas as Muz. Tuz and sent us back to the “British zamana”. Thus Professional Communication taught us engineers children the value of proper communication, while KJ was elevated to the status of spouse.

Introduction to engineering graphics was something new, but SVK’s determination to project the drawings in our brains with models and figures was remarkable. Most of us thought the water bottle would also be used as a teaching aid, but it just watered his hump.

We toiled hard to get the little hunks of metal ‘ferfectly ferfendicular’ but to no avail. Yet, we went to The Great Man, to listen to the obviously made up stories which were utter bogus facts at the workshop, and for the much adored female instructor.

The 2^nd semester math course began rather on a silent note and eventually became a TV series playing on mute. This saw a drop in attendance, but on paper things were just right! The physics classes aimed at teaching us modern physical science, but suddenly jumped to moral science and also included topics about the long past golden era of KREC. We bridged the gap across the highway with a lot of resistance, though some of us showed a lot of capacity for it. Eventually, we were inducted into the grade cards with good grades. The fledgling steps into the nuts and bolts of mechanical were taking during this semester, with a specially designed course for us split between the senior-most and junior-most faculty (read slowest-speaking and fastest-speaking faculty).

The comps class brought forth the best in the mischief mongers, with intricately designed flying machines and wardrobe malfunctions keeping us engaged in their monkey business. Not to say that the faculty was soft on the errant students, they were punished by ‘Stand up on the bench, I say!’ Baaasu almost hit the perfect 10, but physics lab failed to hit the resonant note.

Karma Yoga

This article was probably an outcome of the book I read on Karma Yoga and my past experiences. Read and enjoy. Please leave valuable comments too!

The concept of Karma Yoga has fascinated me from a long time. It is not something which is out of this world or something which only the saints and seers understand and practise. All of us as beings of this world do some Karma (work) and reap the benefits of the actions we have performed. There are plenty of examples in daily life in which we can see the effect of Karma Yoga instantly so to say. If one studies well for an exam, one will, in most cases, do well in that exam. There are several other examples in daily life that one can find.

There are other examples which have longer time spans over which the effect is observed. The most famous example is global warming. Of course, global warming is not entirely caused by the human race as is believed by most people or as it has been portrayed by some of the HARD core environmentalists. It does have shades of grey, but there is a significant contribution from the human kind. The effects of global warming are not felt instantly, but it is slow because of the sheer size and inertia of the earth. In the context of scientific intuition, we are somehow limited by the time span of a human life which is approximately 75 years. We cannot fathom a time span of millions of years. Prof J Srinivasan had stressed on this very perspective, but there is a catch! We all will agree that, what we cannot explain or fathom cannot be ruled out as non-existent, for it is one of the prime objectives of the research community in fact, to uncover the hidden truths of nature and explain what has not been understood. So, going with this idea, we can safely say that every action of ours will have some reciprocation or effect at some point of time in the timeline of this earth, whether it does matter is a different issue. In keeping with the same idea, all Karma Yoga suggests is that we become aware of every action of ours and do think of the implications of our actions. The question now arises whether then that we should become conscious of every move of ours and make it a thought out and well planned action, for that will not allow for spontaneity. But, the way we can tackle this problem is that we can make our basics strong. By basics I mean, the set of values and experiences on which we base our daily interactions and reactions to situations. When these values become really clear in our head, we can be sure that our actions will be in the right spirit of improvement. It is highly important that one is heavily logical and scientific in the way one questions and debates the doing of any action. The one golden rule which is generally followed or I presume is followed universally is that we all need to improve and become better from what we were and not take the path of degeneration, for degeneration or a backward step will only lead to ones downfall as has been seen in the past with many of the great dynasties. When the gladiator fights started in the Roman Empire no one had ever thought that all pervading Roman Empire would be extinct in a few hundred years. Now, however, it presents us the opportunity to learn and observe what went wrong.

Another really important point which Karma Yoga stresses on is that we must not be expectant of the results of our actions. At this point I would like to bring out one important process involved in the quality assurance of any product. There are two approaches to quality assurance; one is of trying to correct the mistakes after they are done, in the sense that we reject products after they are made since they don’t conform to the required standards. This definitely is important. However, there is a second approach to quality assurance and that is if we find a set method or process of producing the product, we can be assured that the product will have the quality and the product will also conform to the standards of production. In a very similar fashion, if we assure that our actions will make us proceed towards improvement, goodwill and joy, we can be rest assured that we will lead a better and improved life which is more fulfilling.

Prof J Srinivasan is a very dynamic and highly knowledgable teacher and person. He is the Chairman of the Mechanical Sciences Division at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He was also the lead author of the Physical Sciences section of the IPCC, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 along with Al Gore. Reference : http://caos.iisc.ernet.in/faculty/jayes.html

SPIC MACAY - The EYE

The logo of SPIC MACAY is the EYE. The logo is a eye not in the regular sense but an eye drawn vertical. It represents the third eye of Shiva, the Hindu God. It is said that Lord Shiva used his 3rd eye when he was disturbed while he was doing penance, and when he did open his 3rd eye it caused a great deal of destruction and had immense power. The 3rd eye of Lord Shiva is generally depicted as being closed. This again signifies that the inner eye has immense power and that one most utilise and harness the immense potential inside to seek the divine and a deep sense of satisfaction.
To me it personally means that the greatness of our musical heritage and culture, we can awaken this inner or 3rd eye of ours and thus release an infinite amount of potential within us and also sense a sensation like never before. Through the interaction with artists of great calibre and repute, it makes us humble human beings constantly reminding us that we are a small drop in such a huge ocean of natures creation. But then again we must not forget that

"Its only a congregation of small drops which makes up a huge ocean"

SPIC MACAY

SPIC MACAY, Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth, is a youth organization started by the visionary Dr. Kiran Seth, professor at the mechanical engineering department at IIT Delhi. The organisation, since its inception in 1977, has been motivating and trying all it can to uphold and carry forward Indian classical music and art forms into the new century. Their activities mainly involve arranging of concerts, not of an ordinary kind, but rather the students and the youth of the country as their main target audiences. Its no wonder then that most of the concerts encourage interaction between the student audience and the artist to develop a taste and know more about Indian classical music and thus help in carrying forward the ancient torch of the great art forms.