The Last Day of College and a poem

Hi all, am back again. Here's one to the end of college.

The day was 26th March, 2010. It signified the end of college for us. Obviously there was a mixture of emotions written large in our faces. Four years of all the struggles, joy, pain, etc. were coming to an end. People were busy clicking pictures with their digicams. A friend asked me if i could write something.. something like a poem highlighting the days that we spent in college. Well, its been atleast 4 years since i last wrote a poem. In this period, i did not write any as i was enjoying reading some of the best poems from people i knew namely Srividya Ma'am and Shyam. I thoroughly enjoyed their work that i never felt like writing one. I just enjoyed critically analyzing whatever they wrote. But this request from my friend was something that i could not refuse as it was a mere poem that he had requested of me.

So i wrote, just like that. I finished it in an hour. In the end, i didn't know what i had written but i just felt that it was okay. It was nowhere close to what my poetic idols write but it was okay. I could've tried writing like them but it'd have been difficult for everyone to grasp in its inner meaning. So i kept it short and simple with an AA BB rhyme pattern. At the end of it, people liked my work and a classmate took it to the Fine Arts Club staff-in-charge who displayed it in the Fine Arts Club notice board along with some other Tamil Kavidhais. I felt happy that i kept it simple for not all could understand this and i had to explain it to them. They appreciated it.

Looking back, i could've done better but this is all that i could manage in the 45 minutes, keeping the audience in mind. Now reading it, i want to edit some lines but its ok. Let it be.

Also i don't mean everything that has been written in the poem, especially the title (which i'd have reserved for a poem on School days). Its just that i've written all that i could think of at that moment. I could've revealed a lot more of our handiwork over the past 4 years, but considering that some staff members may read it, i've restrained myself.

The Title is inspired by a line in Bryan Adams' Summer of '69 Song.

I'm producing the poem here for you:

THE BEST DAYS OF OUR LIVES


We entered into a world that was new,
To find out that we were the chosen few;
All things around were strange and queer,
But something said that there was nothing to fear.

Time progressed neat and clear
Reminding us that the end was near;
Looking back at the days gone by,
Gives us a reason to cherish and cry.

We struggled hard to give our best
So in peace and calm, we may rest
We wept when the days were bad,
The end of the lull, made us glad.

We enjoyed the way very few knew
With tidy thoughts, that were free from dew;
We met people who made us blush,
Not longer did we realize that we had a crush.

Days and weeks, we sat and listened
Only to realize that nothing glistened;
We longed for the days that were to come
Our hopes clinged onto reasons that were some.

We had our days under the sun
Which were nothing but full of fun.
With every passing day, we near the end,
We long for the past that we could mend.

With hope and despair equally spread,
Its the world outside that we dread;
But like the rosy days that we discuss,
All this could pass without any fuss.

The world we knew was full of high - fives,
Needless to say, those were the best days of our lives.



Yep, i could've done a lot better. Even if i were to rewrite it now, i could come up with something better. But like i said, it is the moment that counts. It gives me a satisfaction that i can still write poems despite being out of touch for 4 to 5 years.

This is dedicated to all my classmates in college. Its strange. The feeling of missing someone/something starts to sink in now. I'd have never imagined it but its true. I'm beginning to miss college, especially my department and my classmates.

@Azpomerz (my classmates): Guys, if you are reading this, then this one's for you.

I also dedicate this to all my illustrious and wonderful college mates who might be reading this.

@All my school mates who might be reading this : You were the real inspiration for more than a line in this poem. So this one's for you too.

This is to you all. Cheers :)

PS: My exams get over on May 4th and i'll start a Blogathon after that i.e. i'll write about all that i wanted to write about ever since i started this blog. Till then, its bye from me. Bbye :)

Slithering Sam, Nosy Naga and a Russel's Viper

Its funny isn't it? You plan to write a blog post on some topic and you keep building it in your mind and all of a sudden, you end up writing something else. Thats precisely what happened to me today. I had actually planned something else but who could forego the opportunity to write something this interesting (and a bit sad too)...

If you're wondering what this title means, its about 3 snakes'4 visits to our house in 3 months. Yes, I'm a man of adventure but this is no adventure. Its 'snakeventure'

The first one was a 6 foot, 2 inch thick black cobra, which my brother named Sam. To read about it click here.

The second one was a Russel's Viper. In case if you didn't know, a Russel's Viper is one of the most deadliest snakes in the world and is more poisonous than a cobra. It was a Sunday night and i had gone to the bus stand to pick up my cousin who was returning from a trip. I dropped him at my grandparents' place and returned home. It was 11 pm. I parked my vehicle and was about to enter my house when i noticed something just below the doorstep. It did not require a second look to identify it as a snake. Lucky Heaven! I could've stepped on it. Now i stood there in shock and confirmed that it indeed was a snake. I was just a feet away from it. I carefully climbed the 3 doorsteps and went inside. My mom was asleep and my bro was watching Kill Bill (whatta movie for the situation!). The moment i told him of the snake, he stood upright on the sofa. My mom woke up and we went out with a torch. Now we were able to see it clearly. It was a Russel's Viper man! But not so long. One and a half feet and half an inch thick. As we were flashing the torch, it began to move slowly. My mom began to panic as if it went to the backyard of our house, it'd be very difficult to coax it out then. I contemplated the idea of killing it but couldn't muster up the courage to do it. It slowly slithered into the motor compartment. we knew then that it'd be impossible to get it now as it was almost 11:30 pm and we were the only ones awake. So we tightly shut our door and went to sleep. The next morning, we searched the place fully but we couldn't find it. It had apparently left the place to who knows where. It couldn't be spotted inside our entire campus and that eased our nerves a bit. That was my adventure with the Russel's Viper.

Now to the more interesting part. It was around 7:30 pm yesterday. I was busy browsing and checking mails and my mom was sitting in the hall, reading. Now there is a sit-out beyond our hall and a Netlon door separates it. Our cat Buddy Boy rests in the chairs in the Sit-Out.The sit-out leads to the doorsteps and there is cemented flooring beyond, which leads to our gate. For a split second, both my mom and i noticed Buddy Boy rushing out of his seat and we heard a huge HISS. My brother, who was busily studying till then, went out and noticed Buddy Boy staring at something near the betel plant. I went out and even from the small bit of scales that was visible, we were able to figure out that it was a snake. We flashed our torch and then he(or she) showed his face. It was a cobra. Oh my God! This was long - about 4 and a half feet and about an inch thick. For a moment, we thought it was Sam. But no; Sam was longer and thicker. Now our main concern was the same as that with the Viper, that it should not go to our backyard. Buddy Boy was seen trying to get near it. He is a brave cat and i've seen him brutally kill a 2 feet snake two years ago. But this was no mere snake. It was a cobra. Too hot even for him to handle. So we took him in to safeguard him. He didn't mind for thats where he yearned to be, always.

Meanwhile Naga (yes, thats what i've named him) had other plans. He had two ways to go. One towards our backyard; the other towards our gate. He turned in the direction of our gate and proceeded a few yards forward. We quickly seized the opportunity. My brother quickly climbed on to the compound wall nearby and i mustered up all my courage and went towards the gate slowly, without being sighted by Naga, and opened it. Now our duty was to coax him out of the gate. I suggested that my mom bring some water mixed with asafoetida, as snakes hate that smell. She brought out the water and my bro, standing on the compound wall, poured the water over it. It immediately evoked a response as it began to slither away towards the gate. Since the gate was open, it smoothly slithered out. I wasted no time in closing the gate shut. There is a huge bush opposite our house (which is the source and a safe haven for these snakes)and Naga disappeared into the bushes.

Right from early morning today, we were wondering how it had got in in the first place, as there were no gaps through which it can come in and the gap that existed earlier had also been fixed. Imagine you kept thinking of a person and the person suddenly showed up. Thats what happened to me today. It was about 1:30 pm today and i was standing near the sit-out and was wondering how the heck Naga came in. I did not wait long to know the answer for at that very moment he came in through the tiniest of gaps, that i never knew existed. Yes, there have been coincidences in my life, but none as surprising as this. I was dumbstruck. I was alone in my house and before i could think of anything, he quickly made it to the betel plant by taking the exact same path through which he left yesterday. Looks like he had left a trail behind. Now i was confused. I had to act quickly, else he would go to the backyard and that would mean double trouble. I went in and took a mug full of water mixed with asafoetida. But before i could use it on him, he quickly went inside the motor compartment. I was both horrified and relieved. Horrified coz it'd be really difficult to drive him out now; relieved coz he'd stay there for the time being and wouldn't loiter around. Now i had to decide what had to be done.

The Coimbatore Fire Service Department had a special team trained to capture snakes and i had read about their exploits in the newspaper. When Sam came, i called them. But they couldn't come then as they had no transport and were willing to come if we picked them up. Thinking that they would be better equipped this time around, i called them. What useless call it turned out to be! The reason that they gave today was appalling and it angered me. My house is just 2 kms away from the Corporation city limits and these fellows only attend to calls if it's within the city limits it seems. Isn't it appalling? Does that mean that we are supposed to take the snake into city limits and then call them? Bah! I once considered them to be heroes. Not any more.

Running out of options, i called my mom. She suggested that i take the help of some people nearby and try to drive it out. But even if we were to drive it out, its going to come again for it had developed a fondness for that place. Our neighbours, who had come out by then suggested that it is better to kill it as they were very disturbed by previous day's events and were very afraid to go out. I called my grandparents' house as there was some construction work going on and there were many construction workers nearby. Soon my grandpa came, accompanied by two workers. Catching snakes alive requires tremendous skills and these workers certainly did not have that. They said they could kill it but could not capture it alive. Also driving it out would be of no use as it would come again. I like snakes and i hate killing them. I had seen enough documentaries on Snakes in Discovery and NGC. So i felt it was my duty to protect them. But on this occasion, i had to agree that there was no other option but to kill it as the motor compartment was not the best place to capture or drive out snakes; there was nobody who could capture it alive and Naga, having developed a taste for the place, would surely visit the place again. With a heavy heart, i agreed.

One of the workers opened the motor compartment with a stick, and through a small gap, he managed to kill it by striking it repeatedly. Once killed, Naga was taken out, buried (cremation proved futile) and his last rites were performed by pouring a glass of milk over his cemetry. Thus ended the life of Naga.

I prayed to the Almighty for forgiveness. Though i wasn't directly involved, it pained me to see him die the way he did. It was something that was unavoidable, especially after the Fire Service failed us. I hope and pray that Naga rests in peace. Even my mom felt remorseful but nothing could be done. I am pretty sad right now but couldn't help it. If there is someone who is to be blamed for the whole thing, then it has to be the Fire Service Dept. Hope they act more sensibly next time around so that these snakes and humans can be saved (yes, there is an equal probability of human deaths occurring too).

Ok friends, see you all soon. I'll come up with a cheerful post (that i had originally intended to post) very soon. Till then, its bye from me. Bbye...

No One Can BEAT IT

Its funny that your first blog post after quite a long lull happens to be an Obituary. But its much more than a mere obituary. I've poured a part of my soul into this post. This post is my tribute to a guy who used to answer to the name of a certain Michael Joseph Jackson. I know its late but better late than never.

My first exposure to this guy was when i was some 7-8 years old. I used to listen to the audio casettes that my uncle stacked upon in a shelf. These were cassettes bought by him during his college days. I simply used to switch casette after casette just to kill boredom or you can say that the audio in them did not captivate me then. It was during one such casette session that i chanced upon a new casette titled "Philips Car Stereo". It didn't take me long to be enthralled by the music it played. I was addicted to that casette and the music in it. I used to exclaim to everyone that "Philips Car Stereo" was my favourite song. It was only much later that i came to know that the song in the casette is actually titled "Bad" and the singer was a certain Michael Jackson. This realization was much later, about a year or two ago when i heard the actual "Bad" track by MJ.

But my first experience of MJ's music, realizing the singer as MJ, was around the same time, when my uncle showed me a video and asked me to see the brilliant dance steps in it. That video was titled "Thriller". I was mesmerized by the man with long hairs dancing like that. My uncle told me that his name was MJ and he was the best in English Music and Dance. It was around the same time that the movie "Kadhalan" was released and Prabu Deva aping MJ's movements in "Muqabala" song brought MJ closer to me. Later MJ faded away from my memory. Though I kept reading and hearing about him in the news now and then, I cared less. My interests varied and dancing was not a part my routine as it used to be when i was a 7 -8 year old. But still whenever i thought about dance, it was only MJ's images that came to my mind.

It was only after that we bought a computer, only after we got a broad band connection, only after we switched to the Unlimited Download scheme and only after my brother started downloading MJ's videos, that my interest in him revived. It was only then that i saw a lot of his videos like Smooth Criminal, Heal the World, the entire Thriller, Bad and so on. It was only then that i realized his genius completely. I was in awe of his moonwalk collections. "Beat It" became my signature tone, ring tone and so on. Almost all my quizzes featured a question on him or his albums.

I was saddened when unconfirmed reports suggested that he was suffering from a terminal illness and was counting his days, last year. I was overjoyed when he announced his comeback to perform 50 concerts in London. I sincerely wished that he would do well and once again prove to the world that he is the unparalleled King of Pop.

It was early morning on the 26th of June. I was lying in my bed, when by brother woke me up and told me that MJ was dead. I was shell shocked. I immediately went in front of the TV and spent almost the entire day in front of it. I kept playing and replaying "Beat It" in my cell phone in addition to seeing it being played countless times in the TV. I dont usually care much when a celebrity dies, but even without my knowledge, I spent an entire day sulking over the death of this person. What did he mean to me? Perhaps he meant something to me. Else i wouldn't have sulked for an entire day. The fact that he died on the verge of his comeback was even more saddening. But later reports suggested that he was virtually a living skeleton and carried numerous illness in his body. If that was true, then he had left the world for good, rather than live and suffer.

There have been numerous controversies that have engulfed his personal life and numerous accusations that were never proven. I choose not to believe those accusations. Even if it were true and he was indeed a paedophile,i dont care for i love him for what he has done in his professional life and that alone stays. There are numerous instances of geniuses all around us who were flawed in their personal lives. Albert Einstein, Kamal Hassan, Shane Warne to name a few. Yet we also have people who excelled both in their personal and professional lives namely Sachin Tendulkar, Rajinikanth, A R Rahman, Viswanathan Anand,etc. People remember them all only for what they have done professionally. And for me, as a professional, MJ was simply the best. My uncle called him the best in English music and dance. I dont know if he is the best in the former for i haven't heard much of English music to comment on it, but when it comes to dance, there is MJ and then there are the others. There is simply none like him. His numerous records speak of his genius and to me NO ONE CAN BEAT IT.

Auto – Roll Punching Machine using Four Bar Mechanism

Hello all (for a change)... Well I’ve successfully maintained my record of not keeping my New Year resolution that I’ll be writing atleast one blog per month. I knew it’d be difficult as my laziness would come in the way but to be honest, I was extremely busy for the past two months that it would’ve been impossible for me to write a blog. But now I’m free.

If you’ve been wondering what kept me so busy or what that weird title of this blog means, then it’d be time to tell you that it’s the title of my Mini Project and that’s what has kept me busy.

Yes you guessed it right. This blog is dedicated to my Mini Project. Don’t feel bored for I’ll see to it that I make my story as brief and as interesting as possible considering there are people from various streams who may trip on this blog.

Being Third Year Mechanical Engineering students and in a college that falls under Anna University Chennai, we have this paper called Design and Fabrication Project (essentially a Mini Project) that would fetch us 100 marks. No other Department has a project in the Third year. There too we had something to show off, we thought. But as time progressed, we realized that it was not going to be a path full of roses and the other Departments have been lucky not to have a project.

Once the sem started, we were instructed that we have to form batches of four (as we wished) and do a project that would involve parameters like drawings, design and fabrication complete with a report. I was clueless as to what I am going to do. Rajesh Kumar, a former class topper and a good friend, asked me if we could team up and I readily agreed. Lakshmi Narasiman was a natural choice for my team and so was Arun Nair. So we were through with the first stage – forming teams.

Next we were supposed to decide on the title of the project. This was the toughest part. Since none of us had any pre-formed ideas in our minds, we were skeptical as to what were going to do. Our staffs suggested that we should look in the net but most of the projects that we came across online were too far-fetched for a mini project. One or two videos that we saw in YouTube attracted our attention and we liked a particular mechanism called Four Bar Mechanism which was used in an Inventor Pump. Since we had also learnt about this mechanism, we decided that we must have it in our project. Now the problem was to give an application to this mechanism. I initially thought of using it for a piston pump but later dropped that idea. After some discussions, we decided to use it for punching. But a mere punching machine sounded too ordinary to us and we decided that we must add something innovative to make our project more appealing. But time was running out. We had only 3 days to finalize the title of our project.

It was a Sunday and I was wondering how the heck ideas are born. I simply could not think of anything. I was fiddling with my film roll camera and EUREKA!! I got an idea just at that moment. In those cameras, after a picture was shot, the roll automatically moves to the next slot. I thought of using the same principle in our project too. If we were going to punch something, then it would certainly be sheet metal which is available mostly in the form of rolls. So why not do the project in such a way that the entire roll is loaded into our machine and once the punching is done, the sheet automatically rolls to the next slot to be punched. All my teammates liked this idea and thus the title Auto – Roll Punching Machine using Four Bar Mechanism was born.

Now we needed to find a Guide for our project and we were all unanimous in our decision to seek Jayanth sir as our Guide, for he was the one who had taught us Four Bar Mechanism.

We needed to find a suitable mechanism to be introduced into our machine for the auto roll operation. This wasn’t an easy task. Each one came up with their own suggestions but every idea had a flaw or two. Finally a look at our seniors’ projects gave us the idea of using Geneva Mechanism as it would be the most effective one.

The next task was Design, arguably the toughest part. Since I had the images playing out in my mind, it wasn’t all that difficult but it still required 6 hours of work in Solid Works software. Once this initial design was done, Arun Nair, the Design expert that he is, took upon the task of improving it and developing it further.

Next we needed to fabricate the entire project. For this too, Arun Nair came in handy as his dad knew many machining shops at SIDCO. It was mainly due to the invaluable help rendered by Mr. Madhavan Nair, Arun’s dad, and Mr. Ravi, our Lathe operator, that we were able to fabricate this project. Once the work at the lathe shop was complete, we brought it to our college, where the rest of the work was done. Lakshmi Narasiman, most definitely the best student Automobile expert that I had ever known, chipped in with his welding skills and the project neared its completion.

I took upon the job of preparing an extensive project report as I was fairly good at it and Rajesh too chipped in with his Design calculations. In between, we also had a review with our HOD, but we were able to clear it without any glitch as we were confident of what we were doing.

The finishing stage posed a big problem as our machine was still not punching the sheet but it was only making a dent. This tensed us all as our project would be termed as a failure if the punch did not happen. Finally with some re-welding and restructuring done, our machine PUNCHED a hole in the sheet. It was our City Moment of Success. At last three months of hard work (one and a half months of real hard work) had borne fruit. We were overjoyed and the only work left was to prepare PowerPoint and present our project before the External. We were fairly well prepared and the Presentation went well. No matter how hard the External tried to knock us of our feet, we were able to deal with him and answer his questions. Finally he got us on a simple Load calculation that we missed and this gave him some satisfaction. But we were good enough to calculate the load at that very instant and give him the result. He was finally convinced and liked our project. He gave us an A++ grade.

Finally a feeling of contentment and that of having achieved something crept in. After all it was our own innovative idea that has taken shape. Barring one or two other batches, no other batch worked on their own ideas for their respective projects and this gave us an additional satisfaction. It was then that we felt that we were at an advantage compared to other departments for we knew exactly what has to be done for our Final year Projects and have the experience of Mini Project to back it up.

Also I’d like to mention some of the other projects which I liked: Arjun’s “Walking Machine using Theo Jansen Mechanism”, Arun Menon’s “Hydraulic Suspension” and Sarrvesh’s “Stirling Engine” (it was impressive even if it didn’t work).

That’s it for this blog. Please do check out the Video of this project. I’m sure this blog and the video would be of some help atleast to the students approaching their Mini Projects and Final Year Projects.

Your comments on this blog and our project are welcome. Also try recommending this blog to any student seeking help on the topic of their Projects or Mini Projects.

This blog is dedicated to my batchmates/ teammates – Arun Nair, Rajesh and Lakshmi Narasiman.

Hoping to write another blog soon.

Until then, its bye from me…