2nd story of SR series

STORY-2

SR-Man of Brains; but uses them only when there is a desperate need of it!!!!!

SR was a lazy fellow who firmly believed that spending time with the books should be done only at the time of the semester. According to SR touching the books at any other time would be the biggest sin he could afford to do in his lifetime. Among our E&I staffs, SR had an impression of a guy who never studies. Of course, their understanding of SR was right. Still his technical mind and innovative skills came into light during the project and paper presentations, not only in our college but also in other colleges in National Level. Even studying for semesters and topping the exams is very easy but writing a paper on a new and a novel idea and presenting it is a very challenging task. More challenging is getting a Mini-Project made. Even for the toppers making a working model of their idea is a nightmare.

Kongu Engineering College, shortly known as KEC was the college where me & SR had studied. It is a very good and a reputed college located in a rural area. Our college has a very good campus, highly competent faculties and always tried to give us good exposure in all the technical fields. In order to improve the technical knowledge of the students and also to sharpen the innovative side of the young minds, the college conducts a three day Mega Fest called “Open House Exhibition” every year. During this event, the college provides a platform for the students to exhibit their new-fangled and innovative ideas in the form of working models. The college themselves fund for the projects, i.e for each project they give upto Rs. 5000, so that the students can make use of this money to shape their raw ideas into working models. All the working models were displayed in their respective departments and for three days it was open for the public who came and viewed the wonderful ideas of their students. The best project was also awarded with very good cash prices. Not only that, very good projects with novel ideas were also patented. As this was a very good opportunity, all of us during our 4 years tried to present atleast one project in our Open House Exhibition (OHE), so that we had a certificate in the name of “Project Presentation” and we can fill some worthy stuff in our resume.

So even before one month of this OHE, the project fever had begun. As we were in E&I branch and Instrumentation which mainly deals with automation and control, we used to do many innovative project ideas like, “Automatic Rail Crossing System”, “Auto Cradle”, “Automatic Public Distribution System”, “Robot Car” and what not, you can include anything which involves automation. Infact, during OHE the public who came to see the projects, often gave the comments that most of the best and innovative projects were displayed in the E&I department. That was the standards of our projects. The credit for that mainly goes to a single man, Prof.K.Krishnaswamy, the then HOD of E&I department. Even one month before the OHE, our project reviews begin. We have to put forth our ideas before our HOD, who was also known as, Prof.K.K. He used to sort out the best and the most unique ideas and will give permission only for very pioneering ideas to start with. So getting an approval nod from him was the most difficult task.       

During our second year i.e in the 3^rd semester of our college, the OHE was held on the first week of August. Our HOD, Prof.K.K had asked us to assemble in our seminar hall to discuss about the various project ideas of our students. So in front of him and all other E&I students, i.e students of 2^nd, 3^rd and final year of engineering, we had to present our idea and if the HOD felt that the idea was good and  feasible, he would grant permission to start with the project. Only during the second year we had entered our respective departments and before that all the first year students were put together in a common department called Science & Humanities. So in our 2^nd year, OHE and all this project discussions were very new to us. In the seminar hall, about 120 students and 20 staff members along with the HOD were assembled. As we, the 2^nd years, (at that time) were new to the departments; we were asked to present our ideas first. So, one by one each of the group from our class presented their ideas. In a group, there can be a maximum of 5 students. Many of the ideas suggested by our class students were rejected because of the reason that either the projects were too complex to be done or they were too simple. Even HOD had rejected some ideas of the class toppers also. The next group who had to present their idea was SR.

SR and his team including his friends cum classmates namely, Sridhar, M.S.Arunkumar, Malaiappasamy and S.Arunkumar (also called as Pondy) were welcomed to the stage with a big round of applause. Applause was from friends of SR, to whom SR had already requested to clap their hands when he steps on the stage to have a stunning entry. SR was handed over the mike. (Actually SR does not need one, his voice is so very loud!!!!)

SR started, “Good Afternoon Respective HOD Sir, my beloved staffs, my most loving senior friends and my adored classmates. I am going to give the idea of a project which is going to revolutionize this world. Automation has started ruling our world. There is nothing without Automation. To develop Automation in all fields, you need to bring in new innovative ideas. One such idea is what I have thought for my project. This project can be used for Small Scale Industries, Medium Scale Industries and also for Large Scale Industries. This project…”

By this time, all the students and staffs became restless by SR’s pointless speech. He was sincerely delivering his speech, imagining himself to be the guest of honor there. Realising the situation, Prof.K.K stopped him and asked, “First tell us the name of your project.”

SR, “Ya sure sir. It is “The Temperature Contolled Fan.””

HOD, “Ok. Proceed.”

SR, “Actually India is not a poor country; If we use our resources efficiently we can become a developed nation before 2020 as our beloved president A.P.J.Abdul Kalam had said”.

Boys at the back rows of the seminar hall,”Dai why the hell is he talking about Vision 2020 now? Does it have any relevance to his project? This fellow will talk anything other than his project.”

Another one guy, “First ask him to get down da, what a voice he has, my ears are paining.”

Some of the staffs, “Who gave the mike to this fellow, without mike only he talks so much in class and tortures us and now with the mike… Oh my God…!”

Despite all these comments going on SR was sincerely continuing his talk.

Atlast, HOD asked him, “So what do you intend to do in your project?”

SR, “That’s a very good question sir, I appreciate it. Sir, I am going to design a fan in such a way that it will be controlled automatically by the surrounding atmosphere. That is, if the temperature is too hot, then the fan will blow fast, if the ambient temperature is not so hot, it will automatically reduce its speed. By this way, we can efficiently save power. This project can be designed for home or for factories or for schools or for colleges or for….”

HOD, “Fine. Go ahead with your idea. Let me see your progress in the next review.”

SR was very happy that he had convinced HOD with his idea.

Scene which happened just two hours before the project review.

Place: Boys hostel

Time: Lunch break

Malaiappasamy (Malai), “Dai today is our project first review da. We have to present some idea to the HOD.”

Sridhar, “Yes da SR, You have any idea?”

SR, “Dai if I had any ideas why I would be here, I would have been dining with Amabani now. Leave it. How much money will they give for the project?”

Malai, “Dai machi, they will give upto Rs. 5000 on submission of bill da.”

SR, “I can arrange the bill da. No problem. Me, You, Pondy, Sridhar, M.S., we five, so thousand per head. Ok da. We will do something.”

Sridhar, “How da?”

SR,”We will do something da, Don’t worry. But we will spend maximum 200 rupees only. But we will produce bill for Rs. 5000. What do you people say?”

Pondy,”That is fine da. But what about the project idea?”

SR,”Dai Malai, go and browse for some small projects idea which will cost only around Rs.200.”

Malai sincerely followed SR’s orders and searched in google for “small projects”. In some electronic circuits site, he had seen the circuit for “Temperature Controlled Fan.” He had taken the print out of the circuit and had given it to SR. SR did not understand much about that circuit but just got the idea of what it will do. Just seeing the glimpse of that, SR had given this half an hour lecture in that first project review.

Scene after two hours of the project review.

Place: Same Boys Hostel

Time: After College hours.

Malai,”Dai getting the fan itself will be around Rs.1500 da, and then how will we be able to finish this project in Rs. 200?”

SR,”Dai, we can take fan from any one of the CPU da, that type of fan will do. This circuit, we will give to some electronics or electrical shop and we will get it made da. Within Rs.200, we can finish it da.”

The next day, all the 5 guys went on OD (On Duty, i.e official permission to bunk the classes) and were roaming around the streets of Erode in search of some Electrical or Electronics shop which would do the circuit in the minimum cost. Atlast they found a shop called “Annai Electronics”. SR had showed the circuit to the fellow over there and had asked him to do the circuit. He agreed and asked for Rs. 400.

SR said, “Anna(meaning elder brother in tamil), I am like your younger brother, please reduce the price a little.”

SR showed such an innocent face which indeed moved the shop keeper.

Shopkeeper, “See, I can do it at the minimum of Rs. 300, that’s all I can reduce.”

SR,”Ok anna. No problem. Anna you yourself get us the fan also, please.”

Before the shopkeeper could open his mouth to say a no, SR turned to his friends and said, “Dont worry machi, Anna is there. He is our anna. He will complete the project for us. Ok anna, next week, we will come and collect the circuit and the fan anna. Do the project very well, if we win the prize for the best project I will definitely tell that the secret behind my success is “Annai Electronics”. Anna…”

Shopkeeper,”Dai. Don’t talk too much. First vacate this place and leave. Come after a week.”

SR,”Ok anna. Anna…..”

The other guys had to drag SR from that place before the shopkeeper would lose his temper.

Just one week before the OHE, SR’s Temperature Controlled Fan was delivered intact by Annai electronics. The 5 boys, the temperature controlled Fan group, used to take ODs at times and used to roam around Erode and Coimbatore just to show to the HOD and the staff members that they were working sincerely for their project.

It was just one day before OHE. The students by now had to finish their models and had to display the same in their respective departments.

Everyone was arranging their projects on their display table.

Then came our hero and his gang with their project…. No No…. with their Fish tank!

They displayed their project on table and all the five of them gathered around the table giving a contended look at their project.

I was also there in the project hall at that time and I saw their Project. All I could see was a large fish tank, with no water or fish in it. Inside the fish tank, there was a bowl with some water and a small coil heater. A CPU type fan was hanging inside the fish tank. A thermocol was placed to cover the top of the tank. Nearby that tank, there were two thermocol blocks, one named boiler and another named turbine. There was a black colour tube connecting the thermocols. I could not understand what that project does or what it was meant to do. All I could understand at that time was that, that fish tank and the themocol blocks were the so called “Temperature Controlled Fan” about which all the time SR was bragging about.

The OHE started the next day and as usual, there was huge crowd visiting our college to view the projects. Before I get into what actually happened in the OHE, first I would explain what SR’s project was about (which I understood only few days before when SR briefed me about the project). The “Temperature Controlled Fan” is a project in which the speed of the fan is made to vary according to the temperature. In SR’s project, the fish tank was actually depicting a cooling tower and the CPU fan was the blower. So when the temperature increases inside the cooling tower (here the fish tank) automatically the speed of the blower (the CPU fan) also varies accordingly. To demonstrate this inside the fish tank they had placed the bowl with water. So whenever the water is heated by the coil heater and thus the temperature in the fish tank increases the speed of the CPU fan also increases and when temperature is reduced it decreases. The two blocks of thermocol and the black pipe connecting them had no role in the project. They were actually supposed to give the aesthetics of a power plant.

In the first day of OHE people gathered around each project and were curiously seeing the demo. SR and his gang were also attracting many people to their projects. Especially whenever SR started to explain his project he would say, “This is one of the best projects till date. You would have never seen such a type of miraculous project. Don’t see the other projects here. Those are not genuine and creative ones. After seeing this project, go outside and there in feedback counter there will be a note book. In that enter the name of this project, “Temperature Controlled Fan” and write that, this is the best project.” Likewise, SR would say anything and everything just to attract the crowd.

During the three days of OHE, the first day had finished and SR’s project was working fine. But on the second day, there was some fault in the circuit. The fan was not varying its speed according to the temperature, instead, it was running at a constant speed, probably, there was some short circuit or loose connection in the circuit, but SR and his gang were not able to spot out the glitch (How would they find it? If they had made the circuit they would have understood the fault in it, but it was made by some Anna from Annai Electronics. So they did not know head or tails of the circuit.). As usual the crowd started coming and they gathered around the projects and were looking at them eagerly. SR and his gang tried to avoid showing the demo of the project by giving some excuses, by saying that the circuit was switched on since morning and so it was very hot and thus they couldn’t switch it on. Some people did not bother much and just heard about the working of it and went away. So SR and his gang were heaving a sigh of relief, as they were escaping that day without even giving a demo.

But there was one young man who was very much curious about SR’s project.

The guy said to SR, “Wow, it’s a nice project.”

SR, “Yeah, it is indeed one of the best. Even yesterday some TV reporters had come and had taken a photo of this project. Probably this project will be patented soon. Actually this project…”

The guy, “OK, OK, I understand, but can I see the working of it?”

SR, “Yeah, sure. But right now, you can’t see it. Since the circuit became very hot, we have switched it off. It needs to be cooled or some diode may get melted.”

Suddenly, that guy out of curiosity, plunged over the project and touched the circuit to SR’s dismay and horror and said, “No, it is cool right now. You can show me the working.”

SR, “Oh, yeah. It is cool now. But I think power is not available here right now.”

Then the guy turned and said, “No, see there, the light is switched on. So power is there, you please show me the working I would love to see it.”

SR knew that he had no other option. So he switched on the circuit and switched on the coil heater and started heating the water. The water started boiling and steam was produced and the steam filled the fish tank, and the tank was covered on top with the thermocol, so steam could not escape outside and thus it got accumulated in the tank and no one was able to see anything from outside except for steam. Taking advantage of it, SR said, “Now can you see that the speed of the fan has increased?”

The guy said, “No, it is not visible, the steam has blocked my vision.”

SR, “No, No. See carefully. You will be able to observe. Look now, the speed has increased more.”

Thus the guy was made to agree that the fan’s speed had increased. But the guy was not satisfied. He said, “Ok, now, cool the water in the tank and let me see if the fan speed decreases.”

SR actually felt like hitting the guy but patiently said, “For cooling it will take time, so if you have any other work or if you want to see any other project, just go and come, I ll show you the slowing of the fan may be after an hour or two.”

The guy coolly said, “No problem, I don’t have any other job. I will wait here and see it slowing down.”

SR knew that he had no other option but in some way he had to satisfy the guy with the working, only then he will leave that place. So SR patiently waited for 20 minutes. Suddenly he called the guy and said, “See the speed of the fan now. Now I have switched off the heater. And now the temperature is decreasing.” He suddenly also removed the top thermocol which was covering the fish tank and said, “As I have also removed the top now it is getting cooled rapidly. Now see the variation in the fan speed.” The other 4 in SR’s team were also watching this and to their amazement, the speed of the fan was actually decreasing and when the temperature inside the fish tank was equal to the ambient temperature, the fan slowly reduced its speed and got stopped. Now the guy was satisfied and said that it was really a good project and left the place. SR’s gang was staring at SR in surprise and was wondering how he could have made a faulty circuit work. Then they finally broke into laughter, when they saw the input power supply wire of the fan was in SR’s hand. SR had actually disconnected the wire through which the fan was getting its power. That’s why the fan had stopped. Indeed the fan was not reducing its speed according to the ambient temperature but actually it was slowing down to a halt as its power was cut.

Thus on the second day the whole gang had successfully passed the day with a faulty circuit. That evening they had taken the circuit back to Annai Electronics and got it repaired. So the next day, they were able to show the demo of their project. By this way, SR and his gang had successfully demonstrated the project and had also made Rs. 5000 by claiming false bills.

Once there was a project presentation competition at Kumaruguru College of Technology (KCT) in Coimbatore. SR had sent an abstract of his project and later his project was selected for getting displayed in KCT. SR and the other four guys had gone to KCT on OD for this presentation of the project. After their project presentation at KCT, there was a query session about the project.

SR gang was now in the query session. So the first jury asked, “What is new in your project?” “Sir, everything is new in this, the tank is new, the heater is new, even the thermocols are new, then..” The jury laughed and said, “No tell us what is the new idea in your project?” Then SR as usual started his stories about automation, vision 2020, etc. Then they asked “Why have you used Zener diode in this circuit?”Malai stared Sridhar. Sridhar stared MS. MS stared Pondy and Pondy stared at SR. Since SR had no one else to stare he was staring at the judges and then after a minute said, “Only then the circuit will work sir, if Zener diode is not there, then this circuit will not work.”

The judges laughed and said, “Of course, only then the circuit will work, but my question is why not any other diode, why you have used Zener diode specially here?”

Actually, SR and his gang had not even heard this name--- “Zener diode”. So, how would they answer this one? Then again the same stare-stare started and atlast SR said, “Sir, actually we tried this circuit with other diodes also but only for this Zener diode, we got the desired response. That is why we have used Zener diode.”

By SR’s answer, the judges were very clear that SR and his gang did not know head or tail of the project and thus did not give them any prize, though their project was one of the best among the entries over there. So then SR learnt his lesson. He understood that winning a project presentation was not as easy as clearing a semester paper. He also understood that you need to know A to Z of your project to win in a project presentation.

Next time there was a Paper presentation at Coimbatore Institute of Technology (CIT). This time SR did not want to repeat his previous mistake. He had prepared very well for this presentation. Indeed, he had even studied the whole circuit. Now, he knew everything about Zener diode. Not only that, he had even studied everything about the Electronic circuits. In our 3^rd semester, there was also a paper called Electronic circuits. Knowingly or unknowingly, SR had already read the whole syllabus in the name of preparing for the paper presentation. In that semester, SR not only won the best project in CIT for his temperature controlled fan but also in many other reputed colleges. And without much effort, he was able to clear the Electronics Circuits paper in a single attempt to the horror of Ms. Vidhyalakshmi, who always cursed SR that he would never clear the paper because he had hardly made his presence in her classes and also whenever he had attended the classes, he would give her a hell of a time by asking stupid questions to her.

The success of his project, “Temperature Controlled Fan” made him win laurels and also secretly, even without his knowledge, had taught him the easiest way to study his lessons and to gain knowledge. In the third year of the college, he had done another project called, “Auto Cradle”, out of his own ideas which had been patented. May be in my forth coming stories, I would pen how Auto cradle was made and got patented.

Even few days before, when we were talking something about electronics, he only reminded me about the working of Zener diode, which I had forgotten long back. Then I said to him, “Thanks SR. If you had used your brains from the start and studied well in hand before the exams, you would have definitely been the topper and maybe I would have not got my University rank because of the tough competition from your side.”

SR laughed and said, “Yes, Yes. Sure.”

He thought it was a joke but he never knew how truly I meant it.

SR- A genius who himself never knew that he was one.