Thermodynamic Aspects of Energy Conversion- My first exam that I failed

I have never failed any exams so far in my academic life so far, always striving to be on top and vying to get the highest marks every time. But there was a twist in that story and it all began in quarter 1 of my second year of my masters here in TU Delft.

I had opted for 'Thermodynamic Aspects of Energy Conversion' as one of my elective courses because this was delivered by my supervisor and it makes sense to take courses given by one's supervisor. So I happily attended all the classes and was confident that I can get past the exam. I also knew that this being an open book exam there was not much to memorize and just brushing the concepts and learning the lecture material would suffice. Now thats a weird thing here in TU Delft, even though certain exams are open book they are way more tougher than closed book exams. 

So here I was preparing for the exam, practicing previous years' question papers and asking my class-mate Anand all my doubts. I had no solid background in Thermodynamics as I have a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering ( but I wish to point out that I had one course in my bachelor that introduced us to basic thermodynamics) and that was the main problem for me- quickly grasping the concepts and thinking of  solutions like a person who had sufficient background was coming naturally to me. But I studied all the lecture notes, practiced problems and even did extra studies from the internet because I knew that if I don't put in sufficient effort then I would definitely fail. I made my registration for the exam, which was scheduled on 11 Nov 2011.

Finally the D day came and I went to the exam hall, located in the Fellowship building of the Aerospace Engineering faculty. The question paper this time was changed a little bit to include theory or subjective questions as well besides objective and numerical problems. At the end of three hours I was quite confident that the exam had gone well and I should be able to get atleast a 6 out 10, 6 being the pass mark here in TU Delft. 

The exam results are usually published within 20 working days and I was anxiously waiting for my result. Finally on the 21st day the results were out and I checked mine. I couldn't believe my eyes, my heart sank, I felt a big blob like thing stuck in my throat and my mind had gone haywire. I FAILED, yes I had FAILED, my first exam in my life I had failed. I only got a 4. I immediately scheduled an appointment with the instructor to check my paper and was hoping against hope that there must be a totaling mistake or some question hadn't been valuated. I checked my answer sheet the very next day and the instructor went though all the questions one by one and I had no chance of getting extra marks (I managed to convince him to give me 0.5 extra but that didn't change things). A silly mistake in the numerical problem had cost me dearly and I was kicking myself as to why I did such a silly mistake.

Generally speaking Indian kids are not used to failure, right from schooling days everyone is taught that if you fail you are doomed. May be that was also another reason for me to digest the fact that I had failed. Nevertheless I pulled myself again and forgot the past and started to prepare again for the exam. There was a resit in Jan 2012.

This time I carefully jotted down crucial points, practiced a lot of problems, did the same question papers atleast twice and familiarized myself with the concepts. Studying the second time was a lot easier and many of the concepts became much more clearer. Once concepts got clearer studying was no hassle. I was confident that this time I would definitely make it through.

I went for the exam again on 24 Jan 2012 and my heart sank again seeing at one of the numerical problems, which carried the most weightage. I thought I would fail this time as well. I tackled that problem only at last and gave my best shot by referring to the books and notes that I had (Remember this was an open book exam so we could refer whatever we wanted). After the exam got over I was convinced that I would definitely fail this time as well and never bothered to think about it.

Days went by and when the result came out I was astonished. I got an 8 OMG an 8 out of 10 and was the best 4 persons who took the exam. That was awesome news and my joy knew no bounds. I had actually performed extraordinarily well and was extremely excited with the result.

So this is what I learned from this "Never give up in life, strive harder and success will come to you"

My Tourist visa for USA granted

13 July 2011: My visa interview date

I wanted to run one of my marathons in the United States and hence I made an application for a tourist visa in the month of May. The procedure was quite simple I must say. All instructions were clearly laid out on the US Chennai consulate webpage. This is the procedure I followed:

1. Filled out the D160 online application form. This is the new form implemented recently. Previously it was the D156 form.
2. Then I asked my mom to pay the visa fee at the HDFC bank.
3. Next I had to schedule for an appointment at the Chennai consulate via the VFS website. 

I had completed the first two formalities in the month of May and thought that dates in July will be available right away. However I could see interview dates available only for the next three weeks. Hence I had to wait for almost a month to book my interview date. And finally I made an appointment for my visa interview for 13 July 2011.

I gathered the necessary documents required for the visa interview. Someone had told me it will be very tough to get the visa if one doesn't have a sponsor in the States. Hence I asked my close friend Praveen to send me the required documents. He was very kind to send me whatever I needed. I also bugged my brother for getting all the printouts from his office. Then I borrowed a folder from my friend Alex to keep those documents.

On the day of the interview I dressed up in neat formals and asked my mom to drop me at the consulate. I reached the consulate @ 9:45 hrs for my 10:15 appointment. The procedure at the consulate is something like this:

1. Wait in the queue outside the consulate for your turn. Then handover the appointment letter and your passport at the counter. You will then be given a coupon with a number on it.
2. The guard will then check you before letting you inside the heavy door, which is operated by another security officer sitting inside the counter.
3. Once inside the first door your file will be screened through an X-Ray machine and you will be checked once again by the security. The security will again ask you if you have any pen drives, CD's or any other prohibited items.
4. After that you may proceed through the door and get into the waiting hall and wait until your coupon number flashes on the screen. Then you proceed to the respective counter and present your documents to the officer behind the the glass window. He will check the CEAC letter and read the barcode printed on it and then put the HDFC barcode on your passport. This happened at counter no.8. While waiting for my turn suddenly there was a power cut and all fans and other equipments shut down (except computers).
5. Next I was asked to proceed to counter 12 where I was given a file to keep my CEAC letter and passport. My thumbs and all my other fingers were scanned too.
6. Next I was asked to proceed to the visa interview hall where I had to wait patiently with many others for my turn. Then my number was displayed on the screen and it was on counter 19.
7. The visa officer asked me the following questions:
• Have you been to the States before?
• Why are you going to the States?
• What do you study in the Netherlands?
• How long will you stay in the States?
• Are you married?
• Will you be travelling alone?
• Do you own any property?
• And lastly he asked me if I was going to run the marathon to win some prize money for which I replied that I was an amateur and stood no chance. He said that he was just checking and that one should not earn money in the Sates with the B2 visa.

I was thrilled that i got my visa and now I can visit my friends in California too. All that remains is I have to get back my passport.

The 'Design Challenge' that we won

Well, it all began when I registered for the 'Design Challenge' in August. This particular course is a 12 credit course spread over the whole semester. I was in a team of six students out of which two were Indians, three Chinese and an African. The project given to us was on 'Intelligent Street lighting'. Our client was another Indian who had graduated from TU Delft about 4 years ago.

This being a 12 credit course involved a lot of work and took most of the time during the week. The challenge was to come up with the live working prototype of 'intelligent street lighting', which till that time was just a concept on paper. We as a team gelled in very quickly and made up a timetable and schedule to which we adhered ourselves. We also had minor team clashes (which team doesn't); it was great fun and a learning experience to solve all those minor hurdles, meet deadlines, complete weekly tasks and update our progress with the coach.

The project began taking shape during the final two months (later half of the first semester). We believed that to come up with a great product extensive testing of the same was a must. We spent considerable amount of time doing field trials and carrying out tests of different permutations and combinations. Finally we were ready with the product and the system as a whole was working in exactly the same way as we had visualized.

But to get the credit points we not only had to make the live working demo but also a poster, a report and a final presentation in hall filled with people from various disciplines and potential investors. There were two Chinese girls in my team and both were from the Faculty of Industrial Design. So they could make really cool animations and visualizations. One of the Chinese girls made the poster for our project and mind you in was awesome. I took on the responsibility of doing the final presentation. There are two reasons for it first I am not afraid to speak in front of a large audience and second my three years of work experience has made a quite a good public speaker.

The final D day was about a week ahead and I still had not finalized the presentation. I revised it completely just the day before the D day and practiced it just once in front of my room mate ( he being a Chinese too). On the D day I was the last one to give the presentation, competing against the other four rival teams for a prize and possibly for a trophy too. I was dressed in plain grey trousers and normal white half shirt. I started off quite well and I kept on improvising with the flow. At the end of my 15 minute talk I was given a thunderous applause and congratulated by many for such a lucid and simple presentation.

Later during the drinks party our team was announced the winner, with the most investments. My joy knew no bounds. All hard work that we put in finally paid off and I was on cloud nine, dopamine levels shooting in my brain.

6 Aug 2010-My last day at Ashok Leyland

Its been 3 years 2 months and 6 days at Ashok Leyland, India's second largest commercial vehicle manufacturing firm and on the 6th of August 2010 my profesional career at Ashok Leyland came to an end. Foof ! thats was quite a long time at this fantastic organization. AL as it is unofficially known has given me a solid foundation to kick start my professional career.

From now on no more getting up at 5:00 in the morning, no more pacing up the road to board the bus at 6:30 am and no more healthy breakfast at the AL canteen. Oh my God ! things are turning around so quickly. It looks like I just joined AL as a GET (Graduate Engineer Trainee) some time back but coming back to reality I have come a long way. Got promoted to the post of Deputy Manager, worked on some important bus projects and handled additional responsibilities.

Work life at Ashok Leyland was really cool, the working hours being 7:45 to 16:00 hrs. It was entirely up to you to stay back after 16:00 hrs and only on rare occasions would office work force you to stay very late. The work life balance at Ashok Leyland is one of the best in the industry and I must admit that whole heartedly.

My seat in my office was the corner seat and what an amazing view of the greenery can one see from outside the window. The job at AL is one of the dream jobs for every aspiring engineer  wanting to work in the auto industry. I was associated with the Vehicle Electrical group at AL's product development centre. This group was a small group with about ten people when I joined, but as more and more electronic features were being incorporated in the vehicle the group strength kept on increasing because there were new projects to work on and more manpower was needed. My group strength is close to thirty now.

I will always be proud that I was associated with AL and I have no qualms is returning to this wonderful organization sometime in the furture. GETs are given special treatment and are nurtured to be the next leaders in the organization. But unfortunately many of them leave at the end of their bond period, mostly to pursue their higher studies. I too am going to The Netherlands to pursue my higher studies in Sustainable Energy Technology.

Mr Ghose or DG as we call him is a very cool boss and amazing fellow. He has chided me, applauded me, nurtured me during my stay at AL. Being my first boss I'll never forget him. The to & fro trip to Alwar will be etched in memeory for ever. I learned a lot from my on duty travel trips and got meet amazing people and see amazing places. My GET friends at AL, oops the number has come down to five from ten,will always remain close to my heart.

At the end of the day it was a choice between financial security and growth. The pay at AL was too good to leave the organization but it was my decision to pursue my higher studies. I could have done this part time but there is no fun in doing a part time study. One cannot do justice to work and study in this case, atleast this my opinion. Well, I hope I have made the right decision and look forward to bigger and better things in the future.

I can say I have forged some very stong bonds with this great organization and its people.

BLOOD DONATION

Date of BDC camp: 26 May 2010

Venue: Ashok Leyland Technical Centre

My office in conjunction with the Indian Red Cross Society had organized a blood donation camp on 26 May 2010. This is one of the initiatives taken by our social forum KRITI here at Ashok Leyland Technical Centre. Coincidently this is the same date on which the blood donation camp was organized last year.

Blood donation is a noble act and by donating blood we directly or indirectly aid in saving human lives. Hundreds of people throughout the country are in urgent of blood either because they or their relatives have met with an accident or they are undergoing a major surgery or they need a complete transfusion of blood.


Blood banks spread though out the country are doing a wonderful job by storing blood of different blood groups so that in case of an emergency the requirement can be fulfilled. By participating in a blood donation camp one can do his part in taking forward this noble cause.

I along with my Raja, Karthik and Himani were the volunteers for our floor. It was our responsibility to take down names of people willing to donate blood, compile the list and send it across to Jasdeep who is the main head of this campaign. The representatives from the Indian Red Cross society were to arrive by 8:30 hrs and the blood donation camp was supposed to begin by 9:00 hrs. Instead the camp began at 9:40 hrs. It was heartening to see a lot of people coming forward willingly to donate blood. I too did my part in donating blood. This is the third instance in which I am donating blood. Last year I was asked not to donate because I had suffered a typhoid attack in Oct 2008. The minimum gap between any illness and blood donation must be one year.

I feel elated and happy that I donated blood and was a part of this noble campaign. In an office where the total strength exceeds 500 people the response was just satisfactory, around 140 people tuning up for the campaign. The camp was organized in a better way this time and I would say that it was a combined effort from all the volunteers, representatives from the Indian Red Cross Society and our dear helper friends who assisted us in setting up the tables and beds.



A total of 48.3 litres of blood was collected and appreciation certificates distributed. Lots of photographs were taken and we made sure the campaign was organized in a smooth manner. We could have campaigned better by putting up posters at frequently visited places such as the water dispenser, canteen notice board and also the online notice board. This would have roped in more people to donate blood.

India- Challenges towards sustainable development

Sustainability comes from a multi prong approach like (1) Awareness at public and political levels (2) Urban transport and environment (3) Water resources and demand management (4) Risk of climate change- our big cities are all coastal.


India is a multicultural country. There are both urban and rural challenges that need to be overcome for India to maintain its sustainable development. Urbanization is taking a toll on both urban and rural development. Close to 30% of the Indian population is living in urban areas and this number is bound to reach 40-50% in the next twenty years. This means a large population has to be sustained in small pockets of high density areas. Now with more people moving into urban areas India is slowly shifting away from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy. This would mean a severe resource crunch. This would mean cities have to expand and agricultural land has to be given up to meet the basic need of shelter for people. But this again brings us back to square one, a vicious circle, because less agricultural land would mean less produce of agricultural products and a greater burden on India’s exports as far grain and pulses are concerned.

Another area where India might face challenges in the future will be in electricity generation to meet all her industrial and domestic needs. The 123 agreement between India and the United States of America equips India sufficiently with the necessary technical knowhow but keeping in mind the rapid progress that India is making and also taking into account her population size there would be some hurdles in meeting the electricity demands. First of all to go nuclear would entail a huge investment in infrastructure and this would mean cutting down budgets from other areas. Secondly international political issues come into the picture if India uses this nuclear technology for her defense tests because this would mean a termination of the 123 agreement and a complete cut in the supply of nuclear fuel from other nuclear powered countries like France, Australia etc. This would hamper India’s progress and would tend to be one of the major barriers in her sustainable development.

The urban transport in India needs a changeover. Most of the cities are choked with vehicles. With India becoming the preferred location for manufacturing of automobiles by world’s leading auto majors we can only assume that the number of vehicles on road would increase by a tremendous amount in the next twenty years. The need for India is to have a good public transport system that caters to the needs of the common man without hassles. Now more vehicles on the road would mean more pollution and this defeats the sustainable urban development program as far as environment is concerned. The challenge is how to encourage investment in the automobile industry in India and also simultaneously giving thoughtful consideration as to how to cater to the needs of a clean and green environment with such a large number of vehicles on road.

Even though India boasts of a long coast line and many rivers that run through her lands, she would lack in providing sufficient portable drinking water to its citizens. To take advantage of the large quantities of sea water available to us we need the right technology to convert salt water into portable drinking water. This needs sufficient capital investment in setting up of the technology and system, maintaining it and also closely monitoring it. A second solution would be to link all her rivers but this again would encounter local political situations where one state would not allow waters to pass freely to another state.

Sustainable development competes with many deeply entrenched values and therefore progress is slow. With a proper feedback mechanism, which includes monitoring, learning and adaptation we can strive to put in a procedure which aims towards creating a sustainable India. Many of the projects described above either would take a long time to get implemented if the government alone tries to pursue it. More public-private partnerships with foreign direct investment would help in speeding up the process of implementing things.

INDIA'S PUBLIC ROAD TRANSPORT

Public transport in India is largely viewed as poor man's way of travelling from one place to another. Every person wants to own his own vehicle for some reason or the other,some for the ease of travelling at will,some for the sake of pride and others just for pure fun. What  one does not understand is that we are a country of 1 billion people and just the thought of 1 billion vehicles on roads brings the worst fears to minds viz choked roads and streets,crowded parking lots and longer traffic jams.

Public transport if improved could solve many problems wrt vehicular traffic and vehicle management. For public transport to improve we must build our road infrastructure first. Clever design of urban landscape could alleviate most of the traffic problems faced by Indian cities. In short investing and planning out road infrastructure is the first prerequisite for a dedicated and neat public road transport system.

Imagine a city where the main arterial roads have lanes dedicated solely for buses, increased frequency of buses in almost all the routes, good and comfortable buses for the public to travel leisurely and last but the least cheap and affordable public transport. Now tell me who wouldn't want to travel by buses if the above said ideal conditions prevailed. Having dedicated bus lanes ( that means no cars and other vehicles in the bus lanes even when the lanes are empty) would mean that buses wouldn't get stuck in traffic jams, smooth flowing of buses to respective destinations and more importantly increased rider comfort. Only when the public feels comfortable and has an enjoyable experience while travelling in a public transport vehicle,would they continue using that service. In fact increased public transport comfort could lead to more ridership and in turn more revenues for the government.

A host of other services could also contribute to increased public transport ridership viz world class bus stops, which has facilities like real time information about when would the particular bus arrive, automatic ticket vending machine-so that tickets can be bought before boarding itself and one needn't wade through the crowd to get to the conductor to purchase the ticket, telephone booth, a kiosk for nitty gritty things and other services. Designing roads to ensure that every passenger reaches his/her destination or at least close to his destination in less time would lead to increased ridership.

Delhi government has ordered buses from India's top two leading commercial vehicle manufacturers to make public transport a real success. These buses are being made with the highest quality,with features and amenities compared to that of the buses plying in Europe and other developed nations. Delhi is all set for its first set of world class buses.

Under the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission) various state transport units have been allocated funds to purchase buses of whatever kind they feel is most suitable for their city. This is a massive step by the central government to reduce the congestion of vehicles on its roads and would go a long way giving public transport a phenomenal boost. India is slowly being referred to as one of the world super powers but she is still a growing economy. This being so, many of world's leading automobile manufacturers and targeting India with their products,which includes cars,scooters,bikes,trucks and even buses. On one hand this would boost the Indian economy but on the other hand this would mean more vehicles on the road and that means more congestion.

Thus public transport will no doubt be the future of every city but only when infrastructure is simultaneously developed to supplement it. Also interconnectivity between road,rail and water public transport would only add to increased use of public transport by the masses. This would mean that people would use their personal vehicles only when urgently needed, therby reducing congestion on roads and helping their cities to be cleaner and greener.