Badminton, sirs, project . .

There's an event I missed out for Feb/March. Towards the end of February, Sandeep, a dear friend of mine, had suggested conducting one more badminton tournament, a big one, doubles, with all 52 of us participating, and stuff. I politely backed out citing no sincere urge to conduct. Oh, just in case you didn't follow, it was I who'd conducted the first badminton (singles) tournament, Route 9's Championship for my class, S5 ME, October-November 2007. It was a big hit and I soon followed it up with another one, the NBA vs VBA tournament (doubles), but that turned out to be a source of conflict, though not of a serious nature. I helped out Sandeep, who teamed up with Swaroop as tournament - co-ordinators, to formulate the conduct of the tournament, which he had given great hype to. This tournament did turn out to be the only tournament conducted for the class wherein maximum participation was recorded. I think 48 of us played in the tournament. That's no small achievement. In March, when we got the tournament underway, and the schedules of the matches all set, we figured we'll have completed by April-end or May, more or less comfortably. But it didn't turn out to be. The Mech Open 2008, the tournament's title, also got another tag, that of being the only badminton tournament probably the world has heard of that lasted nine months. The final was conducted only in November 2008. But anyway, it was a fun filled event for all of us, and an opportunity for some great bonding.

Academically, two special highlights of the sixth semester also turned out to be opposites, in a way. The first subject of the sixth semester was Heat and Mass Transfer. It was taught by a newcomer, Rajesh sir. This was a core subject and was taught in a manner up til then we were not subjected to. It was fresh and also an exciting prospect to be in his class. His teaching was truly effective. The other subject was Design of Machine Elements-I, taught by Srikanth sir. Let's just put his teaching as purely non-effective. It had an impact that amounted to nothing. But he was a fun guy. Wait . . . totally forgot. Mr Venkatesh sir! How could I?? Mr. Venkatesh sir joined the Mechanical faculty end-Jan and hit it off on a quite a note. His ways were also certainly different. Never had we been subjected to a sir as sincere and extremely passionate about teaching and interacting with students. It blew us off then, and amazes me even now. He is indeed a dedicated person, but it's just that we didn't appreciate it sufficiently and grew increasingly intolerant of his ways. He taught me four subjects from my sixth sem to the eighth sem. Quite a ride!

April was also the time when I kept getting info on higher study options abroad from my folks and also form education-fairs I had been visiting. It soon became obvious that most agencies focus on almost every destination other than the US. Very few of them have links in the US. Also, visa is a hurdle they can do nothing about. 

Early April, the College Day was celebrated - a day wherein students come forward to present colorful programs, like songs, dance, and other creativities. Before the programs got into full swing, Sahal (a dear friend and classmate) and I happened to meet our principal standing outside his room. We spoke about quite a number of topics. I used this opportunity to seek his guidance on our project, which up till then we had made zero progress on. And O, I had already asked Jones (another pal of mine) and Sahal to join me for the project; it's a group activity. Raju Sir, the principal, brought out the name of a prospective newcomer to the Mechanical faculty of our college. This was Brigadier Jose, who had then just completed his assignments with the Army and was on the verge of accepting the exciting opportunity to become our HOD, or so i remember Raju Sir claim. That was also when he was asked to take up the position of GM (Admin.) of Brahmos AeroSpace Thiruvananthapuram Limited (BATL). Raju Sir, if I'm right, was an associate of Brigadier Jose. He asked us to contact him and see if he will help us out, in getting an opportunity to do a project at BATL. That was BIG news for us.

Did just as was told. Got BATL's number and called, asked for Brigadier Jose, and was connected. TRUE BASS. FORMALness personified. It gave you the creeps. But any way, got down to the introduction and that Raju Sir asked that we contact him, and the like; and also more importantly, the project. He was very kind and patiently heard me present the need. He asked for some time, as being new to the organisation, he just didn't want to do anything hastily. Two phonecalls later, green signal! We were asked to get a letter from college. It took some time. But the letter was obtained and delivered. I did it myself. Things looked set, like as though we're on a smooth cruise or somethin. He had also got us a guide who'll help us out with the project. We hadn't met till then. Our meeting took place in May 2008 (I guess so).

Towards the end of April, I believe, the end of sixth sem, we were presented the plans for our eight sem project. I remember Venkatesh Sir asking that the class be divided into groups of max 5. Projects could also be individual activity. But nobody decided to do go for that. Group formations occured rather swiftly and my group had just three - Jones, myself, and Sahal. There were a handful of guys in the class who hadn't gotten themselves into any group. Rajesh 32 (aka MGR, another classmate, but certainly unlike anybody else, in his mannerisms) was constantly pressurizing us to take him in. I just wasn't game for the idea. There were two reasons: we were asked to keep the number to preferrably three and max four by Jose Sir himself. 32 was not somebody we would want to do project with. He lived away from where the three of us were and didn't seem academically oriented. But then, his persuassion got us to agree to his inclusion. Besides, if anything, I took this as an opportunity to know him, and try to effect a change, a good one, in him. Close association with guys like us can bring about desirable qualities, or at least should have. It would have been quite a highlight in this venture.

Tha badminton matches progressed well. Thowfeeq (a good friend and classmate) and I formed a pair. We did rather well to progress to round-2, where our opponents were certainly dominant. We gave it all we had. It was great fun playing those days and certainly a joy playing with Thowfeeq.