Sunday, July 20, 2025
Friday, July 18, 2025
TRIP TO WHITEFIELD AS A KID
As a kid in middle school the authorities of the school had the
ingenuity to take our class for an excursion to Whitefield, which we kids were
all very excited about. This must be in the sixth standard as Mrs. Grace
accompanied us.The plan was to take the morning train at 9:00AM and return by
the evening train at 4:00PM.
We visited three places , the Alembic glass factory, the Blind
school and the Joy ice-cream factory.It would be worthy to point out that
Bangalore in the 1970,s were full of mini plants largely making steel and a
power intensive sector where many worked in various capacities. Kamani steel,
Kap steel, Andhra Steel, Shivamoni steel to name some on the K R Puram Railway
station to Hope farm road. Whitefield had become a very important residential
hamlet by the early 1900's with many Victorian style houses.
What struck me most as a kid was the Alembic Glass Factory.
Kamlesh Mehtha the son of the owner was a student at our school for some
time.We tiny-tots were treated with courtesy by the factory staff. Alembic
glass factory existed close to the Whitefeild Railway Station. We were amused to
see glass manufacturing. Alembic glass company made glass bottles for the Medical
industry. Large furnaces and procedures that made glass bottles were seen.
In retrospect I think children could be introduced to Industrial
Manufacturing so that at a very formative age they get to appreciate such
things and imbibe them which will shape what they do in the future.
Monday, July 14, 2025
IIM KOZHIKODE
INFERNO (FIRE) IN GRAPHITE INDIA PLANT
I was a witness to a major fire in the GRAPHITE INDIA plant in 1992.Industrial fires are of a major concern around the world as it can create huge economic losses and an extended and un-predictable down time.
Graphite India used to have a Baking unit which bakes charge coming from Extrusion department.It used to be done with furnace oil in pits at a temperature of 800 degrees centigrade. Calcined petroleum coke and pitch are the key ingredients of making graphite which is a by-product of the Petroleum refining industry.
On that afternoon welding was happenning near by and a spark lit the oil largely that was scattered on the ground.The GM of Graphite India was A K JAIN and the Joint General Manager was Kersi KUKA.I used to have good relations with Kersi Kuka.A K Jain was out of town and Mr.Kuka was supervising things and sometimes had the temerity to go close to the fire which was ill-advised.
What ensued later was a very major fire towering above the plant and the fire engines arrived almost two hours later and doused the flames.
There was fire in BPL plant one night during over-time when some spark from some soldering machine lit cotton waste in the corner.
One of the reasons why I am putting these on record is that Indusrial engineers and managers must do everything possible to prevent fires.Sparks from the welding process have created fires at many places.The resonsibility of predicting possible fires and extinguishing them very early is a key aspect of Industrial engineering which would prevent huge losses to all stake holders and prevent organizations from going into a reverse gear.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
DR. K P MOHANDAS AT REC NIT CALICUT
Dr. K P Mohandas served REC of our times and NIT of today for many decades with diligence and distinction.A product of College of Engineering Trichur and later doing advanced education at IIT.He could be easily labelled as one of the few academic experts in the area of Control System Theory of which he was a specialist. I mentioned somewhere earlier that I used to get high grades at the exams in his subjects.I was planning to visit the College of Engineering Trichur but will do so some time soon.COE Trichur is one of the earlier Engineering colleges put up in Kerala.
He had a methodical approach to teaching most of the time bringing notes to the class and progressing through the session in a systematic style and also was an intellectual in his own right.My Father used to share good rapport with him.
If I were to remember some of my teachers in the list would be Mrs. Starry who used used to teach Science at Lowry Memorial School in Bangalore,Mr Chandrashekar who used to teach Sanskrit at Sri Sathya Sai Arts Science and Commerce college in Whitefield and Mr. H K Nagaraj who used to teach Trigonometry and Mr. Hegde who used to teach Physics both of the above at Whitefield.In this list would come two more people Dr. P S Srinivasan who used to teach Induction Machines at REC NIT Calicut and Dr. K P Mohandas who used to teach Control theory at this place.
If there is one thing Professors can learn from him around the world never go into classes without some description or document which pertains to that particular session so that classes can be effective a lesson one can learn from Dr. K P Mohandas.
Thursday, July 3, 2025
SHIVAGANGA HILL NEAR TUMKUR
TUMKUR now called TUMAKURU
is a town towards the north of the city of Bangalore distant by some
sixty kilometers and is an important transit point. Bangalore, Tumakuru and
Shivamogga (Shimoga) are towns in the Deccan Plateu and are not very far
from the Western and Eastern Ghat mountain ranges.Tumkaru is a town which can
be said to be equi-distant from these mountain ranges, the city of
Shivamogga(Shimoga) more closer to the Western Ghat mountain ranges and the
city of Bangalore more closer to the Eastern Ghats than the Western Ghat
ranges.There are many independent mountains and hillocks at various points in
the Deccan Plateau and these hillocks are made of solid rock formations and
resemble the Eastern Ghat ranges.
One such hillock is the
SHIVAGANGA hill on the way to Tumkur from Bangalore; I had visited this place
decades ago and if my memory serves me right a turn towards the left from the
highway It is an independent hillock which has many mythological tales and
anecdotes associated with it.There is a SHIVA temple here within a cave.I did
climb the entire hill. It is an exercise of adventure climbing the hill which
is steep at many places and there are well formed stairs and railings at
various points to make the ascent easier and the view from atop the hill is
breath-taking.
Anyone living in Bangalore during
his younger age must visit this place atleast once and take a climb up the
hill.When you climb the hill take due care not to slip and go about the
exercise with diligence and caution.