Thursday, February 27, 2020

Monday, February 24, 2020

I VISIT NIT CALICUT FEW MONTHS BACK

I decided to visit NIT REC CALICUT a few months back.It is much more than a decade i had been there and I decided to make a sudden trip just out of the blue getting a very rear sleeper berth in one of the sleeper coaches that is permitted to transgress the Bandipur forests in the night.All other buses in the night take the Manantavady route.

I was filled with nostalgia riding the bus from the modern Kozhikode Calicut bus station and much of the stretch looks the same and and alighting at the college bus stand and remembering my father who brought me to this place at the first instance decades ago. I went into the canteen and then decided to take a stroll through the Campus though it was fairly late in the evening.The Canteen is very much the same only that it is self service now. No Damu And Radha..I enquired about Damu who used to help us in the canteen and was told he is in the middleeast.

Much of the areas are fortified now with security personnel at every step and I had to introduce myself at the entrance and was let in.There is no liaises fare here anymore. The place now looks very much like a mini IIT. The football ground on the left has given way for buildings and there are many new buildings adjacent to the road.

When I entered the main building I could see the vision and Mission statement. They were written and framed in small letters. Before I came to this place I got myself photographed by one of the present students and the photograph can be seen here. I hope the MISSION AND VISION STATEMENT OF REC NIT IS MORE PROMINENTLY PAINTED IN MUCH BIGGER FONT ON THIS WALL so that people could appreciate it better.

I then went about thinking of having a cup of tea at our MC but to my horror and astonishment I found none of the present students have heard the name MC.Only later I had to digest the fact that the MC has been done away with in the present scheme of things and a more austere looking bulding called the Student corner or something. I had some cool drinks in the student corner thereafter spending some time with the Steward of the D hostel and visiting my room in the D hostel where I slept for nearly an year and a half. as a student.I was told Dhanya talkies in Kettangal has stopped functioning.

Then I came into the C hostel.In the C , B and A hostels an additional annexe has been built.It seemed to me a marvellous civil engineering idea.Annexe is not behind the hostel but attatched to the front of the earlier hostel.This scheme should have created larger hostel capacity.

On the way back I went to the canteen again and had some fried rice and happenned to chat with three present day girl students whom I just happened to meet.One of them from Talap in Cannanore and the other from Trissur.

Thus ended my short visit to this place where I spent many formative years of my life.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

HENRY FORD

MY EXPERIENCE IN ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE

I had fortunately some hands-on experience in Electrical Maintenance in Graphite India.Mr A K Jain used to be the GM,Mr K M I Bhat incharge of the Electrical section and Mr. G N N Rao the plant engineer Electrical.Mr. Mohan Rai was in-charge of Mechanical maintenance. I was interviewed by Mr. G N N Rao.Since my basic degree was in Electrical Engineering this place was very apt for me as I understood by and large the Electrical Engineering component very well.Mr.Narayan Vellampil used to be incharge of Energy conservation.

GI or Graphite India as it is known  is one of the few plants that directly gets 66KV into the plant from one of the substations which is stepped down to 11 KV by two independant transformers and the 11KV stepped down to 440volts by another four Power Transformers.,I used to be associated with the Motor room and there were various kinds of motors operating in the plant which needed re-winding.The Engineering fraternity were ably supported by a team of Electricians and fitters and I take pride in handling some of these staff very well in day to day breakdown issues.

Two key situations come to my mind which taught me lasting lessons.First was a constant tripping on the 440 volt side of a 11KV to 440V step down transformer. It tripped suddenly one morning and no one had a clue why it was happening. We struggled with this for nearly two days first changing the cables from the transformer to the Breaker and resetting the relay settings after which the problem ceased. Much later when I was heading the Computer section for few years a similar problem was hapenning in the UPS room and my earlier experience in this field came handy and I asked the staff incharge to reset the relay.

Another crisis came upon some time later when the transformer oil of the 66KV transformer had to be changed.After the oil change when the system was being charged an alarm bell was ringing.This went on for many hours.Mr GNN Rao and myself we were pouring through all circuits to ascertain the cause but later almost into the night we reset the bell and the system could be  charged. Such simple trappings could create crisis in maintenance .

Thursday, February 13, 2020

PREM VATHORE AT NIT REC CALICUT

PREM used to be my senior at REC Calicut I think by one year.He was a tall Man with sharp and frightening looks.He used to frighten us when we were freshers with his menacing approach and mannerisms.

But later I used to get along well with him.He used to be my neighbour in the top floor of the C hostel and I used to run into him almost everyday.

But an incident still lingers in my mind in the D hostel I think where we used to stay later.Both of us were playing cricket in the corridor and one of my shots hit one of the tube lights shattering it. Both of us ran into our rooms in panic.Later the Warden appears to have discussed the matter with Prem. I remember Prem calling me out of the class room and telling me some small fine has been imposed on both of us which we landed up paying.I still remember what he told me.Accept that we did it first. Dont dispute it at all. I did so and got out of any further crisis.

Prem where-ever you are you might remember this incident and how we solved it.