from HaaRoNa Baa.. to TEAM STRATOS (Part #02)
Now that the team was finalized and all was set to start up with this, it was time to work towards realizing our dream of being the first team from BMSCE representing the college and partly our country in an international arena. And what was more exiting was the fact that it was a SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers)organized event.
We now had no place to work. God only knows how much we have toiled in and out of our college principal's chamber (esp: Nishanth) requesting for his permission to grant some space were we could work. We had even identified a space which was not often used. But all that we got for having requested for some positives was a straight forward rejection, humiliation in front of other board members who were in some discussion with him all the time. It was not like ‘all our dreams are shattered’. To lift the little hope we had, aki's parents came forward to help us. Aki's room was granted to us to be used as our workshop. The whole team is so grateful for this. Now hari said, dude come what may, on 28th APRIL Team STRATOS must be in TEXAS flying its model. And now we set off.
At this stage we knew that, a normal practice was and is the usage of BALSA wood for building such radio controlled aircraft models. We had no choice but to blindly accept this fact, even though there was questioning before we took the decision. The main reason for this was that we had started late. But the good thing was that we knew it and we paced our work accordingly. It was no nonsense from here on. The decisions on many variable parameters had to be taken quickly. It was more of a race behind time. This sometime irked all of us. We all had the guilty that we were not doing justice to proper aerodynamics and structures. Most of our decisions were based on intuitions, just hoping that it will turn out positive. But our main focus and our only mantra was that, we have started it and we have to end it. The main focus being on just completing the aircraft model, we had a major set-back. It was always there though. Fund crunch!
We approached an aerospace company (manufacturing) called RAJAHAMSA. We had a lot of hope on them. But our proposal was rejected. Out of the four sponsorship brochures we had made, these guys took away one. I and hari wanted to get it back. But, how, you just cannot go and ask them to give it back. We just came back sad for not being able to strike a deal with the company and also we were angry that he took away the brochure. We had sent around 120 mails across to different companies both in the public sector and the private sector. Waiting for their reply simply made us lose hope. So we started calling them directly. Not so surprisingly our calls were too rejected.
Meanwhile the fabrication work was also going on in full force. With a desktop for designing and a laptop for NFS the work was proceeding smoothly. Now that we were rejected by most of the companies, we started pooling in money from our own pockets. We were short in time. And all our actions were out of force and not by choice. We are all so grateful to our parents. If not for them filling our pockets, the work would have stopped. And that would have been the end. I even today am amazed at the confidence and belief they have in us. Because it was an investment with no physical returns and it was an investment on a proposal which had no forecast on the end result. We were not sure of building a model which flies successfully in the first place itself. But our parents had it in them. And there you go, chucking the thought of getting any help from college, we started to work full time at our workshop. Thanks to aki's granny for we were so well taken care that we were given a tomato-ginger juice as soon as we entered. Then there was lunch. Then it was tea time with snacks. Then there was dinner and to top it all, a brilliant MTR GUDBUD. This was our diet every day. And people in and around us then, thought that we were working so hard that we were not eating properly. Dude c’mon! It was more than any normal diet! It so happened as the project progressed that I was waiting for the juice, snacks and tea to come.
Materials were bought. And we had to give it a shape, a proper one. It demanded more time than what we expected to. So there was a minor change in our routine. Get up at 7'o clock. College was at 8. Finish classes at 2. Reach aki's place (our workshop) at 2:30. Have some brilliant food, which I and hari enjoyed a lot. And a little session prior to lunch was the perfect family drama scene where the young blood in the family wants to eat burgers at McD while the older ones want them to eat the food which has been prepared all for them. Amruth was the young blood in our case with aki providing support. While, skanda had decided to have his food in his house. The work used to start at around 3'o clock in the evening and it was non-stop till 9 in the late evening. With the 'poets of the fall' playing in the background we had little sense on what was going on around us. It was us, our plane under construction and 'poets of the fall'. Aki's mother had to call us all so patiently for dinner until we responded for the sixth or the seventh time. I felt quite embarrassed at this. But we were completely lost in our work. I have felt sorry for making them wait at many such instances. Anyway, we were sitting for dinner at around 10 in the night. Dinner was served and the desert too. MTR GUDBUD in the varandah at 11 in the night was ultimate. It was then back to work. We worked from 11:00-11:30 in the night till 1:30 in the morning. Then we would call it a day. Hari dropped me off at my place every day. I felt so bad when I had to wake either my father or my brother up at 1:30 in the morning and make them open gates for me. But I had no choice, absolutely no choice. This was our routine which started from the first week of March. If this was not followed, we knew for sure that we could not make it to TEXAS on APRIL 26th.
As the days passed by, we had UTSAV, our college annual cultural fest. Famous as the best fest in the city hosting the best fashion show among all colleges, the college offered a different feeler altogether. But the good news was that it continued for three days and the fact that there will be no classes during the fest added hope. It was during APRIL 1, 2 and 3. By this time about 40% of the project was completed. Engine and the transmitter were bought, as specified by the rules of the event.
We were quite excited about the pace in our progress and somewhere somehow our dream of going to TEXAS started to grow strong. And now was another set-back, passports. With only amruth being the official citizen of INIDA, he was the only person among us eligible for making a journey abroad. The good thing was that though hari and akilesh had applied for their passports in February itself. Hoping to receive it in about 45 days, the situation would have been far more comfortable. But it did not happen so. It was now April 1 and still they don't have their passport in hand. I, skanda and nishanth were on ground zero at that time. I decided to apply through the TATKAAL Scheme. Skanda and Nishanth decided to approach an agent to get the work done. So i applied for it on APRIL 1 and i got the passport on APRIL 8th. Fantastic! But skanda's and nishanth's passport got delayed and they could not get it at the right time. On April 9th amruth, who had by that time fixed his US VISA interview, took me to the HDFC bank to complete all the initial procedures in payment of cash for applying for an interview. And the interview dates were flickering a lot and we were scared of not getting one. At last i managed to get one on the same date on which amruth had rescheduled his, so that we could go together to Chennai for the interview. We then booked the train, Chair car class! And interestingly we happened to meet a lady working for HP in the train. Her name was Sandhya. We had a long discussion. And we did thank her as she managed to get us into an auto and reach the Palm Grove Hotel were the room for both of us were booked. Sad thing was that he was rejected the VISA and i got it, for the same reasoning. I thought i should make one variability study on this. It is so random. It is more like a lottery. Anyway, he did apply later and got the B1/B2 visa for 10 years! Lucky chap! I was given a 6 months multiple entry VISA. Then hari and akilesh got their passport after they converted it to TATKAAl. Finally! A big sigh of relief! They got their VISA interview dates and also their VISA. Meanwhile the tickets were booked. It took away Rs 76000/- from each of our pockets. It would have been around 40000 if we had booked early. But we going itself was uncertain and so we didn't feel bad. Especially with the volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano shutting down airspace across Europe, it was not easy to get tickets. Finally we got tickets in the QATAR AIRWAYS, which flies to HOUSTON with a stopover at DOHA. Cool! But the problem was aki, hari and amruth had not received their VISA's yet, which will be couriered from the US Embassy at Chennai through Blue Dart Services.
The flight was on APRIL 26th morning 2 am. And these guys got their VISA's on 25th evening. It was quite a tense moment for all of us. In the background of all these events, the work on the aircraft was not stopped as to complete the fabrication of the aircraft was our top priority. Aki and hari did stay back working through the whole night of 24th April. But starting the work from the morning of 23rd I left to home on 24th night. I just couldn't stay back working over nights continuously. They had done some serious work there that night. Back home i was belted for not coming home as i had not packed anything for the trip, which was even at that point was quite uncertain. On 25th April evening came some brilliant news! Thanks to my father (M.S Subramanya) and the principal of Union Bank of India Staff college (Ravi Menon); it was due to these two that we got a sponsorship of Rs 3 lacks! Now the uncertainty in the trip was not to be found. And the long lasting set-back in funds was not anymore to stay. Our project estimate was Rs 5 lacks. We were happy that 60% of our costs are being covered, from someone else's pocket. It was from UNION BANK OF INDIA one of the leading public sector banks!
Now that we were all set to make the trip, it was not to be so. There was this problem of shipping our model. The 3 meter wing was completed on 23rd APRIL and we decided to air lift it on 26th through FedEx. The wing itself took away Rs 96000 from our account. It was necessary as we couldn't ship it, as it would have taken a minimum of 20 days to reach the destination and then there is this problem of clearing the customs. Anyway we got it booked through BRV Logistics Company to. These guys took over the rest and the wing was sent. Thank god! Now the wing has been sent. While it was flying over the pacific, we were completing the minor details on the aircraft! And the rest other parts we decided to carry it with ourselves on the plane, not being sure whether the airport personnel will allow it or not. Anyway we were all set now. Thanks to my parents and my brother for they packed my luggage. I should appreciate my brother's creativity in writing secret codes of some important information which would have been of great help to me, during emergency!
It was 26th of APRIL. I was excited! Thought of me going international was just amazing! To add to this we got a free lunch offered by our very own, quite a strict faculty advisor Dr K J Rathan Raj (Dept of Industrial Engineering and Management) and a completely chilled out C K Chandra Babu (Dept of Mechanincal Engineering) at KAMATH BUGLE ROCK HOTEL. I will cherish this moment for my lifetime! For sure! I really felt honored! I was, after this, expecting more to come by my way, all positive though. After all the greetings from my relatives and friends and other lecturers in college, it was time to move. With my parents and my brother I left to the airport at 11 pm. And so did akilesh, hari and amruth. It was a fine meeting of us 4 students and our parents there. Handshakes and hugs all around. The positive energy and the warmth that flew around that day gave us tremendous confidence. I cannot forget the hug my mother gave that day and a kiss on my cheeks. I did not feel embarrassed for it actually, that too in front of my friends. I was eagerly waiting for it! And I always will no matter who is around! Anyway it was time for us to go. Yipeeeeeee! After clearing all the airport international departure procedures, there we were, four of us sitting in the QATAR AIRWAYS Airbus A320, waiting for its departure to DOHA.
More on our participation in the aero design event and on our quest in America... coming up shortly! Wait maaDi please...
We now had no place to work. God only knows how much we have toiled in and out of our college principal's chamber (esp: Nishanth) requesting for his permission to grant some space were we could work. We had even identified a space which was not often used. But all that we got for having requested for some positives was a straight forward rejection, humiliation in front of other board members who were in some discussion with him all the time. It was not like ‘all our dreams are shattered’. To lift the little hope we had, aki's parents came forward to help us. Aki's room was granted to us to be used as our workshop. The whole team is so grateful for this. Now hari said, dude come what may, on 28th APRIL Team STRATOS must be in TEXAS flying its model. And now we set off.
At this stage we knew that, a normal practice was and is the usage of BALSA wood for building such radio controlled aircraft models. We had no choice but to blindly accept this fact, even though there was questioning before we took the decision. The main reason for this was that we had started late. But the good thing was that we knew it and we paced our work accordingly. It was no nonsense from here on. The decisions on many variable parameters had to be taken quickly. It was more of a race behind time. This sometime irked all of us. We all had the guilty that we were not doing justice to proper aerodynamics and structures. Most of our decisions were based on intuitions, just hoping that it will turn out positive. But our main focus and our only mantra was that, we have started it and we have to end it. The main focus being on just completing the aircraft model, we had a major set-back. It was always there though. Fund crunch!
We approached an aerospace company (manufacturing) called RAJAHAMSA. We had a lot of hope on them. But our proposal was rejected. Out of the four sponsorship brochures we had made, these guys took away one. I and hari wanted to get it back. But, how, you just cannot go and ask them to give it back. We just came back sad for not being able to strike a deal with the company and also we were angry that he took away the brochure. We had sent around 120 mails across to different companies both in the public sector and the private sector. Waiting for their reply simply made us lose hope. So we started calling them directly. Not so surprisingly our calls were too rejected.
Meanwhile the fabrication work was also going on in full force. With a desktop for designing and a laptop for NFS the work was proceeding smoothly. Now that we were rejected by most of the companies, we started pooling in money from our own pockets. We were short in time. And all our actions were out of force and not by choice. We are all so grateful to our parents. If not for them filling our pockets, the work would have stopped. And that would have been the end. I even today am amazed at the confidence and belief they have in us. Because it was an investment with no physical returns and it was an investment on a proposal which had no forecast on the end result. We were not sure of building a model which flies successfully in the first place itself. But our parents had it in them. And there you go, chucking the thought of getting any help from college, we started to work full time at our workshop. Thanks to aki's granny for we were so well taken care that we were given a tomato-ginger juice as soon as we entered. Then there was lunch. Then it was tea time with snacks. Then there was dinner and to top it all, a brilliant MTR GUDBUD. This was our diet every day. And people in and around us then, thought that we were working so hard that we were not eating properly. Dude c’mon! It was more than any normal diet! It so happened as the project progressed that I was waiting for the juice, snacks and tea to come.
Materials were bought. And we had to give it a shape, a proper one. It demanded more time than what we expected to. So there was a minor change in our routine. Get up at 7'o clock. College was at 8. Finish classes at 2. Reach aki's place (our workshop) at 2:30. Have some brilliant food, which I and hari enjoyed a lot. And a little session prior to lunch was the perfect family drama scene where the young blood in the family wants to eat burgers at McD while the older ones want them to eat the food which has been prepared all for them. Amruth was the young blood in our case with aki providing support. While, skanda had decided to have his food in his house. The work used to start at around 3'o clock in the evening and it was non-stop till 9 in the late evening. With the 'poets of the fall' playing in the background we had little sense on what was going on around us. It was us, our plane under construction and 'poets of the fall'. Aki's mother had to call us all so patiently for dinner until we responded for the sixth or the seventh time. I felt quite embarrassed at this. But we were completely lost in our work. I have felt sorry for making them wait at many such instances. Anyway, we were sitting for dinner at around 10 in the night. Dinner was served and the desert too. MTR GUDBUD in the varandah at 11 in the night was ultimate. It was then back to work. We worked from 11:00-11:30 in the night till 1:30 in the morning. Then we would call it a day. Hari dropped me off at my place every day. I felt so bad when I had to wake either my father or my brother up at 1:30 in the morning and make them open gates for me. But I had no choice, absolutely no choice. This was our routine which started from the first week of March. If this was not followed, we knew for sure that we could not make it to TEXAS on APRIL 26th.
As the days passed by, we had UTSAV, our college annual cultural fest. Famous as the best fest in the city hosting the best fashion show among all colleges, the college offered a different feeler altogether. But the good news was that it continued for three days and the fact that there will be no classes during the fest added hope. It was during APRIL 1, 2 and 3. By this time about 40% of the project was completed. Engine and the transmitter were bought, as specified by the rules of the event.
We were quite excited about the pace in our progress and somewhere somehow our dream of going to TEXAS started to grow strong. And now was another set-back, passports. With only amruth being the official citizen of INIDA, he was the only person among us eligible for making a journey abroad. The good thing was that though hari and akilesh had applied for their passports in February itself. Hoping to receive it in about 45 days, the situation would have been far more comfortable. But it did not happen so. It was now April 1 and still they don't have their passport in hand. I, skanda and nishanth were on ground zero at that time. I decided to apply through the TATKAAL Scheme. Skanda and Nishanth decided to approach an agent to get the work done. So i applied for it on APRIL 1 and i got the passport on APRIL 8th. Fantastic! But skanda's and nishanth's passport got delayed and they could not get it at the right time. On April 9th amruth, who had by that time fixed his US VISA interview, took me to the HDFC bank to complete all the initial procedures in payment of cash for applying for an interview. And the interview dates were flickering a lot and we were scared of not getting one. At last i managed to get one on the same date on which amruth had rescheduled his, so that we could go together to Chennai for the interview. We then booked the train, Chair car class! And interestingly we happened to meet a lady working for HP in the train. Her name was Sandhya. We had a long discussion. And we did thank her as she managed to get us into an auto and reach the Palm Grove Hotel were the room for both of us were booked. Sad thing was that he was rejected the VISA and i got it, for the same reasoning. I thought i should make one variability study on this. It is so random. It is more like a lottery. Anyway, he did apply later and got the B1/B2 visa for 10 years! Lucky chap! I was given a 6 months multiple entry VISA. Then hari and akilesh got their passport after they converted it to TATKAAl. Finally! A big sigh of relief! They got their VISA interview dates and also their VISA. Meanwhile the tickets were booked. It took away Rs 76000/- from each of our pockets. It would have been around 40000 if we had booked early. But we going itself was uncertain and so we didn't feel bad. Especially with the volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano shutting down airspace across Europe, it was not easy to get tickets. Finally we got tickets in the QATAR AIRWAYS, which flies to HOUSTON with a stopover at DOHA. Cool! But the problem was aki, hari and amruth had not received their VISA's yet, which will be couriered from the US Embassy at Chennai through Blue Dart Services.
The flight was on APRIL 26th morning 2 am. And these guys got their VISA's on 25th evening. It was quite a tense moment for all of us. In the background of all these events, the work on the aircraft was not stopped as to complete the fabrication of the aircraft was our top priority. Aki and hari did stay back working through the whole night of 24th April. But starting the work from the morning of 23rd I left to home on 24th night. I just couldn't stay back working over nights continuously. They had done some serious work there that night. Back home i was belted for not coming home as i had not packed anything for the trip, which was even at that point was quite uncertain. On 25th April evening came some brilliant news! Thanks to my father (M.S Subramanya) and the principal of Union Bank of India Staff college (Ravi Menon); it was due to these two that we got a sponsorship of Rs 3 lacks! Now the uncertainty in the trip was not to be found. And the long lasting set-back in funds was not anymore to stay. Our project estimate was Rs 5 lacks. We were happy that 60% of our costs are being covered, from someone else's pocket. It was from UNION BANK OF INDIA one of the leading public sector banks!
Now that we were all set to make the trip, it was not to be so. There was this problem of shipping our model. The 3 meter wing was completed on 23rd APRIL and we decided to air lift it on 26th through FedEx. The wing itself took away Rs 96000 from our account. It was necessary as we couldn't ship it, as it would have taken a minimum of 20 days to reach the destination and then there is this problem of clearing the customs. Anyway we got it booked through BRV Logistics Company to. These guys took over the rest and the wing was sent. Thank god! Now the wing has been sent. While it was flying over the pacific, we were completing the minor details on the aircraft! And the rest other parts we decided to carry it with ourselves on the plane, not being sure whether the airport personnel will allow it or not. Anyway we were all set now. Thanks to my parents and my brother for they packed my luggage. I should appreciate my brother's creativity in writing secret codes of some important information which would have been of great help to me, during emergency!
It was 26th of APRIL. I was excited! Thought of me going international was just amazing! To add to this we got a free lunch offered by our very own, quite a strict faculty advisor Dr K J Rathan Raj (Dept of Industrial Engineering and Management) and a completely chilled out C K Chandra Babu (Dept of Mechanincal Engineering) at KAMATH BUGLE ROCK HOTEL. I will cherish this moment for my lifetime! For sure! I really felt honored! I was, after this, expecting more to come by my way, all positive though. After all the greetings from my relatives and friends and other lecturers in college, it was time to move. With my parents and my brother I left to the airport at 11 pm. And so did akilesh, hari and amruth. It was a fine meeting of us 4 students and our parents there. Handshakes and hugs all around. The positive energy and the warmth that flew around that day gave us tremendous confidence. I cannot forget the hug my mother gave that day and a kiss on my cheeks. I did not feel embarrassed for it actually, that too in front of my friends. I was eagerly waiting for it! And I always will no matter who is around! Anyway it was time for us to go. Yipeeeeeee! After clearing all the airport international departure procedures, there we were, four of us sitting in the QATAR AIRWAYS Airbus A320, waiting for its departure to DOHA.
More on our participation in the aero design event and on our quest in America... coming up shortly! Wait maaDi please...
Comments
1) Design a winner next year.
2} More people following your exploration.
Thanks for the mentioning mystery codes. ;)
you're welcome.
All the best.