B to the T to the P .... BTP

(Earnest request to all readers: Please believe in what follows, so that there is at least one forum where people are convinced that I have indeed worked for the BTP, and feel relieved)

Necessary Definitions:
1. BTP - Acronym for B.Tech Project (though there are many alternative expansions for the same). It is supposed to be a chance for students in their final year to apply stuff that they have learned as an undergraduate, in their final year. (The author wishes not to comment on what kind of a 'chance' it is, what 'students' do, what kind of 'stuff' and how to 'apply', and (for some) ... 'final' year ? )

At the very outset, let me remark that there has been few occasions when one single thing has troubled me for almost one whole week, and I have been at it for really long hours with no results. That, combined with the fact that the deadlines are drawing close, and an apprehended suspicion that I have not worked at all for my BTP, is what finally almost drove me crazy today ... and the only escapade I could think of was to write about the situation here. Ergo ... here it is.

My project is on the Hydrodynamics of High Speed Catamarans (for the uninitiated, its about the fast moving two hulled boats that you must have seen in movies and on TV). When I got my project, I was told that I would need to do a lot of literature survey as High Speed vessels was a relatively newer area of research. I was also told about the major tasks that I will need to perform as a part of my project. I did the survey, got a couple of papers, and two books which provided me with exactly what I needed. "Bingo!!", I said to myself. Alas! only if I knew what was to come.
Having gone through the entire thing, I got a better idea of the work, and when I went and spoke to my guide as well, I thought I had a fair idea of the project. Then came my first presentation, by which time I had only just started working -- so not much to show apart from my survey and groundwork. I was able to put in a good presentation with that itself.
By the second presentation, which was almost over a month later, I had to show results. I had worked on whatever scheme I had figured out, and got a huge amount of data from a series of simulation runs in a software called SEAWAY. It took me three days of back-breaking work to compile and analyze this data, and prepare my presentation. It was then that things started getting different.
During my presentation, the faculty on the panel asked me some questions, and surprisingly for me, I found myself struggling with the answers. It was then that I realized that I was not quite on the right track, and somehow my guide did not realize it earlier as well, so even he had not interfered and clarified my misconception.

Let me now be a bit more specific.
For my project there are primarily three parts--
1. For the ship geometry and the velocity given, ind out the equilibrium trim angle.
2. For this trim angle and also for no trim state, run the corresponding motion simulations in SEAWAY ( a software package).
3. For this trim and also for no trim, compute the resistance using cfd techniques in FLUENT (a cfd analysis package).

I was goddamn clear on the 2nd and 3rd, and did not realize the 1st step's necessity. Turns out that was the starting point, and I had been doing without it :)

Once again, even after this realization, life was no easier because Mr. Murphy rules everywhere.
I started working hard on developing iterative procedures (using the MATLAB package), and tried running the CFD runs without any trim angle. Since then, till date, none of my computer simulations or programs have yielded the correct results.
1. In a polynomial with positive roots, upon substituting positive numbers, I am getting complex numbers -- and I can't figure out why the hell.
2. Fluent just refused to run the simulation on my computer, stating some 'Memory allocation error' (for which I tried a lot changing the settings of my comp .. but ... Mr. Murphy is the man)
3. Finally today afternoon, Fluent worked on one of my friend's computer, and guess what ... the solutions are diverging.
4. Meanwhile, tired with the more involved and complex iterative procedure, I tried a simpler one, which btw was done in a book in form of equations. After following exactly the same sequence of steps, I still am not able to match my results.
5. Unless I get the trim angle my Fluent simulations won't run, my meshing of geometry will not happen, and my SEAWAY simulations won't run. And unless I figure out what's wrong with my iterative procedure, I can't get the trim angle. So ... clearly I am in a "sli situation".

I have tried hard, and tomorrow I am going to meet my guide and tell him all of this, albeit in a greater detail. I can only hope that his comments help me get through the problem. However, that can only happen if he does believe that I have done substantial amount of work. In case he doesn't, then ... well , I dunno :)

So much for now ... much more of BTP stuff will be up sometime soon.

P.S: Any person reading this, and having any word of advice or expertise on Matlab/Fluent, please leave a comment, so that I have one more person to seek suggestions from.

When Saarang Happened .....

It took a rainy day with very little left to do, and the completion of another Lit-Soc event for the semester, to come up with this post on one of the biggest things to have happened in my life – named Saarang. With the knowledge that it’s long overdue and also that even though one can never forget the experiences, some details might go off here and there, let’s just get to looking into one of the better organized versions of the mega event.

When you are a Core group member for an event that involves over 60 lacs of money, over 8000 people, and celebrities and media presence, it goes without saying that your life will not be peaceful even by the farthest stretch of imagination. Handling over 40 events, workshops, lectures, and demonstrations – there were times when it just felt as if the sky will fall on your head any moment now. The mobile phone just did not stop ringing, and at times I felt like crushing it with a road-roller – even though the prospect of answering calls of unknown numbers and getting cute voices from the fairer half talk to you (even request you for stuff) is not to be forgotten. There were meetings, lots of them, and at times we ended up talking so much that when finally it was all over it felt as if our jaws still retained some inertia, and ‘not talking’ seemed to be such an anomaly. All in all, it was a brilliant realization of what ‘slogging your asses off’ really meant – and we use it so trivially for whatever level of work we put into something J

Personally, this Saarang was a different thing altogether for me. On the run up to the four days of festivities, I was not quite happy – because all my plans of performing with my band in my last Saarang just fell apart at the last moment. I was sad – so sad that when I first came to realize that it’s not happening, I cried. However, the excitement and tension of the approaching four-day-festivities made me forget all about the sadness. We tried out many new things this year, and the prospect of whether they will be a success or a failure, kept us occupied to a great extent.

This Saarang I also happened to see how a couple of ideas can change an event of such a big scale in a radical manner. It was our primary objective to integrate aspects of Indian culture and arts into our events, and when the idea of ‘Saarang Village’ came up, in a very rudimentary form, we took it up without any hesitation at all. In about a month’s time, the entire idea was shaped up to as much detail as possible, and turned out to be the biggest success at Saarang ’08. It was an instance where I saw how the dedication and enthusiasm of a small group, and their will to do something different, transformed a plain and simple idea into a full fledged, successful project.

Hmmm… enough about organization I guess … let me now think of all the things good and bad happening in the four days … (highly personal, but for some, might make a good read :P )

1. Day one, watching the band Udaan perform for LM Groups -- Saarang Light Music contests are legendary, and this band from Madras Christian College just set the standards higher with their melodious own compositions. Good music always comes way up on my list, and listening to these guys sing really made my day.

2. Sanjeev Kapoor on ’30 things to eat before you die’ – I felt so proud to have been able to organize the lecture, and give the Saarang people about 80 mins of looking at mouthwatering dishes from all across the country, and know about their nitty-gritties.

3. Soundarya Rajnikanth’s lecture – this is really one unforgettable experience -- the car stopping, the lady coming out from the car, my hands going forward to greet her and welcome her to Saarang, and people around me (including myself) just looking at her. The ICSR Main Audi was erupting, with whistles, and ‘ooh’ s and ‘aah’s all round the hall.

4. LM solo on day 3 and 4 – sentimental values, as this was the only event in which I could participate, taking some time out of the core chores. Five mins of practice, a mild cold, and a minor hitch to attend to just before my performance – I still managed to get into the finals! In the finals again, I did both of my songs without any lapses whatsoever (something I feel was interesting because the cold had worsened overnight).

5. Lucky Ali and Karthik – There was a time when I used to worship Lucky Ali, and there I was standing and posing for pics with him. Karthik, on the other hand, is the reason why I got into listening tamil songs after saarang. The core train on stage, the flutist in Ali’s band, the renditions of ‘Pehla Nasha’ and ‘Parde me rehne do’ by Karthik and his troupe, the ‘mobile swaying spectacle’ in OAT – it was all nothing short of an indelible impression.

6. IIT M team winning choreo – I guess the statement is self explanatory. With an event that big, every college puts in months of effort to crack it. I saw the team putting in enormous amount of hard work, and to watch it all pay off was something different in itself.

7. (Many people claim that this is false but this really happened) Before the LM solo performance, a girl from a renowned Chennai college came up to me and said that I sing very well. As I had not yet gone up on the dias, I was a bit surprised, and I told her that I haven’t yet gone in. Then she said that she remembers me from last saarang, remembers my performance at last Saarang. (I guess I need not say that it made my day)

8. Prestorika pulling off ‘Fear of The Dark’ – to say that the O.A.T almost exploded will be no understatement whatsoever. I for one went crazy when they pulled off a small gig by leaving the stage and making a re-entry to play Maiden.

There will surely be many more such moments which at the moment I fail to recollect. However, at the end of the last pro-show, when we were sitting on the O.A.T stage, and looking at the empty galleries all around, it felt brilliant. I would go to any lengths to recollect and savor that moment once again. The countless phone calls, the night-outs, the discussions and meetings, confused cords coming up to you and asking stupid questions out of nervousness, all the core team fights and bickering, those brilliant moments of the day, realizing whatever you did not want to happen have happened, realizing thereafter that the situation has been set right by some way or the other, realizing that you are jumping to the tunes of a popular hindi number with a girl you’ve never met before, watching the quietest of chaps head bang to Metallica and Maiden, staring mesmerized at the crowd that has gathered to watch the show you’ve worked hard to organize, standing in the middle of a mismanaged crowd in a small corridor and wondering why the hell did you take this job up, getting criticized, getting shouted at, thereafter watching others support you as they shout back for you – it goes on and on.

As I had told in an interview with an ET reporter (my one and only media mention btw :D ), if someone is really close to you, you want everything happening to him/her to be good, to be grand—and for all of the organizers, Saarang was that special someone in our lives. And boy we put in some effort to make it grand eh ! :D