ElectroMagnetic Engine

"A small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind"
Those were the words I remembered when my lone attempt to publicize my dream-project fetched me the maximum result. Being an eco-freak, my quest for developing an alternate energy powered vehicle dates back to last millennium. I was in 4th grade when I designed a logo for my company named GPSN ( Ganga-Pavanesh-Sharada-Narayanan). I don't remember where the word "Ganga" came from, but I considered (still consider) Ganga as the sacred river and lifeline for many people. And the other 3 names - mine, my mom`s and my dad`s. But I didn`t stop with the company thing. My first decent idea: a compressed air powered car, got designed soon.
I still remember the day. I was in 7th grade and it was the chemistry hour. A sudden spark ignited my mind, giving birth to my first creation. I was so happy that I wanted to run about shouting "eureka eureka...." :-) I made a large diagram of my creation so that I can show it to the friends and relatives who came to my house. But my hopes of developing it died out when one of my cousins told that it would be too under powered to be used in a car. But do you want to know how feasible my idea was? Last year I was surprised and shocked to see in the pages of The Hindu : CAT or compressed air technology to power the future cars ( being co-developed by TATA motors ). I felt like shouting "Oh my god"! I told the news to everyone around me but their reactions.......... they were like.... listening to some kind of ordinary news and they went back to their work as if nothing significant happened. (either their interest on the subject was too shallow or probably I expected a bit too much).
Anyway, two or three years later I again struck gold. This time a method more organized and with better design ( by the time I had some idea about how engines work). That was the birth of EMBE(electromagnetic-buoyant engine) utilizing electromagnets and buyant forces to power the engine.
The idea remained dormant, except for some drawings of car model featuring GPSN-EMBE tag on it ( later changed to banc-EMBE, banc for Baarath Automobile Nirman Company, name changed because I somehow started disliking the old one), until Mr Mofi suddenly called me and invited me for a paper presentation. I was initially vague about such presentation; but his persuasion and encouragement to present a paper helped me to get over the "inertia"(many other friends have invited me earlier for doing papers but they couldn`t succeed making me to get over my inertia). The idea, locked in archives for the past 5 years or so, was given a new lease of life. With more knowledge, I changed EMBE to EME.
I discussed about my idea with one of my lecturers, who immediately gave a positive response. But there was one big hurdle. My design meant magnetizing and demagnetizing the core a lot of times per second. But another flash of idea struck me. This time in the micro controller class( I was so charged up that couldn`t stop myself telling it to my friend sitting nearby-the same old eureka feeling- and I was sent out for talking in the class!!!)
Finally we presented it and ours was selected as the best paper!!

Taste the Thunder

Last week i went to Chennai to take part in some culturals. Though we dint taste success(which we should have?!?), we had the chance to experience one of the best bus travel ever made. The recently introduced AC buses MTC :- the Volvo B7R -8400 low-floor bus. It made us feel the effect of traveling in any foreign transport system.

The floor is really low and rises at the rear(where the euro III 290 hp, 7-liter, 6-cylinder, diesel engine is mounted with a top speed of 121 kmph!).More than this it the first bus to have true bus chassis (in India). Surprisingly the bus has automatic gears-it does not even have the gear nob, just 3 buttons : one for forward, one for reverse and the other for neutral!!!(its surprising cos it is bus so it must have low mileage, still lower because it an AC bus and a automatic gear would further reduce the mileage!!!). Anyway it still feels great. The automatic gear and combined with the 290hp engine give the bus a car-like-drive feel(great pick-up). And the air suspensions complements the powerful engine to give a great feel.

With 18 rs of min ticket fare it might be on costlier side, but for long intercity travel especially after a "long working day" , it is more than worth the money you pay. Travel in it and "get VOLVOfied"( to put in our college terms).

World of Misnomers

An 8-year old kid in the heart of urbs prima of India searching for a correct word. There were 3 different spelling used in the locality :XEROX, ZEROX, ZEROH(the last one used by one shops in a slum area).He dint ask anyone ,rather he wanted to find it out all by himself(as he usually does). After analyzing various possibility he thought it would be ZEROX(as it was how the word was pronounced).

Few years later i find that none of them meant what it was supposed to mean . The correct spell ling was XEROX but it was not the actual word after all. The word photocopy has been completely replaced by the word XEROX. In fact most ppl don't even understand if we use the word photocopy. XEROX was probably one of the 1st companies to introduce the photocopying machine. But before the word photocopy became famous, the company`s name became famous. That is why ppl started calling it a XEROX machine rather than a photocopying machine. The word is so famous that some local dealers advertise like this
"10% off on HP xerox machines" or "with every CANNON xerox machine get 5MP digicam free!"
In India Parle argo`s "Kaccha Mango Bite" candy ran a tagline claiming "Kacche Aam Ka Xerox" which means "Xerox of the raw mango". The tag was later modified to "Kacche Aam Ka Copy", which means "Copy of the Raw Mango." Many dictionaries mention the use of "xerox" as a verb!!

XEROX is not the only company to have done it. JCB is another common misnomer. And it worse than the previous one. In India 99% of ppl refer to it as JCB(because JCB sells 2 out of 3 backhoes sold in India!). And the term is so popular that one of my friend said JCB is actually "jammer cum bulldozer"!!(Oh my god). JCB stands fo Joseph Cyril Bamford ,who founded this company which produces distinctive yellow-and-black-coloured excavators. The actual term "backhoe loader" is used very rarely.

Some of the commonly used misnomers are :
BISLERI for packed drinking water(Bisleri is a product of Parle Agro ltd)
METADOR for travel van(Metador is a product of Bajaj Tempoo ltd)
TEMPOO for Light commercial vehicle(Tempoo originates from the company name Bajaj-Tempoo ltd)
JEEP for off-road/police vehicle(Jeep is an american company belonging to Chrysler group)
cable channels were earlier called as SUN TV in many parts of Tamil nadu.
VOLVO BUS for Luxury buses in India
AIRBUS for any luxury buses(Airbus is a European aircraft company)
PARKER PEN for any costly pen
CADBURY for chocolates
i-POD for music player with display
WALKMAN for audio cassette player(Walkman is a trademark Sony corp.,Japan)
DISCMAN for CD Player(discman is a trademark Sony corp.,Japan)
and so on.....