Day 5 of Study Tour- Bangalore

Bangalore- The garden city was our last stop before we left for home. I woke up and walked to a hotel nearby for the breakfast. I had the best masala dosa so far. The bus came by from the other hotel and we put our luggage and all in it. We stopped at Lal Bagh. You cant leave bangalore without visiting Lal Bagh can you? Everyone who's been to Bangalore have been there. Some really old trees and green houses and a lake are the main attractions

In the picture shown to the right, there's something really interesting happening in the direction where my thumb is pointing. Yup, you guessed it.

                                                                     
There was also this old tree fossil which is about 20 million years old(shown left). We walked around some more before finally coming back to the bus. After two hours in traffic we finally came to a street full of shops. Lunch was from KFC and the girls went on  a shopping spree. I bought a small jute bag for my sister and some sweets. By 5:00 pm we got back on the bus and headed home. We should have reached the college by 10 am the next morning but as we found out, things dont always go as planned. We stopped for dinner at a hotel inside a gas station and after which i met my uncle by the roadside as previously arranged. He had a package of flowers that he wanted me to give to a church to be used in the holy mass the next evening. Everything was going according to plan until 5:30 am in the morning. We had reached Thrissur. The roads were so bad and there was a small bridge that had to crossed, in view of the risk, the vehicles were restricted resulting in a very long queue. In other words we were stuck. And it was hell. Nothing to do except sit on the bus waiting for the line to move. Moreover it was a rural area with only some small teashops and makeshift restaurants. We were going mad inside the bus. My uncle had also gifted me with  a box full of sweets for the whole group,which we ate and we waited. We got some chappatis from a small hotel and after some 5 hours of waiting we finally got moving. And i reached home by 10:00 pm 12 hours late,than planned.

The long wait to get moving....

Even this tiny snag at the very end could not dull our spirits. Because of what happened, i am sure we will all never forget this particular journey and our experiences. We can forever cherish these memories and reminisce them long after we've gone our separate ways...



THE END.

Day 4 of Study Tour- Wonderla

We said goodbye to Mysore and moved on towards Bangalore, cause the 4th day of our study tour is at an amusement park called Wonderla. I wasn't feeling so good that day and moreover i'm not too fond of amusement parks, so i decided to walk around the whole place with James and Harish. It is owned and run by V- Guard Industries. And its their second amusement park,after Veegaland (now renamed as Wonderla) in Cochin. If you have ever been to Veegaland at Cochin, then this one in Bangalore will surely be a disappointment for you. Its not as exciting as Veegaland. And the number of visitors were so low, that most of the rides were shut down. Too bad we have to waste a whole day in this place. But what can one do when majority rules. Anyway i walked around and took some snaps, ate a pizza and simply watched people who paid to get themselves scared. Come to think about it, arent we paying thes guys to make us scared and cause an adrenaline rush? Anyway here's some pics.

After this rather uneventful day, we left for Bangalore and went to a hotel called Grand Regency Inn. Now, the only thing grand about this place is the filth. I've seen worse so it wasn't much of a shock. But for a few of the light hearted people among us it was quite unbearable. So after dinner and an hour or so of heated discussion with the hotel manager, our tour coordinator Arun decided to find a new hotel for the girls alone. So he left with them while most of us opted to stay back. It was almost 10:30 pm and Binu and I decided to go for a walk. We walked past many intersections, a flyover, a petrol pump and we kept on walking until we came across two policemen. We decided to walk past them. But as we reached them, they stopped and asked us where we were going. I told him I was looking for a tea shop. He then wanted to know whether i was here on business.He went on taking some more in Kannada. I told him we were from Kerala and we didnt know his language. He then switched to Tamil. And Binu was like "Enikku koncham tamil theriyum". As if he had been waiting to hear this, the other policaman started speaking endlessly in tamil by the end of which Binu had to correct his earlier statement to:"I dont know Tamil". Soon enough we all switched back to english and i asked him whether it was ok for us to walk some more. But he told us that there were "bad people, people with knives, they take you purse and phone,so you go back to your hotel". Ok no problem, we said goodbye and walked all the way back to the not so Grand Regency Inn, which was closed!

 By this time Arun called Binu and told him that he was at a hotel called Taj and asked us to come there if we could. Yeah whatever, so we walk towards the other side(the way opposite to that we just came from). After  walking for a long time, we reach a dark,deserted road full of dogs.There's not a single person on the roads, except for animals, yeah, cats,dogs, mice and cows. Suddenly all those dogs(about 10, i didnt have the time to count)began to growl and they chased a cow away. I smelled trouble, Binu was skeptic and wanted to go forward. Soon these dogs turned at us, they started growling and barking at us. Not a single person anywhere. "Time to go" he said and that was what i have been waiting to hear. We turn back and walk away discreetly, but the dogs started to follow, we increased our speed, which they did too and before we could start running we saw a security guard in front of a hotel who wasn't there when we passed through earlier. We called out to him(actually it was more of a wail). On seeing another person somehow those things backed off. We decided it was enough for a day and headed back to the hotel. Since it was closed we thought we'd spend the night outside the hotel. But again, you wouldn't believe it,the dogs were back and this time, we could chase them away. We banged at the door and still no one opened it, there was a guy sleeping in the lobby, we couldn't wake him up. So we called James, who was asleep inside and brought him down to wake up the sleeping dude who had the keys and opened the door...

We went to the room and slept, knowing that we were this close to being mauled by dogs...

Tomorrow is the last day of this tour.......

(to be cont'd)......

                                  

Day 3 of Study tour- Mysore Part II

After Chamundi Hills we came back to the city, for our industrial visit at Kaynes Technologies. After lunch, we had an extra 2 hours before thing at Kaynes. So we decided to go see the zoo. Yup you heard it right, the ZOO. Personally i dont like the idea of locking up animals in cages and fences and you pay money to see them. I do feel sorry for them, especially he birds. We can understand their sad plight only if our freedom was taken away. So i walked around looking at these sad fellows and occasionally i tell them i'm sorry and that there's nothing i can do, to help them. I tried not to take too many photos, because i somewhat felt that is was wrong to do so. Isn't it bad enough that they're in cages?? Why annoy them with my lens?
So here's some of the pictures that my classmates took.

We leave the zoo pretty quickly, to get to Kaynes. It seems like a pretty big company.As already instructed, you have to wear shirts and pants, anyone with jeans isn't allowed inside. So is anyone without and ID card. So a few among the group cant enter, and a few chose not to enter at all. You aren't allowed to take your camera or phones inside.We wait for half an hour inside the gates. Soon one of the staff comes over and instructs us to form 2 groups.She then assigned us both two guides, who will explain to us the various stuff thats going on there. The lady assigned to us was a Keralite. She led us to a big building were we took off our footwear,whereas the other group went off to another building.She started by giving a brief introduction about the firm. Kaynes was established in 1988 as an electronic contract manufacturing company. It is based in the United States and in Europe. Their main works include PCB assembling and transformer core assembly. She told us that they had lot of certificates, it was such a  long list that i cant remember even one of those. And thy're not into consumer electronics,i.e they never meet the end customer.

So their manufacturing method is mainly of two types and the products will be a combination of the two

1. Surface Mount Technology

2. Through Hole.

And the following steps are involved in SURFACE MOUNT TECHNOLOGY :

a.) Screen printing                              c.) Reflow Soldering

b.) Pick n' place                                 d.) AOI(Automatic Optical Inspection)

e.)VMS (Video Microscopic Inspection )

THROUGH HOLE ASSEMBLY has the following processes associated with it:

a.) Forming Bend Leads at 90 degrees    

b.) Stuffing components on board

c.) LQC (Line Quality Check)

d.) Wave soldering

      Here these guys use a machine called 8035 PCS to perform wave soldering. Wave soldering has 4 main steps involved 

                   1. Applying Flux

                   2. Preheater

                   3. Solder Bath

                   4. Cooler

e.)Cleaning (done using Isopropyl alcohol)

f.)Manual Inspection/Touch up etc

g.)FCI (Final Component Inspection)

In-circuit testing is optional.

The next section is CLEARANCE: 

 The products manufactured here find applications in Railway signalling and Automobiles. There is an area under ROHS(Restriction of hazardous substances). A lot of people are busy soldering and our tour guide tells us that this particular room is free of lead and other chemicals that are hazardous. There is also a machine which can simulate environmental conditions to test and measure performance of products under actual conditions and compare it with expected levels of performance.(This is a soaking room for railway signal devices). They also perform an OQC (Outward Quality Check).

The next area is where transformers are manufactures. Its an assembly line, with four people each of them doing one of the following tasks:

• Bobbin Winding: where the coil is wound around a bobbin.
• Core insertion
• Terminal Insertion
• Gluing

In another section all finished products are tested after assembly.
So our whole tour of Kaynes Technologies was over in around in 90 minutes and we headed out towards 

Brindavan Gardens.

It was almost 6:15 when we arrived at the gardens. The fading light was inadequate to capture vibrant colors of the garden,especially those of the flowers. But still we had some good snaps and a very nice walk around the place. There's nothing much to see except for a lot of fountains and gardens, and......nope,nothing but more fountains and gardens....and a big dam!

A thousand lights...

The twilight soon turned into dusk and the lights beneath the fountains were turned on, which caused the scenery to turn from black and white to a color picture.

We leave Brindavan after watching the musical fountain and on our way back to the hotel we stop for dinner. Back at the hotel, there was a party, if you know what i mean. And Anand got a bit carried away, if you want to know the details I suggest you ask Dayal,who was on the receiving end of this. Good gracious lord, i'll never forget what he did.After the party we all slept and tomorrow we go to Wonderla, an amusement park.

(to be continued........)

  

Day 3 of Study Tour- Mysore Part I

We were all in deep sleep when our 'tour coordinator' Arun woke us up by banging on the door.He came by to make sure that we were up and ready on time, in fact he woke up everyone on that floor.Had this been an alarm, you could have just turned it off,but here, the only way to get rid of him was to open the door. Again we got ready and today is the day of our Industrial Visit. We have to carry our ID cards, and wear pants and shirts to enter the industry, you cant enter if you're wearing Jeans and /or T-Shirts...hmm seems pretty uptight to me..whatever, if they want pants and shirts,then pants and shirts is what they'll get.

St.Philomena's Cathedral, Mysore

Our first stop however is St. Philomena's Church. The last time I was in Mysore was when I was studying in 11th Standard. We came to Mysore and Bangalore for a 3 day tour from our school. And of course i have been to this church. It's mind blowing. All the detail and care that has gone into the making of this church is pretty hard to digest. As for me, it is the biggest church in terms of size, and the best in terms of architectural beauty that i have ever seen. (And I've seen my share of churches.) I am not an expert on architectural styles, but i do think that this one is built based on the famous Gothic style.

It has stained glass paintings and the aisle is wide enough for two rows of benches. His highness Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone in 1933 and it was completed in 1941. the twin spires are 175 ft high. The structure produces a looming effect. And its pretty hard to get the whole thing in a single frame. It's dedicated to St. Philomena and it also has her relic, which is kept under the altar. 

The underground catacomb.

 You can see the holy remains by taking the stairs which start in front of the altar and goes down to a room, where it is kept for worship. This room leads to an underground catacomb.It seems that a lot,i mean a lot of people have been buried here. This chamber is like a narrow corridor which leads out to the church grounds.Its a very beautiful church and its a spot not to be missed if you're ever visiting Mysore.
After a group photograph in front of the church we went to a nearby hotel for breakfast.

ABOVE: Some demon guy(with his disciples?)
RIGHT: The temple>>

Our next stop was at Chamundi Hills. The way up there was breathtaking. As you're going up this winding road along the hill, stretching out far,even beyond the horizon, Mysore is feast for your eyes.Even with the rain clouds floating above it, the city seems to give you a sense of pure bliss. Too bad we have only one day here. I heard that there's a thousand steps leading to the top, but since we're short on time we go to the top via the bus route. There's this pretty little temple and a statue of this big guy with a sword and, must be some asura(demon). Sorry,my knowledge in Hinduism and its stories is limited. Anyway theres also this huge statue of a bull, which is called Nandi, the mount of Shiva.

Soon it started to rain and we ran for cover, my camera almost got wet and while i was wiping my lens clean i saw some monkeys trying to find cover from the rain. Click! and this is what i got. >

There's also this small alley which has got small shops on either side of it. Harish wanted to buy something for a certain somebody who couldnt make it to the tour. And I bought two small caps for my twin cousin sisters. Arun bought a ladies bag for our Head of Department, Mrs Ananda Resmi.

The many shops on the way back..

                   (to be cont'd.....)

Day 2 of Study Tour- Coorg Part II

Ok, so it was another waterfall, and quite a big one too. The main attraction of Irupu falls is its fall height and the fact that its located inside the wildlife sanctuary. Getting there is quite hard and so is going back as we found out. The roads were so narrow and winding with hairpin curves,that we lost a considerable amount of time. And being a  Sunday most of the restaurants were closed.So that meant no lunch for us. After some agonizing hours in the bus(during which i found out that i had a leech on my foot) we reached a town in Coorg. By now it was almost 4:30 pm and we ran to the nearest hotel.

The gates of the Nunnery

Our next stop was at NYINGMAPA NUNNERY a monastery for Buddhist monks. It was quite a wonderful place, with all the gardens,huge bells, gongs and sculptures, and monks with shaven heads walking around in saffron colored robes.....The gate to the nunnery looks like this(right >>>)

The main entrance....

 The main entrance has got a huge photograph of some monk (must be some important guy..like a Lama?!) placed on top of a structure which has a wheel on the background.They have many buildings inside the monastery, like prayer rooms, hostel/boarding for the kids(i.e the young monks), a school for them and many more.To the left of this main entrance there's this huge prayer hall which is decorated with statues of small guardian lions on the steps. These steps lead towards three doors, the one in the center considerably larger than the other two. Inside this prayer hall we can see three large statues of Buddha.There's also some large benches put across the length of the hall which reminded me of the main hall at Hogwarts.Its a really sacred place for them and so around 6:30 the monks asked us politely to leave as it was time for their evening prayer.

Here's how the inside of this prayer hall looks like.....

The prayer hall

Oh i almost forgot about the paintings,yup the main highlight of this place was the intricate yet colorful and attractive paintings.Each of them were different from one another and we had no idea what they meant. So i decided to get one of the monks to explain the paintings to us. And in order for this to work i had to use Harish, because i cant speak or understand Hindi very well and those monks knew only Hindi. 

Lundup and Sange....

We met two monks Lundup and Sange, from Bhutan, who were kind enough to explain to us the different paintings, and even more patient enough to answer all our stupid questions.We would tell our various queries in Malayalam to Harish who would in turn convey these to Lundup and Sange.They explained to us a lot about the four guardians of the four cardinal directions, about the various levels of hell and other stuff.Before leaving we asked for a photo together and they were only too happy to oblige...

Crash course in Buddhism.... 

7:45 pm and we are going back from this monastery. Harish had with him a Cadbury Rum and Raisins, which disappeared '   ' just like that,as soon as the wrapping was removed. And i found out that rum can also be eaten! Anand Raj, Harish and i thought seriously about joining the Buddhist Monastery, hell why not? Free food, schooling and accommodation and a life of peace..ah..yes! Harish seemed all pepped up and  a bit more eager that the boht of us. He might go through with it.......

The road ahead leads to Mysore where our third day will be spent. But before that we'll have to stop for dinner. By the highway there were two hotels, Highway 18 and Hotel Monarch. Very few chose Highway 18. The majority of us the latter. The food in both the hotels were comparable, but there was a tiny problem with the Monarch, which we overlooked. We became aware of this small detail when the bill came. It was a three star hotel and they charged us about Rs.1200 as service tax. Oops...!

Anyway we check into a hotel and again my roommates are Pai, Binu, Akhil, and Biju.... Tomorrow also have an Industrial Visit, almost forgot about that part. Funny cause isnt that the reason why we have this (Study) tour?