Summer holidays were approaching and I got busy trying to find an
internship. Last year, I had done my summer training in TATA STEEL and had
enjoyed every bit of it. So I was looking forward to this year with much
enthusiasm. While searching for internships and discussing about it with my friends, I realized that most of them had applied for foreign internships via IAESTE
Student Chapter, Manipal.
The concept of going for a paid foreign internship interested me
and I began the tedious task of going through the list of internships available
and filling out details and writing a CV for each of them. An internship in
Germany had caught my interest and I really began craving for it. Along
with that, I had also applied in Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. After
doing an industrial training last year, I figured that it would be great if I
could do a project in an academic institute.
While I did not get the internship in Germany (it went to my senior, a student who completed 3rd year and will move to 4th year), I soon got an
acceptance mail from IIT-KGP. Delighted, I made preparations for my departure. On
reaching, I was given the task to code the Load Flow Analysis by Gauss-Seidel
Method under Prof. Pabitra Mitra, Dept of Computer Science. I got accommodation in Gokhale Hall (well it was a PG hostel but now is a girls hostel).
To be honest, I was very scared in the beginning. I had not taken
up computer as a subject in school since class 8 and hardly knew all the syntax in C++.
My computer knowledge was limited to the elementary course we had in first year. In addition the the topic I was given was yet to be taught to me in third year. So for
the first couple of weeks, I spent time understanding the concepts of load flow
and finding all the library functions and syntax I required for the program.
After a good 8 weeks of coding and testing with different bus systems, I
finally completed the project and submitted my report.
I was delighted when it was accepted and I was given my
certificate with the prestigious IIT stamp on it.
Dance is something I am passionate about. I got introduced to dance when I moved to Calcutta from USA. I learned Odissi from Ramdhenu Kala Kunj of Padma Vibushan Kelucharan Mohapatra Gharana.
I have danced at various functions at our apartment complex and school functions. In addition I have also performed in MIT at various functions and have been selected to represent my college in the cultural fest.
The certificates of my formal dance education can be seen here.
Below are links of to some of my performance at various locations.
- Saveri Pallavi: In this dance item I tried to communicate through eye movements, body postures & intricate footwork. The dance starts with slow, graceful & lyrical movements of the eyes, neck, torso & feet & slowly blossoms in a crescendo to climax in a fast tempo at the end
- I participated in a short (2+min) movie made by my father where I was the narrator explaining the social impact of Durga Pujo.
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Engineering students enjoy long summer vacations. I wanted to utilize part of the vacation to understand how things actually work at shop floor, see some motors and electrical machinery in stripped condition. Tata Steel is one of the largest integrated steel plant in India and I felt I can best learn from there.
I applied to Tata Steel and was told that all vocational training request need to formally come from Training and Placement division. My request to our T&P resulted to the formal letter from MIT's Training & Placement Department to Tata Steel requesting industrial training for me.
Soon my request was granted and the mail from Tata Steel asked me to visit then on 3rd June.
I was excited. My father continuously harped on the importance of industrial safety. Soon I had my PPE (personal protective equipment) i.e. helmet and safety shoes and goggles ready. With them I transformed from a bookish college student to a macho engineer :)
I was placed under the mentorship of Mr. Arvind Sinha who heads Transmission and Distribution of electrical power in Tata Steel (actually in the city of Jamshedpur as Tata Steel is the authorized electricity provider for the city). He drew out a calendar for me, gave me contact people names in various departments and asked me to learn and report to him every week on the progress. I visited electrical motor repair shop, electrical testing section, power house, Load Dispatch Center. I learned not only about technology, but also on work-flow process and the organization hierarchy and roles and responsibility. These process insights on how a plant allocates work and ensures quality has been my biggest takeaway from Tata Steel.
At the end of my two weeks of training, I had to submit a project report. As a novice engineer (I just completed my first year and have not even started my departmental subjects), I wrote what I saw and what I learned. It was a joyous moment when I learned that my TATA STEEL Summer Training Project Report have been accepted.
A few weeks later I was given a certificate of successful completion of training.
I am grateful to my aunt for her hospitality and hosting me during my stay in Jamshedpur.
