It was a Monday morning, I hate Mondays coz have to get up at 4 in the morning and catch the morning train to Chengannur. That day was little bit sad too, coz we had to keep the abstract of our main project that week. My team - Ameen, Renjish(yeah, same person my unlucky room mate :-) ) and Jasim. I was worried coz we had decided to do something in GNU/Linux and was in high spirits as we thought we could do something very interesting that has never been implemented and would be a contribution to the open source community. We had a discussion regarding that with Ashok Shenoy and understood the hard fact that within a very short time what we could do was implement some hard disk sensors and all which would be reinventing the wheel not at all impressive. And I saw a damping interest on the faces of others and decided to sacrifice the idea. Surprise!!! A familiar face at the railway station, Anuragettan. I love him for his phlegmatic nature. Always with a winsome smile, not a tinge of senior instinct.He too was on his way to chengannur for the last time, as he passed out and was about to join Infy. I told him about this and in the casual talk he told it would be interesting if you do something in Image Processing.Did that rang a bell??
Talked with Ameen first, it was pouring life into him and could see the hardware man's sparkle on his face. Did a slight research and yo! we got the topic "Realtime Object Detection and Tracking" a device that would track any moving object in front of a webcam with a laser. The most important criteria that I had put forth was the project's output should be interesting. Ameen was happy coz that involved some hardware and Jasim coz of his prowess in Image Processing which he had proved well in the 7th sem Computer Graphics Lab.
Next what? We have to decide the language. I suggested Python, to overcome my earlier failure that i faced in getting my team members approval on the platform . Didnt have the answer why python. I thought we cud learn a new language and didnt think of the vast no: of steps that we studied in software engineering. Absolutely unscientific! We submitted the abstract. Voila! we got the green signal.
Thanks to orkut! Accidentally somehow i got in touch with our first batch passout cecian - Ranjith. He is working in US. And i discussed the feasibility of doing the project in python. It was that man who incarnated our dreams into reality. Helped us in the most difficult times when the wheel of our cart was stuck in the slums.He asked why I selected python. I was really ashamed of my unthoughtful act and he told the selection of a language for a project is like selecting a tool for the right work which ill never forget in my life. Its like using a chisel to drive the nail. Now we have a solid rock on which we can stand. We choose Visual C++. Didn't know even 1 command of Visual C++. Just have heard the name. He consoled and suggested reading the book Charles Petzold and yeah that was the turning point of our project.
Ameen and renjish started working on the hardware and Jasim n me on the software. Each day went and we submitted the weekly reports, interim reports ,rough reports in time... My next room we had Prasanth, Electroniks legend of CEC. Cant forget the advises he and Sreejith gave in getting the hardware part done. We got the servo motors needed for the gadget from Mumbai. Ranjithettan called us over phone many times from US.. He supported us very much, god knows how much his telephone bill came up to .. he he
And at the end of all sleepless nights, we got a black cutie and the buzzing sounds of the motors were euphony to our ears.....Gods grace our flight didn't crash land and was worth the risk :-) And when Ranjithettan came to Kerala last month we showed him the project and was pretty impressed.. The next day we sold our project, our blood n sweat... :-) And the only left over, the confidence that would last a lifetime. One of the most interesting academic experience of B.Tech, Can never forget!
Very boring right? I know, but cant help it! :-) Lots of memories flowing out this midnight!! Omg!!! its 2AM , My GRE preparations!!!!!!
