Wednesday, December 27, 2023
2023 Report (Second half) : Rejoining the Mainstream
Sunday, November 26, 2023
The story of Nora.
-----Inspired from "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London, and "Dui Paakhi" by Rabindranath Tagore---
One day, during his usual work in the farm, while removing the vegetable foliage; Dean, much to his astonishment, found a new-born lion cub in the heap! It was lying alone, with her mother nowhere in sight. Did her mother wander into the village from the grasslands the night before and had her? Was she born in the grasslands where her mother had fled to, to avoid the hungry tigers in the forest, and then had fled further into the village with the cub in her jaws? Where did she go after that, leaving her new-born alone? Dean wondered. He sat down next to the cub, looking intently at the ball of fur. Shivering in the autumn breeze and whimpering softly, the cub looked cold and famished. Her eyes could barely open. Picking it up from the foliage, Dean brought her the poultry farm and showed her to Alice. Alice was equally astonished. She held it and warmed her in her lap. Dean went around the poultry and the farm looking for the tiger mother's pug marks. There were none. The couple felt sorry for the abandoned baby. How could they leave her alone? They wrapped her in a cloth and brought her home. After cleaning her fur and wiping her tiny face, Dean placed her in a small box of hay to warm her, and Alice gave her milk. Anna circled around the hay as the cub became content and was soon fast asleep. They named her Nora.
Nora the lion cub began growing in the warmth of a home. Anna and Nora played with each other and became friends. Neighbours were amazed at how a lion cub is growing up in a village. Anna, being older, often taught Nora to run up and down the stairs, to bite, to claw up a shrub, to jump over logs of wood, clean her paws and ears. Alice tied beautiful ribbons around their necks. Everyone said, 'Dean and Alice have two children'. Anna was taller than Nora, and often licked Nora's head and pawed her shoulders. When Anna circled around Dean's feet, Nora sat on Alice's lap. Anna sprinted her way around the house, while Nora followed her cautiously. Anna led, Nora followed. Soon, Nora began to walk like Anna, eat like Anna, sleep like Anna, play like Anna. But when Anna mewed, Nora softly growled. Everyone remembered that Nora was a lion.
The next year, Anna had kittens in the corner of the poultry farm. She got busy looking after them. Alice and Dean began tending to her tiny grandchildren, and Nora was instructed to stay away from them. Nora left her busy family and began spending more time in the grasslands, sometimes crossing the brook to reach the forest. She would return home after enjoying a whole day in her natural habitat, getting tanned rolling in the open grasslands, soaking in the brook, or chasing wild buffaloes in the forest. Anna settled down as a familiar house-cat, and became almost disconnected from Nora. The feline friendship withered as their lives diverged.
By now, Nora was an adult lion. She was large enough that Dean could ride her with along with Alice. They had heard of the brook and the forest from Nora, and wished to see it (they knew they were safe with Nora alongside them). Nora was glad to oblige, wanting to take her parents into her own world. The word spread that Dean and Alice would be first in the village to explore the wild north. One day, Nora carried them majestically on her back to the grasslands. Dean and Alice had a long wonderful ride, as the whole village watched. Crossing the grasslands, Nora jumped across the brook into the forest, and brought back fresh honey for Alice and Dean. As they fished in the brook, Nora stood guard from the wild animals. As the sun set, Nora carried them back to the village. The whole neighbourhood had a share of the honey, and toasted the couple for owning a lion.
But back home, once the honey was over, they felt increasingly alienated from Nora. They wanted a cat in her, like Anna. The battle of Nature vs. Nurture had begun long before anyone realised. Alice began losing her temper and telling Nora, "Why cannot you behave like Anna?" She could not accept that Nora was 'bigger' than their house, 'bigger' than their farm, maybe even 'bigger' than the village. As Nora continued her lion ways, Dean knew the futility of trying to tame her. He tried to convince Alice, who reluctantly found solace in turning her attention towards Anna and the kittens. But as Nora became stronger, wilder, and fed herself in the forest, even Dean began getting insecure. Nora was beyond their expectations. He and Alice wanted the grassland rides, the wild games, the salmon from the brook, and the forest goodies through Nora, and the fame of being a lion-owner; but did not want to not pay the price.
Nora loved her foster parents, and wanted to make them happy. She also wanted to 'belong', having known Dean, Alice and Anna as her 'family' since birth. For sometime, she tried to be a Cat. She stopped going to the grasslands. She feigned meekness, stopped growling, ate only when Alice or Dean fed her, did not chase any rooster or dog, and stayed within the confines of the village. She attended to her parents as they worked in the field and in the poultry farm; and in the evening, sat at their feet. Alice and Dean seemed to be at ease. Alice told Anna that Nora was no longer a danger to her kittens. Anna, once again, warmed up to Nora. Staying in the village bored Nora, but she spent time fondling and warming Anna's kittens in the farm hay. She had long conversations with Anna. She told Anna, "I have seen wild cats in the forest, who hunt their prey, climb trees, run in the wild. Don't you want to try that?" Anna said, "I am safe and content in the village. I get food at the right time without moving a paw, and a warm bed to sleep in. I like it this way". Nora said, "The forest is so exciting". Anna said, "I am comfortable in a warm human home". Nora said, "Wild cats snarl at their enemies and chase them". Anna said, "I mew on cue. I please everyone and have no enemies". Nora said, "I cannot growl on cue!" Anna said, "Why don't you learn to mew instead?" Nora rested her case.
The villagers still remained cautious of her, but began treating her somewhat like Anna. They gave her treats, which Nora pretended to enjoy and be thankful for. But as weeks went by, this facade stifled Nora, who longed to return her natural habitat. She had lost her strength and the spark in her eyes. She had forgotten to roar and snarl. Trying to be a Cat was frustrating her. She wanted to sprint in the grasslands, not stroll around the village. She wanted to chase her dinner, not wait to be served. When the villagers petted her like they did the sweet mewing Anna, she nearly wanted to bite their hands! She wanted to be treated as a Lion, which she was. The domestic animals were controlled by their humans. Nora was longing for an unleashed life in the wild. She was determined to be herself. She was no longer sad of losing her foster family : she realised they will love her only if she behaved like a cat.
One night, she tore the ribbon around her neck with her sharp claws, and ran to the North. Crossing the grasslands, when she reached the brook, she panted and heaved a sigh of relief. She plunged into the water and soaked for a while. Rinsing away her past, she rose and looked at the sky. She told herself firmly, "This is my home from now". She began sleeping in the forest at night, and returned to the village only once in a few weeks. She began meeting her own species near the brook : the pride of lions soaked together in the waters and stretched their limbs, grooming each other. She began hunting with the pride, and sharing the game with them. She befriended other lionesses, grooming their cubs. She even had fought with a few lions, scaring them away from the little ones. She moved with them, having found her tribe. Running and fighting made her strength return, and her eyes sparkled in the thrill of it. In no time, she found her own den to settle.
As her returns became fewer and far between, Dean and Alice gave up on Nora. Anna's kittens had grown, and they began spending their evenings with them. One summer, Nora returned for one final goodbye to her foster family and the village; and sprinted majestically to the North; and lived in the forest happily ever after........
Friday, June 30, 2023
2023 Report (First Half): The Final Redemption!
January 2023
First blade of the wind turbine fabricated.
Protocol #1 testing by Gargi Raj and Aritra Sarkar, supervised by PhD Scholar Mr. Triptendu Choudhary, in the Machine Lab, Department of Electrical Engineering.
Protocol #3 testing : by Aritra Sarkar and Smarak Kanjilal.
Nose-cone making starts. Hub plates powder-coated by Steelraj furniture, Ghaghra.
Nacelle assembly begins. All items (main flange, brake, coupling) machined for push-fit on the Main shaft.
Feb 9 : Pluto, my four-legged brother, and our neighborhood mascot, passed away at the age of 16. He had been my companion for over four years. Everyone loved him. People would feed him, care for him, vaccinate him, apply medicines on his wounds, give him water, and much more. But he never took a bath. I used to kept a bowl of water outside my door for him. I used to spend the weekends in the garden with him. Whenever I strolled in the driveway, he was there to give me company. I had built a kennel for him, though he never used it. I had also gotten a winter jacket for him in 2019-2020, though he lost it in a few days. Almost every morning, he would greet me by bowing when I left for work. Every evening, he would be waiting for me to enter the driveway, park my car, and then pet him, saying "Pluto......Good evening Pluto!....How are you Pluto?....You had a good day Pluto?". He often had dinner from me. He would spent the night on my welcome mat. In severe winters, he had sometimes spent the night in my drawing room. He had slowed down in the last 6 months of his life. He had lost some of his teeth and was unable to chew and eat properly. He had then developed a difficult skin disease, causing him to lose his coat. He had also lost a lot of weight, becoming skeletal. It was time for him to leave this world.
Slew drive installation plan by Mr. Sayan Siuli : design and production of steel doughnuts. Bolt procurement.
- Super-synchronous RPM in Incremental Rotary encoder (negative slip of induction machine).
- Negative power consumption (i.e., power production) in tri-vector energy meter.
- Wind power converts to 3-phase electrical power and feeds into the grid.