My first meeting with my father-in-law

One morning after visiting the shop floor for the routine work of followup us I was just reaching my table, the Tool Room superintendent Mr. Tiwari called me to his cabin working me whether I write my sirname as Chaturvedi, my answer was afermative Chaubey has become short form of Chaturvedi. He told me that somebody wanted to met me in the canteen manager Mr. Soman's office taking permision from Mr. Ghatwai I went to Mr. Soman's cabin a bald gentleman was sitting opposite to him after exchanging the greetings with "Palagan" (A well established way of greetings in Mathur Chaturvedees) We now talked about each other originis and family background for a while then I excused myself to work. In the evening my friend Shriniwas from the personnel office me ' yar Dilip ye canteen manager teri salary aur qualification ke bare mein kyon phooch raha tha". That queshion gave me small hint that may be that gentleman had some marriage proposal. Continued in next blog

The Projects Carried Out as Planning Engineer and the Award Received From Mr. Kroll

I was working as Asst Engineer in the Heat Treatment and Surface Treatment Planning. My senior colleague Mr. V.V. Ghatwal mainly concentrated on the Heat Treatment part of the planning as he was diploma in Metallurgy I concentrated on the Surface Treatment as it required good number of machines on mechanized infrastructure.I introduced three major Mechanical Infrastructure in the Surface Treatments, one was Glydetle errocted Line enacted by Canning Mitra Pheonix (CMP). This was a structure constituting open chemical tanks in which a rolling bonel loaded with the nozzles after heat treatment was taken by mechanized shifting this was the process carried out to clean the nozzle full from the heat treatment salt before sending it to further process. The third machine was Ultra Sonic Cleaning Machine erected by Grower and wail India Ltd a fabrication Industry from Mumbai. This was also a cleaning machine to clean the nozzle after the lapping operation. Lapping is an operation carried out with the help of a paste on a surface to get the required fineness. The award winning project was of cutting down timing in the hardness checking process on the nozzle seat of the nozzle holder Initially in this process the inspector used to check each nozzle holder on a simple Rockwell hardness testing machine and this used to take approximately one minutes time which we as team of Do If Right Compain brought down to 10 second i.e. approximately one sixth of the time required earlier this process improvement gave us the award which was received by me along with Mr. Joshi the Heat Treatment shop foreman from Mr. H F Kroll Our General Manager. German gentleman Continued in next blog

The Three year of Bachelor hood at Nasik

We were three Musketeers Mhendra Khandekar and Devendra Mehta and to co relate it with the latest movies of Amir Khan Three Idiots living in Sana lodge of Mr Abhyankar it was a wonderful life getting up around 6 in the morning go for a cup of tea in the morning go for a cup of tea in the nearly hotel or prepare at the room get ready to go to the company we all three Together catch hold of the bus from Ravivar Karanjaa 7 am reach to the company by 7:30-35 and if time allowed go to canteen for cup (steel tumbler) of tea with some snacks and just in time of about 7:42-43 reach to the work table see the diary for the day for The days of work and get on with the day. In the first year as Graduate Trainee Engineer I worked with materials department after completion of the work sampling in the Industrial Engineering. This job asked for co-ordination between materials department, the tool room and the work shop primarily to keep track of the work order placed by different planning engineers on tool room to cater the need of their corresponding production shops. Though not very interesting as a job an engineer would have loved to do in the start of the career but I did well and delivered what It was expected by Mr. B.V. Kudwa the then materials department having the designation of AVE After the first year training with the materials department I was given job of Asst Engineer planning department to work along with Shri V.V. Ghatwal for planning of Heat Treatment and Surface Treatment Initially I was bit surprised that what a Mechanical Engineer would do in Heat Treatment Planning That time I remember a saying that time I remember a saying rather definition of an engineer our design professor Mr. Jaini told us in the College which holds good of any engineer any where in the world.
“An Engineer Is Not Skilled Enough to Be a Craftsman He is Not clever Enough to be a Manager He is Not Learned Enough To Be a Scientist An Engineer is Required To Be Blamed For short Comings of Scientific Procedures and Methods.
Today also I feel that which working as an L.P.G. distributor for last thirty years the definition hold good for me.

My First Day at Nasik and The first Day at Job

I reached Nasik early in the morning by the famous Calcutta Mail on the 1st May 1976. I had found about a lodge, which provided accommodation to working bachelors. It was ‘Sarai’Lodge in the Gole Colony of Nasik owned by one Mr Patwardhan. That was an old banglow converted in to the lodge with the help of partitions I was provided a shared accommodation on the back side of the banglow probably originally meant for servants the owner. This was on twin sharing basis and my room mated was one Mr Giri a Foreman in MICO. There were some more employees of MICO in the same lodge I clearly remember name of a Gujarathi gentleman named Chavda. I stayed in that lodge for a day only as Chavda introduced me to two gentlemen Mr D K Mehta and M M Khandekar who had joined MICO couple of months back as a Graduate Trainee Engineers like me. They were living in a different loge it was “Sana” loge named so by its owner Mr Abhyankar after some African word, there again I was given accommodation on the first day on the backside of the loge on twin sharing basis later on I came to room adjacent to Mehta and Khandekar in the front. I was in room no 1 of the ten rooms in that old styled banglow. Next day along with Mehta and Khandekar I reported to the personnel department of the company. I was directed to report to Mr P N Patankar incharge of Industrial Engineering in the planning department I was also introduced to one Mr K Janardan incharge of Nozzles process Planning Initially. I was given a task of carrying on work sampling in the maintenance. Shop workers work sampling is a kind survey carried out to determine the percentage utilization of man or machine. I had read about work sampling in the subject of Industrial Engineering in the final year but this was a practical on the job. I found about the small library in the factory got me issued couple of books on Industrial Engineering to study the process of work sampling on the same day I was issued couple of white aprons by the stores.
In the evening along with Mehta and Khandekar I went to the Narottam Bhuwan centorium. It was a sort of mess run by a Gujrathi family in Panchwati area of Nasik and they prepared very homely food. This place become our permanent joint for evening meals before marriage
Continued in next blog.

The Written Test and Interviews after Engineering and Job with MICO

Between July 1975 and May 1976i.e. passing the engineering and joining MICO. I faced two Service Selection Board one at Varanasi for the Air Force and the other at Allahabad for Army. Apart from these two written test one for Indian Oil Corporation at Kharagpur (West Bengal)and the other for Oil and Natural Gas Commission. I did not quality for Air Force at Vaeanasi and Allahabad Army selection was not accepted in the family. I passed in the written test of Indian Oil Corporation the interview was conducted at their Prabhadevi office of IOC, where I visit in connection of over pressure testing work today. I was not successful in the Oil and Natural Gas commission written test Once I went for an interview to Gajra Gear Dewas where I was selected but the salary offered was very poor. Meanwhile I was called for interview by MICO also and I was given the appointment the very same day I faced the interview. Before coming for the interview I was not fully aware of the company’s profile but after seeing the factory and its premises I accepted the offer to join them after a month time. The time I asked for was the making arrangement for accommodation and getting answer from IOC about Interview results ultimately on 2nd May 1976 I joined MICO as my first and the last job. Continued in next blog.

Completion of Engineering a Dream Come True

In the forth year I Was down by one subject and to my surprise it was Machine Drawing and Design. Which I cleared in the supplementary examination I was getting the smell of success in the engineering and making the dream come true for my parent, my family as well as myself like the character of Arjuna in Mahabharata I was seeing the eye of the sparrow and the white spot There in I recall my parent asked us about our studies It was not as not as if they did not understand and importance of studies. My father was “Intesciner” pass a land mark in the qualification in his time in the 5th decade if the last century. This was after matriculation and before graduation. They were confident about their children’s studies. He always boasted about his friendship with Padmshree Dr B. S. Choube Ex-dean of Medical College Nagpur a renounced Physician of central India, based at Nagpur.
Out of the six brothers and sisters the elder sister Rekha Completed is Master Degree in Literature from Rajnandgaon, I was in the final year of Mechanical Engineering. Mukesh did well up complete his graduation Hemant also made some trials and errors with his advance studies. Basant completed his Bsc and so Renu her post graduation. Overall, all of us received our education despite the constraints in our family.
As mentioned in this blog I was seeing my bright future so I concentrated on my studies in the final year keeping aside the exa curricular activities. The drawback of the annual system was a student had to contrite on all the eight Subjects along with the practical at a time unlike the present semester system any way I prepared well for the exams.
It was probably first week of July 1975 I am not recalling the exact date on which my results came. As I was having only the hint that with in two- three days time the result might come I used to go daily the bus stand where the business from Raipur used to bring the news Paper the other communication facilities were not available those days. I was full conscious about my success in the examination but not sure about the percentage I would get. Finally The day come after reading about the headlines of result in the Navbharat I searched for my roll number in the first Division list of the mechanical Engineering final year result, I will not be able to express my feelings today what I felt after finding my roll number in the first division list I rushed home with the news paper touched feet of my parent and told them about my results we were all in tears the tears of pleasure the tears one gets after achieving some thing and making the Dream Come True.
Continued in next blog.

The first Vocational Training in Engineering

The engineering students that time were supposed to have a vocational training of six weeks after fourth and final years. The first training we had was at HAL Kanpur we had earlier made correspondence with the authorities of HAL Kanpur through our college and set off for training after appearing for examination of fourth year we means me and Kirtikumar Kahale (KKK) more popularly know in our batch. I talked to him last year at Dubai after getting his reference and telephone number from a relative Kirti was and should be very austrocate and perfectionist in his life style, a typical Maharashtrian Bramhanis “Nit Netke Pana” He was our neighbor also in the hostel so I know about his life style. Initially we stayed with my maternal uncle popularly known as “Gulkande Mama” He had a Paint Shop on the ‘P’ road opposite Gopal Talkies in Kanpur named as ‘Swadeshi Paint Store’ I do not know who owns the shop today but being a politician and an active member of congress party he could not keep the business flourishing and in the fag end of his life he spent his days at Chandrapur my Nani hal in UP District Agra Tahsheel Bah.
Coming back to our stay and training at Kanpur as Mama and his family of four daughters were living in a small room at Kanpur it was very difficult for us to stay there even other wise the HAL factory was based at Chakeri very far off from P road, we decided to shift to a locality called Lal Bangla in rented room. It was a Muslim family of one of a worker of HAL Kanpur who gave us a Paying Guest accommodation. It was not a very family of very high standards but we could adjust ourselves there for five weeks.
The HAL Kanpur manufactured HSA Hocker Sidley Aviation 747 aircraft In the decade of 1970-80 It was more than mediocre technology of air craft manufacturing. We were given training initially in the drawing and design department and later on in the different department stage wise. The Fuseloge (the Centre portion of the air craft) The Nose (the front portion) the Tail (The back portion) The body of an air craft is basically fabricated by special alloy of aluminum with two layers and using some soft material in between to make the aircraft should proof for the passengers sitting inside. The number of seats 747 used to have was around 100. The autopilot system, the electronic controls in the cockpit were very amusing for us that time and that training imparted a real practical knowledge and application of engineering.
We use to come to the city frequently particularly in the weekends we also saw some movies with my cousins there Kanpur is very famous for its tanneries and leather market that is why we made some purchasing of footwear and came back to our home towns after successful completion of training Continued in next Blog

Forth year of Engineering the Sight of Future

The forth year of engineering started with a very exciting note that yes the future is visible I started seeing myself contributor in Nation Building National Security. I am not going in the details of the engineering subject of fourth year there were the entire general subject which are taught in the fourth year courses today in the 2nd semester of third year or first semester of fourth year. As I mentioned in my earlier blogs that I was very keen to join the armed forces. In the beginning of this session there was are interview conducted by the Navy which was University Entry Scheme under this scheme the technical officers for Navy were selected, called for the Service Selection Board examination and if they were selected they were allowed to continue with the education with the condition of joining the force after completing the engineering degree. I was selected in the interview and later on in the month of January asked to face the Services Selection Board Roorkee. I am remembering the month of January clearly because while coming back from the Roorkee and catching train from Delhi to Rajnandgaon via Nagpur I stopped for one days at Delhi it was 26th January 1974. The services selection Board have got their own well established system of selecting officers for the armed forces it makes all kind of test the Physical Psychological Group Discussion Leadership of the candidate Any way I was not amongst the successful candidate as there was only one selected out of the three batches of ten each in the group. That fellow was from Bengal. Any way I enjoyed watching the Republic Day parade at Delhi near India Gate with a feeling of envy to see NCC cadets marching for which I was selected in the initial stages and could not make to the parade because of education
I continued with my studies with all the effort to get good marks, spending time in the library with the books and the subject not available with me It was easy to get the popular books of all the eight subjects from the bookshops in Raipur but still there were certain subjects for which we had to refer from the books from the large library of the college it must be containing more than a lakh of books and should have been one of the biggest library of any engineering college in the state at that time. The calculators and computers were not invented till then even if in they were invented they were not in regular production and use our dependency on calculation was on the SLIDE RULE. A sort of regular scale in which another sliding unit for incorporate and the calibrations there in facilitated the user to calculate all the variable like log, tan, sin, Multiple is of II whenever we forgot to take the slide rule in the class it was commented by professor –some students took help of the printed book called “log table” Continued in next Blog.

Concluding The Third year and My Reading Hobby

I have touched all the subjects of third year of engineering academic sports, NCC etc. I passed the third year with flying colors Ashok was probably one subject down which he cleared in the supplementary exam.
After the exams I was at Rajnandgaon only, helping the family in dairy business and holidays by reading books I have been rather today also an introword person, I do not know this should be called a good quality or or bad quality but my tendency has always been to have self contentment which might not have been liked by family members at times however it will be difficult to change the nature now reading has been my hobby, in holiday I used to finish some times two or more novels in a day. No particular choice in novels, but Gulshan Nanda was vary famous that time some of his novels made a film script like “Kati Patang” His novels were mostly on social issues Apart from Gulshan Nanda the other favorites were Vedprakash Kaboj’s character Vijay was my favorite I have not read any of their I have not read any of their novels for a decade now and should be available in some good and versatile library The hobby is continuing today also though the choices are changed because of age position and maturity. I am regular subscriber of The Readers Digest and some autobiography of all time great like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and APJ Abdul Kalam are ready treat of readings continued in next blog.

The Marriage and its Equations

What should be the right time of marriage? This question has been made and answered by different people in their own ways there is very old saying that a girl should try and get married as fast as possible and a boy should try and delay the marriage as long as possible, I was wondering whether this saying holds good in today’s time? It might change from family to family.
I am noticing today that the career oriented and highly qualified generation is not giving the appropriate importance of rather preferences to timely marriage. Marriage in right time between 21 to 25 years of age for a gave and 24 to 28 years of age for the boy is ideal. It has got a very strong medical reason for both the girl develops the right physical condition to go for a marriage and the related activities there after the education is complete and she becomes mater enough to make good balancing between the personal life and any career she chooses. Similarly for boys who normally opt for higher education the trend today is of management courses and this makes the choices for setting in married life by three years. But what so ever may be the reason the marriages should take place in right time for a healthy married life.