Tidbits from Delft

Not literally though, considering the fact that I don’t own a pair of clogs; they aren’t very practical anyway. But figuratively speaking, my time in the Netherlands has come to an end. I graduated last week from the MSc program in Electrical Engineering. I received my degree approximately 2 years and 4 days after reaching Delft, but a lot has happened in between.

View from two years ago. Not much has changed!

As I see the curious new faces in campus I am reminded of my first week in Delft. I was equally curious to explore the new town I had ventured into, and equally amazed by the differences I observed here. I met people from everywhere during the Introduction Programme and Master Kick-off and together we learned about the Dutch culture.

Jazz festival, 2017

Relaxing in the centre

I furnished my room and built my own furniture, thanks to Ikea. Eventually it became a hub for tea sessions, parties and assignments. I remember the long nights we spent together on assignments and some infamous projects which seemed almost impossible. It always worked out eventually though. That is the good thing about TU Delft – you (almost) always have another chance. It is tough, but that’s only to ensure that you actually learn what you earn your credits for.

I made a table!

I rediscovered my love for biking along with a couple of friends. We rode almost everywhere we could find a route to, around Delft. It was a great way to explore the quiet country-side and relax on the weekend. We had planned to cover the entire Netherlands and cross the border but that was a bit too far-fetched. Maybe some time in the future, if the wind is on our backs and the weather permits us, we could still try.

Prague, 2017

Nevertheless, we travelled to several countries across the EU and had a great time together. We found our own culture and food here among the people who emigrated from South East Asia. We tried on our own to recreate the sumptuous food that we all craved by learning to cook and teaching each other. It was always a joy to educate people about our own complex cultures and the concept of Indian states. We don’t all speak Hindi and we don’t all understand each other, but somehow we have amazingly survived and thrived as a country!

‘puri’s in the making

I joined the Master Promotion team to share my experience as an MSc student in TU Delft. I wrote blog posts like this and hosted information stalls at promotion events. It was fun working with the Promotion team along with other students like myself.

Freshly printed wafer

I joined the Bioelectronics group to do my thesis project. I was very lucky to get one of the best supervisors one could ask for – Prof. Wouter Serdijn. He gave me the freedom and motivation to explore an entirely new idea on my own. I was never given a set of instructions, nor was I asked to stick to a set of requirements. This style of supervision suited me very much as I felt very much in control of my project. It was at times frustrating as the ideas didn’t seem to pan out, but in the end I came up with an optimum solution which could satisfy all the requirements. It was a real light-bulb moment for me and I was elated for having created something on my own. This way I learned about doing research as well – it doesn’t always work out, but it’s always worth trying. I had a good time with the group as well. We enjoyed the BELCA festival, the sailing day and numerous movie nights together. I will miss this group very much!

With my thesis committee

What next? I am bidding farewell to the Netherlands, for now. We had submitted a paper based on our work to BioCAS, a conference specialising in bioelectronics, and it was accepted. So we would be going to Japan to present the paper. Then I would be joining a PhD position at KU Leuven and imec in Belgium. I would be returning, but to a neighbouring country.

Kinderdijk, 2019

I called Delft my home for two years, and many more students like me will do so for the years to come. Many of my batchmates have graduated already, and some are on the verge of graduation. I wish everyone all the very best for their future. Adieu!

Don’t worry if you didn’t understand the title of this post. It is a popular Hindi expression which translates to – “A chat over tea”. This expression was made popular recently by our Prime Minister Modiji (the ‘ji’ is added in Hindi to mark respect, much like ‘Mr.’ in English or ‘San’ in Japanese). It is a new strategy in which matters of state are discussed over a cup of tea- with cabinet members, leaders in opposition or heads of other nations. It is in continuation of his background as a ‘chaiwalla’ or a tea seller and his fondness of elaborately naming every single thing. It didn’t just start with him though.

Modi and Obama’s chai pe charcha (courtesy: Indian Express)

It is one of our favourite pastimes throughout India (I might be generalising a bit here). Every evening (for some, mornings as well) people get together to have some tea and chat. The people drinking tea together could be family members, college friends, colleagues or even strangers who find a common topic of interest. It is such a common activity that I was forced to switch from coffee to tea! The craze about chai is best illustrated by the numerous memes and jokes that are doing the rounds in social media.

A meme on ‘chai’ and a popular bollywood movie

So, you would understand when I say that I miss the chai-time here. While TU Delft’s campus is well-equipped with coffee machines on almost every floor of every building, the chai is still missed. It’s just not me though. Many of my ‘desi’ (Indian) friends share the same feelings. So we take some time off from our regular schedules to have some ‘chai pe charcha’ together. As everyone is busy these days, thanks to their thesis projects, more often than not we have to stick to coffee. But whenever we can find time we make some chai and catch up. We are missing many festivals from back home that we used to celebrate with our friends and family. So it is in ‘chai’ (and some other stuff) that we try to keep the desi-ness alive. The ISA (Indian Students Association) do organise many festivals in campus and these events bring the Indian community together to celebrate, but the traditional celebration is still missed.

Fortunately for us, Delft has many stores which sell the tea powder which is used in chai. Interestingly though the ‘tea’ referred to in general is different from ‘chai’. While tea is made by boiling tea leaves in water, strained and then mixed with milk and sugar, chai is made by boiling the tea leaves in milk directly. If you are interested in trying some ‘chai’ or if you are a desi but a complete novice in the kitchen then you can refer to the video below. Cheers!

Graduate life is stressful, often illustrated beautifully in comic strips, memes and (very few) movies. While college life (undergrad) is referred to as the best times of one’s life, graduate studies change all that. A graduate student is expected to get serious about the studies and contribute meaningfully to the field. More often than not it is accompanied by tougher exams, assignments and projects.

It becomes quite difficult just to pass the courses, as I felt last year. But this price comes with a greater reward. After completing the courses I could understand and appreciate the design of the electronic systems at various levels – from the semiconductor physics at the sub-atomic level to the system integration and packaging at the product level. Knowledge of all these levels is essential to being an engineer and a researcher in this field.

Most of the topics covered in the courses of this MSc program deal with the actual design, implementation and fabrication of the circuits and systems which were introduced in the bachelors. Hence, we need to learn quite a lot in a short time so that we can implement some concept in the thesis project. There is just no way around it, except to take your own time to get it right.

Analog Design is also an art! (Image source: https://theamphour.com/the-amp-hour-48-posthumous-pease-porridge/)

As for myself – it was difficult for me at first but eventually I understood the amount of effort I needed to put in for the courses. At the end of the year I had earned the requisite number of credits. But there are some things one does not quite understand unless they implement the whole design by themselves. My thesis project is based on Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) which are the essential link between sensors and digital signal processing systems. The sensors convert the physical quantity to an electrical quantity which is then converted by the ADC into a digital value. I had studied the design principles of ADCs in the course Nyquist Rate ADCs. I believed I had understood everything required to design an ADC by myself. However while doing my thesis project I encountered several issues for which I had to go back and explore how other researchers had solved that exact problem. Thanks to the course that I had taken I knew exactly what to look for and where.

Levels of Packaging of electronics (Image Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Packaging-Levels-used-in-Electronics-after-4_fig5_320372534)

I often read on Delta (TU Delft’s newspaper) that many students (and especially Masters’ students) are under heavy stress due to academic pressure. While it is true that the stress is real and I myself have experienced the same, I don’t think attributing it all to the academics is fair. I can’t say for all the MSc programs but Microelectronics is a tough nut to crack. Everyone entering the program should be fully aware about that and be ready to prove their mettle. If someone feels that it is getting too difficult then they should seriously re-evaluate their choices and future planning. The end goal of our studies is to contribute to the pool of human knowledge and become able to continue doing so for the rest of our professional career. It would obviously take considerable effort to get there!

Study in groups helps learn better (Image source: becuo.com)

Do not think you are all alone in this situation though. This happens with many people and they might be feeling just as miserable as you. The best way to cope with the stress is to talk about it with friends, classmates and academic counsellors. They can help you deal with your problems and guide your study planning as well. You can also form study groups along with your friends and help each other out. It certainly helped me.

Good Luck!

Winter arrived in Delft and with it came the dreaded showers. When this happens it may be days before you can see some sunlight again. I was well into the first phase of my thesis project but the weather wasn’t exactly motivating enough to get me out of the bed. It was high time to take a break and catch some sunlight. So I and a couple of friends decided to head South, much like migratory birds. Unlike the migratory birds our journey wasn’t so arduous.

It’s all Greek to me!

We were lucky to find some cheap tickets from Eindhoven. In fact, it cost us more to get to Delft from Eindhoven than the flight back to Eindhoven! A 3-hour flight took us to Athens, a beautiful city that grew around the legacy of the Greek civilization. As soon as we reached the city we got a familiar feeling as if we had landed in Delhi. The busy streets, traffic and street-side shops looked all the same as one would encounter in Delhi. But we got a real shock when we saw only symbols like Sigma, Lambda, Gamma, Theta etc. on literally everything. Since our school days we had learned these to use as constants in Physics and mathematics, but this was the language which Greek people used every day! It felt like we had to solve an equation and find a solution everytime we wanted to read something on information screens and sign posts. We soon got the hang of it though, being smart engineers and all B)

The Acropolis behind us

The public transport is pretty cheap in Athens if you take the 5-day pass. We roamed around the city the whole day while taking in the sights. The National Archaeological museum, the Acropolis and its awesome museum transported us back through the ages to the times when Greeks were one of the mighty civilizations. We sampled some street food like souvlaki, crepes and salads all of which I would highly recommend. The flea market near the Acropolis is a great place to buy souvenirs and books on the cheap (if you know your Greek). One great thing about Athens is that the whole place is awake and moving well into the night. We didn’t feel like returning back to our Airbnb place until 2 am!

Christmas decorations near Syntagma Square

Our next stop was the picturesque island of Santorini which is a 45-minute flight away from Athens. The island has a black-sand beach (Kamari) on the south side where we did a lot of experimental photography. On the north side the town of Thira is the central place from where all the public transport originates. It has a small port way down (about 700 steps) from where you can also take boats to the other smaller islands nearby. You can also ride on a mule down to the port and back. There is another town called Oia which is simply mesmerising, with its white and blue buildings in a sort of a maze around the cliff. Since it was the off-season there were very few people all around the tiny island. We heard that it becomes quite a party hub in the summers. Nevertheless we took in all the sunlight we could before returning back to Holland.

Port at Thira

Oia, Santorini Island

Long Exposure Shot, Kamari Beach (P.C.- Amitabh Yadav)

It was quite a memorable trip and well worth every penny we spent. We did miss some spots in Athens which I hope to check out on another trip to the Greek capital. As for now, I need to return back to the world of signals and circuits.

Happy Holidays!

After four quarters of hard work we are in the summer break, and I am finally done with my courses. That is, I now have sufficient credits to start my thesis. As I look back, I must say it was quite hard and often it was almost impossible. But I tried my best and never let it discourage me. I now have a somewhat better sense of the technology that goes into the devices that we make. I hope to learn even more while working on my thesis later this year.

A fabricated wafer – what I am supposed to design

But before getting into the nitty gritty of the thesis I needed a break. So I came back home to Bhubaneswar in the state of Odisha, also known as the temple city. I was just in time for Rath Yatra, the annual festival in which Lord Jagannath (a Hindu deity) and his siblings visit their aunt’s house in a wooden chariot. Millions of people attend the festival in Puri each year. Since it is the monsoon season in India, it rains quite hard and often unlike the windy showers in Holland. It is also quite humid and also warm, which is typical of the coastal regions.

Sand sculpture by Sudarshan Pattnaik to celebrate Rath Yatra

I also travelled to Pune in Maharashtra where I trekked to Lohegarh fort with my friends. The best time to visit Pune and its surrounding hills is in the monsoon. I was reminded of my numerous bike trips with my friends.

Waterfall on the way to Lohgarh Fort

But the most important reason I came back to India was the food. I found a new appreciation for the food back home that I had taken for granted. The cuisine in India is not just one. Every region has its own style and variation. It is difficult to get the same variety anywhere else. So I ate as much as I could, and as many dishes I could find. I would have to wait another year at least to taste everything again.

A full Indian lunch

I had brought stroopwaffels and Belgian chocolates which my folks really liked. I am trying to take as much sweets and snacks to Delft as possible. As I prepare to return back to my studies I realise a greater journey lies ahead. Alvida!