Tidbits from Delft

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!

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Bike Repair project organized by WiNZE, a local startup in Delft. I got my bike repaired for free, and in return I had to help them out with setting up of an event together with Prospektief Delft for indigent people. I had a lot of fun working with other participants and the organisers. I am looking forward to more such events.

As an international student I have often felt a bit disconnected from the local community in Delft. Even though the language barrier is much lower here, our busy schedules makes it difficult to even socialize with our neighbours. Simple tasks like moving furniture or getting something repaired are often quite difficult because we don’t know a lot of people who can get the necessary arrangements without spending a whole lot of money. Similar problems are also faced by elderly people and people who are not socially active in the local community.

This problem was observed by Aman Jindal, a former MSc student in Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft. He took it up as a challenge and sought to find a solution. He took the entrepreneurship course offeredby YES Delft which helped him to formulate the idea into his startup and develop the WiNZE platform. With his co-founder Jasper Van Gelder he built a platform on which locals can post a request if they need some help with a task and other people who are willing to help can reach out to them. WiNZE is also organising events such as the Bike Repair project to popularize their platform.

Aman hopes to bring neighbourhoods closer through the WiNZE platform. He believes that people will socialize more and do more activities together if they get to know each other better. Helping each other in some tasks is one good way to do just that. This would be important in places where people keep moving regularly, unlike in traditional neighbourhoods where everyone knows each other and has a well-established connection.

Moreover this platform would be very helpful for students who can help each other out and socialize at the same time. They have already helped many students in moving and have received good feedback for their services. According to Aman, a beta version of their platform is ready for use. It can be accessed at – https://beta.winze.org/

WiNZE collaborated with Delft Municipality for the Bike Repair project and they are in talks to turn it into a long term program. They are planning to organize other events as well, which would be mutually beneficial to everyone. They have received good response from the local community and hope to continue further on this path.

WiNZE team currently comprises of 3 members. Eventually, they aim to expand to other cities as well, after evaluating the results in Delft.

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