Visit of Katalysts to Bangalore International Airport Electrical Substation to understand Preventive Electrical Maintainence
Date 31/01/09

Katalysts were given this rare and invaluable opportunity to closely understand the work of the Electrical substation and maintenance work carried out by Cummins India Ltd at Bangalore International Airport Limited.The visit was arranged after taking the due the security clearances as it was for educational purposes for engineering students. We reached the airport by taking the Vayu Vajra Volvo Bus, for the students this was a novel experience. 

After partaking breakfast we were escorted by Cummins personnel to the substation 5 kms away from the airport. We witnessed the meticulous preventive maintenance that was being Carried out by them.

Mr Nagendra. T.V who had from Cummins was the person who had taken the trouble to organise this visit and the Station in charge Mr Ganesh Das took us around the substation giving us a comprehensive view of the electricity supply to the airport and the foolproof backups that they have in place to ensure uninterrupted power supply. This Cummins personnel told us is taken very seriously as they understand that this is a service they are providing and at no point of time the passengers can be put into inconvenience.

Below are a list of few things that even a layperson can relate to after the visit and would be interested to know more ....
1) The environmental aspects of substation design; 2) The aspects involved in equipment layout;3)Safety considerations in substation design; 4)  Reliability considerations in substation design;5)Maintenance considerations in substation design;6) The major equipment typically included in substations;7)The types of transformers used in substations;8)  The types of breakers used in substations; 9)The types of voltage regulators;10) Steps involved with grounding system;11) The aspects of protective relaying in substations;12) Data acquisition and control elements within substations;13) Preventive maintenance programs for ensuring efficiency of supply.

The Visit has clearly enhanced the understanding of Katalyst students on the critical aspects of planning, design construction, and operation of substations; The discussions during the visit included carpet coverage of various critical issues that will be a valuable resource for the Katalysts.  The Katalysts say that it was time very well spent and will surely help them in their future aspirations.

IBM RATIONALE 09’ held on 11th and 18th Jan 2009’

Katalyst Students were invited by IBM to participate in a Event organised by IBM in Bangalooru. The event was designed and managed by ON DEMAND COMMUNITY MEMBERS  of IBM . Thanks to the generosity of Ravindra Babu who was the chief guest for the event , Katalyst students were exposed to IBM’s work with students from various universities and innumerable opportunities especially for women who are interested to work in IBM products.

The event was a wonderful opportunity for Katalysts as it was a unique event executed after detailed planning of various sessions like Quiz, Debugging, Marketing, and Paper Presentation. The rules of the events were quite stringent and Katalysts had an opportunity to get a taste of “tests” that are the norm to get them their dream job.

As the finals that were held on IBM campus itself on 18th of Jan 2009 it was a saturated learning experience for Katalysts  as the location was unique and the students had fun to discover and explore a real time workplace, and secondly it was an amazing opportunity to meet and mingle with so many accomplished people many of them senior managers who took time to give sincere suggestions to help them in their future plans.  Below is the list of Katalyst  Winners at the IBM event;
1. Anusha: Won 1st place in PAPER PRESENTATION her topic was Voice Recognized Wheelchair
2. Shilpa B.R and KAvya N.P won 1st place in Marketing IT Products and Non- IT Products
3. Shruthi.G and Smitha. G.S won 2nd place in Marketing IT products and Non- IT products.
4. Kavya.K was a Runner up in Quiz.
 
We would like to make special mention of all the volunteers from IBM who were enthusiastic and knowledgeable and pitched in by working on weekends and late evenings to effectively execute Rationale 09’ event. People from IBM involved in Rationale 09’are;
Chief Guest
Ravindra T G Babu  - University Relationship Manager, IBM.
Judges
Marketing                                                                                 
1.  Utkarsh Choubey
2.  Urmi Sikdar                                                     
 3.  Bhaskar Nagisetty
Paper Presentation                                                                         
1.  Deepan S Vashi                                      
 2.  Linz P Philip                                              
 3.  Sunil Purohit                                             
 4.  Somasundaram Raman

IBM VOLUNTEERS

Paper Presentation 1. Balaji G M 2. Joseph Sagayaraj 3. Aruna K Gosukonda 4. Spoorthy Kanakamedala

Quiz & Marketing : 1. Mili Sasankan 2. Vinod Satyanarayana 3.Reni R 4. Amith K Kandoor 5. Renuka Pawar 6. Meera D Deshmukh

Debugging: 1. Balaji G M 2. Lokesh G R 

 

COMPLETE LIST OF KATALYST STUDENTS SELECTED IN PRELIMINARY AND SEMIFINAL ROUND FOR FINALS  of IBM RATIONALE 09’ HELD ON 11/01/09  
1. CHITHRAL POOJA
2.AMRITA .SHANBHAG
3.RACHANA
4.SHRUTHI.G
5.SHWETHA
6.ARCHANA.H
7.KAVYA K
8.SMITHA.G.S
9.KAVYA.N.P
10.SHILPA.B.R
11.SWATHI.V.A
12.POOJA.P
13.Anusha
14.BHAVYA PRAJITHA

DAY TRIP....

DESTINATION: INNOVATIVE FILM CITY, BIDADI

DATE:  01-11-08

GUESTS: 24 Katalyst Students, Bangalore. (1 student absent as she had Internals)

Foreword

We all met at Banashankari office at 9 am, and got ourselves a “breakfast parcel” of idli vadas from Adiga’s ( a “darshini” chain) and gulped it down at the office.

After registration we took off at 10 am in the 30 seater Swaraj Mazda bus to Innovative Film City. As many in the group were meeting for the first time we had a round of introduction with lots of  fun as many of the students were quite creative and with a self -deprecating sense of humour it was a revelation of an interesting facet of their personalites...except a few none were really conscious and were quite exuberant when it was their turn.

After a round of antakshari in Kannada coz it was Karnataka Rajyostava day and Kannada Pride was in the air, we reached innovative film city around 11.15 am. Soon after we bought the  tickets and we entered IFC ..

At the movies

The first attraction was a “old time talkies” which gave us a feel of watching movie in the early times the sitting arrangements included a sand pit for the Gandhi class and the balcony seats were a royal wooden benches...the movie was clip from one of Rajkumar the late Kannada movie matinee idol..the screening showed us some footage of Gandhiji’s last walk to the prayer hall...many of the K-students headed straight for the sand pit to get close to the screen and enjoyed it with catcalls and whistles...

 A peek into Evolution..

Then we checked out the dino park where life size dinosaurus are recreated using resin with original sounds and movements. The place is set in a dense foliage and quite exciting a place to discover ..the K- students were all surprised to know that quite a few dinos were herbivores and they hatched out of eggs..and they had a pea sized brain ...they loved the big one the tyrannosaurus rex which is a giant bipedal carnivore...and we had a major photo session with it...

We then visited the fossil museum with interesting facts about evolution and dinosaurs and life during the time of dinosaurs and the fossils that have been discovered...the museum also has an exploratory game that takes you through a prehistoric jungle in a bid to find various dinosaurs feeding on their prey /vegetation...

Fun ‘n’ Frolic...

After some learning it was fun time in cartoon city where there are couple of exciting rides, magnetic car rides and outdoor chess...it was lunchtime...after a decent meal at the grub court we left to check out Ripley’s believe it or not...the entrance one is welcomed by the “ghost” of Ripley (a hologram of the traveller explorer) who has visited hundreds of countries and has collected strange/sometime unbelievable artefacts all over the world ...There is a tap suspended in air with water flowing out of it...(photo  included) , one way mirror where your antics are seen by other visitors on the other side, ...the students took more then an hour to check out the Ripley’s museum and enjoyed it thoroughly...and they were ready for a quiz on it!!! Such enthusiasm is infectious...

Later we checked out the miniature city that gives on an idea of how King Kong in the movie must have seen it all...you have a miniature airport small bridges a water ways...small boats, roads with miniature trucks and cars...the city also has a china wall as its boundary which has a beautiful sunset point that they witnessed.

Bidding Goodbye

Last attraction was a horse ride, a live one at that, everyone took a shot at this with gutso, as this was the first time that they have seen one at such close quarters, they had fun...and were loathe to come out..it was 6.30 PM by now. We had a quick cuppa of filter coffee before we  all started back to Bengaluru ....We reached at 7.30 pm after an eventful day...

Shital Mehra, Etiquette Consultant did a session with the students on importance of first impression.

Sponsor Mr. Harkirat Singh and Mr. and Mrs. Gopal and Chitra Jain were present. Mentor Aloka Mazumdar, V. P. Citi Group also interacted with the students.

Students were taken on a sightseeing tour of Mumbai, covering several places of interest.

All the students were given Katalyst bags, sippers and pens.

There was an interaction between the students of Pune and Mumbai at the College of Engineering, Pune.

Students participated in the essay competition sponsored by Mattel Toys. The topic selected for the competition was the burning issue of ‘Global Warming’. Every participant received a Scrabble Game from Mattel Toys.

This was followed by a talk by Alka Gadgil, Consultant Johnson & Johnson, Mumbai.

Katalyst students from Pune and Mumbai met at the NSCI club.

Sunit Mehra the founder of the Katalyst Programme gave a cheque of Rs. 7500 for the best essay on Global Warming, to Priya Buddhadeo, IInd year student of B. J. College, Pune.

The runner up prize of  Rs 2500 was given to Pooja Shah, IVth year student of J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai.

Mr. Sanjay Luthra, Managing Director Mattel Toys, sponsored the essay competition. Book vouchers were given to the students who passed with 80% and above in the year 2007 – 2008.

Shital Mehra, leading Corporate Etiquette and Protocol Consultant conducted an exercise with the students on Body Language; she was kind enough to give the Katalyst students a gift hamper. 
 
Mentors present were Dr. Sanjay Oak, Dean and Malay Dave, Psychiatrist both from Nair Hospital, Mumbai. Nitin Singh Sr. V.P, HSBC.