We never showed up!

Stories Around Design

To a competition we registered with so much zeal.

So one fine day, my friend and I heard our seniors in college talking about designing an ATV.

They were planning to participate in a design competition meant for college students. The idea intrigued both of us and inspired us to make a team of fellow batchmates and register in that competition.

When we decided to participate, it was already the second last day for the registration. Further, the registration fee was a hefty Rs 15,000 (Indian Rupees). It was a large sum as my monthly expenses were around Rs 4,000 at that time (2010).

When we were entirely sure that we have to participate, it was already evening, and we had a big task of putting together a team and collecting the money. To increase our woes, it was the month’s end when no student has enough money. We were racing against time!

The next day in a somewhat heroic sequence of events, we made the impossible happen! Please read about it here.

We were basking in glory, and we had the momentum with us! Our morals were sky high!

This question kept haunting me for a very long time!

I will try to tell you all the things which happened and what I learned from it?

After the James Bondesque task of pulling off the last-minute registration, we were being treated as heroes.

But, what we had no idea about was the logistics of being a hero!

It will be apparent, as I tell you more about it. But, first of all, let’s start with the rulebook. The rulebook for this competition was nearly a 100-page document establishing all aspects of design and manufacturing. Regarding the technical aspects, each line was important! Thus couldn’t be ignored. It was like a whole extra subject added to our course which we needed to study in the most detailed manner.

It was nothing unexpected. We had anticipated that a lot of effort would be needed to understand everything that goes into making a…

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