You won't believe that I am actually sitting in the Electronics Controls and Devices Lab lab as I am writing this. I am so damn bored and sleepy that I decided I might as well write something in order convince my lovely teachers that I am actually busy with something other than trying to keep my eyes open. And that in itself is a huge struggle. Honestly, I would do anything to get out of this place right now. But my watch says 9:18 A.M. so unfortunately I am stuck here for another ghastly 1 hour 42 minutes. Time just couldn't move any slower and life couldn't be any more torturous.
Ok-so it's 9:21 AM and I have just finished reading a poem that has been handed over to me by a classmate of mine, Udita. Actually, the story goes that about 20 minutes ago, when it had been just 1 hour into the lab session out of the 3 precious hours it was going to waste of my life, I suggested to Udita that she write a poem, so that I atleast have something to read and somehow take my mind off this utterly torturous lab session. How I hate labs at 8 in the morning!! The poems titleD 'Setting In' and I am presuming it's about the night time 'setting in'. I said I am presuming because it's always hard to decipher the complete meaning of a poem, particularly the good one's. They always have one or two double meanings which are usually behind the comprehension of a normal man. And 'Setting In' is something I actually enjoyed reading. Good work Udita.
9:29 AM and the clock continues to tick by as if it's in no hurry at all. Well,I am-dammit. My 2 lab partners are busy making connections for the experiment to be performed. Well, Vikrant's the one making the connections, Samiksha's just observing them. Why? Well, Samiksha tried making the connections the first time but we failed to get any output so Vikrant's giving it a shot now. Good luck to him.
What's the experiment about? Believe me, you don't want to know. It's got something to do with Series Voltage Regulator using Operatinal Amplifiers, Op-amps for short. Or whatever that means. It's not something I am planning to get myself involved with today and probably not till a few hours before the lab exam.
9:35 AM and the connections are done. But once again we have failed to produce the output. Farid to the resCUe? Nah, not today. On another day I would have actually sat down with my lab partners and try and analyse what's wrong with the circuit(or us) but today I just yawn at the sight of a circuit board and a soldering iron. Did I tell you I hate soldering? It's a pathetic job and I am certainly not getting my hands dirty today with that thing. Let's just say am not in the mood to play with wires, DMM's and CRO's.
9:46 AM and I had to take a bit of a break from writing in the past few minutes. That's because Samiksha was sweet enough to call one of the damn professors to our table. I just don't know how to explain to her that when you are not getting the output, the best thing to do is just copy the readings from someone else instead of wasting time on another attempt or worse, calling the professor. It's that simple, really. For our aim in this lab should be to get out of here as soon as possible. Everything else, including performing the experiment becomes secondary. Anyways, the professor took about 7-8 minutes to play with the circuit, change a wire here and there and voila-nope...nope...still no output. I guess we are on our own today.
And oh, by the way, I think our connection is suffering from a short circuit. That's because the voltage amplifier just gave out a few sparks. Yippppeee!! Some excitement finally. And now Samiksha's declared that our circuit has indeed fused thanks to a short circuit. Honestly-I don't think I give a damn either way.
9:58 AM and I am back after a water break. I wasn't exactly thirsty but I just needed to get out of this lab somehow. In the meantime, Udita has returned with my notebook. I opened it with excitement, looking forward to another one of her poems but all I got was the drawing of a human face. Errr....what?? So I went to Udita for an explaination. She announced that the drawing of that face with no ears (?) was a form of "Abstract Art." Huh? Sorry? So she went on to give an explaination about how the eyes represent the tears, the lips the smile and some dot above the eye as the confusion. And what about the nose? I asked. She replied that since there was an eye and a lip, then there had to be a nose. Ummm...whatever. I think she's lost it. Can't really blame her though. This place gets to the best of them.
10:05 AM. Less than an hour to go now. Will time move a little faster please? By the way-Vikrant's onto connecting another circuit. Samiksha has gone to ask some doubt or probably copy the readings. After the last circuit fused, she finally got the brain wave to copy someone else's reading. Three cheers for Samiksha!! Hip-Hip Hurray!!
Lester on the opposite table continues to pronounce the readings almost as if he's shouting it out for the entire class. Not than anyone minds. Most of us could do with the readings. Rishi-his lab partner continues copying them down obediently without even looking up. Thinking they are sincere students? Yeah, right!! And Vikrant's just told me that the 2nd circuit isn't working either. Glory, Glory-All The Way!!
10:36 AM. Was forced to take another break (an extended one this time) as once again my lab partners decided to call the prof to dilly-dally around our circuit. This time he stayed for more more than 20 minutes. Needless to say all he did was play around with the switches on the resistance box, plug a few wires here and there, test the capapcitor and then the transistor and after all this, had the audacity to ask me to carry a rheostat box (does he know how heavy it is?) so that he could play with it and then ask me again to keep it back (DOES HE KNOW HOW HEAVY IT IS?). And after all the dilly-dallying, all he had to say was "Your circuit isn't working." Oh, Thank You sir!! The idiot-as if we didn't know that.
10:42 AM. I guess it's time to put this monologue to an end. Partly because after nearly 3 torturous hours in the lab, we are finally free to go. And partly because one of the prof's has been looking at me from the corner of his eye, watching me scribble a lot more in the notebook than a usual student does in a lab session. So in order to avoid getting caught, I will put down my pen and pack my bags and finally leave this horrendous place. This is the Ayatollah of Life, signing out. Cheers!!
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