Tejas...our own incredible story of pain and glory


Tejas...its been a while since Bengaluru...what started out as the first assignment away from home in Mumbai...with all the lab hardware just lying around and no one using it...we started our work in all earnest a whole six months after joining ADA...embedded systems were not a new thing...neither was programming to me...however to write code for a program as intense as the Light Combat Aircraft...its a whole different ball game...the guy who led our part of the project left six months after i joined ADA...so all the responsibility fell on the team to take things forward...we were given basically black boxes to begin with...and they were literally black in color...so the first question asked was "ye karta kya hai"...or well "what does this do"...so the chief took his time to explain the dream to us...he was a scientist 'F' at the time...and he could have chewed us up for asking "dumb" questions...but anyways...he was a great guy...under his leadership and I kid you not he was a leader...we started the LCA weapons programs for the wing based computers [that basically check, arm and fire a weapon]...in another six months we were up and running and as we learnt more and more about the systems the chief's trust in us grew quite a bit...the term "more we learn the stronger we become" could have been assigned to everyone on the team in that lab had it not been said somewhere in the west earlier...we were so fast at understanding requirements that we even wrote a few documents ourselves...! The project was heavily accelerated under the chief's command and we even got a practise CCM and an LDP a bit later...integration was done for the CCM and our lab experiment was up and running thanks to the documentation with the chief and ADA on the stores...it was during this tenure that we had that funny incident which taught us who listened how much the west is dependent on consumers for their tools...the guys from a compiler firm were in the seminar hall showing off their stuff...at the end of the presentation, the oldest guy in the room asked a simple question...he said "you stopped selling us stuff after Pokhran...why should we buy it now"...and the guys from the west spent 30 mins sweating it out trying to explain how it would never happen again...! We broke almost all rules at ADA...and records too...we had the highest hours clocked by anyone in the history of the weapons team at ADA back then...we were once even unceremoniously thrown out of the lab for working too late as they had to close the doors to the establishment for the night...even had a verbal argument over this with the guys...next day got scolded for the same...but even after the scolding the chief backed us...we were invited to even take part in the scientist recruitment process...this is where we took a sad turn of events that eventually led me leaving the establishment...it seems the security clearance could not be granted for reasons unknown to us...anyways...no hard feelings looking back now...we all know what happens when it rains :) So this a salute to Arya Sir at IITB...who helped me prepare for the interview...Jadhav Sir for teaching us kids what could have been an awesome achievement had we stayed...and the team...too many names here starting with Nirmal...and not the least Niranjan for helping out a dummy like me when he needed it most...induction into the IAF is a matter of pride...however less our contribution to the whole may have been...sometimes a forgetful one...sometimes an ungrateful one...but none the less the only one...we did it for you India...and we'd do it again...any day...!

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