47 Welcome to REC Calicut - Open house

In the seventies, once in four years an exhibition used to be conducted   in Calicut REC. This was also called an open house. What is being done was to keep the college including the laboratories open to the public for one week. General public and students from the schools far and near used to visit the college in large numbers on all these days. School students used to hire buses and come in large numbers along with their teachers. The   exhibition was    open from 9AM to  6PM on all working days  from Monday to Friday. Due to public demand, there were occasions we had to extend for a few more days in the second week. Due to the unusually large number of   visitors, our volunteers found it difficult to clear the doubts of all of them.

In the open house, we were not just keeping our laboratories open. Each department used to make exhibits and projects that can be used to explain the basic engineering principles under their expertise. Some  amount of money had to be spent for these  projects and teachers and students used to  work day and night for two or three weeks to  make the show as good as possible. Each teacher was asked to provide necessary guidance to the students in one or two projects. In the first open house after my joining REC, I was the staff in charge for developing an electric train service. We created an engine room using plywood which can accommodate two persons. Four wheels were driven by an electric motor of low horse power and electric power was given through long cables. The rail way line was made of wooden reapers as sleepers and this extended from our electrical department on the West  side of the departmental building extending to the  Mechanical engineering department on the Eastern side. Except for a few occasions when the wooden sleepers moved out of position and temporary shutdown  our electric train  pulled  off quite a big crowd.

In our electrical laboratories, we could create a large number of magical exhibits. Levitation   or keeping items suspended in air using magnets was very interesting and attractive.  Stroboscope is a device   used to measure the speed of rotating shafts, and this was used to create multiple number of lions and cages  by rotating a disc at different speeds. Oscilloscopes were used to show very beautiful   waves and patterns using signals  of widely different frequencies. Different types of   electrical bulbs and wiring systems were demonstrated in the electrical workshop. Using autotransformers or dimmers, lights were dimmed and some tricks generated using these. Students used to explain the principles using simple    words to the curious young children visiting the laboratories. Radio broadcasting models with transmitters and receivers were assembled by our students, heating with infrared rays etc were also demonstrated. As the number of inquisitive visitors increased, our student volunteers also had to work very hard for effective interaction.

Civil engineering department demonstrated different    construction materials and construction methods. Models of hydroelectric stations with dams, reservoirs, penstock pipes leading water from the dams to the generator end were made. Sometimes even working models were set up. Different types   of roads and construction of railways, ports and harbours and bridges were also created and demonstrated. Mechanical engineering department had shown different types engines, petrol engines, diesel engines, water turbines, steam engines etc. Models of different types of aircrafts were also kept for demonstration by mechanical department. Different types of lathes   for working on metals and wood working lathes were actively demonstrated by making different models.

In the science   department, physics department developed several exhibits to show the principles of physics such as gravity, soundwaves, resonance of sound  etc.  Chemistry laboratories brought up different magical potions, vanishing colures, and  papers demonstrating invisible characters as if in magic  were all  surprises for the public.

These are the days in which large number of exhibitions are conducted commercially collecting reasonably big entrance fees and   large number of sponsors for selling their  products. But in our open house, admission was free for all and we conducted   this as a  service to the common people who are less fortunate to enter engineering colleges for   study purposes. As the number of engineering colleges were very few, admission to engineering was available to a very small  number of bright students and we thought it is our social responsibility to   tell the  common  people and young students what engineering is and how  those in engineering profession try to  make  the life  of human beings   more comfortable and enjoyable.

Of course, one adverse effect, as far as the college administration was concerned was the damages to  several  equipment in the laboratories due to rough use by the volunteers and the  not so small amount  spent for making the  models. In our electrical laboratories, several oscilloscopes, stroboscopes etc were damaged and had to bought urgently for the conduct of regular laboratory classes after the open house. But the happiness of the visitors as seen on their innocent faces were our rewards for the efforts for almost two months  including the  exhibition. We were all happy that all these open houses were a tremendous success due to the participation from the public, school students and our dedicated efforts of our   student volunteers. It is sad that such   things are not done by engineering colleges  these days.