Looking Forward.

We look forward to a new phase. The phase where we can actually start bringing our idea of "IRIS" to life.

We sketched.
We designed.
We hit the road and searched.
We failed and fell down and got up again.
We fought and we patched .
We criticized and started all over again.
We scribbled again , on the flight and  the metro ride back home
Iterated and designed yet again.
We traveled miles daily .
We calculated all night.
We dreamed of IRIS all this while.
We scorched in sun yet again.
We came up with a masterpiece in the end.

Time to bring our masterpiece to life.

Time to weld its joint , fix its steering , pump its oil , press its brakes , round the roll bar , drill the holes and bolt the joints.
Time to give life to IRIS, the love of our life.

Because we love our hands greasy  , eyes fixated on weldment and heart bolted to courage!

Happy Fabrication !
#irisdiaries
#SEM2016

The PVC Prototype

Market Survey.

You know you are on a market survey when you carry two bottles of water , a cap, a pair of glares , truckloads of food in your bag, engine catalogs and a pack of visiting cards in your bagpack for the day .

You know you are on a market survey when the metro card is flashed on the machine every 30 minutes and your wallet no longer has any change left to render to that last rickshaw puller .

You know you are on a market survey when you take all the possible metro routes in just 9 hours.

You know you are on a market survey when you land up in a totally different part of the city as planned last night .

You know you are on a market survey when you have traveled by bus, metro, car, rickshaw and still walked for over 10 Kms all in one day.

Things we do for Iris !
#teampantheradiaries

The Birth

About 4.3 births, human births, take place every second around the world. New beings are brought into existence by those who wish to nurture them, protect them and love them unconditionally. There are things one loves as much as their own offspring. Something they built with as much love, passion and commitment. Something they wish to care for, invest their time and energy in and hence create the existence of a being with a unique identity. Ideas, dreams, ambitions and visions are the many progeny of the human mind, which are born at even faster rates and yet, somehow tend to make the self feel as responsible, protective and devoted towards them as one feels towards their own young ones. Team Panthera is our progeny.  Born with the vision of one person; who vowed to foster it, protect it and create a legacy. We were brought together in our zeal to conceive that vision, a zeal that knows no bounds.

One of the many tasks that lay ahead of us in this journey was the christening of our team. Like any set of parents we thought, we searched, we discussed and finally chose a name that embodied the spirit of our progeny. We aim at investing all our strength and power into building a vehicle that not only is efficient but also works with utmost precision. It takes courage to conceptualize and make a dream come true, especially with so many obstacles in your way. In all that we do, we always remember who we are representing; our country before our institution, our institution before our team and our team before ourselves. Panthera Tigris is the scientific nomenclature for the Royal Bengal Tiger, the national animal of India. The Royal Bengal Tiger holds numerous symbolism in various cultures. But for us, the tiger symbolizes patriotism, strength, fierceness, courage, speed, precision and efficiency, all the ingredients that make up and define us as a team, as “Team Panthera”.

Having completed the task of finding ourselves a name, we now had to think of a name for the vehicle that would be built keeping in mind our philosophies over the course of the next few months. After endless hours of deliberation, we stumbled onto the name “Iris”. In Greek mythology, Iris is the personification of the rainbow and is also one of the goddesses of the sea and the sky. She travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other and into the depths of the sea. Just like a rainbow has seven colors which symbolizes diversity, our vehicle has diversity because of the very many people who have come together knowingly or unknowingly and contributed to bring us one step closer to the creation of our rainbow. Be it the team members, the faculty, the sponsors and even the rickshaw pullers who helped us reach our desired destinations, each person’s hard work, strength and dedication will make this vehicle. Iris travels with the speed of the wind from one end of the world to another and that is what our vision for our vehicle is, for it to travel all over the world, gaining recognition, setting new landmarks and creating a legacy...

Our Team Logo

ONE DAY !

A set of 6 girls set out of their houses that day believing this was just another market survey for #SEM2016 . The team had no idea what that day had in store for them . We all knew the place to visit today was at the corner of the city . But who knew it was way beyond even the outskirts into to the rural and remote location of Uttar Pradesh. An hour and half of metro ride with thousands of people stuffed in the coaches , we breathed  some fresh air at the last station . Crossing that over bridge we asked the local rickshaw drivers to take us to the address we were given. " 30 Kms , madam . That place is this far off from here ", he exclaimed , literally scaring each one of us . For minutes , we kept hovering around asking the bus drivers and explaining them where exactly we had to be that day . There we stood in a circle facing each other , talking to one another with our eyes . And then courage propped in out of no where and one of us just headed into the bus. And all followed her lead saying to themselves, lets just do this . After all its for our love IRIS !

What lay ahead of us was 45 minutes of a typical local rural Indian bus journey that we all had just seen in movies till date . Traffic, the heat , hurly burly of a crowdy city slowly losing itself to the silence of a highway and us trying to be bold with our eyes fixated on finding that one landmark we were told of. Well, we did reach the landmark but not our destination. A walk of another kilometer and half from the place that bus dropped us and our eyes widened when we saw the place that we were longing to see for around 3 hours now.

What lay ahead of us , changed our entire game plan and course of action for #SEM2016. Two hours of talks about engines and its modifications . And every Kilometraj Ninya enjoyed that conversation that centered around fuel economy, mileage testing , fuel injection system .

When we left that place , a silent 1.5 Km long walk back to the main road followed us with ideas doing all the talking .
Team meeting !
We need a team meeting !
Calls were made to the ones who were out in another corner of city working on something else .
A third end of the city had to be chosen to meet , discuss and talk about the recent developments.
Each one of us did something they never thought they would do in there entire lives. From sitting on the metro floors , jumping on understanding a concept you dozed off on while studying last night , not feeling weird about shelling out your McLaren P1 fantasy out loud to others or working non stop for 15 hours straight and not feeling tired.
The adrenaline rush ! The dream to drive the car that we are building on the circuit.
Not letting anything bring you down in true sense. The rains, the heat, the distance, the tiredness , the pressure of starting everything from scratch , the effort that will have to be given to understand things from a new angle and perspective .
Coming back to the story of that day again. The team met at the platform in the third edge of the city , sat on the ground and discussed each and every aspect that had to be taken care of before going about changing the entire course of action . Voicing one's opinion , positively criticizing  the opinions to get the best out of this brain storming session
Ah ! That day a team was born in true sense after six months of working together . The beauty of that day was just a glimpse of what lay ahead of us .
Its not about the destination  , its always been about the journey and the people who are with you in this journey.


The things we do for IRIS because we are Kilometraj Ninyas !