Summer Internship with National University of Singapore — Saish from NIT Durgapur
Wildcard Entry for: – 11th August 2012
Name of the intern: – Saish
Institute: – NIT Durgapur
Organization interned with: – National University of Singapore
One of my seniors said, “Something will surely click and will be big for you!” 7 long months of mailing and there came that elusive reply to mail #486 — Summer Intern at National University of Singapore. Well, this was the one-off Facebook status update that got some 100 likes and some raised eyebrows. “You got NUS! Seriously? How?” were some of the questions asked. I myself couldn’t believe that I was going to spend the summer of 2012 in one of the most awesome cities of the world, Singapore and primarily in NUS, which is amongst the world’s leading universities and one of the best in Asia.
After giving a hell of a time to the Gmail servers and University mail servers all around the globe (except Antarctica) by mailing the Professors, I finally managed an internship in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of NUS in the field of wireless networking. Every moment, from landing at Changi Airport and setting my watch two and a half hours ahead of IST to reverting it exactly 50 days later, was a memorable one.
On the very first day, I was dumbfounded by the vastness and the puzzling nature of entrances and exits of the NUS campus and lost my way while going to the COMNETS lab (my research lab). Getting lost on my way to the lab and back home became a daily affair for the next couple of days, until my Research Supervisor and my roommate showed me the shortest possible path (being the core networking enthusiast that I am). It is always a special moment when you meet the Professor who gave you the opportunity to work with him, for the first time. I’m always apprehensive when people try to pronounce my name as they always come up with weird pronunciations. But this time it was different as my Professor was bang on target pronouncing “S-A-I-S-H” with ease. After my presentation on my undergraduate research work, my Professor asked me a question which actually shaped my entire internship — “Have you ever sent real data packets over the air?” This question was expected as I had only worked in a simulated environment before.
Whenever you travel to any place your taste buds are the ones that get tested the most and mine could not be far behind. NUS is a conglomerate of various faculties having individual canteens and food courts of their own. It won’t take you by surprise when I say that the engineering fraternity in NUS also is served food with the lowest ranks in the taste charts. Because, after all, the concept of “mess food” is well known in the Indian engineering fraternity. The best thing about lunchtime was to hop on to the free NUS shuttle buses and explore other eating options apart from the engineering canteen named Techno Edge. My taste buds finally got settled with the food from the NUS Business School canteen. From the modified ‘Indian Pratha’ and ‘Thosai’ to the Hainanese chicken, I tasted whatever cuisines I could. This internship also churned out the cook in me, who could not even estimate the amount of salt to be added thanks to my housemates.
Decorating my Facebook wall with my incessant updates and sightseeing photos made my friends ponder whether I had really gone to Singapore for an internship or for promoting its tourism back in India. Standing atop the Marina Bay Sands Skypark and witnessing the National Day Parade rehearsal at the Esplanade while the fighter planes broke the sound barrier was a breathtaking moment.
NUS attracts the best students in the world who have passion, commitment, leadership potential and come from diverse backgrounds. My project team consisted of members from countries which included Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Singapore which greatly helped me understand the various cultures and the research fraternity in other parts of the world. Many students have the misconception that research purely means sitting in a lab for prolonged hours and publishing papers. That is not even close to the actual experience I had during my entire internship. My Professor was an extremely helpful person with an awesome sense of humour and a movie buff. The last was evident from the fact that he offered our team tickets to The Dark Knight Rises.
After my successful internship I now strongly believe in NUS’s mission statement — to transform the way people think and do things through education, research and service. New friends, a life guide and a friend in my Research Supervisor, a rich research experience, loads of memories and gigabytes of photos- that’s what I bring back from an awesome summer spent in Singapore.
Was this interesting? If yes, please like the post on Facebook (below) and help Saish become winner of the week and win the prize (Rs. 1,000/-) that he truly deserves!
