B.E. projects

"Development of P.L.C program to control an electron beam welding machine."

A P.L.C (programmable logic controller) program will be developed which will replace the existing relay system to control an electron beam welding machine.

Confused? :) This was my final year B.E. project. Infact this is all I know about my last year engineering project. I had two project mates who would also repeat the exact sentence (word by word) when asked about our project. :). Ask us anything else and somehow you will find the same answer being repeated. Because to date this is all we know. We had no clue about what we had to do in the project. Our guide was an awesome BARC scientist who used to come to office armed with a novel and the only time we met him, he was deeply buried in a Stephen King thriller.

Life couldnt have been better. The last year project was a blessing for us, since we could officially spend Fridays out of college. The few occasions when we actually visited B.A.R.C. we ended up having a ball. Literally!! We either played cricket or football with some of our other friends who stayed in BARC.
On other occasions we picnicked in the awesomely beautiful BARC campus, had sumptuous meals at discounted prices (six rupees for a heavily packed non veg lunch) , lazed around under shady trees in the well maintained gardens and even managed to smoke in the "NO SMOKING" areas (which was fun!).
Towards the end of the project, we did what every engineering student does (except the nerds (who reach college sharp at eight thirty even during storms, so that they dont miss the first lecture)). We collected a few things from the Internet, got it typed and printed and our project report was ready!
The difficult part came when we had the project viva. All we could offer was a single line. Yeah!! Quote "A PLC program will be developed which will replace the existing relay system to control an electron beam welding machine." The evaluator kind of felt sorry for us. Towards the end he gave us a lecture on how bleak our future would be if we had the same attitude towards life.

Today, life has taken a different turn. I am going to be evaluating science projects in a reputed engg institute.

So Mr.Evaluator, what do you have to say to that?