You Miss 100% Of The Shots You Don't Take - Udbhav Shenoy, TAPMI

As someone who always sees the glass as being half filled rather than half empty, I tend to not see challenges as obstacles or hindrances, rather an opportunity to prove myself. Challenge present themselves in many forms some unexpected, some that you take on yourself. In my life so far, I have seen a fair share of both. From falling sick during my 10^th standard board exams and still managing to do well in my exams to taking up projects and working on ideas, doing research in fields that are of interest to me although I may not have the ideal background to do so. One such instance was working on a research idea that I and some of my friends had while we were studying engineering. One of our professors suggested an article in the field of tribology a subject that although unfamiliar, was quite fascinating for us. The challenge was that we had to develop an eco-friendly lubricating grease that could be used as a substitute for conventional petroleum greases. Being an engineering student, this was quite a daunting proposition as I had no background in chemistry and the formulation of organic greases. Nevertheless, we decided to undertake the project not knowing entirely what challenges we would face. From having to negotiate with suppliers to provide the requisite chemicals in small quantities, sourcing components that are hard to come by, to the actual formulation process to be followed to create the end product and the testing methods to be employed, the project presented plenty of challenges. But through a lot trials, some errors combined with equal amount of perseverance the project achieved fruition and all the hard work paid off in the end when we were able to publish a research paper on our work.