It took me two years to find a practical application for my Morse Code oscillator. As an eleven year old, it was a chafing disappoint for me when its signals failed to venture beyond our drawing room. So I dismantled my marvelous contrivance and forgot about it for a while. And a long while it turned out to be.
In those days our town had a few devout who will loose themselves upon unsuspecting folks’ gardens before the break of dawn. After generously filling their baskets with flowers, they will make for either of the two temples in the town. Our garden was often raided thus while we slept. This pained Ma for she was fond of growing flowers, she still is. Moreover, she needed flowers for her everyday puja. I felt that I must find some means of deterring the raiders. Having attained the ripe age of thirteen I was filled with a sense of responsibility. I felt the need to contribute my mite for the defense of our home and hearth.
The solution that I came upon was to contrive to have my old oscillator function as an alarm. I brought down the circuit board gathering dust upon a shelf and re-did the warp and woof of wires upon it. The most ingenious part of my plan was to have our gate serve as the key which will complete the circuit and release the signal. The device went extinct a long time ago, but those who have seen it must know that a Morse Code transmitter had to be worked with a key. Each time you pressed the key, it looked somewhat like a see-saw, the transmitter sent across a radio signal which was received on the other end as a beep. The International Morse Code assigned each character of the Roman alphabet a number of beeps, long or short. ‘A’, for example, was ‘dot-dash’, that is, a short beep followed by a long one. When I was small, Baba had a transmitter in his office and had taught me the code. Then I could not wait to grow up and operate it with enormous headphones cupping my ears. Alas, the wish remains unfulfilled for the transmitter was junk and the technology obsolete before my voice cracked.
A picket gate led one into our garden. It was a double gate with a little tin latch on top holding the halves together. I drove a nail about an inch above the latch. I took care to place it thus that when raised the latch must touch the nail. Now I twined one copper wire around the nail and another around the latch and led them into the circuit kept in the house. I had my key. Every time someone opened the gate raising the latch metal touched metal and the circuit was completed. I had persuaded Baba to buy me a small ten watt speaker which I connected to my oscillator. When one opened the gate, a shrill, very shrill piccolo note sounded on the speaker. It was rather devilling, that yowling contraption of mine. But it told us that we have a visitor much before he reached our threshold. My device was a success and, I think, Baba was quite pleased once again. He spent some time inspecting the entire arrangement. All the while he stroked his chin and said a periodic “hmm”. I knew that for a sure sign of contentment in him.
The usually reticent but all important commendations of Baba generously added to my confidence. My alarm might caterwaul, but at least Baba did not find it ridiculous. That was all I needed. It was time I unveiled my creation before my friends. Next day in school I expended a lot of eloquence upon Shiv, Dibakar and Rajpallav making an account of my wondrous creation. I recall that Shiv and Rajpallav came after school to make an audit of my effort. Both bestowed the most lavish approval upon it. Shiv observed with his inimitable solemnity that verily even aliens will not be able to breach such a defense. Dibakar, Karge and Jumli too turned up one by one and expressed similar sentiments. I was indeed rather flattered. One feels truly blessed to have generous friends.
The alarm graced our gate for the next year and a half. I removed it when the wire fence surrounding our house and the picket gate were replaced with a brick wall and a metal gate. The clang of the new gate when opened let us know that we have company. Besides, I knew of no solution to the practical difficulty of keeping the alarm from perpetually wailing when all the gate was metallic. Completing the circuit was no more an issue, breaking it was. The challenge turned out to be insurmountable for a fourteen year old.
In those days our town had a few devout who will loose themselves upon unsuspecting folks’ gardens before the break of dawn. After generously filling their baskets with flowers, they will make for either of the two temples in the town. Our garden was often raided thus while we slept. This pained Ma for she was fond of growing flowers, she still is. Moreover, she needed flowers for her everyday puja. I felt that I must find some means of deterring the raiders. Having attained the ripe age of thirteen I was filled with a sense of responsibility. I felt the need to contribute my mite for the defense of our home and hearth.
The solution that I came upon was to contrive to have my old oscillator function as an alarm. I brought down the circuit board gathering dust upon a shelf and re-did the warp and woof of wires upon it. The most ingenious part of my plan was to have our gate serve as the key which will complete the circuit and release the signal. The device went extinct a long time ago, but those who have seen it must know that a Morse Code transmitter had to be worked with a key. Each time you pressed the key, it looked somewhat like a see-saw, the transmitter sent across a radio signal which was received on the other end as a beep. The International Morse Code assigned each character of the Roman alphabet a number of beeps, long or short. ‘A’, for example, was ‘dot-dash’, that is, a short beep followed by a long one. When I was small, Baba had a transmitter in his office and had taught me the code. Then I could not wait to grow up and operate it with enormous headphones cupping my ears. Alas, the wish remains unfulfilled for the transmitter was junk and the technology obsolete before my voice cracked.
A picket gate led one into our garden. It was a double gate with a little tin latch on top holding the halves together. I drove a nail about an inch above the latch. I took care to place it thus that when raised the latch must touch the nail. Now I twined one copper wire around the nail and another around the latch and led them into the circuit kept in the house. I had my key. Every time someone opened the gate raising the latch metal touched metal and the circuit was completed. I had persuaded Baba to buy me a small ten watt speaker which I connected to my oscillator. When one opened the gate, a shrill, very shrill piccolo note sounded on the speaker. It was rather devilling, that yowling contraption of mine. But it told us that we have a visitor much before he reached our threshold. My device was a success and, I think, Baba was quite pleased once again. He spent some time inspecting the entire arrangement. All the while he stroked his chin and said a periodic “hmm”. I knew that for a sure sign of contentment in him.
The usually reticent but all important commendations of Baba generously added to my confidence. My alarm might caterwaul, but at least Baba did not find it ridiculous. That was all I needed. It was time I unveiled my creation before my friends. Next day in school I expended a lot of eloquence upon Shiv, Dibakar and Rajpallav making an account of my wondrous creation. I recall that Shiv and Rajpallav came after school to make an audit of my effort. Both bestowed the most lavish approval upon it. Shiv observed with his inimitable solemnity that verily even aliens will not be able to breach such a defense. Dibakar, Karge and Jumli too turned up one by one and expressed similar sentiments. I was indeed rather flattered. One feels truly blessed to have generous friends.
The alarm graced our gate for the next year and a half. I removed it when the wire fence surrounding our house and the picket gate were replaced with a brick wall and a metal gate. The clang of the new gate when opened let us know that we have company. Besides, I knew of no solution to the practical difficulty of keeping the alarm from perpetually wailing when all the gate was metallic. Completing the circuit was no more an issue, breaking it was. The challenge turned out to be insurmountable for a fourteen year old.
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