ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Hi

I thought I'll tell you something about myself after all !!

My name is Ujjal Kar and my home town is Calcutta (or Kolkata) in India. That's right...Mother Teresa's city too. Although I officially live and work here, I am mostly running all over the world trying to make both ends meet. This involves programming and running gigs to designing,building & installing custom microprocessor based industrial robots & controls.

I did my schooling at Don Bosco School,Park Circus and completed my Senior Cambridge Exams in 1973 and then studied Civil Engineering from RECW in which I graduated in 1980 and went on to do MSc Applied Electronics. I built my 1st lighting console and dimmers while doing MSc, since my Dramatics Club could'nt afford to buy one. I am told that the current members still use it ! I designed my first show lighting for the school PARENTS DAY when I was in my final year in high school (1973).

I worked for the R&D Departments of companies like Allen Bradley, CG Alsthom and NELCO designing mProcessor based Thyrister DC motor drives, PLC systems and Motion Control systems.

The "Thyri" drive experience gave me a big headstart in designing lighting dimmers. I also learnt the hard way that designing an AC drive for a 50Kw A/C motor was easier than designing a 1kw lighting dimmer. A few voltage flickers in a big motor running at 1800 rpm did not matter ..... on stage, a luminiere doing that could ruin you !!

My love for stage lighting was always in the background & I became VP in a company making analog dimmers and a lot of other fun stuff.We were making simple analog systems with 3-preset Consoles for the Indian theatre lighting market, which was still using ancient mechanical dimmers. I later co-founded a company called STANDARD ROBOTICS (P) LTD and we started making digital dimmers and DMX512 equipment. With a base of over 70 theatres and over 60 individual rental units as customers, we are still going strong. Till Jan 2008, we have sold over 24000Kwatts of dimmer channels, a lot of it DMX512 based. We have also sold plenty of DMX512 processing modules like splitters, intelligent splitters, analog demultiplexers and what have you! We also make consoles with DMX512 outputs to go with our dimmers

In Standard Robotics, I also design custom IS9000 test rigs using 61480 and MCS51 family processors, coupled with IBM PCs as host controller...mainly for railway equipment like brakes and pantographs. We have just got into Intelligent Conferencing Systems using high speed bidirection multichannel communication systems.

But my best professional times are spent designing & programming show lighting for gigs all over the world and for quite a bunch of glitterati. I also take master classes for school children in Lighting Design and programming. Some of my former students are now lighting designers and technicians themselves, working around the world

Besides show lighting, I have also designed the accoustics, sound & lighting for several auditoriums...

Rabindra Sadan
Sarat Sadan
Science City
Madhusudan Manch
Gorkha Auditorium
D.B. Siliguri Auditorium
Baranagar Auditorium
Kalakshetra renovation at Chennai for Queen Elizabeth II's visit
Pollution Control Board Auditorium
Son-et-Lumiere at R.B.University
Son-et-Lumiere at Kalakshetra, Guwahati
Stella Maris Auditorium
Rabindra Bhavan at Bolpur
Airforce Auditorium at Siliguri
NEHC Hall at Shillong I am designing 3 new ones at the moment.

Some of my lighting gigs include:

Asha Bhonsle India Tour
Channel[V] Concerts chapter
Graviera Mr India 97
BSL Malestorm
BBC Celebration Concerts
Ananda Shanker Mudavis
Suneeta Rao Concert - Janmshedpur
Shamak Davar Concert - AD Club
Sharon Prabhakar -Calcutta concert
Alka Yagnik Concert - Science City
Lucky Ali Beyond Barriers Concert
Rageshwari Concert
Alisha Chinoy India Tour chapter
HMV - RPG MultiArtistes - OAT Calcutta
CaCtUs Album Release Concert
Krosswindz Concert
Orit Orbach Trio Concert
Royal Shakespeare Co - Comedy of Errors
Pete Seeger concert
Tommorow's Warriors concert
Django Bates concert
Out of Joint - Three Sisters
The Right Size - Stop Calling me Vernon
Guy Masterson - Animal Farm
KOSH - Falling Angels
Peepolykus - I am a Coffee & Let the Donkey Go
Dan Gottfried Quintet concert
Edward II concert
Steven Berkoff India Tour
Nikki Yoah Infinitum
Usha Uthup - 3 city tour
Aayub Bachoo concert
Out of Joint - Jane Eyre
Macbeth - CSC
BFJ awards
Ujala awards
Transglobal Underground
Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Musical) by AGC
Jean Luc Ponti Tour
The Sound of Music (Musical) by R-Art
Dana Gillespie Concert

Some of my corporate gigs in India include:

HONDA RVZ motorcycle launch
SAMSUNG CD ROM drive launch
WHIRLPOOL refrigerator show
SONY Vega TV launch
LG Projection TV launch
LEVER Toothpaste launch
JET AIRWAYS Bash
HMV music party
COMPAQ Presario launch
COLGATE-PALMOLIVE toothpaste launch
PERFETTI candy launch
DE BEERS Nakshatra diamonds launch
BULSARA Toothpaste launch
PROVOUGE shirts launch
GILLETTE Mach3 razor launch
GILLETTE Toothbrush launch
TOYOTA COROLLA launch
MERCEDES E class launch
MICROSOFT WIN XP launch
ASIAN PAINTS party

BTW, when I am not launching redoubtable toilet items or lighting up a bunch of usually undeserving awardees, I like to play computer games, specially stuff like Silent Hunter, fly around the world in MS FlightSim2004 Pro or drive a locomotive MS Train Simulator.

Gallery

At PALA97 in Singapore:

My favourite gig console:

Some of my gigs & industry pals:
HMV CONCERT#1
HMV CONCERT#2
HMV CONCERT#3
HMV CONCERT#4
HMV CONCERT#5
HMV CONCERT#6
DISCUSSING A CUE AT BSL MALESTORM
BSL MALESTORM in ACTION
ANJAN DUTTA CONCERT
AYOOB'S CONCERT#1
AYOOB'S CONCERT#2
AYOOB'S CONCERT#3
CHANNEL V CONCERT#1
CHANNEL V CONCERT#2
CACTUS CONCERT
GETTING READY FOR A NIGHT OF PROGRAMMING
WITH M/L TECH RAJESH & A COUPLE OF PALS
NOTHING LOOKS BETTER THAN A BUNCH OF SMILING RIGGERS
LUCKY ALI'S CONCERT#1
LUCKY ALI'S CONCERT#2
LUCKY ALI'S CONCERT#3
TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND CONCERT#1
TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND CONCERT#2
TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND CONCERT#3
TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND CONCERT#4
TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND CONCERT#5
TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND CONCERT#6
At PALA97 in SIngapore
With Steve Unwin (PULSAR) at PLASA
Soaking in the MARTIN experience at PLASA
With friends outside Earl's Court
With fellow LD Roosevelt at Earl's Court
Sam Zaman #1
Sam Zaman #2
Sam Zaman #3
Sam Zaman #4
Noiseguy at Navy Ball
Asha Bhonsle Calcutta #1
Asha Bhonsle Calcutta #2
Asha Bhonsle Calcutta #3
BFJ Awards #1
BFJ Awards #2
BFJ Awards #3
BFJ Awards #4
BFJ Awards #5
BFJ Awards #6
Macbeth #1
Macbeth #2
Macbeth #3
Macbeth #4
DATALITE dimmers in a high school
Power distro in the same school
Set up at Karishma Kapoor Concert - Guwahati
Action at Karishma Kapoor concert - Guwahati
Maroon Town Concert #1
Maroon Town Concert #2
Maroon Town Concert #3
Maroon Town Concert #4
Maroon Town Concert #5
Avolite stand at PALA2001
With May & Koy at PALA2001
PALA2001 exhibition entrance
Trying out a Diamond III
Gaurding my Pearl at the hotel
BFJA2002 #01
BFJA2002 #02
Programming the PEARL for BFJA2002
BFJA2002 #04
BFJA2002 #05
BFJA2002 #06
BFJA2002 #07
BFJA2002 #08
SMIRNOFF party#1
SMIRNOFF party#2
YAMATO #1
YAMATO #2
At Atul Sonpal's office
With Shivmani after concert
Avolite stand at PALA2002
With May & my Azure at PALA2002
Trying out a Diamond 4
With Steve Unwin at PULSAR factory in Cambridge
Claypaky dept at PULSAR factory in Cambridge
Avolites dimmer assembly facility
Diamond 4 in the Avolites demo room
Steve & Co with a just-built Pearl2004 at Avolites plant
Ric builds a Sapphire at Avolites plant

Some of our DATALITE installations

Some other websites I prowl around in as webmaster:

Don Bosco Past Pupils Association
Standard Robotics

I am a officially!

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