The buttons

This is the story of two buttons. Literally two push kind electronic buttons.

Kvng Vikram
Nov 5 · 3 min read

Scavenger, that’s what I was in the past. Getting any non functional stuff(mostly toys), practice some screwdriver skills and pluck out whatever looks interesting.

I don’t know where I am going to use them, but just add things to inventory. Some are just to play, some to be dismantled further, and some just look good.

Back then there was no computer at home. To get a feel of computer, we kids used to buy videogame consoles (convinencing parents was not so easy though). It has a main keyboard which contains everything(for some models, it is just a box, no keys). Two joysticks, a mouse (ball mouse!), AV and power cables, and a gun. We load videogames via some cartridges. These cartridges look like RAMs in a pc and are used in a very similar fashion. These consoles introduced me the mario, contra and many more games.

Yeah the gun, it is used only for one game called duck hunt. Shoot the ducks on the screen by plugging in the gun. Never knew how it worked.

So as usual, things stop working (or I am bored of playing with them) and I do a post-mortem. And the button I told you about is the trigger of that gun. Later I ended up with two such buttons (from those guns).

What to do with them? I didn’t know, so I just threw them in my box, they looked good. I like the simple contraption they use to connect terminals, and sweet click sound! They stayed in my box for maybe 2 years.

In high school days neighborhood kids use to play with RC cars by racing them together. I like the monster truck type cars, since they are not damaged by rough grounds. Mine was the biggest car among all. We race them ao aggressively that I broke the a control stick of the remote. I cannot buy a standalone remote, nor can i buy a new car. I have repair it.

Buttons to the rescue. I sticked one of the button where i can press them with index finger (same as a videogame joystick). And a switch (scavenged) in the place of original stick to set weather the button press should make the car move forward or backward. It worked great. Different from others and easy to use.

After 3+ years i reached college. And the first tech fest is approaching. I had plans to build many things for competitions. I had so many plans that there was no enough time for anything and nothing worked. Anyway, i was trying to build an Amphibot. A vehicle which can go through different terrains and float in water. I needed a new remote. Buttons to rescue.

The new remote worked exactly the same way as the RC car remote except now there are two different motors and two different sets of button-switch pairs. The housing of remote is a plastic box i got from a soldering hobby kit. Overall the vehicle was a disaster but the remote was exceptionally good. Every other participant had on-off switches. It was easier to operate with buttons when one had to toggle the power to moters frequently.

The competition was over, and i gave away the whole vehicle along with remote to some friends. I had a track of who is borrowing it for a while. Last i knew it was with Tatt. He gave it away to someone. I thought I would never see it again. I did regret loosing those buttons.

I was the organiser and coordinator of the same competition for the next two consecutive years of the fest. So i got to see and know who all were building Amphibots.

To my surprise I saw my own remote i built in my freshman year in the hands of others more than twice. With different people each time. Always i go to them and ask where did they get it and they say some name. All there change of hands happened after i lost track of who was borrowing from whom. And i tell them that it’s mine in the first place. No one agrees. Offcource who will accept if randomly someone shows up and says it’s his.

I don’t intend to take it back (secretary i do), but how do i convince them that it’s mine ?

Do i tell them this decade old story about those buttons? Will anyone believe in such stories?

I will not find those buttons again but I am quite happy that Tatt let someone borrow it, I am happy that they were useful to someone after me.

This is a real story!!

    Kvng Vikram

    Written by

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