From Bangalore’s hand-etched circuits to RC2014 kits — a journey rewired.

On the 20th of September 2025, my daughter and I spent a day at the National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) in Bletchley Park for the RC2014 assembly event. It was, without exaggeration, one of the most special visits I’ve ever made to the museum—and I’ve been there countless times.

A Place That Never Loses Its Charm

My first visit to Bletchley Park was back in 2008. Tickets were just a few pounds then, and I still remember seeing the Colossus machine rebuilt and working fine. Ever since, TNMOC has been inseparable from my visits to Bletchley Park—no trip ever felt complete without stepping into those rooms filled with the hum of history.

There’s a personal thread here too. My parents and sister once stood in the middle of the World War II experience at Bletchley, a powerful reminder of how computing and codebreaking shaped the course of history. Later, during my time at Elastacloud, I visited the museum many times—sometimes for executive meetings, sometimes simply out of that enduring geeky connection.

Back to My Roots in Electronics

But this visit was different. More personal. More nostalgic.

As a boy growing up in Bangalore, I attended an electronics course at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum. That’s where my fascination with circuits began, long before computers took over my imagination. I would cycle 15 km to a small workshops on Tank Bund Road and TCM Royan Road (running parallel to Majestic Railway Station Platforms and Depot) where they had a lathe machine to drill holes into copper boards, carefully etch circuits with marker pens, and dip the boards into acid to bring them to life.

Components like LEDs, diodes, and ICs were bought from another shop nearly 10 km away (Seppings Road, Shivajinagar).

At home, I somehow convinced my father to buy me a soldering iron and some flux. The first circuit I ever built was a doorbell that played Christmas carols. I still remember the thrill—it felt like I was on top of the world.

That passion carried me to my first ever science exhibition at Christ School, where I built a model train set with an automated railway crossing using photo diodes. It wasn’t just about the project—it gave me confidence, and yes, it even introduced me to my first crush!

So, when I sat with a soldering kit again at TNMOC, it wasn’t just about building an RC2014 computer—it was like rediscovering a part of myself.

A Shared Learning with My Daughter

What made it even more special was sharing the day with my daughter. Watching her see the fundamentals of computing for the first time—registers, RAM, and machine instructions—was priceless.

Steve, one of the guides, demonstrated how to load bits into registers, and I could see her mind racing. Just a week ago she was complaining about her i5 laptop with 16 GB RAM slowing down, and now she was marveling at what people managed to do with a mere 32K RAM. That kind of perspective shift is worth a thousand lectures.

I bought an RC2014 kit and a few extra modules, partly for myself and partly so we could build something together—assembly, BASIC, the works.

Serendipity and Old Friendships

And then, as if the day hadn’t already been special enough, I ran into an old colleague and friend. He had traveled all the way from the south coast of England—three hours just to attend the same event. The last time we’d met was in 2009.

We reminisced about the days when we used to head to the office daily, and he shared how he now enjoys working fully remote. I, in turn, shared the wild rollercoaster of my last eight years. Standing there among the exhibits, it felt like no time had passed at all.

Why This Visit Was Different

For me, this visit wasn’t just about computers or soldering irons. It was about bridging past and present:

  • The boy in Bangalore, cycling miles for electronic parts.
  • The father, sharing a spark of fascination with his daughter.
  • The professional, reconnecting with an old friend after more than a decade.

The RC2014 event tied all these threads together—nostalgia, learning, and friendship—making it the most meaningful visit I’ve ever had to TNMOC.