IIT-Kharagpur and Mandarmani Beach

Pre-monsoon rainstorm

We began the day on 5/25 with a drive to IIT-Kharagpur, the oldest Indian Institute of Technology and the alma mater of Professor Ganguly. During a rest stop a few hours into the drive, it started to rain. Then it continued to rain even harder. A 15-foot walk outside was required to get to the restroom—I was soaked after completing the round-trip journey. The winds had picked up at this point as well. Sheltered under the tin and ceramic roof of the large restaurant, we watched and listened as ceramic tiles flew off the roof and crashed on the ground near parked cars. Our bus had moved away from the building to avoid falling branches. In the roof above where we were standing, two holes about the size of small dinner plates were ripped open in the tin. Dust was swirling around the whole enclosure and getting in our eyes. A window shattered in the kitchen and the cooking fires briefly blew out of control.

The whole pre-monsoon rainstorm was over in about ten minutes. It was cool to see just how much rain can come down at once. When the monsoon comes, it is not consistently as windy as it was during our stop, but it dumps rain for up to a week at a time. Every year the monsoon is the paramount concern of farmers in India. The four months of monsoon provide water for a year’s worth of agriculture. The monsoon is highly variable and difficult to predict. Professors and grad students at Institutions including IIT-Bombay have been working on modeling and predicting the monsoon for decades, but it is inherently difficult to predict because it is affected by weather patterns worldwide from El Nino in the Atlantic to convection currents in the Bay of Bengal.

During our visit to IIT-Kharagpur, we heard some guest lectures about the university, the physics of the monsoon, and the challenge of making communities resilient to extreme climate events. We also toured the science and technology museum which had some great hands-on experiments about mathematical concepts. The building which now houses the museum used to be part of a prison complex during the British occupation of India.

In the afternoon, we took a quick visit to an agricultural area near the university where different genetic varieties of tea are grown to taste test. After the farm, we drove to visit a river. There was no academic plan to visit the river, so we played cricket on the beach until it became dark.

Bay of Bengal near Mandarmani Beach

On Friday (5/27), we drove to Mandarmani Beach. We had once night on the beach to relax before moving to Kolkata. A few kilometers away from the resort, the bus stopped because it was unclear if we could make it around some tight turns up ahead. We got out to walk around the area and drink some coconut water. There was a man taking pictures of everyone with their coconuts. I thought he was just excited to take pictures of tourists, as sometimes happens. A few minutes later he asked me if I wanted to buy a picture that he had taken of me and Rose holding our coconuts for 20 rupees. Of course I purchased the picture—he disappeared to print it out and found me again before I got back on the bus.

Back to the conversation about if the bus could reach the hotel, which I imagine went something like this:

Person A: “There are sharp turns on the one-lane road up ahead. I don’t know if the bus can make it.”

Person B: “Hmm. I don’t know this road. Should we try to drive the bus?”

Shrimp and lobster cultivation pools on the way to M. Beach

Person A: “Okay, let’s go.”

The road was one lane, with some areas we used as makeshift pullover spots to allow other cars to pass. It took about 20 minutes to go about 4km because there were many sharp turns and cars coming the in opposite direction which we needed to pass. Eventually we made it to the hotel and were very surprised by what we found.

Our resort at Mandarmani Beach looked like it was built in the 1970s and had not been repainted or repaired since. The statues had chipping paint and were outdated in style; there was a water park with some tiny dry slides and a wave pool whose bottom looked green with algae. We discovered the wave pool not by going swimming, but by taking a ride on the raised chairlift that spanned the property; we got a bird’s eye view of all that Sun City Resort had to offer. Instead of being open to the surrounding air with a safety bar like a ski lift, this attraction had a plastic cover attached to the safety bar. To sit comfortably in the seat with the bar down, one would have to be around 5’6”. My head was squished down and my neck kinked for the slow 15-minute ride across the resort and back. There was only one loading station, so the chairs served as purely a ride for enjoyment, not transportation. To top it off, the plastic shield greatly impeded my vision of the resort because it was yellowed with age.

Despite the state of the resort, the day was great. Swimming in the Bay of Bengal was fun and the water was warm. After getting about 50 feet out into the water, there was no longer pure sand under my feet. Instead, there was slippery grey clay lining the bottom of the bay. The slimy clay was a bit disconcerting before I figured out what I was stepping on.

We woke up early for the drive to Kolkata, about a 5-hour venture. Internet has not been accessible for many days, but should be better in Kolkata.

Some pictures of Sun City resort are below: