First Weekend on Campus: Jan 7-9

Written Jan 9, 2017

I spent my first weekend on campus relaxing and trying unsuccessfully to overcome my jetlag. I went for a run in the morning on Saturday at the track on campus, less than a kilometer down the road from my hostel. There were a few people on the field running, walking, or playing cricket when I got there, but as I later learned people do not generally exercise outside after around 7:30 due to the heat. Most people spend time outside in the evening once the sun has set and the temperature is a bit cooler. It is still warm at night—I can walk outside comfortably in a T-shirt—but it is significantly cooler than during the day. During the warm hours of the day from around 11 to 4 it is well over 80F in the sun. I think I have forgotten how draining the sun in India can be (and this is not even the hot season!) because it is exhausting just to be out in the sun. The night always brings a welcome cool.

In the afternoon on Saturday I met Dada, a former student of Professor Sardeshpande’s who showed me how to use some solar modeling software. I will be using this for the parabolic trough spice roaster project. We went for tiffin (afternoon snack) after and had some idli, a rice cake, with spicy coconut chutney. The chutney tasted better than it has the other days, maybe because we were at a different hostel. Later in the evening I went with Shahnawaz to the nearby neighborhood of Hiranandani to buy some supplies at the grocery store, including deodorant and some toilet paper—I seem to have contracted a cold on the airplane and the bathrooms are byotp. Deodorant in its normal “stick of gel” form found in the US was absent from the store; it appears that most people use aerosol deodorant here. When we first entered the store, the crush of people waiting in line at the registers was huge and I almost suggested going to a different store where the checkout lines might be shorter. I said nothing so we completed the shopping as planned. I also picked up a very soft black fleece blanket with brightly colored hearts on it, as my room can get somewhat cold at night with the fan on and the window open.

We did not eat out in Hiranandani, but instead came back to the hostel for dinner. It was tough to pass all those street carts and restaurants I know so well and not eat, but I live very close, just a short rickshaw ride that costs less than 60 Rupees away ($1 = 67 Rupees).

Outside campus, the traffic is as it generally is in India: incredibly crowded with little semblance of lanes. Cars, trucks, rickshaws, pedestrians, motorcycles, cyclists, and cows share the crowded streets. Inside campus, the roads are all 2-lanes. They are shared by the same assortment of methods of transportation, but the density of people on the road is much less and the percentage of pedestrians and cyclists is much higher. The same rules of the road apply though. I am walking on the left-hand side of the road as a rickshaw whizzes by me on the right, passing me and the cyclist in front of me before swerving back into the left lane to avoid the oncoming IIT bus. Buses for students run up and down the main street of campus. I have not yet determined their timing and I do not think I will by the time I leave. Even the welcome packet I was emailed upon my arrival mentiones the inconsistent timing:

“The frequency of TumTums (buses) is high just before classes start and just after they end. You will soon find yourself complaining about the frequency of the service, but the TumTums are probably a boon to the institute. The ubiquitous Murphy’s Laws apply to TumTums too, with all TumTums always going in the direction opposite to your intended direction of travel. “

I have found the bus timing better than this description suggests. In the hot afternoon after lunch it is nice to catch a bus to get from my hostel to the academic area of campus, about a kilometer away.

On Sunday morning I woke up early to stream the Seahawks game (here we come, Atlanta!). I then went on a bike ride around campus with Shahnawaz and he showed me some areas of the campus like the lakeside road that I had not seen before. We went out for lunch on campus and had some great tandoori chicken. After doing some reading, I lay down to take a quick power nap and woke up 3 hours later—I guess I am not quite over my jetlag yet. I then went for a jog on the field and had dinner in the mess. The best part of dinner this night was the dates that constituted part of the dessert for the night.

On Monday, I had a few meetings for my projects with some professors on campus. Professor Sardeshpande is not on campus today or the next day, so I am on my own to prepare. I am visiting a turmeric processing plant in Kolhapur, a 12-hour overnight train ride away, on Wednesday. I am traveling with the other student on Tuesday night, and we will return on the overnight train back to Mumbai on Wednesday night, arriving back on campus Thursday morning. We will be taking lots of temperature, humidity, and air speed measurements of different areas of the plant in order to do an energy analysis to determine how the plant could run more efficiently. I have used the equipment before in lab at Northeastern, but this will be my first time designing and completing a complete study of this type. I am excited to try it and I will err on the side of taking more data than I need rather than leaving with insufficient data to complete calculations back on campus.

In the evening on Monday I went on a run with a few Nepalese guys who live on my floor. We took a nice route around campus the included a couple small hills, though unfortunately it was only pavement underfoot. After dinner I went for a walk on campus then up to the 7^th floor balcony of Hostel 12 with Akshay and Shahnawaz where we talked for over an hour. They have been especially helpful in welcoming me here; I have learned a lot about Indian culture from them and I have told them a lot about American culture, including dispelling some myths (like the frequency of Animal House-type parties) that they have seen in movies.

I am off to Kolhapur tomorrow and will return to campus Thursday morning! Some pictures from campus are below: