The Mission: Design a Better Oil Extraction Unit

So in addition to trying to “become Indian” and exploring different parts of India (I went to Agra and saw the Taj Mahal this past weekend!), I came here to try to make a difference, so I should probably blog about that too! 

The Taj Mahal - Awesomest Burial Chamber Ever!

I've been spending the better part of my time here working with International Development Enterprises (IDE) trying to provide a sustainable income for village farmers.  Before I started, I was told that my project was to develop a low cost method that farmers can use to extract oils out of plants (the type of oil you might use in perfumes and medicines).  After a whirlwind first few weeks on the job where I (along with a person from IDE to act as a translator) visited numerous government labs and spoke to several experts, I learned that a low cost method for extracting oil from plants already exists, and is being used in villages throughout India.  In fact, the current system is cheaper than our initial target.  “Great!” I thought, “Mission accomplished.  Time to go back home!”  The good people at IDE already knew that villages are using a cheap system, so honestly I was a little perturbed that they didn’t tell me that a cheap system existed.  “Why was I spending my time trying to reinvent the wheel?” I thought.  

Ram Kumar, a villager who has been extracting oil from mint leaves for over 15 years 

However, before proclaiming victory, my co-workers here told me to visit the villages.  They said there I would learn about any problems that the farmers are experiencing.  I visited a couple villages this past week, and from the information I gained from the research institutes, I immediately saw a variety of small design changes as well as things that the farmers could do differently that would produce more (and higher quality) oil, have less impact on the environment, and cut the already low operating cost.  One example is simply drying the crop before extracting the oil could lead to 6 times as much oil extraction.  However, when the sun isn’t out, they don’t have a way to dry the crop.  So now my work has evolved into designing these changes to the oil extraction unit and process.  This will involve more visits to villages and research institutes, and thinking of creative cheap ways to implement these changes.

Without my having said anything about why I wasn't told about the cheap village systems, my boss here later told me that he planned all this on purpose, so that I would go into the research institutions to learn the theory without any preconceived notions of how to design a cheap system. Then I could independently try to design a cheap system, and when I visited the villages, I would be able to notice improvements.  “Oh!” I thought.  “Genius!”  It seemed to have worked, and after all, these people know how to innovate since they've designed an assortment of very clever and super cheap irrigation technologies. 

Apparently, my boss said he is going to give me even more vital information when he thinks I’m “ready for it”.  While I should probably trust his judgement on when he wants to give it to me, I’m going to ask him for it first thing tomorrow  ;)

Surviving my first trip

This weekend, I prayed for my life, got yelled at by a cop with an AK-47, and had sweets stolen by a monkey.

It all started when I decided I wanted to visit Ayodhya, a spiritual town known as being the birthplace of Lord Rama, one of the incarnations of the Hindu God Vishnu.  Ayodhya is about a 3-4 hour drive from my current location of Lucknow, so I decided to take a bus there.  When I got to the bus station, there was a guy offering to take people in his van for 80 Rupees, only 6 Rupees (12 cents) more than the bus.  I figured “Great! This is pretty much the same cost, we’ll get there in less time, and I’ll be more comfortable!”  The first two statements were true.

 

Depiction of Vishnu along the sidewalk in Ayodhya

However, in the packing efficiency that Indians seem to be experts at, the guy crammed 15 people into the 9, maybe 10 passenger van.  You might be thinking “well, if they’re all the size of you, Ravi, then that shouldn’t be a problem.”  They weren’t.  There were a few behemoth men who were on the journey too.  The part that was most disturbing though, that caused me to pray to reach Ayodhya safely, were the front seats (picture a driver seat, and then a bench on the passenger side) had not 2, not 3 (the max amount that should be in the front), but FIVE people!!  The driver was sharing a seat with one of the passengers, meaning half his body was hanging outside the window, and I didn’t want to know how he was able to press the brakes or shift the clutch.  Somehow, we made it there safely.

Example of Packing Efficiency 

Once in Ayodhya, I immediately went to Ram Janam Bhumi, the birthplace of Ram.  Like any tourist would have done, I whipped out my camera and took a picture of the place.  Not even a second after I clicked, I heard “Hey!  Come here!!” in a very forceful Hindi.  I walked over to the cops, all holding very large guns, and they commenced to chew me out in Hindi.  They were speaking too fast, so while I had no idea what they were saying, I quickly got the impression that taking pictures of this place was not allowed, and I gathered it was because, as my Lonely Planet book had told me, this is a very controversial site where both Hindus and Muslims claim religious significance, and it has been the site of numerous terrorist attacks.  I proceeded to apologize to the cop (in a very broken Hindi) and decided the rest of the day, I would ask before I took a picture of ANY temple. 

Kanak Bhavan – One of the temples I was allowed to take a picture of

Finally, because of the practice of kidnapping children and forcing them into a life of begging (where the kidnapper then takes the money from the children...like in Slumdog Millionaire), many people are torn on whether to give money to beggars because doing so only promotes the kidnapping by keeping it lucrative.  I’ve decided to try to instead give food, but so far have noticed that they look confused and only want the money.  This is making me think that those particular beggars are not genuinely hungry or needy. In any case, as I was holding a small box of mitai (sweets), ready to give it to the next beggar, I felt someone grab my hand and yank the sweets.  I let out a short (but manly!) shriek, and looked behind me.  That’s when I noticed a monkey running away. He then sat down, opened the box, and ate the sweets like he had done nothing wrong.  I started cracking up, and then this person behind me and I were like “Monkeys!  What are you gonna do?!”

The culprit.  Well, not him exactly, but probably his brother.

After that, my trip was over.  I decided to take an actual bus back to the city, and made it back to the hotel in one piece, where my Mom said she was proud of me for surviving my first real trip in India by myself.  I have to admit, I was a bit proud too!

The 1 Month Hurdle

WOOHOO!!  I’ve officially survived 1 month in India!  This is the hardest thing EVER!

...is the reaction I thought I would have had at this point in time.  Before coming here, I felt like this would be a milestone of sorts.  Mostly because after a “typical” stay of 3 weeks, I was usually uber ready to go back to America because of the luxuries of everyday life there (reliable electricity, hot water on demand, people speaking English...).  This time, however, things are different.

To my surprise, I actually feel very comfortable here, and I think a three month stay won’t be difficult (no, don’t worry, I’m not going to move here anytime soon!).  India's "modernization" in the last decade has been astounding, and they now enjoy most of the same comforts we do in America, so the electricity/water/language barrier doesn't really affect outsiders like me much.

Also, I haven’t gotten tired of Indian food twice a day, which I owe in part to my cousin Shilpi who I stayed with in New Delhi.  She made sure to whip up other types of food like a yummy broccoli casserole and the best falafel I’ve had in my entire life!  An occasional taste of food from back home is enough to last a good while.  I’ve also been lucky enough to usually get food that isn’t too spicy, but when it is spicy, I just man up and eat it, which basically involves minimizing the chewing and swallowing large pieces as quickly as possible.  And, to my surprise, my stomach hasn’t gotten sick (yet), although I’m starting to get more daring with what I eat (I’m trying to build up to monkey brains like they had in Temple of Doom), so it’s probably just a matter of time.

Touring Lucknow in style

Being here has also been easy because I’m very excited about the work I’m doing, and I’m having a lot of fun doing it (I’ll blog about that soon, I promise!).  I’m also eager to start my travelling phase of this trip.  Until now, I was visiting family or sightseeing around the cities I’ve been staying in (New Delhi and Lucknow).  From now on, I’m going to try to spend most weekends (at least the weekends where both Saturday and Sunday are free) to explore various parts of India, mostly those that I can reach via an overnight train, which means travelling around my Mom’s state of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.).  Luckily, U.P. has a lot to see, including the Taj Mahal, so I won’t run out of places to visit anytime soon.  And, considering my sense of direction, I’ll probably get lost more than once, so that should make for an interesting time!

Touring New Delhi with my travel companion, Chick

Thankfully, I'm really looking forward to being in India for two more months.  I imagine after that time I'll be glad to go back home and see my friends (and most excitedly, a soon to be nephew!), but I'm definitely going to miss being in a new place where even people watching offers up a unique perspective on a different culture.

What do you mean you're not checking my blog everyday?!

How’s this for stereotyping...

Growing up, I always thought that Indians were generally very nice and selfless people.  And they are.  After all, we’re the people of Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa.  This idea probably formed in my head because when you’re little, the world always seems a bit rosy, and my memory of India was limited to what I saw in the occasional Bollywood movies my parent’s would watch.  So yes, I was little surprised when I went to India and everyone wasn’t singing and dancing at random points throughout the day.

Some random music playing during the day (ok, so it happens sometimes!)

But the last few times I’ve gone to India, I started seeing a different picture.  I started noticing that many people were getting bent out of shape for seemingly small reasons.  The slightest bit of inconvenience such as having to wait in a line (I'll blog about Indians and lines later!) or getting told that you can’t bring your cell phone into the temple (terrorism is a huge worry and anything that could set off a bomb is not allowed in many of the temples) would result in an eruption of fury and pointless arguing.

Take for example this past weekend.  I went on a whirlwind tour of New Delhi, and one of the stops was the cremation site for none other than Mahatma Gandhi himself.  Now if people outside India know one thing about Gandhi, it’s that he is all about non-violence.  And EVERYONE in India reveres him to the highest degree imaginable.  At the cremation site (as in many sacred places in India), you need to take off your shoes.  There’s a place to put your shoes that’s free (but at your own risk), and another place right beside it that charges 1 Rupee (about 2 cents) and you’ll be sure to get your own shoes back.  The 1 Rupee ends up going to maintenance of the facility, so it’s the least most people could do.

Gandhi's final footsteps, leading up to the area he was assassinated (under the pavilion)

The tour guide was telling all the tourists to please use the 1 Rupee shoe rack as a way of making a small donation.  A local (who was not part of the group) got very upset because he thought the tour guide was telling HIM to put his shoes there (as he was placing his shoes on the free side), and after all, how dare this younger female tour guide tell him what to do.  Even after she told him that she was talking to her tour group and not to him, he continued chewing her out saying that he can put his shoes wherever he wanted to. There ended up being a very loud argument that lasted several minutes where numerous people got involved.  As I watched this, I couldn’t help but smirk at the irony that about 30 yards away lay the most important person in Indian history who, if he was watching, might have been wondering how people can forget his message of brotherhood and peace so soon.

Site of Gandhi's cremation (with his last words, "Oh God," inscribed on the marble)

Part II - The Work Part Has Begun!

When I was looking into volunteering in India, a friend of my sister’s who deals with funding social causes in India helped me find the right fit.  When I mentioned that I wasn’t sure what I had to offer, he mentioned that Americans in general tend to bring innovative ideas and a strong work ethic to the table.  The first I could believe, but when I heard the latter, I thought surely I misheard him!  All the Indians that are my parent’s generation are the hardest working people I know, and most Indians that are my generation are also pretty hard working, so I was surprised to hear that many Indians in India are rather lazy (hey, maybe THAT’S why they were so pacifist against the British!  Ew, too soon?).  I later heard similar views from several other people, which made me wonder if it was going to be a struggle to actually get something accomplished during my short stay.

Well, I just completed my first week on the job (yes, on a Saturday.  Apparently working at least 2 Saturdays a month is the norm with most companies in India), and already I feel like everything has moved at an alarmingly fast pace. This is only because everyone at IDE-India has been super on top of things on making sure that I have access to the people and information I need to get the job done. On Day 1, I went on a field trip to their Research and Development center to see how they test their innovative designs (see picture below).  I also found out that they had gotten me a plane ticket to leave the very next day to visit Kannauj, which is a place in India known for distilling oil from various plants for use in perfumes.  After a 1 hour plane ride followed by a 5 hour drive (where I probably inhaled more dust than a camel in the Sahara), we arrived in Kannuaj.  Here, we visited a government center that researches different aromatic compounds as well as a few farmers’ villages.  Everyone was excited about the work we’re doing and was really excited to collaborate with us, which is also apparently quite unusual!

So now I wonder how IDE has been so successful in providing over 1 million village farmers the ability to irrigate their fields in water scarce areas (IDE’s primary area of work).  Maybe it’s that they are a small group of very motivated people who believe very strongly in helping others.  And I’d like to believe that when others hear about a noble cause, they respond well because deep in our hearts, we all want to help others.  I guess we’ll see how far this trend continues past Week 1.  But so far, I’m becoming more and more convinced that people will continue to be helpful and that we’ll get something very valuable accomplished.

Demo of IDE's low cost "treadle pump" at their R&D facility

Part I - The Vacation

Ok, so I packed 3 months worth of stuff and made it to India!  Phew!  The last couple of weeks have been an absolute whirlwind.  It started off with my cousin’s wedding festivities. The women got mendhi on their arms, there was a pre wedding ceremonial night, and then the actual wedding. On the wedding day, the bharat (coming in of the groom on the horse, while surrounded by a dancing mob of his family and friends) came parading in to loud music around 11pm, which was about 2 hours after the wedding was supposed to start, but about an hour before anyone thought they would actually show up. Then by the time pictures and dinner were over, it was about 2am, and they decided it would be a good time to start the actual wedding ceremony.  That lasted a cool 3 hours, so my parents and I got home just before 6, which was great because we had to leave to go to the airport at 7 in the morning! 

We rested up an hour and caught a plane to the Jammu/Kashmir region, which contains part of the Himalayan mountains (which we saw on the flight). We hiked an 11 km trek in the Himalayan foothills to a temple called Vaishno Devi, a popular Hindu pilgrimage site. Considering we were going on just 1-2 hours of sleep, I’m super impressed we all made it to the top! Although my Mom and I later admitted that we were both dozing off while hiking near the end. Falling off a Himalayan mountain can’t be too bad of a fall, right??

After that, we visited my Mom and Dad’s hometowns, where everyone lovingly reminded me that I wasn’t married, and then kept reminding me over and over. I was already mentally prepared for this, and laughed it off and made jokes about how I wasn’t married because I thought they were finding someone for me. But then I quickly realized that was a bad idea and decided to act like I couldn’t understand what they were saying.  Playing the “my Hindi isn’t too good” card definitely came in handy then...

Thus ends Part I and begins Part 2, the volunteering part. I start this week, so we'll see how bad I can mess up a non-profit in just 3 months!

The strangers beside me

God (or coincidence if that's your medicine) is an interesting fellow...

Straight out of high school, I was a finance major at NYU (long story in itself).  Whenever I would travel home for the holidays, I somehow always got stuck next to either an Aerospace Engineer or a Finance person.  While the Aerospace Engineers I sat next to were generally boring, I was somehow intrigued by what they did.  Other (actually significant) events happened and 'Beepity Boppity Boop!' I switched from Finance to Aerospace Engineering.  Sitting next to those Aerospace Engineers actually had no bearing on the situation, but to me, it's quite the coincidence that of the half dozen or so people I sat by and spoke with, all were either my former or actual major.  Maybe it was the planting of a seed...

Today, as I was flying from LAX to Chicago, I sat next to this person who evaluates technologies to determine if they are worth investing in.  I mentioned what I was going to do, and we had a nice discussion about the kinds of questions I need to ask my organization (IDE-India) to make sure that they have thought this product through and that the technology is sustainable from both ends (us the developer, and the end user).  This is important to me because I want to make sure that my time is used fruitfully for the benefit of your average Aashish.

Now mind you, I don't like talking to random people.  When the lady next to me started talking to me, my first thoughts were "I hope this doesn't go on long" and "How do I get out of this?".  After the usual small talk about her son and places she's traveled, we switched over to something relevant to me and I became interested.  By this point though, we were already on our final descent.

It's quite possible that the moral here is that everyone can have an impact on our lives if we let them.  Perhaps it's not a coincidence at all that based on our life experiences, we can find some way to help anyone else out.  And we should probably open up and give everyone a chance instead of shutting people out. I guess I'll confirm this on my flight to India (if the person makes me talk to them that is).  But if the person I'm sitting next to is an expert in steam distillation of essential oils, I'm going to attribute that coincidence to a higher power!

Just so everyone knows, it turns out the person next to me was an oil engineer!  But he makes oil lubricants for seals.  So close!!

Trying to help a brother out

Ok, so I'm going to India.  For a pretty good while.  My Mom is terrified.  My Dad is like "that's cool." And I'm pretty stoked.

In a way, this story starts when I was about 6 years old.  I remember going to India, and the first thing I saw when I walked outside the airport was the most appalling thing I have seen to date.  A billion people.  But then I saw something else...poverty like nothing I had seen before in my relatively sheltered upbringing.  My first thought was "Wow, why aren't people doing something about this?  Why aren't we doing something about this?".  It seemed too obvious that we should.

Fast forward to May 2007.  My good friend Kate was getting ready to leave for Cambodia on a sort of mission trip.  I was intrigued that someone I knew was packing up and leaving for 2+ years.  When I went to a sendoff party, this guy was giving a spiel about how what Kate was doing was courageous, but that we could all do this.  He said how we all want to help people, but there's always a million excuses in the way.  "Forget all the excuses," he said, "and just do it!"  That's when I decided I was going to do it.  I wasn't sure when (or what!), but I knew I was definitely going to do it!

That brings us to now.  It took me about two years from that moment to decide it was the right time, and I leave in a few days to go to this land I know very little about.  My plan is to make a difference, however small, that might afford children in India the same opportunities I have been fortunate enough to have in my life (who doesn't want a Wii?).  My volunteer work will involve trying to develop a low cost distillation technology for essential oils which can be operated by a village based entrepreneur (don't worry, I wasn't sure what that meant when I first heard it!).  This will help empower the villagers by providing them a sustainable living, thus increasing the quality of life for them and their children.  The children can then have better opportunities by going to school and college, but most of all, by giving them hope that they can have a better future.

On a side note, this blog is called "Becoming Indian".  I tried (probably unsuccessfully) to go for something humorous yet significant.  My sister and friends have always called me the most un-Indian Indian they know.  I have very few Indian friends, and when I was little, I actually just didn't get along with other Indian boys.  While I'm older now, I still don't gravitate towards the Indian crowd. Heck, I don't even eat spicy food.  Before a few months ago when I performed for the first time at a Diwali show, the only thing Indian about me was when I dressed up as an American Indian in first grade.  I figure spending three months in India (I come back on February 24th) might just change that.  If nothing else, I'll be forced to be Indian for an extended period of time.  And who knows, I might even come back and get along with Indians and eat spicy food!