Day 10: MIT Make in India

Day 10: MIT Make in India

Today we decided to focus on the Saras Organic soap company the Make in India team is currently trying to start. There were many discussions among teams--some heated--and lots of note-taking and such. This is all available on the Google Drives. A lot happened here, and I am honestly too lazy to write it all. In the end after this morning, I decided to opt out of being on the team for it. I was the finance person on the business team, but I no longer want to do it. I feel there are a lot of people and no matter how hard we try, we aren't on the same page just yet. I have full faith that all the others will make this happen and do amazing things! 

After the soap fun, we ate lunch and then set out to do some site visits. We got on the party bus (pt. 3.0) and started, but turns out we had left Daivon (which was absolutely hilarious). He had left to go get his ID (which he ended up not finding), and within that time we had all boarded the party bus and left. He then called us a few minutes later and came in on a motorcycle. That was so freaking funny.

Finally we got everyone on the bus and left for the rope/coil making place. There we saw how rope was made from coconut husks, using both manual labor and machines. It was incredibly interesting as I had never seen anything like it.

Titan tries to make rope. Tries. 

The manual crank for spinning the rope.

Machines that make rope from a thin thread and putting on the golden husk-y stuff.

Coconut husks. Or where weave comes from.

The coconuts stay underwater for about 6 months.

Daivon...

Keeping of the ropes

Then we made a quick visit to a fort right by the beach and ocean. Then it poured.

We were going to visit the fishermen's village as well, but since it started pouring our field trip was cut short and we returned to the house. The soap peoples continued their research and talked to the ladies once more with the questions they came up with. As I had quit the team, I wanted to go explore the city/village some more, so I recruited Ching-Ching, Forest, and Justin to come along with me. Of course, this was a concern that none of us could speak Malayalam and didn't know any of the ways, but we decided to adventure and yolo it. 

We set out with the goal of going to the market, and came to the train tracks and ended up taking the wrong turn away from the market. After walking for some time, we realized it was probably the other direction and asked a man (that spoke English). He told us that we were, indeed, going the opposite direction for the market, but the famous temple here was nearby in the direction we were walking. Change of plans then we decided to visit the temple instead and set out in the said direction of the man for the temple. We walked along the road for quite some time (with no temple in sight) and took a random turn into some small street and keep going until we hit a dead end and soon the railroad tracks. From there we asked a nice shop owner for directions and bought Kurkure (that I thought were banned) and CenterFresh. We walked along the railroad tracks for quite some time, asking people along the way to make sure we were on the right path. Turns out if you speak to people in English or Hindi, they will answer in broken English or Malayalam, but they know what you are saying. That was helpful. 

Finally we found the temple and it was nothing like I had ever seen of a temple before. We ventured around it and went inside (apparently guys have to take their shirt off?). It was pretty cool, but not like any Hindu temple I had been to. 

Justin, Ching-Ching, Me, and Forest

In addition, Forest had somehow spotted elephants behind the temple area. We all watched the elephants do some weird movements (dance? charging? mating call?) and saw fireworks that were happening nearby as well. Ching-ching and I decided to walk back and get our shoes, but Forest and Justin even got to pet the elephant. Not fair. Next time. 50 rupees to ride. 

We came back and ate dinner. Deepika and Mala also arrived, so nice to see them again. As our group normally does, we joke around, making interesting comments, and enjoy ourselves. I bought some Frooti as well. And ended up drinking the entire bottle, oops. I shared a little... We also got our laundry back, all mixed together and quite damp. Yay for our awesome indoor clothesline. Today was a fun day with lots of exploring. Tomorrow we all set out on the party bus to spend a day and night on a houseboat and then a day and night in Munnar. Should be fun!