Day 11: MIT Make in India

Day 11: MIT Make in India

Today was the day that we would go to stay a day and night on the houseboat. Everyone seemed fairly excited, but the fact that we had to be the infamous AIS at 7am… It was about a 3+ hour drive north to Alleppey where the Backwaters were and where we would go on the houseboat. My buddy for the trip was Chingy, who in this morning thought she had lost her passport as she could not find it anywhere in her suitcase. I gave her the genius suggestion to check her backpack. It was there. Good job, Ching-Ching. The bus also played some great Kishore Kumar and Mukesh--that too with all the bass. It reminded me of home and my papa. 

Once we arrived, there were two lines of houseboats along the dock. It also seemed significantly hotter… We put our stuff on the boat (which we had to walk through another boat to get to, that too with our shoes off), and went to go get snacks with Mala. We mostly bought potato chips (to which the comment was, you come to India and all you buy are potato chips) and had to leap over giant puddles just to get to them. I didn’t make it all the way…but it was minimum splash. 

Finally as we all got our snacks, we got on the big houseboat and it started cruising through the Backwaters. I’M ON A BOAT. We passed tons of islands and palm trees. Raj told us how the water level is higher than the actual land on the islands. We saw school kids getting on boats in their uniforms to come from schools, and how people showered, washed their clothes, and did everything in the same water (including dump all the boat waste). 

Unfortunately the fun of enjoying the cruising had to be interrupted for a bit to make some progress on our projects. The soap people discussed further the business plans and product design and such, which the shower washers had to think of a problem and come up with a product to fix it. 

As part of the shower washers we came to the back of the conference room (party room with two tables and chairs) to discuss, pretty much all of us blank. We brainstormed problems that we faced coming here and that other people faced. The discussion started out with the prevent of ants, then water drainage, and society in general. Finally it led to the great problem of INDIAN BATHROOMS. The notes are in Evernote for the full discussion, but we talked about how they are not clean, private, safe, hygienic, and such. This conversation went for a while, and we had almost come up with a product, but both Mala and I would personally not buy it, so we came back to square 2. Then there was some quite interesting talk about how girls use the restroom… 

Then we began discussing how heels suck and society and soon went back to bathrooms…some progress was made. We also had a quote of the hour: “Aishwarya’s sneezes are like rapid fire with a silencer on it” -Raj

After that we had lunch and could enjoy the rest of the boat ride. I and others sat at the front of the boat, watching the water pass under our feet. People took turns trying to drive the boat, and Aishwarya and I had to do the famous Titanic pose (which we were also telling Titan to do…just for the irony). I had good conversations with people, learning about their lives as they learned about mine. They were also still trying to make me talk in Hindi…

Aishwarya and Me

Finally we docked at the place where our houseboats would stay for the night. To get off the boat, we had to use a sketchy ladder type thing, and then ever sketchier pieces of wood and sandbags to walk across the water area to where they were selling food. People bought coconuts. I tried some coconut water…not my style. After that we got back on the boat and just simply enjoyed everyone’s company. I learned that Jaspreet and I have very similar music preferences and we listened to music for a while. All in all, it was a very good time to get to know each other outside of the classroom. 

Forest tries to feed rabbit

Finally we had a good dinner, and even somewhat of a dance party (until the sounds bothered people). Then came the showering issue. So after we had run around the boat trying to find the best room possible, Ching-Ching and I kinda got an okay room. Then we walked into the bathroom. We were growing mushrooms!! And there was a dragonfly. I tried to shower in Titan and Kristin’s room, but when I went in there, there was a huge (I mean seriously huge) flying cockroach, and I was done. Mushrooms were at least stationary. I taught Chingy how to bucket shower. Then finally slept. Although the dragonfly was still there. And some loud noise in the other room...