Trip to the Sundarbans National Park!

Manon 2018-05-06 22:16, laatste update 2020-09-30 13:00

Friday in Kolkata

Ruben 2018-05-06 18:23, laatste update 2018-05-06 19:45

Friday morning the day started a bit too early. Breakfast, which should have been served around 08:00, was suddenly an hour early (Which is better than late, but rushing to the door half asleep isn't the dream start of my morning). The planned activities were visiting the Bose Institute, followed by the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).

After a final buddy-check we proceeded to the vans and left for the Bose Institute. We soon discovered that there are multiple locations of this institute. With only one of the drivers speaking English and one knowing the way, this proved to be rather time-consuming. So with only one and a half hour left, we entered the Bose Institute. Here we had an interesting talk on complex systems, but due to being short on time, we quickly grabbed lunch and continued our journey to the ISI.

We quickly arrived at the gates of ISI, so at least one of our trips had gone as planned, right? Wrong. Apparently we arrived at the wrong gate of the complex. In stead of letting us walk over the campus, we circled around the ISI in busy traffic for at least 15 minutes. The walk over the terrain would have cost us 5 minutes, but we can all agree upon the fact that this would have been totally unacceptable (or at least this is what Indians seem to think). Luckily our troubles were compensated by some interesting talks about molecular electronics and the relation between the formalism of general relativity and fluid dynamics. This concluded the physics part of the day.

Because we had some spare time, we went to a large temple complex near the ISI. After reluctantly handing in our mobile phones and undoing our shoes, we entered the large temple complex. It had a lot of shrines and we happened to visit during a Hindu ritual. By now everyone was tired, so we went back to the hotel (without problems for the first time this day). All I had to do, was get dinner somewhere. I ended up at a Indian restaurant close to the hotel. There were 10 waiters, who were serving 5 filled tables (now we know how the term waiter was invented). The experience was only lacking on one front; the food quality. Moving some staff from the restaurant to the kitchen wouldn't be a bad idea. For the next weekend a visit to the mangrove forests is planned. How we experienced this, you can read in the next blog!

Kolkata University

Wies 2018-05-03 20:33

Our first real day in Kolkata! We started with a belated but very nice non-indian breakfast. (To be honest I can´t stand the taste and the smell of any spicy indian food in de morning anymore). After breakfast we went to the University of Kolkata. This university has his faculties all over the city. In the morning we first visited the department of Physics. After a nice introduction and some group pictures we visited a cellar like space were they were working with lasers. Afterwards did we get a yummy and not to spicy indian lunch. This was the first university were we also saw some students. This wasn´t the case in the other universities because of the exams the students have next week. Special for our visit were there still some students present at the Kolkata University!

Next was the department of environmental science from the Kolkata University on the program. We thought that the people couldn´t be any nicer then at the department of Physics. We thought wrong!
When we arrived and took the lift to the 8th floor (the die hards of the group did take the stairs) were we welcomed with a welcomes song from the students of the department! That was really a special experience. The talks they gave were with such an enthusiasm about there little department. I think that they were really honored that there small department got a visit from students from an university of the Netherlands! Two students were totally unstoppable when they were telling about how a specific machine worked. They were telling with so much fire and passion that we didn´t understand it at all.
It was our goal that we would leave the department of environmental science around four O´clock but at the end after many times saying that we need to go we could finally leave at half past five...

Now the group splits up in smaller group. Some of us wanted to take the big temple tour and visit three different temples. The others visited only the first big temple to go back to the hotel after dinner. I was in the group to visit three temples. First we visited the Birla Mandir. This was really impressing. We were right on time to experience a special kind of ritual were they were ringing with bells among other things. (They do this every day at six O´Clock). Afterwards we went to a restaurant called Ginger Bar were the meals were okay. Next we visited some small temple were you could take some flowers to follow some kind of ritual. It goes without saying that they expect some rupees afterwards. When we were finished with this temple we were tired and was it already late, so we skipped the third temple and went back to the Hotel. Now I am writing the last sentences of the blog for today. We will see you tomorrow again!
Wies

Transfer day to Calcutta; leaving Delhi behind us

William 2018-05-03 04:45, laatste update 2020-09-30 13:00

This morning we arrived at 8:50 in the hotel lobby in New Delhi, with our suitcases already packed and left at the rooms for our transfer to Calcutta later on the afternoon. With everyone but Stefan - who felt too ill to join us unfortunately :'( - ready we walked towards the Ramakrishna metro station where we forced ourselves into the busy metro only to change lines at the next station on our way towards the Indian Institute of Technology of Delhi.

We got out at Haus Kahz station and found ourselves walking through the burning Delhi sun on the slightly improvised sidewalk of one of the many busy streets. Seeing construction work being done on the pavements by people in regular clothes was quite an experience. After continuous sweating during the little wait at the security station - what coincided with our first moment of contact with Indian eduroam - we were guided into IIT where we were showed around the clean rooms of the Nano Structures Facility and were given a look at some of their research subjects such as fuel cells or scanning probe microscopy.

After we surprised the head of the facility at the end of the visit by describing our way of transportation (I don't know wether he was shocked by us walking in general, or with us walking in this weather), we received a guided exit towards the metro station by a scientific staff member (who then had to walk all the way back to IIT again).

Back at the hotel I did not only find Stefan still (or hopefully again) sitting on the toilet, but we also quickly gathered our suitcases and hopped into our shuttle buses to conquer Delhi traffic one last time towards the airport. After check-in I went for a quick meal at McDonald's (I myself had a MacMajahara Veg, which is the Hinduism approved version of the Big Mac basically, with a corn and cheese based burger) before heading to the boarding gate. Luckily Peter got some precious time photographing planes before all out of nowhere a dusty fog covered the airport, luckily not affecting our flight's departure time.

After a bumpy ride the plane touched down in Calcutta, the second destination of this study trip. At the airport, government vans (yes, really) were waiting to take us to our hotel. After checking in, our hopes of being able to quickly fall asleep were somewhat crushed by the slightly unpleasant state of the rooms (I will spare you the pictures). So Stefan and I decided it was time to take out the mosquito net and duct tape for the first time this trip to give ourselves a slightly better feeling for the upcoming night. I guess it worked as Stefan, who luckily feels better, is sleeping already as I'm typing this. I can't blame him, for the first time this trip I feel quite tired as we and can't wait to get some sleep on this uncomfortably hard bed.

Cheerios,

Willie

D-Day, The First Day of Institutes.

Daniël 2018-05-01 18:47, laatste update 2020-09-30 13:00

So remember when Bartje told you about the others which were "not so lucky" with the dinner yesterday? Yeah, today was D-Day (Diarrhea Day), the first day of visiting institutes. Some were sick (vomiting), and others, like myself, were introduced to the Delhi Belly. The first thing one did when entering an institute was not locating the escape routes, but the nearest bathrooms.

So the institutes: we've visited CSIR-NPL and the University of Delhi. At the first institute we were placed in a conference room where Peter introduced the Director, chief scientist and two other heads of science to The Netherlands and the city of Nijmegen.

After a presentation of the director, Dr. R.P. Pant, we were led to the atom clocks and time servers providing the country of very exact times, and the temperature measurements room, where they measure the unit Kelvin with very high precision using e.g. the triple point of H2O.

We received a lift to the metro station, where we took the long ride to the University of Delhi, where we were greeted with great enthusiasm by the head of the Astrophysics department. They have never had the experience of a group of students visiting their university from abroad, so they were really excited and valued our input.

We were toured around by almost all the PhD students present, who were able to thoroughly explain to us all the research they were performing during their PhD. A remarkable thing was that the ratio male-female PhD's was about 1:2, which is a sight you won't see in Nijmegen! One of the PhD's walked with us to the metro afterwards, where his friends were waiting, helping us returning to the hotel.

To close this off, I've added pictures of Ludo, Camille and me with our great friends at the street corner, providing us with delicious Chipatas and curry for only ₹10 in the early morning (7:45). Lastly, you see Ludo and Camille trying to tackle the chaotic traffic in New Delhi, dodging all the Tuk Tuk drivers hoping to give us a ride. (story continues below)It is a great pleasure being here, despite all the chaos and the giant culture shock. We are getting used to the temperature, and it will probably only get better in Calcutta and Bengaluru. The people here are very friendly and the food (if proper) is great. The Delhi Belly is a thing, but we'll manage.

btw shameless Polarsteps plug, use this to follow the trip from my perspective omg: click here

Daniël out.

A free day in New Delhi

Bart 2018-04-30 19:14, laatste update 2020-09-30 13:00

Today was our last free day before going to Kolkata. On Mondays, almost all monuments are closed, but with Bart, Alexander and I decided to go and look at them from the outside. Walking to the metro, it was already hot outside (we slept long, so it was about 10:30 am). Inside the metro there is air conditioning, so we could cool down again. We walked to see the Red Fort from the outside. After that we walked through a market and went to the metro again to visit the Lotus Temple, which was in another part of the city. This was also closed, but we could get quite close by walking through the park that was around it. It had become even hotter, so after a break in the shade, we decided to walk back to the cooled metro to go back to our air conditioned hotel room.In the evening, we all gathered to have dinner together. Even the persons who stayed in bed sick all day joined. The restaurant served ``bottomless'' drinks and had food which was between Indian and Western food (I had a spicy vegetarian burger, but they called it mild). My belly was not happy with the amount of food I ate, but after some rumbling, it got calm again (others were less fortunate :-( ).

Although it feel like a week, we only had three whole days here in India. I start to get used to being here. The heat is still overwhelming, but I can handle it much better. The streets seem bigger and the horns of all the Tuktuk's don't make me jump anymore. Though some changes are still difficult: In India they drive on the left side (in theory, in practice they can drive everywhere). It is important to remember that when crossing the streets. I still accidentally walk on the right side of stairs, instead of the left side. Also, I often forget that pointing with your finger is considered rude. You have to point with your thumb or with you whole hand. On the other hand, we have seen a lot of Indians pointing with their finger, so it won't be a big problem.

In these three days we have also encountered some special Indian behaviour. In the train back to Delhi, we sat next to some soldiers who where going to defend the border with Pakistan (the Indian interpretation of the border of course). They where very friendly and interested in us. I'd say that they offered us some food and alcohol, but that is not the right way to describe it. It was more like they forced us to eat their food and drink with them (``You six need to finish that bag of nuts, before we arrive in New Delhi!'' By the way, we failed, there were still nuts left when leaving the train) Very generous, but very strange. Saying ``no'' was not helping.

Another strange event happened today when buying lunch in a supermarket. After paying, Alexander saw that there was a mistake on the receipt and that he had payed about 800 rupees (10 euro) too much (He had payed 1100 rupees instead of 300). They were very friendly at the consumer service, but it took a very very long time to get the money back. First they needed to make many photos and copies of the faulty receipt, then they passed it on to about 10 other people, who went away with it, coming back some minutes later. There were multiple checks on what Alexander had bought and how much that should cost. But eventually, after 20 minutes (which seemed like an hour), Alexander got his money back. Luckily there was air conditioning inside.

Tomorrow we are getting up early to go visit our first institutes, so I'am going to bed now.

The Journey to the holy Taj Mahal

Alexander 2018-04-29 20:28, laatste update 2020-09-30 13:00

On Saturday we started our journey to Agra. An adventure of 200 km with the Indian train. The Indian trains are very special... very special. We went in and it seems to be that the train is living. Everywhere people, discussing, sitting, eating, playing, living. Families sit together, merchants selling goods, there is even a food delivery. And in the middle of everything a group of twenty students from Europe. But very quickly first contacts were made and between sleep and eat some friendships were made and we learned a lot about the Indians. Really nice people.
After the sunset we arrived in Agra and after a short, very intensive bus ride we found us in a nice little hotel.. very tired. So we went to bed, to get up very early before the sunrise to get a nice experience at the Taj Mahal... Alarm clock set to 4:30 and try to sleep...
After a short night with 6 power failures and a decent fear about mosquitoes we get up early and went down the street 500 meters to the Taj Mahal. Seriously, what a nice place, impressive with a mystical atmosphere. We took a lot pictures. The idea with the sunrise was it worth. Beautiful. And wow a lot monkeys climbing and playing around.
After some hours of this experience, we went back to the hotel, 8:00, time for some Indian breakfast - Normally on this time I am still sleeping.
With a group of six we started a walk to the Agra fort, a very old barracks, But the walk was long, hot and with a big detour through some slums... Maybe it were slums, maybe not, but in every case I felt extremely thankful to be born in Europe. An experience I will never forget and keep in my heart.
On midday, everyone was extremely tired and limp, of course, not much sleep, and 40 degree are a challenge. So we were extremely happy to stay again in the train with its air cooling. But ... After a nice story narrated by Stefan about a documentary of an Indian train with engine failure, where everyone had to walk the whole way along the rails, we recognized that our train had stopped already for some minutes in the middle of nowhere. Ouch... we got an engine failure.... Slowly discomfort came up - What was it about the story? But thank god, after an hour of waiting and a short storm the train continued its way to Delhi and finally everyone arrived happy at the hotel.
The rest of the night we sat together on top of the hotel building enjoying a very nice dinner and some cold Cola. The second day in India ... What an adventure...

Arrival

Inge 2018-04-28 07:30, laatste update 2020-09-30 13:00

Good morning everyone! Just in case you were wondering, we safely arrived in New Delhi last night. After the journey I was too tired to write this blog, but here it is, a little later.

It was a very long day. We gathered at 6.30 in the morning (Dutch time) to get on one of the first trains to Schiphol. It was very nice to see there were some people who came to see us off, no matter the time. Pieter gave a nice speech, all dressed up, and handed over the Marie flag to signal the official start of our study trip.

And then the long journey began. First by train, then by plane and finally by car we arrived at our hotel.The moment we entered the plane, it was pretty clear our airline was Indian instead of Dutch. This is because it must have been at least 30 degrees in there. Fun fact: most Indian-looking passengers were in winter coats or wrapped in blankets. We just used the airconditioning.Apart from the temperature, the plane was pretty fancy. Everyone had their own tv-screen at the back of the next chair, got headphones, and could chose a movie, music album or even some games. The food also seemed pretty Indian to me, though it was still airplane food, so I'm not sure. The dessert, however, was pretty clear: ice cream!

By the time we were landing, we had already seen a colourful sunset above the clouds, so all we could see of Delhi were little lights. Even after we left the airport we couldn't see very much of the city. There was a nice temple that was illuminated, but otherwise it was pretty dark.

Somewhere in the reader I read that Indians don't follow rules as precisely as Dutch people do, and this was very clear in traffic. It seems like the person who can force the other to slow down has priority, changes in direction are signalled by honking and lanes don't mean anything. But there were no accidents, so I guess the drivers know what they are doing - even if it doesn't look like it.

So after almost being scared to death several times in the car, we arrived at the hotel. And by now it's time to start exploring the city before we leave for Agra tonight!

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Jeremy 2018-04-26 12:26, laatste update 2018-04-26 12:26

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Test

Jeremy 2018-04-26 12:25, laatste update 2020-09-30 13:00