Day 6 in India was another fun, pleasant day, if not entirely productive. We hadn’t managed to make many plans for the day, so we woke up a little late (especially Tejank) and then went to the school to say goodbye and thank everyone there, joining them in the faculty room talk for a bit. After a while each of the team made a short, unplanned speech to express our gratitude and say a proper goodbye. Then a few of the teachers did the same, followed by Mr. Asrar. When we had all spoken and we’d all said goodbye, we went back to Sam’s mother’s house to prepare for the cricket game in the afternoon. Since we had so much time, Tejank and I started on the 526, which is the next pile of paperwork we have to get through for EWB nationals. Sarah’s family came to take us and some of Humsa’s friends to the cricket match with the school. When we got to the field, there were lots of kids and teachers excited to see us, so we took a little while to get started. Tejank, Josh, and I were all playing our first game, but Josh batted very well, getting a six and four (don’t worry. I didn’t know what that meant either until yesterday). Tejank got himself out so fast, I didn’t see what happened, but I’m sure he’ll edit this part out of the blog when we post it. I did a little better, but not by much. I hit it a couple times, and I think I made a run, but I’m still not entirely sure how the counting works. When it was our turn to field, the first two batters went 4 overs without an out and eventually had to stop and let someone else have a turn. Basically, the children were creaming us. However, I suppose the fielding got better as the inning went on (there were some pretty impressive catches), because we won by about 10 runs. All in all, it was a pretty good game, and when we were done there was no love lost on either side. Afterward, Shanzay showed us the indoor sports facility, and some kids who were playing badminton invited us to join them. We took turns playing, and I got to try out some Hindi phrases on the kids while on the sidelines. On the way back, Sam’s motorcycle broke down and Humza had to fix it and ride it instead while Sam got a rickshaw. However, we all got back eventually, hung out, had a bit of a Hindi learning session, and ate dinner. It’s our last night in Rampur, so I’m glad we got a lot of time together, but everyone’s left now, and I think I’m about ready to go to bed.

Our last day at Sarah's and other

Today was our last day with Sam’s sister’s home. Throughout our stay this past week, we’ve had some of the best foods and experiences with the kids, Hamza and Hassan. We took out the time to hand over our gifts to them to thank them for all their generous hospitability during our stay. Hanging out with Hamza and Hassan was definitely fun and I hope we get to see them again in the near future. Shortly afterwards, we proceeded to Sam’s mother’s house to stay with her for our remaining days here in India. Once again, we were received very warmly by Sam’s family. Soon thereafter, our team called for two rickshaws and went to the school for our last visit to cover up a few remaining technical details. We tested the load on the system by flipping on the switches relating to fans and lights and determined that all classrooms were able to operate their fans and lights prior to tripping the circuit breaker. During this time, we also discussed the potential for future projects for the town of Rampur. This conversation ranged from wastewater projects to other solar installation projects. However, we immediately realized that existing needs must be identified first prior to project choice. As a result, we chose to call up a local Rotary International chapter and the Rampur Information Center to gauge various community needs for the town of Rampur. Conveniently, one of the Rotary board members personally visited our team at the school to discuss their current focuses and issues. This particular Rotary board primarily focuses on a local hospital that they run, but they also participate in emergency relief activities and other health-related aid, such as distribution of blankets and foods. Their expressed need related to the purchase of dialysis units, which was out of the scope of our organization unfortunately. We still took contact information so other Pittsburgh based organizations may be able to help their cause. During this meeting, we also brainstormed further engineering applications such as portable water filtration systems. These particular items exist in the form of “water buffalos”, or trucks that carry and power portable water filtration systems. Afterwards, our team returned to Sam’s mother’s home where we further discussed potential project topics, such as an erection of a green community center. Of course, if there is explicit need for a community center, we would be glad to look into this topic, however there is no point in pursuing solutions to problems that do not exist. In any case, during our stay, we also managed to watch an IPL match where the Delhi Daredevils played against the Kolkatta Knight Riders (Hamza’s favorite team). FYI, the KK riders won the match, much to Hamza’s excitement. Around 9:30PM, a representative of the Rampur Information center decided to visit us at our shared home to discuss Rampur needs. According to this man, local colleges exist with crumbling foundations and improper foundations due to poor maintenance. However, this particular need seemed to require only the know-how of a local handy-man rather than the use of a large student team and professional engineering mentors. We graciously declined and explained the nature of Engineers Without Borders. We will still be keeping our toes in the waters, but our main focus will rely on maintaining our connection with Symbiosis Public and making sure they can properly handle their newly acquired solar plant system. It’s been a long year, but I’m very pleased that the school can now run on solar and not rely on that old monster of a diesel generator.

We woke up to another wonderful breakfast at Sarah’s house and went back to Symbiosis where fans were on and working using solar power. There we talked with Mr. Asrar, just clearing up a few small details with the project, like what kind of data they will be sending us and how, what his plans are for expansion of the school, and how to keep the dogs away from the installation. Then Asrar and Tejank signed a certificate for Global Eco Power that says that they completed the project and it is working satisfactorily. Rahul, a GEP associate, came by to pick it up and we managed to keep him hostage for a long time with questions. Of course, he was very helpful and brought up some great ideas for data logging. Mr. Asrar had a lot of different options for that and other questions we had, so he will have to decide and keep us in the loop. Then, we counted up how many low-watt fans had been installed in the school already. Throughout the time we were at the school, students kept walking up to us and giving us even more thank you cards and asking for autographs. We also got to hang out with many of the teachers there, and some of them said they would come play cricket with us Wednesday. I certainly hope they do, because they seemed very cool. I even remember some of their names! (If you’ve ever been introduced to 15+ people at once every day for 4 days straight, you probably understand how proud I am of that fact). Anyway, I’m a bit shaky on the order of things, but that was basically our day at the school. Throughout, we had tried to contact some other local schools and the Rampur chapter of Rotary International. Unfortunately, none of them got back to us yesterday, so we ended up having to take a bit of a half day. We went back to Sarah’s house and hung out with them for a bit. Then we met Sam’s cousin Abir at the bazaar to help us pick out some fundraising items and a couple gifts for our families. She had a real talent for haggling, and I was glad to have her opinions on style since I am hopelessly lost when it comes to shopping, and Tejank, Josh, and Sam were being kind of unhelpful. After finding out that we hadn’t actually experienced real Indian traffic until our rickshaw trip back, we relaxed some more at Sarah’s house, watching A Beautiful Mind. All in all, it was a very pleasant day, if unfortunately a little less productive than we’d hoped.

Our second day at the school!

Time for our second day at the school! During the morning, our team helped to complete the installation of the battery banks and determined how the rewiring was completed by GEP.

More detailed information on the following installation can be found through a series of recordings of Rahul, the GEP associate, who explains the logic behind the electrical work. Afterwards, using the tools lent by Mark Barlow, our Pittsburgh based solar home installer, our team inspected the installed equipment and collected data regarding light intensity readings from the four rows of panels at 11:25AM.

As compared to the original design, the overall 5.3 kW size and array location was maintained while the proposed 215 watt panels were replaced with 135 watt panels.

These panels were attached and structured to the rebar relating to the columns (the rebar was left exposed because this roof was initially built to hold a third floor).

Each row of 10 panels contained a cell string size of 5 panels where every other panel was wired in series.

Each row of panels were wired in parallel with one another. This wiring was led to the base of the brick mounting structure.

These wirings were all led to a junction box that housed the connections. The output was then led from the junction box downstairs to the charge controller.

The output from the PCU then led downstairs to the automatic change over box on the ground floor.

The exposed system behind the wooden door is displayed below:

Towards the end of our second day at the school, Farrukh displayed a gasification unit that was based on rice-husk feedstock for the purpose of residential home cooking.

After leaving the school, fresh locally grown fruits (except for the mango, which may have come from Delhi), were bought from street vendors right outside of Shabad gate. These went for about $1.00 per kilo of each fruit. We had quite the filling lunch with fruits and vegetables at Sarah’s home.

Afterwards, our team took a small break and enjoyed conversation amongst ourselves. We soon dozed off afterwards. After waking up around 5:15PM here, we went straight away to the school site to partake in the English Helpline Institute+Symbiosis Public School function. This event was an opportunity for local college students to interact and hear the conversational tones of our American team.

At this function, we heard the stories of many English learning students and their personal experiences with overcoming their personal adversities in learning the English language Mr. Imran Kahn, first cousin of Sam Shamsi, helped to teach these students the English language.

This was followed by a few words by Sam, Josh, myself, and Michelle.

Afterwards, we commenced for break, where we interacted with the local college students. These students spoke English very well and were really quite warm and friendly in their conversation. We also briefly met with the rotary outgoing and incoming presidents of the local Rampur chapter. This could potentially lead to future funding opportunities as local members become more engaged and provide further support.

Following the commencement, the students of Symbiosis put on performances that ranged from singing and dancing to displaying bad-ass poses. So adorable!

After these performances were completed, the principal had began giving out trophies as mementoes for the EWB-CMU team as well as to GEP and several board members of the Symbiosis Board. Following this, we attempted to play the project symbiosis assessment trip video. We came across a few technical difficulties, but after all was said and done, Sam’s nephew, Hamza, managed to fix the audio problem by placing the mics atop the laptop speakers. We played the video, which was a hit with the crowd, especially the scene with Ken Murphy attempting to ride the school bicycles through the gravel.

Through accident, the windows player was left on autoplay, in which case, the next clip from the last winter gala event was played. This was Carnegie Mellon’s own all male Indian Acapella group, Deewane. The mash-up between Maroon 5’s This Love and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’s Kabhi Kabhi Aditi was actually played and was quite amazing (even to hear the second time around for myself). After the event was wrapped up, the entire team decided to grab one more celebratory photo with everyone involved!

Afterwards, Farrukh, Rahul, Vivek, Asrar, Sam, Sam’s brother Shazay and sister Sarah along with their kids Hamza and Hassan, along with Josh, Michelle, and myself, went out for dinner at Rampur Rasoi (Rampur Kitchen). Here we were offered a wide variety of spicy vegetarian dishes such as daal handi, paneer, and various assorted roti. Afterwards, we eventually travelled back home and crashed out. Well, Josh and Michelle anyway, I’m still up writing this article at 1:00AM over here. Think it’s about bed time for me!

We made it to India!

We made it to India! It was a long flight, but no complaints from anyone here. Tejank, Josh, and I boarded a flight to Newark at 4:00 Thursday (it was delayed about an hour) and then from there went straight to the Delhi airport. We arrived at about 8:00 PM, local time (which is about 9.5 hours ahead of Pittsburgh) and were picked up by our in-country mentor, Nitin Goel, to eat dinner and then stay the night at his and his family’s home in Gurgaon. The drive itself was, to say the least, exciting, but our stay at Nitin’s house was very calm and pleasant. There, we met his wife, daughter, and parents, all of whom were very kind to us and made us feel welcome here. After some jetlagged sleep, we awoke to breakfast with Nitin and then a 2.5 hour drive from the Delhi suburbs to Symbiosis Public School in Rampur. By now, we’ve pretty much grown accustomed to the generally hectic style of driving here, but I think we were all glad to reach our destination and get out of the car to see the school.

The principal made us very welcome, and we also met Farrukh Parvez, the director of Global Eco Power, who has so kindly worked with us throughout this project. Farrukh and GEP had already almost finished the installation of the solar panels, and in fact they had been running several fans and lights on solar power.

However, they had left us several panels to help install ourselves, which we did in the evening.

Until then, we had the school children to keep us company, who did not skimp on hospitality. They gave us beautiful thank you cards, flowers, and candy.

The teachers, too, made us feel very welcome.

Now, we’ve settled in at Sam’s sister, Sarah’s home, where we’ve again been treated with the utmost hospitality. After a bit of a slow day, it’s nice to sit and solidify our plans for the rest of the week, and then off to bed for us. We’re looking forward to finishing up the battery installation and then spending some more time getting to know the community tomorrow.

"It's not goodbye. It's see you later!"


It's that time of year again! The Carnegie Mellon student team will be traveling back to Symbiosis Public this week to oversee installation of the rooftop solar photovoltaic system. We've come a long ways since last year and we can't wait to see everyone at the school again. I also personally can't wait to get back to some authentic Indian food. We'll be updating the blog as much as we can throughout our travel, so stay tuned for further posts!

See you soon, Symbiosis

The day has been both physically and emotionally overwhelming for our team. Today was the last day we would be visiting Symbiosis Public during our Spring Break. After a week's worth of working with the school faculty and interacting with the school children, we realized how very attached our team has become to Symbiosis Public. To send us off with well wishes, the children and teachers prepared a small recital just for us Engineers without Borders. These adorable kids read poems (both in Hindi and in English), sang prayers (also both in Hindi and in English), and even danced to Indian music for us. (Photos will be uploaded once we get back to the US):

(Picture caption) Danced to a nursery song basically about a horse running faster and faster (which the children imitated).

After the various performances were completed, Eva and I gave a short speech about EWB-CMU's mission and what we have been doing at the school this week:

(Picture)

Next, Principal Ahmad gave a progressive speech about his passion for greener living and sustainability. He talked of how saving the environment today for generations tomorrow was crucially important. Principal Ahmad also spoke of how thankful he and his school was to our team. It was inspiring to see how strongly the principal felt and just how right he was. His words were also clearly evidenced in the school's initiative for greener living.

On top of giving us a small assembly, the school also prepared small trophies to give to our team, as mementos for us to remember them by. At this point, the whole idea that this would be our last visit during Spring Break sunk in. Before this trip, I had no idea how amazing this school and its students were. From day one, we received cute hand-made cards with attached flowers from children of all grades and autograph requests from both teachers and students. Even after the assembly, both the children and teachers asked for our autographs. We felt a bit like movie stars, even though we've only started on this five year-long project. After our amazing experience during such a short period of time, our team has gained even more renewed dedication to the project.

After all the autographs were signed and the pictures were taken, I realized that it would only be a short period of time before we come back to Symbiosis Public. I hate to end on cheesy lines, but I suppose I'm now a firm believer in the phrase: "It's not goodbye. It's see you later." Well, Symbiosis Public, you can count on us seeing you again real soon.

Day Three at Symbiosis: How Bazaar

Today we headed back to the school for an assembly put on by the students and their teachers. But first we met with Farrukh Parvez, the brother of Mrs. Ahmad, who owns his own solar product company, Global Eco Power. He mainly sells smaller solar items, but he wanted to meet with us because he was interested in our project and wanted to hear what we were planning. Apparently he was involved with EWB in Africa and has a passion for green energy. He definitely sounds like a good person for us to keep in touch with. He raised a lot of good points about starting first with the needs of the school, and as a result it is his opinion that a battery system would be an unnecessary cost.

After the meeting, we gathered in their assembly room with the students and teachers for their performance. We filmed the whole thing, so rather than go through the details, I’ll just say that it was fantastic and the school is so appreciative of what we’re doing for them. Hopefully we’ll be able to post that video of the blog shortly. Also, Avesh has been filming clips the entire trip and he and Eva interviewed some of the teachers and students and the principal, which means we have enough material to make a kick-ass informational and fundraising video.

At the end of the assembly, they presented us with trophies and certificates from their school, indicated that we’d worked on a project to promote environmental sustainability and make the work a better place. In case we haven’t mentioned it before, that’s really big at Symbiosis. They’re all about sustainability and conservation, and they have signs and plaques all over the school to remind the students of this.

After the assembly, we spent what had to be at least an hour taking photos and signing autographs. That’s right, autographs. So note to the next travel team: work on your signature.

We tied up all the loose ends at the school and said our goodbyes by five and headed off to the Rampur Bazaar, mainly to pick up some items to sell at grilled cheese and auction at winter gala. The Bazaar was crazy, but the prices were even craaaazzzierrrrrr. We bought about 200 bangles for like $12, which we can probably resell for at least 50 cents a piece. We (ok, Eva and Sabrina) also bought scarves, jewelry, and a sari for fundraising.

We left the Bazaar, some of us by rickshaw, and proceeded to Sam’s sister’s house where Eva and Sabrina got henna tattoos on their hands while Ken, Tejank, Avesh and I did important manly work-related stuff, like drinking tea and napping. Also blogging. At around 8, we left for the hotel and grabbed a quick meal. Mr. and Mrs. Ahmad met us their to say goodbye and help us settle the bill (working around the language barrier was a lot of fun on this trip. I’m serious). They were, again, extremely grateful for our project and everything we’ve already done. It was tough saying goodbye, especially knowing that most if not all of us won’t be returning on the next trip, but after this trip I certainly plan on going back to India, and when I do I won’t feel satisfied unless I check back in at Symbiosis Public School.

Blog Note

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for following our blog. Because we have sporatic internet access, we're going to be backdating some of our posts. Be sure to check through the blog to make sure you didn't miss any!

Thanks,
The India Travel Team

The kids

The kids at the Symbiosis Public School unilaterally agree that Eva is their favorite Carnegie Mellon Student. She receives the most flowers, the most cards, and even the most smiles. Not going to lie, I’m jealous. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the rest of us are being shunned. We have all been given flowers picked from the school’s garden and origami cards. We all feel very loved.
When Eva and I entered a classroom to do some filming, all of the students stood up at once. They said in unison, “Good morning sir, good morning ma’am.” We have been receiving greetings like this since we arrived at the school two days ago. In fact, we suspect that the students were instructed to be very formal and polite with us. The kids follow the rules explicitly –they are very disciplined. Hopefully we will see the real personalities of some of the kids tomorrow, when we will have time to play some games.
Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day for both us and the students. The students have been planning an assembly for the past couple of days. We have heard them rehearsing it many times over, and will see the real thing tomorrow. Meanwhile, we will be putting together all of our data today, as it is our last day in the school. Eva and I will be interviewing a couple more students –hopefully they won’t be too quiet. We’ll update you on tomorrow’s events as soon as we can!

Day Two at Symbiosis

After a delicious breakfast at Sam’s sister house, we drove to the school for our second day of assessment, where we primarily collected technical data and tested our equipment.
Our solar pathfinder was the champion of the tested equipment, as it successfully proved that no shadows would interrupt our solar panels in our chosen location. For those who don’t know, the solar pathfinder is a half-spherical device that is designed to reveal the presence of shadows for the entire year (shadows that would affect our solar panels’ ability to provide energy, and hence, its use). We placed it in a number of areas for the sake of comparison, organized numerous angles, and got conclusive evidence regarding the movement of the sun at Symbiosis. It proved to be a worthwhile investment; however, if we had to pay the $300 price to use it, I’d argue otherwise.
In addition to the solar pathfinder, we also put our 100ft measuring tape to good use by determining the dimensions of the roof. The blueprint originally given to us turned out to be an older one, and thus, our drawings became more important. This brings me to one of the highlights of my day: watching Ken throw the measuring tape off the two story roof in insistence that the throw would aid us in finding a more accurate measurement of the height of the roof (in the end it did not, which is why I found it so amusing).
Otherwise, the day was spent counting the light bulbs and fans in each classroom, photographing every inch of the building, and interviewing students, teachers, and the principal. By the end of the day, thanks to the hard work put in by all the team members, most of the data that was supposed to be collected tomorrow was collected today, which will hopefully allow us ample time to visit the bazaar tomorrow.