May 19, 2009
I have a ticket!
After an obnoxious amount of running around the Indian Embassy in Chicago to get my visa and several conversations with my parents' travel agent, I emerged victorious with a ticket to India. I'll be there June 30th through August 18th, and hopefully making at least one or two trips within the country related to the project while there.
Also, I recently got in email contact with a cousin who has a start-up business in Bangalore, the closest city to the Pavagada (where I'll be working), and he has offered his support and guidance with the project. It's been pretty amazing how generous people have been with their time and support, and I feel blessed to be in the position I am in.
Now it seems like I have all the pieces to make the project a success, and it will be a matter of putting in the time to make sure everything comes together. Right now, I am doing research for a professor while in Ann Arbor, and after that wraps up in two weeks, I'll be able to devote much more time to getting in contact with solar panel vendors, electricians, and people who have more experience dealing with designing power systems for rural Indian communities.
Finally, here is a link to the song I have been listening to a lot lately. It really conjures up just the right images for the beautiful weather we've been having, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zol2MJf6XNE
Raj Vable
Posted by avable at 10:58 PM | Comments (3)
May 11, 2009
Test 1,2...Test 1,2...
This summer, I'll have the privilege to travel to India as a Center for South Asian Studies (CSAS) India Summer Program fellow. While there, I will be working to install a solar array to help power a school in Pavagada, a village several hundred kilometers north of Bangalore. Pavagada is my mother's ancestral village, and while there I will be staying with my uncle Subba, who is also a local electrical engineer and a founder of Jnana Bodhini, the name of the school.
Right now, I'm still in the planning stage of the project. Through a network of loving family and friends, I've been put in contact with several people who have experience doing similar projects. One person is a U of M alum (or is it alumnus? Latin confuses me something terrible) who started a company that does work very similar to my project - http://www.dwpower.com. Another gentleman heads the agri division at ITC, and has experience with solar power in rural India. Other people include family who know the area well, as well as my Uncle Subba, who will be hugely important to enablign the project to happen. Slowly, I am contacting the people and getting feedback and guidance. Although I have a lot to learn, I feel confident that these people and others will provide the support and knowledge to see this project come to fruition. I'll be in India from early July to the end of August, and the next step is to buy my ticket, which I'll be doing in the next couple days.
There are other CSAS fellows doing other amazing projects, and we will all be posting to a group blog. Check out all the cool things other people will be doing at http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/SSA09/ I'll be posting to this blog weekly (or more often if I can) with updates on progress and thoughts about how things are going. If you have any comments, concerns, quandaries, questions, or thoughts in general, please share them and I will do my best to get back. I hope you will continue to check back, and join me for the biggest adventure I've ever been on!
Posted by avable at 08:10 AM | Comments (0)