Today was the busiest yet! We started this morning with a visit to the future location of Vizhinjam Port. The view from the sand was picturesque, with large waves and temples in the background. The port will begin construction later this year. It is located near two major international shipping channels in an area with a depth that can accommodate the largest of cargo ships and the port will be near railway, making it ideal for the location. The construction will take place in three phases, each about ten years apart. The first phase will have an estimated cost of one million dollars and is expected to payout by the beginning of the second phase. It was extremely interesting to hear about the differences in this engineering task from America to India. The Indian government has a lot of interference in the market, and the structure of the government has delayed the construction of the port for the past decade.

 

After hearing about the port and taking a thousand pictures in senior photo-esque poses by the beach, we headed to Hindustan Lifecare Ltd. The company is the largest condom manufacturer in India. They produce 4 million condoms a day in the plant we visited and have recently expanded their scope to encompass other contraceptive products and health care items. It felt like walking through an episode of “How It’s Made”. The life of a condom begins with the creation of the latex through the mixing of several chemicals, then glass molds were coated with the liquid latex. Several layers were added to the mold to create the desired thickness. One thing you can’t see in How It’s Made it the smell of ammonia in the latex. After creation, every condom is electrically tested and each batch is tested by filling a few of the condoms with water to check for leaks and filling some with air up until they explode. Fun fact, condoms can hold nearly 20 liters of air at STP. Once tested, the batches move on to be lubricated and boxed. One thing I noticed was the utilization of manpower over machines in the plant.

 

After Hindustan Lifecare, Ltd we went to the Asian School of Business for lunch and a presentation about their Independence Day, which occurs tomorrow. They decorated the room for us and preformed a traditional dance and sung the national anthem. They definitely are much better at singing and dancing than our fellows, that’s for sure. I learned a few facts I previously didn’t know about the area we are visiting, such as the State of Kerala, a state about the size of Rhode Island has more than 30 million people in it, although it doesn’t appear as what we would traditionally picture as urban due to the lack of skyscrapers and concrete in comparison to American metropolitans.

 

While we were at ASB we had the opportunity to mount an elephant and proceed to take hundreds of pictures. I feel as though every SELF Fellow just took their profile picture today so be on the look out for a bunch of elephants in your news feed.

 

At this point in the trip some cultural norms have become very apparent. Tea time to be had at least once, if not twice a day, regardless of how far behind schedule we fall. Shoes are only worn when they have to be worn, and even then, flip-flops are best. It’s easy for Indian’s to understand each other’s English accents, but it’s hard for them to understand our accent.

 

Well I couldn’t think of a good way to wrap this up, so I guess I’ll just use a condom.

 

Kathryn