Day Two in Madurai has come to a close, and it was another full day with lots of education. I might note that any day that starts out with an elephant sighting is likely to be a good day. This particular elephant is significantly larger than the one we saw on Sunday. Note the size compared to the bus. It isn't clear to me whether someone has an elephant as a pet, as a draft animal, or tends to it from a spiritual standpoint. I'm going to try to find out tomorrow.
We spent the morning at Aurolab with many of the directors of different divisions, as well as the two directors of the facility. I spoke about the Thayer School, our educational philosphy, curriculum, and the design course that I teach. One of the things the directors are looking to promote is a more entrepreneurial ethic within the facility. While I normally take several weeks to lecture and interactively teach this side of engineering, I had 45 minutes to cover the material (and no chalk board!). I lectured through using my current and former students as examples, and I think the staff were pretty impressed with Thayer's "hands-on" approach to engineering.
We then had a break for coffee. Hot coffe (and only hot) is served at 10:00 and 4:00 every day....I've learned to request milk-coffee, which is like cappucino after you've finally gotten rid of the froth. It is typically served with cane sugar, so it is quite the treat. After the break, I gave a one hour lecture on my research as an "end-to-end" example of the research and development process that I lectured on in the first hour. The scientists (polymer chemists and mechanical engineers) were asking all the right questions, so it is clear that they are running into some similar problems in their research.
After our lectures, we watched a video called "Infinite Vision." It is about the Aravind Eye Care System, and it is an outstanding documentary about the facilities where I am visiting. Hopefully I can find a copy somewhere for everyone at home to see. It is quite inspiring. After the film, it was back to the guest house for lunch.
Once again, lunch was plentiful and delicious. I still haven't figured out what things are, but it seems that the spice level increases over the day.
We walked from lunch over to the hospital to meet with Dr. Moosha, who is an oncologist and pediatric surgeon. She sees quite a few cases every week in which she could use the material that my students are developing. Our meeting was very important, because she was able to add specifications and clinical knowledge that we would never have obtained in discussions with our surgeon colleagues at Dartmouth. The patient population, their trust in the doctor, the resource limitations, and the inability to travel to the hospital all constrain our project.
After talking for 45 minutes, she suddenly declared that we would be much better off if we met some patients. We climbed to one of the top floors of the hospital, and entered the prosthetic eye lab. There we met a little boy, perhaps 4 years old, who was getting a prosthesis fit. In less than 10 hours, he went from no eye, to an eye that is perfectly matched to his seeing eye. The work is done completely in-house by two women who make the prostheses from scratch, then paint every last detail of the eye. Look closely at your eye in the mirror...every vein, every color detail, every change in hue of white is recreated by hand.
We also met a young man, perhaps in his early 20's, who had a complete prosthesis. We were shown a comparison to a prosthesis that one might buy off the shelf, and there was no comparison. His eyes, if you weren't looking for motion, were identical. The only reason one seemed different was because it didn't move.
This 20 minute incraction, for myself and for the students, was a very powerful connection to the whole reason we're pursuing engineering in these fields, and I always appreciate opportunties to meet these patients. Importantly, I'm also very happy that the patients are willing to spend time with us.
It is clear that the most dangerous part about journeying halfway around the world is, in fact, crossing one specific street next to the hospital. There is no such thing as a crosswalk, which is particularly troubling for Dartmouth Students (According to John Currier: "Dartmouth's motto...The World is Our Crosswalk"). As I noted yesterday, traffic abides by different rules, and it is a bit of a reverse hierarchy of right-of-way. Medium size, fast cars have right of way. (actually....big buses do...but the drivers don't quite recognize that) Motorcycles come next, then auto-rickshaws, then the overloaded truck carying sugarcane, then finally the pedestrian.
We made it home, and went back to the temple to see it in the light. The pictures I show simply don't do it justice. Keep in mind that the huge tower like the one above is repeated multiple times elsewhere in the structure. It is over a thousand years old, and every last bit of it has detail like the following two pictures.
I'll also note that engineering in the area might not be up to the same specifications as the temple. For as much detail as was paid to the structure in the temple, the power grid is pretty relaxed. The picture below is one of the most organized power lines in the area.
I promised I would post a picture of the Vaigai river. This river splits the city and is the source of most of the local water.
Finally, after a brainstorming session in the guest house with Dr. Zegans (we each have found new areas of development to pursue), we went to dinner with our hosts at a hotel not too far from here. It is a very fancy hotel with a great buffet. Referring to my previous note about food getting spicier over the day, it turns out that the guest house chefs are still taking it easy on us. The food in the Fortune restaurant was awesome, but I was sweating pretty heavily after eating. The mutton curry was great, and there was a terrific fried rice dish. The dessert portion of the buffet was the greatest. There were little fried coconut balls and things that are a cross between fudge and maple candy.
I found this next sign interesting, because in India citizens are generally not permitted to carry or purchase weapons.
Finally, every night when I come home, these three boys are out racing their tires past the empy lot next door. I'm particularly enthusiastic about the one boy who has added an internal wooden structure to his tire...a natural engineer!
Tomorrow is an early morning because we will be attending surgery for most of the morning. We are all very excited for this opportunity, though I'm told that I should be prepared for scrubs that will be on the small side for me...
We spent the morning at Aurolab with many of the directors of different divisions, as well as the two directors of the facility. I spoke about the Thayer School, our educational philosphy, curriculum, and the design course that I teach. One of the things the directors are looking to promote is a more entrepreneurial ethic within the facility. While I normally take several weeks to lecture and interactively teach this side of engineering, I had 45 minutes to cover the material (and no chalk board!). I lectured through using my current and former students as examples, and I think the staff were pretty impressed with Thayer's "hands-on" approach to engineering.
We then had a break for coffee. Hot coffe (and only hot) is served at 10:00 and 4:00 every day....I've learned to request milk-coffee, which is like cappucino after you've finally gotten rid of the froth. It is typically served with cane sugar, so it is quite the treat. After the break, I gave a one hour lecture on my research as an "end-to-end" example of the research and development process that I lectured on in the first hour. The scientists (polymer chemists and mechanical engineers) were asking all the right questions, so it is clear that they are running into some similar problems in their research.
After our lectures, we watched a video called "Infinite Vision." It is about the Aravind Eye Care System, and it is an outstanding documentary about the facilities where I am visiting. Hopefully I can find a copy somewhere for everyone at home to see. It is quite inspiring. After the film, it was back to the guest house for lunch.
Once again, lunch was plentiful and delicious. I still haven't figured out what things are, but it seems that the spice level increases over the day.
We walked from lunch over to the hospital to meet with Dr. Moosha, who is an oncologist and pediatric surgeon. She sees quite a few cases every week in which she could use the material that my students are developing. Our meeting was very important, because she was able to add specifications and clinical knowledge that we would never have obtained in discussions with our surgeon colleagues at Dartmouth. The patient population, their trust in the doctor, the resource limitations, and the inability to travel to the hospital all constrain our project.
After talking for 45 minutes, she suddenly declared that we would be much better off if we met some patients. We climbed to one of the top floors of the hospital, and entered the prosthetic eye lab. There we met a little boy, perhaps 4 years old, who was getting a prosthesis fit. In less than 10 hours, he went from no eye, to an eye that is perfectly matched to his seeing eye. The work is done completely in-house by two women who make the prostheses from scratch, then paint every last detail of the eye. Look closely at your eye in the mirror...every vein, every color detail, every change in hue of white is recreated by hand.
We also met a young man, perhaps in his early 20's, who had a complete prosthesis. We were shown a comparison to a prosthesis that one might buy off the shelf, and there was no comparison. His eyes, if you weren't looking for motion, were identical. The only reason one seemed different was because it didn't move.
This 20 minute incraction, for myself and for the students, was a very powerful connection to the whole reason we're pursuing engineering in these fields, and I always appreciate opportunties to meet these patients. Importantly, I'm also very happy that the patients are willing to spend time with us.
It is clear that the most dangerous part about journeying halfway around the world is, in fact, crossing one specific street next to the hospital. There is no such thing as a crosswalk, which is particularly troubling for Dartmouth Students (According to John Currier: "Dartmouth's motto...The World is Our Crosswalk"). As I noted yesterday, traffic abides by different rules, and it is a bit of a reverse hierarchy of right-of-way. Medium size, fast cars have right of way. (actually....big buses do...but the drivers don't quite recognize that) Motorcycles come next, then auto-rickshaws, then the overloaded truck carying sugarcane, then finally the pedestrian.
We made it home, and went back to the temple to see it in the light. The pictures I show simply don't do it justice. Keep in mind that the huge tower like the one above is repeated multiple times elsewhere in the structure. It is over a thousand years old, and every last bit of it has detail like the following two pictures.
I'll also note that engineering in the area might not be up to the same specifications as the temple. For as much detail as was paid to the structure in the temple, the power grid is pretty relaxed. The picture below is one of the most organized power lines in the area.
I promised I would post a picture of the Vaigai river. This river splits the city and is the source of most of the local water.
Finally, after a brainstorming session in the guest house with Dr. Zegans (we each have found new areas of development to pursue), we went to dinner with our hosts at a hotel not too far from here. It is a very fancy hotel with a great buffet. Referring to my previous note about food getting spicier over the day, it turns out that the guest house chefs are still taking it easy on us. The food in the Fortune restaurant was awesome, but I was sweating pretty heavily after eating. The mutton curry was great, and there was a terrific fried rice dish. The dessert portion of the buffet was the greatest. There were little fried coconut balls and things that are a cross between fudge and maple candy.
I found this next sign interesting, because in India citizens are generally not permitted to carry or purchase weapons.
Finally, every night when I come home, these three boys are out racing their tires past the empy lot next door. I'm particularly enthusiastic about the one boy who has added an internal wooden structure to his tire...a natural engineer!
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