As a part of my intern experience, myself and some other interns (one from Ohio as well) got to go on a work trip up to Kalaburagi in Northern Karnataka to do site visits with some of the individuals and communities that had received solar interventions in cooperation with Selco Foundation. I was so excited to go and leave the city since it had become very overwhelming. The city of 15 million dwarfed any place I had lived in, so a retreat to a more rural environment was very welcomed. The turn around for this trip was very quick. I had only 2 days notice and had a day trip an hour south of Bangalore to meet with a CEO of an organic farmer cooperative to ask about institutional organization structures the day I had to leave! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The travel accommodations were wonderful and exciting. After a hectic 2 hour trip across the city during rush hour, we encountered the bus en route to its journey in the middle of the road. The lead of the trip told the auto driver to pull up next to the bus and waved down the driver who halted the bus. Confused, I suspiciously walked to the bus that I was ushered onto. I was expecting a bus with two rows of seats but instead found a slim walkway buttressed by small cabins with beds. I was told this bed was mine and I crawled my way up and into the cabin. With a foot of space above me I slowly fell asleep. The drive took all night, and I was bounced up and down from potholes and a cacophony of horns reverberated through the bus. The potholes certainly reminded me of driving in Michigan!
The trip lasted for three days and consisted of site visits to see how the solar technology worked in reality and to collect information from the end users regarding any issues, opportunities for new technology, and updates on revenue. We met with multiple entrepreneurs in multiple industries including, agriculture, roti rolling, roti making, rope manufacturing, potato chip making, pottery, irrigation, sewing, and a health clinic. This was enormously impactful on my ability to carry out the tasks asked of me by my organization. It provided me with real experience using the machinery, real world context into the users and the economic environment around them, and knowledge about the challenges they are facing.
In addition to learning a lot about my work, I also was able to deepen my connections with other interns and colleagues. I was able to learn more about their backgrounds and work with Selco as well. I was able to return with friends, which was something I had been struggling with going into the trip. I also learned how to properly eat with my hands, tried some new spicy flavors unique to the region, and had fun experiences like learning how to make clay and riding in my first sleeper train!
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As a part of my intern experience, myself and some other interns (one from Ohio as well) got to go on a work trip up to Kalaburagi in Northern Karnataka to do site visits with some of the individuals and communities that had received solar interventions in cooperation with Selco Foundation. I was so excited to go and leave the city since it had become very overwhelming. The city of 15 million dwarfed any place I had lived in, so…<\/p>\n