Juice from Concentrate (or, finally, a post about work)

Here, faithful readers (er, Mom), is the long-awaited post about work.

My first two days went something like this:

Day 1
- 2 hours of filling out paperwork
- 1.5 hours of waiting and staring at ceiling for 1.5 hours
- "Induction" with HR person (rundown of the history and "organizational culture" of TERI)
- Lunch break
- 3.5 hours of checking my "mails" (as the secretary called email) because no 'seniors' from my department were in the office to talk to me or give me something to do

Day 2
- Met my seniors, who left the office again, and told I would be working primarily on concentrating solar power (CSP)
- Met my fellow juniors, one of them gave me 3 textbooks about CSP to read (one of which is called "Juice from Concentrate")
- Read one of said textbooks for remaining 7.5 hours of the day

Work has improved since then. I have started getting to know some of the guys in my research group, or “area” in TERI lingo, Renewable Energy Technology Applications (RETA). Anand from Mumbai works on solar thermal, William from Goa works on whatever project is randomly assigned to him, and Jay(achandra) from Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh focuses on photovoltaics, Alok is the wind energy guy, and Ishan concentrates on concentrating solar power (he’s the person I’m supposed to be working with). Rumor has it there is another person--a female!--in our group, but I have yet to see her. No one in our group is over 30 except our boss, so it’s pretty easy to talk to everyone. And almost all of them are IIT grads.

William and Anand mentioned to me that there is a new project on diversifying energy technology in Bhutan (because it’s only hydropower) starting in October if funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) comes through. My immediate reaction was, of course, I have to get on that project. During a birthday party for RETA’s secretary (named Rita, coincidentally), I sweet-talked RETA’s director about the Bhutan project, and he told me to talk to wind energy guy Alok, the Principal Investigator (PI). So the next day, since I had finished all my reading, I talked to Alok about my research and experience in Bhutan and asked to read the proposal and all relevant documents. I read everything and I came back to him with my thoughts (one part of the project was exactly my research question from last year) and some questions about the proposal. He was so excited about my enthusiasm that he said I could “definitely” work on this project. Now I hope the funding comes through!! Oh, and the project is in Eastern Bhutan, so hopefully I would be able to visit Lhuentse. SCORE!

(Bhutan-related tangent: Kencho told me a funny story. I had mailed gifts to the kids in my host family: an Asian doll for Yueden, soccer ball for Jigme, and Twister for Meto. Twister became so popular that the Dzongda paid Meto 1000 ngultrum (~US$20) to use Twister in the tsechu, the traditional festival with chaam (mask dancing) that takes place in the monastery part of the dzong. I’m pretty sure I only paid $7 for the game, so he rented it for more than twice the price!! Ridiculous. But what is even more ridiculous is that Lhuentse, one of the most traditional regions of Bhutan, had Twister at their tsechu. Just imagine you are a wide-eyed foreigner super-psyched about seeing one of the most traditional festivals in remote eastern Bhutan, and you see people playing Twister. …I think I single-handedly corrupted Lhuentse.)

While I’m waiting to hear about the ADB funding, I am working on Ishan’s project looking at financing a concentrating solar power plant in Barmer, Rajasthan (with a possible field visit?) for the HSBC bank. But since he's been on leave, I've been helping Anand with his report for the Norwegian government about the barriers to solar thermal power market growth (I would think Norway’s latitude is a pretty big barrier!).

I mostly hang out with William and Anand, who are closest in age to me (they are both 24). Jay found out that I’m into dosas, so as the resident South Indian he felt it his responsibility to take me to the best dosa place close to work, Hotel Madras, and Anand tagged along. Best dosa I’ve had in Delhi so far! And now Anand and I are on a mission to find some good pav bhaji (a Mumbai chaat). I need to ask William for some good Goan seafood places. …food is definitely one of the top reasons I love India. :)

Speaking of food, I better go buy some. I don’t have anything in my apartment yet.