This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Lakshmi  Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Peter’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 5:

To end our journey in India we returned to where everything all started. We returned to JK Lakshmipat University (JKLU) to present what we had learned to a few professors and roughly one hundred students. The presentation went great and served as another learning experience; but the professors did not make it easy on us.

JKLU

They asked a few questions in regards to our new found knowledge at JK Lakshmi Cement. We answered the questions as best as we could and got some feedback following our conversation. The professors at JKLU really care for their students. That care was seen through the questions they asked of us and the advice that was given to us. Leaving the presentation, I came out having learned that no matter how great you become at something you will always face challenges. Those challenges will make you better or completely take you out of the game, depending on how you react to them. The challenges we face in our daily life are there to make us the best that we can be: the best engineer, chef, or whatever else we are currently pursuing to be.

Saying goodbye is something I struggle with. Sometimes I just hate it. Leaving JKLC was sad and joyful at the same time. We were finally leaving our home away from home and the great people we met during our stay. With the realization that I was going back home, I was so excited to get back and see my family and friends so that I could tell them about my experience in India. I was also sad to be leaving my other family, the people that made me feel welcomed in a place that was so foreign to me. They made me feel like their own son. I’ll miss the food but the thing that I will miss the most are the people.

Never having been to a foreign country before, the people I encountered made the experience something memorable. Leaving India, I felt so appreciative for every single person that crossed my path because each and every one of them allowed me to learn something new. Learning from the people of India is something that will help me become a better engineer, and most importantly, a better person. I’m hoping I impacted the people that I encountered in the same way that they did for me. I will miss playing basketball and football (soccer) with my group of friends.  Much will be missed about India; I hope to go back some day.

Our Basketball Court

Our Football Field

This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Lakshmi  Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Peter’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 4:

This is our final week here. It has been raining for the last 4 days unstoppable. Even with flood of the heavy rain, we still go to plant to continue our final section in the training process. Today, we went to see the packing plant where the fine cement is being pitched and delivered to the market. In this section, Amjad Khan (Cement Mill Mechanical Engineer) is our guide and monitor. He is really intuitive and helpful. I’ve learned a lot from him in the last two days as well as I learned so much from Pankaj Mathur (Vertical Raw Mill Mechanical Engineer) and Prahlad Kabra (Vertical Raw Mill Mechanical Engineer) in the last two weeks. I sincerely thank every one of those who helped us and guided us through out time here.

Ali Almanasif, Peter Ojambo, Amjad Khan, Pankaj Mathur, Bharat Gadhvi

Ali Almanasif, Peter Ojambo, and Amjad Khan at the tea shop

The funniest person I’ve met since I arrived to this colony is our driver. Even with the language barrier, we still know how to communicate and laugh. Sometimes he doesn’t show up to pick us up to work and we have to walk. When I run into him later, he either tries to run away or hides somewhere. Last Friday, he made us walk in the rain to work. We arrived to Mathur’s office completely wet!

Ali Almanasif, Peter Ojambo, and Mukesh Gautam at Fateh Sagar Lake

Ali Almanasif and the driver at the Fateh Sagar Lake

This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Lakshmi  Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Peter’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 3:

You can’t say you have experienced all of India without experiencing the monsoon period.  Prior to our fourth week, we had sunny skies and high temperatures – then we had our very first introduction to monsoon weather. It rained nearly every day and rather than getting wet from the heat making us sweat, we got drenched with rain nearly everyday.

Monsoon season in India

While walking it would appear as if you were stepping into a puddle of rain, but once you made that step, everything would turn into a pool of water.  I’ve got to say that, I’m loving the rain because it’s keeping the temperatures down, but it’s keeping me away from my daily exercise routine of playing basketball and football (soccer) with the people of the colony.  I guess the weather is telling me it’s crunch time, time to stay in and focus more on what I really came here to do.

Water, water everywhere

What a better way to end a new experience other than with a bang, right?

We had learned about the mining process at JK Lakshmi Cement, but never got to see the mining actually take place. Realizing that our time in at JK Lakshmi Cement was coming to end we were even more determined to see the blasting process.

Ali and I awaiting mine blasting

Once we arrived to the mining site, we received pertinent information on procedures and finally, watched the process occur.  Unfortunately, we did not witness the 9-meter holes being dug, but we saw the explosives put inside.  After a while we were taken far away to a safe location to see the blasting.  The explosives were so loud and made the whole ground shake.  The video we took of the blasting would do a good job of illustrating how loud the blasting was – it was quite the way to end our time here in India.

Witnessing mine blasting

This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Lakshmi  Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Peter’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 3:

We have become fairly comfortable with our home away from home and the people have become fairly comfortable with us.

If I’m not mistaken JK Lakshmi Cement has roughly 2000 employees and that means we get to see a new face every day. It has been difficult remembering people’s names and putting people’s faces with their names, but somehow, we’ve managed.  Some of the kids that I have met in the colony say I look like Chris Gayle, a famous cricket player.  A funny thing happened the other day; I was asked to take a picture with a guy I didn’t know, which made me wonder if I did actually looked like Chris Gayle.  After work we went home and decided to Google Chris Gayle and I have to say – there are some similarities. I was more than happy to take a picture with my new buddy and smiled as best as I could.

Making a new friend

In addition to all the education we have been getting about the company, we also had an opportunity to explore the highest building on company grounds.  Words cannot describe how incredible it was, we were utterly blown away.  We’ve been spending a lot of time getting into the nitty-gritty of the machinery, so when we got a chance to go to the top of this building, we all of a sudden wanted to know how the whole place was designed.

Remember that heat I talked about before?  At the top, the wind felt amazing, which really complimented the view. Of course, we also asked if we could have dinner at the top of the building.  We are not sure if our wish will be granted, but the experience will be a blast!

On top of the world

A majestic view

This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Lakshmi  Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Ali’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 3:

This week, Peter and I started to learn about the Vertical Raw Mill. The Vertical Raw Mill is a huge power grinding mill that is used to reduce the size of limestone to smaller particles. Its grinding process uses centrifugal force and exposes the material to hot air both while it is lying down on the center of the grinding table and when it is pushed underneath the grinding rollers. Due to air pressure, hot gases, and the force of friction between the four grinding rollers and the grinding table, the fineness of the material is increased. The fine material is also separated from rejected material in the louver ring. After the fine material leaves the mill though an air slide, it goes to the most important section of the cement manufacturing process: the kiln.

The Vertical Raw Mill

Ali taking notes about the Apron Feeder

The grinding rollers and the grinding table inside the Vertical Raw Mill

My daily routine here in JKPurem includes going to the gym after I get off work.  I hit the gym more than anyone here, and so young people have come to the conclusion that I am Peter’s bodyguard. They all call me the Hulk. I kind of find it funny, but I also like it. The gym is not as equipped as the ones we have in USA. However, they have all the essentials such as dumbbells, barbells, and benches. Another difference is that it is not air conditioned. They do have some ceiling fans due the size of it. Besides all of that, the gym members are so nice and friendly. They greet us and show a lot of respect every time we go down there and treat us like best friends. In general, people are kind and friendly in the colony. They have gotten used to our company just as we have gotten used to theirs.

The colony gym

Gym equipment

This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Lakshmi  Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Peter’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 2:

Our first week in India gave us a lot of opportunities to explore and have fun. Because our trip to India was not for a vacation, we left Jaipur and traveled to Sirohi to begin our internship.  It took us seven hours to reach our destination. When we arrived, it was already late and the majority of the people were in bed sleeping. Still experiencing minor symptoms of jet lag, due to the 12.5 hour time difference, we did not waste a minute staying up and hit the sack for some much needed rest.

Our home away from home

Day one of our internship began with introductions to the heads of the engineering departments – a very exciting moment for us all. We met a lot of people and continued to meet more people throughout the week, giving us a chance to get used to the working relationships. Luckily for us, we were given the rest of the day off to get ourselves familiarized with our new home for the next month.

Meeting the squad

Of the engineers we met, Mathur stood out the most.  He was part of the mechanical engineering department and would be responsible for our training. Mathur took the time to teach us about JK Lakshmi Cement as well the process of how things worked in the plant. We learned about the crusher and took tours of the plant with Mathur pointing out important features. This allowed us to get an even better mechanical perspective of the plant and of the machine during its shutdown maintenance. All in all, it was a great realization of why we had come to India. This is going to be a very informative and constructive learning experience and I’m very excited to start.

Education of the crusher process

Crusher crushing rocks

This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Ali’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 2:

In this week, we arrived to JKL Cement Company’s colony where we are staying for the next three weeks. Basically, the place is divided into two major territories: the colony, a private residential neighborhood on the northern side, and the factory on the southern side. The colony is provided with daily use services such as a grocery store, a pharmacy, a hospital, a school, and different types of utilities. On the other side is the huge cement factory where Peter and I are going to start our training. I am excited to go to the factory and explore every single part of it. My goal is to get as much experience as I can from this internship and to understand the work environment in another culture.

Workers heading to the factory from the colony

The cement factory

During this week, Peter and I began our training. Our first assignment was to understand and analyze how Limestone crushers work, from the ground up. The EVC (Electric Vibrant Crusher) appears to be less complicated than the APCM 1822 Crusher (Compound Crusher). The EVC uses impact principles to reduce the size of limestone that comes from the mines. This crusher is designed with 54 hammers made of sinter cast and attached to a 2000mm X 3000mm rotor. It preforms the primary crushing process called impact by throwing oversized limestone against a wall covered with wear liner. Shearing and compressing between the hammers and the breaker plate takes place in the secondary crushing process. The secondary crushing process is to ensure that only <60mm particles pass through the outlet grate to the production belt conveyor.

EVC components

Cement crusher

This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Peter’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 1:

I guess I should start this blog by saying that heading over to India, my biggest concern as well as my biggest excitement was the food. I love to eat – plain and simple. However, when I was first told about India I quickly learned that the country had a love for spice, and for the most part the diet would be predominately vegetarian.

Typical Indian restaurant food

Let’s be real: spicy vegetarian foods are a big no-no (na-na) to me.  I was really concerned about how I would be able to manage for a month without meat, but that was part of the excitement as well!  So far, Indian food has proved to be good to my system. I would like to report that I will happily and excitedly eat whatever is put in front t of me.  My mom would be shocked, right?

We are taken care of very well here, and for that, I am beyond grateful

Another thing that has proved to be quite interesting is exploring and learning about the country and its people.  It was very cool to finally get out in the community and partake in what I’d like to call the “ultimate male-bonding” ceremony: basketball. Not being used to the heat, I took a few steps onto the court and was drenched in sweat, a heat tournament in and of itself. Don’t credit me for playing hard, the heat did the work in making me sweat and I will never forget it.  We were very successful on the court going 3-1, the loss being due to heat exhaustion.

Sweating together and bonding with new friends

It was quite a happy sight to see people of all ages gathered at the park that day to play together and hangout.  Some played cricket, basketball, others ran around the track while a few sat and talked. The sense of community really reminded me of home and I’m sure that this is going to continue to be a very rewarding experience.

A day at the park

This summer, St. Cloud State University’s College of Science & Engineering has sent two SCSU students, Ali Almanasif and  Peter Ojambo, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Ali’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 1:

In my first week in India, two things stood out to me: the traffic and the level of poverty. Here are my thoughts on each issue.

I.  Traffic

Traffic in India is something that would be very interesting for anyone who has never been out of USA. Can Americans even imagine driving on I-94 with no speed limit, no seatbelt, no side mirror, and driving the opposite direction to make a U-turn at the nearest exit? Apparently, this is how they drive in India. However, in this overpopulated country of 1.2 billion people and with such reckless driving, it seems like there is not one single accident all day long and night. They have a unique tool used to tell you about any direction that a driver might want to take – and that is the horn.

A typical traffic scene in India

The horn is a critical tool in Indian traffic

II.  Poverty

I had never thought that I would come across such a difficult life as the one that many Indian people have to live with every day and moment by moment. Poverty in India is defiantly the saddest phenomena that I have ever experienced. Poor people work for anything that would provide them money to eat in order to see the sun of the next morning, but not enough to have a safe place to stay. You might ask yourself a question: Where do they sleep? They sleep on the streets, train stations, underneath bridges, salvage yards, in tents, etc. Sadly, they are not just adults or young people in their 20s. In fact, the majority of them are kids in their early age between 4-12.

The train station is a popular destination for India’s homeless population

Animals picking through trash on the side of the road

This summer, COSE’s Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering Department has sent two SCSU students, Paige Ehalt and  Pratiksh Patel, to India. The students are completing an internship at JK Cement Company. The internships were arranged through the JKLU-SCSU Internship Exchange program, a partnership between SCSU and a university in India. The partnership creates internship abroad opportunities for students from both institutions. We are tracking the students’ progress here on the COSE International Programs blog. Check back periodically to hear more about their experiences abroad.

Paige’s Experience in India, Journal Entry 4:

We just completed our fourth and  final week of training at JK Lakshmi Cement. This last week, we visited the DCS room, which stands for Distributed Control System. We learned how the system is connected using networks for communication and monitoring of the entire plant.

We also learned about SAP, which stands for Software Application Programming. SAP is how the company places maintenance orders for different types of plant maintenance and material management.

Next, we learned about the engineering projects done at JKLC. This department of the company deals with replacement of components or machines, as well as creating and managing upcoming projects.

The last department we visited was WHR, which is the Waste Heat Recovery system for the plant. We learned how they used titration to determine the concentration of a substance in a sample.

Our last remaining days were focused on wrapping up our final report and presentation for JKLU. Finally, Friday morning we departed for the university. We spent the day on a train, which was actually more comfortable than I was expecting. The cabin was air conditioned and had beds to lay down.

Our cabin on the train