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