Thanks to many programs and international collaborations, students of the Faculty of Chemistry of the Silesian University of Technology have the opportunity to travel to many research centers around the world. On our website we have already written about students and PhD students who were in New Zealand, Australia, or Switzerland. Now it's time for a more exotic destination. . . India!
Throughout August Łukasz Czapura and Jakub Ćwiertnia, thanks to the NAWA programme, had the opportunity to go to the Indian Institute Of Technology Roorkee to work in the team of Professor Ramesh Chandra. They mainly investigated the properties of the samples they brought with them from Poland.
The work in the laboratory was very interesting and enjoyable. The PhD students were very kind, friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, the weather conditions surprised me. Even though I was prepared for the heat and humidity, this collision with reality was tough. Luckily, the labs themselves, as well as the campus buildings, were air-conditioned. In Poland I will miss the breaks for Indian tea with milk, which were an inseparable part of the day at the lab. I was very impressed by the canal of the Ganges, which turned out to be huge.
A completely different culture, which is shocking, even though one expects it to be. Traffic can give you the creeps. During my stay I loved the kitchen. People there are very friendly and take care of loved ones. Thanks to the courtesy of the local doctoral students, I had the opportunity to see the nearby city at night to see what life looks like in smaller towns.I don’t think I’ll miss you, but India is a country worth a taste of at least once in your life.
Of such curiosities, our colleagues tried pickled...mango! Unfortunately, we did not get a positive comment about the taste or recommendation of this interesting dish.
As part of something else, I might add that we met with biodegradable cups made of clay. After drinking tea, it was enough to literally throw the cup on the grass, which under the influence of moisture and the rainy season returned to its form before burning.
The trip itself can be counted as a successful, full of scientific and aromatic Indian cuisine. We hope that our colleagues will be able to go to another beautiful place, where they will be able to draw knowledge by hand.
The trip was made possible by the program NAWA BPI/PST/2021/1/0039
