January 11, 2024

Contrast

Good morning.

I wake up just in time for breakfast; we have chow-chow bath, a dish that is a combination of sweet Kesari bath and savory Khara bath. We’ve had this dish a couple times now and most of us have been curious as to what exactly we are eating, a feeling I encounter at almost every meal. FYI, the dish is made of rava, a durum wheat product and is a form of semolina.

Now we visit BMS, our partner college, for lectures. We learn more about design thinking, hear about Kaylea’s story, and watch a presentation from the Center for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy, or CSTEP.

We watch a video showing the evolution of the Formula 1 pit stop. The first pit takes a whole minute, with an announcer describing each step at a casual pace. It seems to drag on forever. The second pit is a flourish of movement that has the F1 taking off again in less than two seconds. What an incredible improvement. I wonder how the announcer would react to seeing that second clip.

There are two quotes from today that I want to remember. Julian says this with a smile, “Don’t crash and burn at the ‘this-sucks-and-I’m-an-idiot phase.’” This phase in the process of design thinking seems inevitable, how exciting! When we eventually get to this phase of our projects, I can visualize myself becoming frustrated, maybe wanting to give up. But this leads to the second quote from an advertisement for the Paralympics, “Sport doesn’t care who you are.” The message is clear. When there is a difficult job to be done, your own feelings are not a factor. This is bootcamp after all, right?

Now, the wind is blowing, music is thumping, and a colorful dance floor lights up under my feet. As I’m writing this, GCIL is at the Skyye rooftop bar meeting UW Alumni. This moment doesn’t feel much like the ‘bootcamp’ that Julian advertised, but the previous couple days definitely did. Playing with the kids at Parikrma and sitting in on a house visit with Swasti feels like forever ago already, though it was only yesterday. I look out over the sprawling city and try to process all the contrast. But it’s not something I can get through in one evening.

Good night.

By Monika

Image 1: Neighborhood where we joined Swasti for an in-house visit.

Image 2: Skyye rooftop bar, UW alumni event.