RETURN TO WOODY'S INDIA PICS PAGE

After 39 hrs on a plane (osaka, taipei, singapore, madras) I finally arrive.

An hour long through the airport customs.

My drivers car must be coated with some kind of magic solution that prevents other cars from sticking to it. It must at some level also be a repelent. After riding in cabs and with drivers in 9 other countries I think I have (at least for now) seen my ildest act of driving yet. Its not as if my driver is any different from the other drivers here in India. The motorcycles and 3 wheeled taxis as well as the bicycles fight for their part of the roadway. All the while the regular cabs (ambassadors for the most part), cars, and large trucks are driving at full speed zig zaging around, through, and anything buy directly over each other. How they manage to miss one another is totally beyond me. No less than a dozen times, here on my first day in Chennai (Madras), I truly believe that either we were going to die or see someone killed. But the skill with which the drivers get around is phenomonal.

The trip to the plant is very long. It takes about 2 hours on what I’m not sure is classified as a road for the most part, but a collection of pot holes. The bridge at about the 3/4 point is collapsed and they have built a make shift road down through the riverbed while they repair it. I understand the last big rain caused the river which it crosses and the swollen stream took out the bridge. Their are many interesting things along the way to watch and ask about. Most people speak english to some degree. I saw many buffalo which of Course are sacred here in India. I saw lots of cows with big pointy horns pulling wagons.

The homes here for many of the people are thatch huts. I saw a lot of these along the way. The use the coconut leaves and other things to form a mat of sorts for building material. I asked and MARIAPPAN how long they last. He said about 2 years normally Maybe a bit longer if it rained more, a bit less if it is extremly dry. They are about the size of normal bedroom. I am not sure how many live in one. I will try to find out.

drank coconut on side of road on the way. .06 cents

They were working on the road. A large roller looking device was being chased by a woman in saree (the dress the women wear). She was taking water from a bucket on the side of the truck and pouring it on the steel wheels as it rolled along. Out in front of the road equipment they have to clear the road of debris. This is done by hand with I think palm leaves.

. The tour in Singapore was interesting. (Area of the Lion). We went from the airport to the river bank where Mr. Raffels came ashore. .

TUESDAY Ate Breakfast with Marippan. Typical Indian breakfast. Dosa trip to plant was normal. got pic of ox cart and started noticing differentials on trucks had faces painted on them. took pics of them. .

work went well. can not do anything with machine. waiting on oil filtration device. MACHINE VOLTAGE HOOKED UP 230 VOLT READING 202 TO 204 LEG TO LEG GROUND ONLY 10 GUAGE SOLID BACK TO PANEL. REQUEST GROUND ROD AT PRESS WITH #2 AWG DRYER CYCLED OKAY CHILLER CYCLED OKAY WAITING ON OIL FILTER ALL DAY

dinner had with marippan at family resteraunt. Goat, rice cake (like spegati) , idli (rice flour biscuit), fish, chicken broth gravy. Ate off of bannana leaf with fingers. went to see bay of bengel. the longest beach in asia. 4 Kms long. pretty clean, not a lot of people.

WEDNESDAY. I noticed today that I did not see cell phones, cigarettes, or graffiti. Since I have not seen any since I have been here I figure they must be rare at best. When I went to a resteraunt tonight in the motel (Ahaar) I saw my first cell phone. The man that had it was holding it up in the air the whole time I was in the resteraunt. I figured this must be so the other guy (I figured there was only 2) that had one could call him and they could discuss the all important facts of the day. How th r OX carts were holding up and the like.

SHOES!?!?! Something else you don’t see a lot here is shoes. Even the people in the plant are not wearing shoes. I of course asked about it and was told that they in fact owned shoes but saved them for sundays when they would go to town to see their friends. W would they want to wear shoes at the plant around people they know.

You gotta wonder. In the US when you are young you want a car to go hang out and be cool. Here I think they probably hang out on the weekend....... Yeah..... I’m cool .......I have shoes. Of course just as they say that trying to impress their friends someone probably points out that they arent really shoes but that they are thongs and don’t even cover the whole foot.

Dinner tonight was good. Had a varitey plate in Ahaar’s here at the Hotel. Found the flavor I had been tasting in so many things. It is pickled lemon.

When they bought me my finger bowl to wash off I did not know what it was because I have been eating in regular restraunts where the residents eat. I did know If it was some kind of desert or an after dinner drink of somekind. The waiter finally got i across to me to wash my fingers off. I got used very quickly to eating with my hands instead of utensils. Every day at lunch at the plant I have Dosa. w/ sambar sauce. My plate is a bannana leaf. Kind of neat. I usually have fruit, dosa, and water they continue to offer me american drinks (coke, pepsi, 7up, ect.) but I continue to just drink water.

Work today was “different”. My customer finally got their filter for 5 micron filtration. It was a piece of cloth that you could see through. They put the oil back in the machine but I told them that It would void their warranty if we ran it like tha They are pulling the oil again. The mold they thought had self eject system. It did not. They have to make eject bars for the mold and machine. The locator ring is 5 “ on the platen . They have to make 5 x 4 ring.

other notes WEDNESDAY OIL IN PRESS/ CUSTOMER HAS "SPECIAL 5 MICRON PIECE OF CLOTH"????/ I'M NOT CONVINCED THAT OIL IS PROPERLY FILTERED AND TOLD CUSTOMER THAT IT MAY VOID WARRANTY WITHOUT PROPER FILTRATION. //// MACHINE STARTED UP OKAY. INITIAL LUBRICATION DONE ON PRESS NO OIL PRESSURE GUAGE FITTING SENT WITH PRESS NEED TO CONVERT MACHINE TO CELCIUS ON SCREENS NO LISTING OF COMMVECS IN MANUAL NO STARTUP SHEET SENT WITH MACHINE

still no ground leg sufficent

Plant voltage on generator was going from 221 to 185 slowing down pumps like it was on freq controller. Freq is all over the place on my meter from 47 to 52 There is another gen somewhere but I have not seen it yet. When they get permission from the power company they will use main power all the time????????? Their main power is on and off 4 to 5 times a day since I have been here.

SO>>>>>>>>>............. Thursday there is nothing to do because I am waiting on oil refiltering, eject bar making, locator ring making.

FRIDAY wiring shorted on mold. pull mold and redo wiring.

SATURDAY mold back in read to start machine. no nozzle long enough to reach mold customer has to have one made on Sunday ....

SUNDAY off waiting on nozzle

MONDAY try to start mold. low voltage keeps kicking out starter overloads. power keeps going on and off final straw. heater comes out of mold and swells up preventing us from reinstalling

TUESDAY left list of things that must be accomplished before returning for start up caught plane back to USA

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