Nitin Agrawal's Musings

Dear Kritzy

Hello

Konnichiwa

Under the mutual conscience between government of India (MHRD) and government of Japan, about students from all over India were selected for the first delegation to Japan under Japan East Asia network of exchange for students and youth Programme (JENESYS)

On being nominated by CBSE and in turn selection by Ministry of Human resource development, emabssy of japan in India and Japan International cooperation center I had the pleasure to be part of delegation of students to Japan under Japan - East Asia Network of Exchange Students and youth Programme funded by JICE.

The program was spread over a period of 12 days from 19th November to 30th Novemeber 2011 wherein the delegation visited Tokyo and Hokodate.During our stay we paid visits to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan, and Mayor of the city of Hokodate.The program aimed at portraying Japanese culture, lifestyle, system of administration, waste management system, education system etc. In order to facilitate the same, the delegation interacted with Japanese High School and University students. Moreover each pair of students were engaged with a Japanese host family for a day. The home stay was an integral part of the program, quite instrumental in inculcating Japanese lifestyle and culture.

Following this we also visited Hokodate incineration plant to comprehend garbage disposal system.The program gave me an opportunity to understand Japanese people and I can surely conclude that dwellers of japan are quite punctual, kind, law abiding, faithful, and above all concerned about global issues such as global warming and natural disasters. Japan has 70 % forest cover out of which 65 % is man made in order to promote healthier environment. Japan moreover has successfully retained its culture, tradition, serenity, and decency despite of rapid globalization and modernisation.

And of course the programme gave me an opportunity to interact with some of the greatest minds from India and abroad and experience mesmerising scenic beauty of Japan. I could experience the snow fall for the very first time in my life in the city of Hokodate.

The program was wonderfully designed by JICE, Japanese government catering to comfortable stay in world class 5-star accommodation and food. The programme received wide coverage by Japanese press. Highlights of the programme were put on record in local/national dailies on regular basis and official visits were telecast on news channels.

To conclude I would like to pay heartfelt gratitude to the school authorities specially my principal Mr. H.R. Sharma and my class teacher Mrs. Nidhi Chaudhary for their encouragement , guidance and support, Ministry of Human resource development, India, Jice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan for giving me an opportunity to be part of the prestigious program.

Arigato ghozimas

Thank you

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

We were to board a JAL flight after the breakfast bound for Delhi. It wasn’t an easy affair to bid goodbye to Japan and two special people who were always there to assist us and took great of us, our coordinators Sungai san and Nori san.

We were in Delhi by the evening. We checked into the Ashok Hotel. Thought it agian was a 5 star rated hotel “ the Surya “ and of course the hotels in Japan were better. I was quite sleepy. After the lunch I was off to sleep. In the morning we were to bid goodbyes to each other. Those 21 heads of strangers were no more the same. 9 days were more than enough to bring tears to my eyes while bidding them goodbye. I miss each one of them. JENESYS was truly awesome and a great experience. I don’t know if I would ever be able to get over it.

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

The morning was jittery. We missed the wakeup call ( must not tell you why) though we were quite awake. We were visited by our supervisor to ensure that we were awake.

After the breakfast, we left for the Hakodate Airport at about 8:00 in the morning. We boarded a JAL flight scheduled for Haneda Airport, Tokyo.We arrived at Grand Prince Hotel at about 1 in the noon. WE were served with lunch and later in the day we left for The University of Tokyo.

At the unievrsity we had the campus tour. The campus was great and the infrastructure was awesome : ). Following the tour we had a lecture session and workshop presentation.

After this we had a supper yummy supper at an Indian restaurant. The night was killer. We din;t sleep whole night. We four roamed about the hotel, kinda ragged the batch 2 of Jenesys as seniors :). Did all the stupid things. The night was funnnnnn!!!. Next morning we are to leave for Delhi. Awwwwww!!!!!! will miss Japan, The people around and moreeeeeeeee.

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

We had our breakfast @ host family. We exchanged gifts. Following this we were escorted back to our Hotel by our host family wherein we had a Farewell party with host families. We did a cultural performance. This was followed by formal species, toasts and lunch. Following this we all had an IKA dance, some characterstic dance of Japan. After the farewell session we were scheduled for a workshop. We were divided into three groups and I played the note maker. We had discussion about Japanese culture, tradition, food, technology etc followed by a presentation. The session was again a fun:)

Later in the day we had dinner ( salads was all the veggies had ), dance , songs etc. Our Japanese coordinator Sugai San beautifully sang “Ankho mein teri ajab si ajab si.. “ from OSO with all the technicalities. We all were astonished. Though he wasn’t through with the meaning of the song he sounded toooo great . He rocked.

The night was again fun. We and three other friends of mine had decided to be up till 2 in the morning to commemorate our last day in Hokkdaido. We played truth dare stare and had all the fun

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Krtizy

The day absolutely 'subarashi'. Breakfast @ host family cooked by Emiko sam, my host mother was undobtedly a relief. Had vegetable curry, pancakes n much more. My host mother Emiko is a housewife and does patchwork.My host father is a resorce person and music teacher at a High school. At about 10 in the morning we left for his high school. We (as in my homestay partner Hoshank and my host father) visited absolutely stunning indoor basketball and table tennis courts followed by a even more lovely performance by the school band. Following this we visited a University and a wonderful park.

Early in the afternoon we went out for shopping with my host parents. Bought a camera. Later in the afternoon we visited 100 yen shop (economy shopper's delight) somewhat similar to what we call dollar shops in India. Had pasta for lunch. After the lunch we paid a visit to Hokkaido Tower (107 m) experiencing a panoramic view.

Before calling off the day we visited Mt. Hokodate via ropeway. The view from the mountain ranks amongst the best three views of the world. It's popularly recognised as million dollar view or rather billion yen view(my version). Loved the view. Could experience viewing pacific ocean and japanese seas seggregated by a narraw landmass the city of ' Hokodate'.

Living in a host a family gave us an opportunity to experience freewill and at the same time it was instrumental in inculcating Japanese tradition and culture. Language was no more a barrier between me and my host parents.

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

Breakfast time; 5 tables laded with inter continental delicacies.but raw beans and juice is all that comes rescue for a veggie in Japan.. Visit to the Hokadate municiapl high school marked the official opening of a snowy day. As soon as we reached we were greeted by a bunch of Japanese high school teachers and students. After all those official ceremonies we had a calligraphy class wherein we wrote our names in Japanese and Chinese.We were greatly assisted by our Japanese counterparts. This was followed by Origamy class wherein Japanese high school students taught us some really crazy things. And finally to my hearts delight we had an Indian lunch comprising of rise and curry @ school.

Later in the afternoon we visited incineration plant. We were explained about the waste disposal mechanism of Japan. The system was quite impressive.

Early in the evening, the must awaited part of the programme was executed. We were handed over to our host parents and were relived from dot punctual routine for a day and a half.

Looking forward to a even greater day ahead.

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

The breakfast didn’t have much to offer:(. We left the hotel for Hakodate city hall at about 9:15. We visited the mayor of Hakodate. The session was broadcast on a Japanese news channels and featured in a national daily.

Following the session we visited shopping centre. We had an option to visit either of the two; A 100 yen shop or an electronic mart ` Yamada. I visited Yamada. Though I expected electronic items to be cheaper in Japan they cost more or less the same as in India. All I had a photography session at Yamada. Our counterparts who had been to the 100 yen shop looked cladded with lot of stuff :). After the shopping session we were scheduled for a University exchange, but prior some awesome lunch. The day was chilly ans we were expecting a snowfall.

We visited the Future university (FUN). The infrastructure was great. We had a lecture session at first and me being sleep deprived, as always was terribly sleepy. It was quite difficult to attend the session. Following this we were divided into groups of two and each group was engaged with a group of Japanese students wherein we had a discussion session about culture, tradition , food,technology etc, They were fond of Shin Chan and so was I

Following the university visit I experienced a snowfall for the very first time, I looked amazing.

Later in the day we went for shopping again. This time we all went to a 100 yen shop. I was astonished by the setup. The billing counter was situated in a far flung corner of the shop. The shop had no guards at the entry/ exit points and more or less no well defined boundary. It was a child’s play to flick items from the shop, though I didn’t any. The national character of Japan’s too pure and serene.

After the dinner ( the sticky rice again) we were back to our hotel. The night was absolutely fun. Laughed to our heart’s delight. Was up till late

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

Today were supposed for leave for Hakodate, Hokkaido. I somehow manged to attend to the wakeup call and packed my luggage. After the breakfast we assembled in the lobby to leave for the Haneda airport, the domestic airport of Tokyo We boarded an ANA flight bound for Hakodate airport.

At the arrival we were greeted by snow cladded city of Hakodate. W resorted to resorted to know fighting for quite some time. Following this we attended a lecture at Onuma international Seminar house. This time the lunch was sick though the session was nice.After this we visited Onuma park where we had a official group photo.

Later in the day we visted Jinga, a Japanese shrine and had our dinner at a semi- Indian restaurant “Ambika”. The food was good but again the rice was sticky and naans were eggy

We checked into our hotel,Hakodate Kokusai Hotel at about 8:00. By this time I was friends with most of the people in my group baring a few maybe:0. The night was fun we prank and crank called people. Had fun

Was off to sleep at about 2:30

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

Following the wakeup call at 6:00 in the morning we had our breakfast at “Tenpyou”, the in house banquet of the hotel. The breakfast was nice. It treated us with raw beans, breads ,different types jams , butters, buns, milk, juices, noodles, curries, rice n more:) After the wonderful breakfast we left for the orientation hall, omg another orientation session; but this one was kinda final I guess. We had our lunch at an Japanese restaurant, it was a buffet and didn’t have anything much to offer for veggie. I had cookies and juice for the lunch.

After the lunch we visted Ministry of foreign affairs and the Edo Museum. Kinda nice place

Later in the day we were served dinner in an Indian restaurant. This time they had curry, some sticky rice and Naan but then the Naans contained eggs therefore I resorted the curry and some sticky rice.

As soon as we reached the hotel I was laid and into my sleep. I slept decently early at about 9:30.

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Krtizy

At about 7 in the morning to we reached the lovely city of Tokyo. The airport was so cool. More so because immigration people @ Japan are quite mature and serious about work. At IGI there were about 40 immigration counters but most of them absconded from their duties.Leaving aside a bunch of officers rest of them didn’t want to attend the passengers :(. Narita Airport, Tokyo was beautiful, just one concern had I, why don’t public washrooms in Japan didn’t have dividers :P. On our arrival we were received and greeted by our second Japanese coordinator Ms, Nori Takashima.

We boarded an Airport Lemousine bound for our hotel. The city of Tokyo offered some great scenic beauty, cleanliness and mesmerizing views on our way to the hotel. In about next 2 hrs we reached The Grand Prince Hotel, New Takanawa. The rooms were awesome and lavish. We were served with lunch following which we all preferred sleeping for an hour or so. Following this at about 2 we assembled in the lobby for another orientation session( an even longer one) followed by Indian Dinner at “ The Devi corner”. We all walked back to our hotel. Roamed about a little. By this time I had good bunch of friends to accompany me

The tiring schedule concluded the day

Dear Kritzy

We missed the wakeup call scheduled for 6 am. Hurried down for the breakfast. Breakfast was good loaded with all the delicacies except the ones which one usually would have for a breakfast :P. Following this we had another orientation session. Orientation session are so more uninteresting at times n so was this one. Then had a sending- off party with some Indian and japanese dignitaries.

Following the lunch we’re free were to leave for the airport in about next 2 hrs. In the meantime we roamed about the hotel gallery, swimming pool, health club, spa etc.

Later in the day we left the for the Airport. Been to the international airport, IGI Delhi the very first time. Good work GMR :). Duty free area’s amazing, costly but then nice to roam about. Boarded JAL flight scheduled for Tokyo at about 7: 45 pm. While boarding the airplane we were greeted by couple of cute Jap girls actually the airhostess.

The dinner @ flight concluded the day

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

Omg!! Finally ‘m on A dream come true. It dates back to june 2009, when I first dreamt of visiting abroad on a sponsored trip before am actually done with the school, and what could have been better than representing India in Japan under Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths Programme (JENESYS)

Reached The Suryaa Hotel, the allocated assemble point for group prior to leaving for Japan tomorrow evening . I’m would be visit Tokyo and Hokkaido with 21 with other mates, 2 Indian supervisors and 2 Japanese coordinators . Sounds amazing. Our first orientation session was scheduled at 3:00 pm after the lunch and was followed by a tea break.

Following this we we attended a group discussion session at 7 followed by a lavish Dinner.

By the time we were full it was 9 and we all off for our rooms Ah! good ones bit of a show off but then the hotel’s 5 star rated soo...n Ya got a room partner. A 10th standard boy from Hyderabad no much do I know about him yet.

Hoping for a even greater day tomorrow.

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

Recently I attended Youth Model United Nation (MUN) Conference 2011 organised by Lingaya’s University, Faridabad, India. The two-day conference was held on 17 and 18 February, 2011 and the delegates were provided with the transport facility. It was an simulation of the United Nations (UN) to educate participants about the current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy, and UN agenda wherein participants role played as delegates of various countries.

The conference included four councils namely The General Assembly, The UN Security Council, The Economic and Social Council, and The UN Global Compact. I was the delegate of Niger in the General Assembly. The agenda and the proceedings were focused on Conventional Weapon Cluster.Our committee was excellently chaired by Mr Abhishek Vats and vice chaired by Mr Sagar Gupta. The procedure prescribed by the UN was followed throughout the conference which consisted of four sessions.

A day’s proceeding consisted of a roll call followed by a three-hours-long session wherein delegates discussed views, policies, and suggestions of their countries through the medium of speaker’s list and various motions such as moderated and not moderated caucuses followed by lunch and a session which usually lasted another 2.5 hours. In the fourth session which was on the second day, the delegates were presented with a crisis situation in a certain part of the world to which they had to respond leading to a resolution under the prescribed time. It was a perfect first-hand experience of a MUN conference which was certainly instrumental in perpetuating diplomacy and public speaking skills. Loved it!!

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

Yet another month with some great minds from all over India and under extensive guidance of mathematically obsessed faculty at Mathematical Sciences Foundation, Delhi.

I on being selected had the pleasure to participate in an internship programme organized by Mathematical Sciences Foundation at The Air Force School, Subroto Park , supported by Department of Science and Technology ( DST) and National Mission on Bamboo Application (NMBA) between 1st June to 29th June 2010.

The programme, particularly my project aimed at innovative use of Bamboo to build mathematical & scientific tools and teaching aids owing to it renewability, sustainability, abundant supply and inexpensive nature in comparison to conventionally used products such as steel, concrete, timber and plastics.

Besides our seven teaching aids namely B-anglometer (Bamboo anglo meter) , Fricto meter, Xylophone , Bapult , Geomkit, gears and Bambal instrumental in explaining concepts associated with trigonometry &heights and distances , frictional forces, musical frequency, law of conservation of energy & projectile motion , properties of polygons, working of gears and linear equations respectively we proposed a Bamboo bus shelter offering comfortable seating & protection which was equipped with modern day facilities.

Above and beyond my project there were several other projects being worked upon by various other interns under prime guidance of their respective mentors, these included face detection, Virus – Antivirus, Water Rockets, Mathematical Biology, mutual Funds, Queuing theory, Encryption, Space Science and Renewable/Alternate Energy.

During the course of the internship we also had morning lecture session with Dr Sanjeev Agrawal, Professor, Mathematical Sciences Foundation and Associate Professor, St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi and Dr. Amber Habib, Professor, Mathematical Sciences Foundation on out of the box applications and understanding of Mathematics. Moreover we had lecture sessions with Dr. Arijit Mukhopadhyay , Professor IGIB and Dr. Geetha Venketraman , Associate Professor, St. Stephen's College.

Also we had the pleasure of interacting with Mr. Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India and Dr. Jeff Morgan, Professor, University of Houston. Moreover constant interaction session with Dr. Dinesh Singh , Director, University of Delhi South Campus equipped us with a vision and .

We had closing ceremony after the presentations on 29th June and we were presented with some nice books and stipend of Rs. 5000 on successful completion of the programme. It was an immensely great experience attending the programme and would have the memories and experiences preserved forever in my memory stick.

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

Having gala time! Enjoying the last few days of the internship programme. It’s only now I am realizing how nice it’s. The overtimes are no more seem bothering. Since, I haven’t written much during the course of this internship it unlike the last year where I had day to day briefing, I’m quite disappointed with myself.

The days in between were quite nice though they were quite busy. We had a video conferencing session with Mr. Sam Pitroda, advisor to prime Minister of India and other day we had a voice conferencing session with Dr. Jeff Morgan, Professor and Chair, University Of Houston.

Though the day today was meant to be a half day followed by a cultural programme, we worked till late evening and rather early night. In the morning most of us did nothing much productive, here us corresponds to my group of 8 people “the bamboo group”. We just had few photo sessions in order to have visual memories and relax our overburdened memory sticks! After the lunch we had cultural programme where we had some extremely humorous and mind boggling performances ranging from Chandramani’s sweet poem on exams, Bhavika’s breathtaking dance, Syed sir’s “Yeh dosti” , Jatin sir’s nice singing , Dinesh sir’s humorous couplets, 2 nice plays to Shubh’s extremely nice” Broken strings” (not sure if I got all the names correct) and of course we had some nice anchoring from Varshneya and Varninka. The programme was a true booster.

Later in the day we worked on incomplete presentations, combinations and then compilation of the presentation and then finally a quick practice of few of them. We are going to have presentations on next two days, hoping they go well.

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

It’s getting extraordinarily warmer. It almost the payback time!

Started quite late from home though managed to be just in time. Today Dr. Amber Habib addressed an interesting branch of mathematics - Topology in our very first morning session. He talked about mobius strip and Klein bottle. After the tea break our group assembled in the Audio visual room for a brief discussion on an ideal bus shelter to be constructed out of bamboo. People had mixed opinions about various aspects. By the time clock struck 12:30 we had reached clear consensus about outlook of our prospective bus shelter. The action plan moreover was decided.

After lunch we primarily worked on fine tuning the presentations. The day seemed quite squeezed up, couldn’t

manage much amount of work. The day didn’t have, much to share!

Nitin Agrawal

Dear kritzy

Yesterday was rather a hectic day, couldn’t even find time to write! Worked to our wits @ Air force School, got back home at 10:00, this seems to be a justified justification for not writing.

Today, we had no early morning lecture session, instinctively the day seemed nicer today. We worked on our respective projects early morning. Post tea we had great lecture session with Dr. Arijit Mukhopadhyay, Scientist , Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR) on role play of mathematics in analysing biological data in a systematic order. The data had some nice findings too.

Post lunch we resumed working on our projects primarily fine tuning the prototypes for accuracy and pinpointing probable error influencing factors. Did have some disappointing observation while working on the projects. In mid afternoon we visited a bus stop as we were for quite some time prospecting to develop a prototype of a bus stop out of bamboo. The visit was limited to measuring the dimensions and a tender discussion.

After the visit we tirelessly resumed working on our projects again. This time we had some nice findings about probable error provoking factors in our mathematical project, though the findings weren’t much satisfactory. Returned home quite early today. Worked on the presentation, hoping not to violate the deadlines!

Nitin agrawal

Dear Kritzy

Today morning Dr. Amber Habib took our first session on “Curve fitting”, it was an interesting lecture. Post tea we had an interaction session at Audio-visual room. This was followed by yet another session with Dr. Amber Habib where we discussed about our projects and could exactly pinpoint the shortcomings of our projects for further improvement. Such session usually leave us in dilemmas and uncertainties. We also did ponder about future code and conduct and decided to work on our prospective project meanwhile work on the presentation of our existing projects.

Post lunch we worked on documentation part of our mathematical project. In-between had a clash with a group mate of mine. These things at times are rather more complicated than they may seem to be. By the tea break we finished with our documentation associated with our mathematical project and post tea we majorly worked on documentation associated with our physics project.

By the end of the day we had working prototype of our mathematical project with about 97% accuracy. Tomorrow’s task’s going to be completion of our physics model and preparation of presentation. Not actually satisfied the way ‘am bogging these days , it’s getting too hectic.

Nitin agrawal

Dear Kritzy

Feeling bit low today though better. Today was quite a productive day. Our first session was with Dr. Sanjeev Agrawal. The session was extremely nice and instrumental in developing a school of thought beyond impossibilities.

The breakfast had lemonade and Samosas , after which we resumed our day’s project work. Managed to partially complete our mathematical project and to a great extent idealised our Sciences project.

Feeling extremely sleepy!!

Nitin Agrawal

Dear Kritzy

It’s only now that I feel like a true Delhiite experiencing true flavours of Delhi. Walking down a busy road in scorching heat of Delhi, negotiating with arrogant Autowalas and having “ Jaljeera” at a roadside rickety stall. It’s at times interesting to roam about the city roads.

Today was convincingly easier day, more so because the timings for internship programme are relaxed for Saturdays. Roads seemed wider than ever and reached Air force school sufficiently earlier though the bus was running quite late. Coincidently (as I believe) Pooja didi boarded the same bus.

Just had project work session today. The day wasn’t much productive as far as our project is concerned. We could figure out few things though. We’re actually working on a device to measure angles of inclination and use them to measure heights. We managed considerably nice amount accuracy in most of our trials, still working upon feasibility of its usage.

Four of us (me, Gunjan , Pooja didi and Sharansh bhaiya) started back at about 12:45, peek after noon negotiating across the busy road and blazing sun. Three of us boarded an auto way back to our homes. Mid way we had “Cumin Seed Cooler” , a more sophistic version for Jaljeera, it was quite nice except for the fact that my sore throat found it a bit difficult to resist though it’s considered a remedy instrumental in relieving uncomfortable throat.

Rest of the day I spent taking rest and reenergizing myself for the coming week!

Nitin Agrawal