Industrial visit to NLC

I never thought that Neyveli would be anything less than a disaster. I mean, here are the facts: Almost ten hours of travel, scorching hot weather and no information which could be related to my field at all (not something which was necessary for my enjoyment but only as a sop to my frustration that the day would not have been a complete waste of time if I could have only learnt something new).

Imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed myself.
The bus journey was not half bad, really. I spent most of the time listening to Hindi songs on Sab’s mp3. I already have a couple of favourites now - Jaane kyun and Masakali. She was very bemused when I played these two over and over again.
The weather was mild early in the morning and we went past rustic little villages, paddy fields, haystacks…the whole deal. My classmates were all high but managed not to go completely berserk which was something else I was glad about. I’m all for fun, but incessant screaming and getting squashed into a human sandwich is not my idea of fun. Thankfully, it wasn’t theirs either for a change and everyone enjoyed themselves without getting too rowdy.

When we finally reached Neyveli, there was some tension because we had heard that electronic devices weren’t allowed and all of us had our cameras, cell phones and mp3 players with us. It was also a bother that we had to get down at each check post and wait out in the open under the hot sun and humid weather till the bus was given a green signal to continue after it was checked.

Despite all that, we really enjoyed seeing the site where lignite was mined from. A couple of men who worked in NLC also took the trouble to accompany us and explain how everything was done. That place was huge! I think he said that the site we saw was roughly 35 square kilometers in area and we had an aerial view of the whole site. Really awesome place.

I would have enjoyed it more if I (not very surprisingly) hadn’t stepped in the first puddle of mud we came across and spent ten minutes trying to get all that muck off my shoes. We piled into the bus again after taking a few snaps and they took us to see this monster of a machine which is used to mine the lignite.

My first view of the monstrosity which costs around 62 crores, was a gigantic metal disc with grooves like spikes which can dig up to a depth of 5 meters into the ground. I was very impressed. Then to our delight, they let us climb it. It was so cool! It would have easily been at least three to four stories high and we had nothing between our feet and the distant ground but a mesh which seemed too fragile to bear our combined weight despite assurances from the operators that it could easily bear more. The adrenaline rush made us forget the heat, all the grease and every other conceivable inconvenience. The weak hearted (and for once, I was not among them) waited on solid ground for the rest of us to come down.

Then we had lunch at the afforestation project area which was very picturesque and quite a bit cooler. The lunch was nothing to get excited about. I hadn’t really expected anything more than the lime rice and chips they gave us but we managed with the food some of the girls had brought from home in anticipation of just such an event. After lunch, girls being girls, just had to take a billion pictures and find the perfect pose for each and very one of them. Mad, but characteristic.


The journey back was more subdued for me but for some, the party was just getting started. A little childish but they seemed to enjoy it which is what an IV is all about, after all. I managed to get a little sleep in between and found the sky overcast when I woke up. All my hopes for a shower were fulfilled in a very enjoyable spell of rain. There’s nothing like watching rain in the countryside while listening to Linkin Park. The weather cooled down quite a bit after that.

To crown it all off, I managed to get back home at the very reasonable hour of eight in the evening by myself. At home, I watched Hancock. My advice to you is, don’t watch it. Even if it has Will Smith and Charlize Theron, do NOT watch it. If you already have, you have my condolences.

Today, my limbs are stiff and I’m feeling lazier than usual. It was worth it. Sometimes, things work out perfectly precisely because you don’t expect them to.