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Maker Mela is an event
held every year in Mumbai, India. I have
participated online in the past. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHx8HdnX2Ns)
The organizer is Somaiya Vidyavihar University,
an engineering university.
In India, I have previously exhibited at IIT
Kharagpur and Guwahati campuses.
Travel to India will be at my own expense, but
the organizer will take care of transportation
from the airport to the university, lodging, and
meals, etc. |
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Fly to India with
Singapore Airlines, connecting from Kansai
Airport to Singapore and from Singapore to
Mumbai. Since my baggage must be up to 25kg, it
consisted of 3 self-playing robots and a
fortune-telling robot. I couldn't bring a
communication robot with object recognition.
A visa is required to enter India, but I can
enter Mumbai using an electronic visa called
ETA. Applied online and printed it out myself.
When I was at IIT, it was hard since my luggage
was scanned, a dog came to sniff the robots, and
some photo were taken. But this time I just
showed my passport and passed without saying a
word. . Baggage checks are supposed to be
strict, but to my surprise, They only scanned my
laptop and backpack, and my suitcase was
exempted from having to be scanned. I think the
staff member have it and found it too heavy, so
he decided not to put it on the conveyor belt.
(The person in front of me was scanning the
suitcase.)
Two staff members (probably university staff)
came to pick me up at the airport. |
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The two IIT I went to
before were both located in quite rural areas,
and the traffic conditions were terrible. But
this time Mumbai is a pretty big city, so I
expected it to be different, but the situation
was the same.
There were terrible traffic jams even though
it's late at night, with very little distance
between cars and no lanes at all. Horns are
always honking. The only difference was that
there were less trucks this time, and there were
a lot of three-wheeled vehicles called
rickshaws. |
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When I was at IIT, I
stayed at a guest house where researchers
stayed, but this time it was a student
dormitory. A cafeteria and gym are located
within the building.
The meals were basically curry, and it seemed
like Indians do not eat much at night, so it was
a simple meal compared to breakfast.
There were three beds in the room, but no one
else was there. (I remember sharing a room with
strangers when I was at IIT. It was fun
though...) The building is close to the venue. |
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It's not a big university.
There are various objects on campus. The tree is
painted in colors similar to the Indian flag. |
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There was a chess set in
the park. |
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Rickshaws are running. |
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There are a lot of dogs on
campus for some reason. It may be for security
purposes, as it is sometimes accompanied by
security guards. It is very scary because
if I am bitten by a mammal, it will be the end.
(Even though I have vaccinated against rabies.) |
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The venue was in a tent
with about 100 booths. The size of the booth is
approximately 180cm. |
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There was a tree behind
the booth and there were lots of mosquitoes. I
asked the staff to provide mosquito repellent
spray because the bites can cause an infection
with a high fever. |
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Fortune-telling is very
popular in India. The paper I brought with me
ran out on the first day, so I asked the staff
to add more on the second day. I think I
probably did it 600 to 800 times. The extra
paper ran out, and in the end, it used the
notebooks and other items that visitors had
brought with them to make fortunes. |
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Many children came. So
many of them were squeezing the table, I thought
they were going to rush into the booth. Children
were competing for fortune paper. . . |
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When there were too many
people, I saw people voluntarily forming lines.
This is the first time I've seen a line outside
of Japan. |
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There was a maker party on
the first night. Although it's called a party,
alcohol is prohibited on campus, so there were
no drinks or snacks, just watching.
The stage featured musicians and performers from
across the university. |
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On the
third day, there were no exhibits, but rather a
lecture and an award ceremony. There was a video
contest in which students participated, and a
video of my booth taken by a student won some
award. |
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I didn't have anything to
do until night, so I wandered around. Strict
security checks are conducted at the entrances
and exits. I gave up on going out into the city
because it seemed like it would be a hard to
come back if I went off campus. |
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There are a lot of security guards on campus,
and they all gathered together for some kind of
morning assembly. There are security guards not
only at the entrances and exits of the campus,
but also at the entrances of each building to
check people entering and exiting. |
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There were several
restaurants like this. |
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Apparently it's always
crowded.
It was a bit inconvenient that there was no
convenience store, so I couldn't easily buy
snacks, stationery, and other things I needed. |
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Two staff members also
took me to the airport on my way back. They
seemed to be employees of a Fab Lab on campus,
and said one of them had participated in a
project with Ted from Taiwan and Dale from Maker
Faire.
Usually, leaving the country is easier than
entering the country, but in this case, leaving
the country was more difficult.
I needed to show my ticket to enter the airport
building. The baggage was rigorously scanned,
and I was asked to explain the robot I had in my
backpack.
If I got stuck, I had to go back in line and
start over, which took a lot of time. At
immigration, I was asked about the purpose and
frequency of my trip to India. I understand that
they ask about the purpose of travel when
entering the country, but this time, not when
entering the country but when leaving the
country... |
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I ate tacos at the
airport. After all, tacos are the most delicious
food in the world.
I was nervous because I only had a 50 minute
transfer in Singapore, but I managed to make it
in time. |
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