My 3rd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter

On Saturday, February 15, 1992 we did start our 3rd trip together to India for consulting.

We did have an entire row of chairs in the plane, so we would be able to stretch out during the night flight. BUT it did not work...
 The plane was defect and we ended up up in the Sheraton hotel, after a couple of hours waiting...

On Sunday, we had the evening flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam, and we had an upgrade into business class.

On Monday we got dropped off at the Hilton hotel for the day and night...

On Tuesday February 18, we continued to Delhi and again an upgrade into business class in row 71, in the upper deck of a big Jumbo 747.

Wednesday we arrived in Delhi, and a person from Pond's India met us and brought us to the Taj Palace Hotel for a couple of hours as we both wanted to continue on to Madras with another flight with one stop in Hyderabad.

There again, we got met by people from Pond's India and they brought us to a hotel for a couple of hours till our final flight to Coimbatore with a stop in Bangalore...

We were greeted by familiar faces from the mushroom farm and after eating something at a restaurant we started our trip into the mountains and reached the hotel by 21:00, Southern Star (Quality Inn) in Ooty, Tamil Nadu State.

On Thursday, February 20, we finally arrive at the mushroom farm!

A beautiful view high in the Nilgiri Mountains!

View from above where you see the compost ricks to the left in front of the pasteurization rooms.
Sorry for the photo quality, but we had to have our photos and slides developed in Indonesia, where we lived and worked at that time...

Pieter did climb even higher for taking this one...

From above, compost ricks on the left and sheds to the right...

To the left, bottom, you can see the rail road track.

Climbing more down, a nice over view.
Yep, physical climbing we both have done a LOT while living and working in the mountains!

While Pieter descended, he could capture this nice view of all the excavation and reinforcement done at this site.

That's me, on my feet reaching the sheds for doing training.
The shoes I was wearing here, I left behind at the end of this work trip.
Pieter did the same with his shoes...
No need for cleaning them up in order to carry in the suitcase on the plane.
We saw so many people work bare footed!
BUT what we didn't know yet, was that our villa in Indonesia had been robbed and ALL my shoes were gone... I only had left what I had on my feet.
Everything else in the villa got robbed as well!

Walking and climbing...

Here Pieter gives a great view of the pre-wetting of the straw and the mixing in of more ingredients.

Women adding chicken litter to the straw... To the right you see one of the chutes.

Women with dry chicken litter...

Dry chicken litter, ready for mixing in.

Pre-wetting and mixing in ingredients...

Forming the ricks...
Then the process can start for making selective nutrients for growing mushrooms!

And this is the end result!

A very nice first break is growing here, ready for harvesting and then two more breaks will continue to grow before it is all being emptied out and started over...

Detail of the bamboo racks, their local product.

Hope you enjoyed seeing a bit more of the actual process for growing mushrooms.
Thanks for your visit and comment!

Related links:

My 3rd trip to India - Consulting and Harvesting Video | later post by me with video

Consulting for Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me

My 2nd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Brindavan Gardens Mysore with Luxury Heritage Hotel | previous post by me

Lalitha Mahal and Maharaja Palace Mysore | previous post by me
Chamundeshwari Temple and Chamundi Hills in Mysuru India | previous post by me
Trip from Ooty to Mysuru through Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary | previous post by me
Wearing a Saree for ONE Day and Lending my Jeans | previous post by me
Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me showing the Qutb Minar

Consulting for Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project

So here we are...
On Monday, February 18, 1991 we both started our first day of consulting at Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project.
Even though our night rest was not good, due to my bronchitis, we were early for breakfast in our room at 8:00. Dr. Ram picked us up for riding to the farm.
Mr. Balu welcomed us again in the traditional Indian way and we started our rounds.

The sign at the entrance for Ponds (India) Limited

Looking down onto the compost preparation area, Pieter always loved to climb to high grounds for getting an overview.

From a different angle showing more the insulated growing sheds.

A lot of excavation work got done for building this plant at an altitude of 2,100 m or 6,890 ft.

Excavation here as well

Building high in the mountains where the ideal climate is, does come with construction problems...

A chute for the straw... Straw is being dumped by truck at the top level and it goes down the chute.

Overview of the compost slab with the pasteurization rooms in the back.

On the compost slab

The compost turning machine.

Men mainly bare footed!
Our work as International Consultants did open our eyes.
There are so many people far less off than we. Especially during the over-commercialized season of Christmas, which has evolved into a MASS CONSUMPTION PERIOD, we think about others!

Bagging machine for the spawned and pasteurized growing substrate.

Bagging area.

Insulated growing sheds.

Some damaged covers as they need to be sturdy and above all UV-resistent.

Inside the growing room with the air handling duct and air distribution tube.

No aluminum shelves as in my mushroom harvesting movie from 1980, but all locally grown bamboo.
Mushroom harvesting movie: 1980 Mushroom Harvest BLUES
In the back there is a harvester...

Me on the catwalk at the top... Nice first brake!

Ended up going to the local hospital for my severe bronchitis and the medication helped me.
A representative of the Pond's leather garments factory in Madras (Chennai) happened to stop by on Tuesday, February 25. That yielded for both of us a leather jacket. A black lambskin for Pieter and for me a suede leather jacket.

It is quite rewarding to receive something like this...
Given to me on our final day of the two week training period.
~
We thank our teacher for the training you gave us to do our job better.
See you soon. With love,
All their names written...

Makes one feel good!
~
Dated till the world ends 
1. A few friends in this world whose love is fond and true, when you count those Please count us among the few.
2. We are not rich, nor we have so much Power.
The only rare gift we can give you is our friendship towards you.
3. As the night follows the day our love with you will stay for as near you may be we will keep you in our heart.
~
Very touching and it made me emotional...

Some of their names, top 4 written by me and bottom written by them, except the word cannery that I added.

A very nice team to work with!
It always is hard to leave such a warm group...
We traveled to the planes again for our flight to Madras (Chennai) from Coimbatore.
On February 28, we did rise early at 3:45 in our Trident hotel, Madras for an early flight to Delhi.
The person from Pond's was there in time to pick us up and dropping us off at the nearby airport, only 5 minutes by car.
In Delhi we end up again at the Taj Palace Hotel where our Pond's contact person dropped us off and picked us up again around 14:15 for a little shopping tour. We visited the State Emporia Complex for a good range of fine products at good prices.
We also did shop at the shopping gallery of the Taj Palace Hotel.
On March 1, early rising at 4:15 and we went to the International Airport for our flight to Jakarta, Indonesia where we lived and worked at that time...
This is by far not a vacation or a sight seeing tour but we always loved doing it, helping so many people getting a better living.
Fond memories brought home, gifts and bought gifts and above all, those inside our hearts!

Thanks for your visit and comment!

Related links:
My 2nd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Brindavan Gardens Mysore with Luxury Heritage Hotel | previous post by me

Lalitha Mahal and Maharaja Palace Mysore | previous post by me
Chamundeshwari Temple and Chamundi Hills in Mysuru India | previous post by me
Trip from Ooty to Mysuru through Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary | previous post by me
Wearing a Saree for ONE Day and Lending my Jeans | previous post by me
Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me showing the Qutb Minar

My 2nd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter

On Valentine's Day, 1991 we were on our way to Delhi with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The start was not too good, there was a defect on the plane so we had to grab all our belongings and board another plane. We arrived on Friday morning the 15th in Delhi, with 3 hours delay. A person from Pond's India picked us up and we went smooth through customs and everything.

Then we got dropped off at the luxurious Taj Palace Hotel for a welcome shower after 2 nights on the plane, coming from Atlanta to Amsterdam and on to Delhi, India. 

We relaxed and by 14:00 they picked us up for some sight seeing.

Now I too, got to see the famous 2nd tallest minaret in the world, the 72 m high Qutb Minar from 1206.
 Also the Iron Pillar of Delhi, standing within the Qutb Complex in south Delhi. It never rusts and it brings you good luck if you can put your arms around it, backwards! NO LUCK...
Taken from ThamesTv as it seems now to be sheltered by a fence!
So both of us, husband Pieter and I, belong to the people that still were allowed to touch it and try to hug it backwards.
We also visited the Lotus Temple in New Delhi one of the world's greatest attractions click for short video.

It is like walking through a botanical garden in order to get to the steps that lead up to the Lotus Temple, built in white marble.

Quite impressive, also from the inside!
The design resembles very much the style of the Sydney Opera House.
Marvel of architecture by Iranian born Fariborz Sahba, a Canadian citizen now.
We enjoyed our sightseeing trip of several hours and via the Rashtrapathi Bhavan (where the President resides), Secretariat building, Parliament, Connaught Place, and India Gate, we got again dropped off at the Taj Palace Hotel.
A short time for relaxing and then to the airport for our flight to Madras, now Chennai.
Around 23:00 we got greeted by someone from Pond's India and brought to our Trident hotel.
We finally went to bed - tired...
On February 16, we have to be at the airport again by 13:00 for our flight to Coimbatore, via Bangalore.
Security only wants to know what those dark spots in Pieter's briefcase were. They were the batteries of our flash lights (like the police used) and for the camera.
In Coimbatore there is a person from the Mushroom project and at 17:00 we start our ride op into the Nilgiri Mountains to Ooty at 2,100 m altitude.
The old Ambassador (early Austin-Morris) needs some 2.5 hours for this climb, with once adding water and we drank coconut milk.
We got dropped off at the Southern Star, a Quality Inn hotel in Ooty.
The mushroom project's manager, Mr. Balu, was there to great us, en route to his Rotary meeting.
All we wanted is going to bed... I'd developed a bronchitis and thus sleeping was not the best with my constant coughing.
On Sunday, we slept in till about 11:00, both were feeling tired, also due to the 10.5 hours time difference.
We ordered some food for our room, also fresh mango with tea and it helped me feel somewhat better.
We read in the sunshine that entered our room and we got ourselves an ice cream.

Pieter did walk around, to explore the surroundings of our hotel that is high against the hills.

The weather was gorgeous and beautiful mountain landscape with a lot of flowers, flowering broom, cannas and unknown wild flowers.

Photo taken from Pieter, outside our hotel.
Most of you don't know, but this was only 310 km or 193 miles away from Madurai, where the Google CEO, Sundar Pichai was born less than 19 years ago at that time...
He studied in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu State, where we just came from.

And one from me with my long braid on one side...

Lovely surroundings of our hotel in Ooty, nestled in the Nilgiri Mountains!

We ate in our room and when Dr. Ram called if we needed anything, we again opted for staying in and going to bed early.
Sleeping was difficult due to my coughing and that made it past 3:00 till we finally drifted off for a couple of hours...
Stay tuned for more when we started our actual Consulting Work.

Thanks for your visit and comment!

Related posts:
Brindavan Gardens Mysore with Luxury Heritage Hotel | previous post by me

Lalitha Mahal and Maharaja Palace Mysore | previous post by me
Chamundeshwari Temple and Chamundi Hills in Mysuru India | previous post by me
Trip from Ooty to Mysuru through Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary | previous post by me
Wearing a Saree for ONE Day and Lending my Jeans | previous post by me
Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me showing the Qutb Minar