Sintex field trips continued - 28th April, Wednesday

Today I’ve had a day out in the country. Not wild India though, not yet, although I did see my first elephant making up part of the traffic this morning. I had been kindly granted permission by various people, to visit a number places where Sintex have some of their digesters. We’re cramming a lot into today. We first visited the SGVP monastery where they have been trialing a small Sintex digester, alongside a 50 m³ concrete model with a steel gas dome. Although not operational at the time – they were undergoing maintenance (cleaning) – I was able to see the finished product, a dried, finely chopped material with a sweet smell not dissimilar to silage, and ready to be spread on the ground.

We headed toward the next site, the Gaushala Gayatri Temple Trust over some fairly rough dirt roads down which men, women and children were driving their goats or cattle. Many of the cows have loose chains round their necks; a means of tethering them at the roadside. Indeed, many were tethered under the trees beside the road.
Our route took us past a step well. Built in 1498 by Ruda, wife of the Vaghela chief Virasimla, it is a big, elaborate and expensive bathroom. The approach to the bottom of the well is down steep wide steps, eight floors in all and each level supported by beautifully carved columns. Some are designs, deeply cut into the sandstone, others rows of elephants or figures. Above one portal are carved nine figures representing the planets. There are two wells at the base. The furthest, containing tiny fish swimming in a milky water, has a carved shaft going straight to the surface. The nearer pool was where the queen would bathe; the whole structure being arranged in such a way that she could do so unseen. Treacherously steep, narrow, spiral stairs gave direct access down to the pool from both sides.
The Temple Trust gives not only religious teaching, but general academic and agricultural as well. The trust had been using a number of digesters
There was, incidentally, a small operation involving a condenser and cows’ urine. This produces a traditional medicine, said to cure a number of aliments including a cancer treatment. I took the lid off the bottle to smell. It smelt of cow’s urine.
Only a proportion of the farm’s agri-waste was used in the digesters

Of the digesters viewed which were not operational, one could put it all down to human error. A digester has to be fed regularly, with the correct ratio of liquid to solid. In the baking heat, the liquid evaporates and the solids jam the gasholder, holding it like mortar, and block the pipes. The bacterial process also grinds to a halt.
Those being operated properly were working well, but their success is dependant on the human element.

We returned to the factory via a brick works. I am very lucky in my guides. The moment I show an interest in something, they’ll show it to me. The floor of the brick works is 12 feet or more below the surrounding land and roadway - a vast flat-bottomed pit from which thousands upon thousands of tones of clay has been dug. There bricks are fired here, and the landscape is dotted with tall chimneys.

Poor Vishad, he didn’t even have time for lunch. He went straight to the office to sort out some data sheets and a CD for me. As the CD wasn’t available, he downloaded an unedited version onto my flash drive.
During my evening meal at The President, I received a call from Vishad. He had come to the hotel with his son, a gorgeous little boy with big eyes who clung to his dad’s leg in shyness, plus the finished CD. I have been thoroughly spoilt. I can’t thank Vishad and Manish enough for the way they have looked after me, also Prashant for his time and encouragement, and Mr Dangayatch for giving me the company’s personnel and facilities this week.