Day 2 of Camp at Walchandnagar: Making Truss Bridges and learning about Patents

By Tisha Jain

May 2, 2023

Our day 2 commenced with a tranquilizing session of meditation, led by a yoga instructor from the Bharat Children’s Academy. After the meditation, we indulged in a scrumptious breakfast consisting of crepes, rice, curry, coffee, tea, and fresh tropical juices. The breakfast spread was indeed a treat to our taste buds.

Our first activity for the day was inspired by Civil Engineering, where we built Truss Bridges. Though our example Truss Bridge was made up of triangles, the students impressed us with their innovative designs consisting of hexagons, octagons, and parallelograms. To test their bridges' durability, we placed heavy objects such as textbooks, water bottles, and even bricks on them.

The next activity was about Patents and Business Pitches. We explained the process of patents and the different types of copyrights and patents that exist. After that, we discussed writing business pitches and coming up with the best ways to target audiences and sell products and ideas.

During the lunch break, we sat down with the students and had a conversation with them. Many of them were delighted to share their food with us. Many of the students are only a year or two younger than some of us. The boys were very excited to talk about their favorite video games and professional cricket teams, and the girls spoke of their favorite hobbies—reading, sports, and music—and even tried to teach us phrases in the three languages they speak: Maharati, Hindi, and Sanskrit.

After lunch, we met with the Bharat Academy teachers and administrators to discuss the culture and traditions of India and America. We found many similarities between the two countries, and it was indeed fascinating to learn about them.

We then returned to the Walchandnagar guest house and had meetings about our activities for the next day before dinner. The dinner spread was a treat for our taste buds, consisting of rice, curry chicken, dal, pasta, roti, yogurt, bananas, and ice cream.

We can't wait to see what the next day has in store for us!