Update, July 20, 2016
Journal entry by Anshul Bhatnager
From “The Land of Opportunity” to “
The University of Opportunity.”
~ From Canada to Mahasarakham University (MSU)
~ From Canada to Mahasarakham University (MSU)
The most common
question my friends and family back in Canada and India ask is “how is Thailand?” and most of the time my general reply is “good”,
unless I am replying to someone who I feel close
to; Then I usually explain about Mahasarkham, about the University,
about the people here and the food market
Talat-Noi, and I don’t stop telling for next 20 minutes.
Before going ahead with
my experience in Thailand and
Mahasarakham, I would like to share something about myself. I am a graduate student at the University of Toronto, Canada,
and I am pursuing my Master of Science in Sustainability Management. My
internship is the reason behind my visit to Thailand. I got selected by UCRSEA
(Urban Climate Resilience in South East
Asia), and they asked me to be a research intern at Mahasarakham University
(MSU). MSU is a partner organization of UCRSEA and support through academic
research and by provising opportunity for expanding the network and vision of
UCRSEA. As for me, I am working on the stakeholder analysis of the TRAM project
which is in the last phase of
Environmental Impact Assessment.
I first got in touch
with my supervisor Ms. Astrud (She is from Austria and work at MSU as a
research coordinator) through an email in which she sent me 40-page extensive research work document she
has done in past, over the city of Khon Kaen. The quality and the depth of the
paper made me realized that I am going to get involved in a serious job.
On my very first day if
arrival I was well received and was provided help related to all the logistics.
I even get a bicycle on my first day which marked the end of my journey which
started three days before in UBER taxi in
Canada J.
It’s been one month
since I have arrived in Thailand and I have experienced so many things on a personal side and as well as on the
professional side. Someone has said right “ Travel is Your best teacher.”
In this article, I would like to share about the
opportunities MSU has provided me to learn and to experience the world from a
different angle and also about some
individuals that I met here.
Day 1: 1.6.16. The
nearest airport to Mahasarakham is located
in Khon Kaen city which is around 60 Kms from Mahasarakham. MSU management had
arranged a Taxi for me, and I was well received at the airport. After I
board the taxi I realized that I need to
go to the washroom, I tried to
explain to the driver that I want to go
to washroom by all possible hand and face
gestures I can. However, English in East Thailand
is rarely spoken, and not everyone
understands English. So I had to control my urge to go to the washroom for another 45 minutes until my driver
received a call from the Head of
Administration and I was able to tell
what I was going through J. This
was the first adventurous experience I had J.
On my second day, I was given the opportunity to attend a write shop conducted by MSU and Thailand Environment institute (TEI) which was focused on the vision
and roadmap of UCRSEA. This write shop laid down my foundation of understanding
of the UCRSEA vision and the project I am going to get involved in. The Same
day I was met by Dr Yanyong, Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Resource
Studies, he shared his valuable insights on the ‘Sustainability’ and how it is
is perceived in South East Asia. He made me feel comfortable and ask me to take 1-2 weeks to get climatized and
to understand things. It was the meeting which made me feel safe and accepted.
The next milestone
entry is of attending the Public Consultation Meeting over LRT and BRT arranged
by Khon Kaen Think Tank in Khon Kaen. I
along with Ms. Astrud and Mr. Joel ( Dear
friend and help us with translation) participated
in this meeting; it was my first time to attend a public consultation meeting and to understand the viewpoint
of the two most important stakeholders – Planners and the Users. This session also gave me an opportunity to network
and meet some administrators which are
involved in the smart transport project of Khon Kaen since the beginning.
After
few days I was also given an opportunity
to attend a Shared Learning Dialogue
conference at Khon Kaen, this was also the first time I attended such meeting and
understand how planning and research work at
ground level is done. Meeting
intellectuals and the opportunity to network was not over here. Soon, I was informed that the President of MSU would
like to meet us, it was a small meeting of 15 minutes where I along with other interns and the staff of Faculty of Environment
greeted the President, and I presented
him with a Token of appreciation from
Canada and UCRSEA.
This
is
all about my first 20 days, a lot of opportunities
were offered, and free hand was given by my supervisor
Ms. Astrud and Ms. Kontaros. Ms. Kontaros
is my technical supervisor who guides me over the technicality of the project
and offers me inputs based on my ideas and my interests. She takes a constant interest in the work I am doing and
provide me timely feedback.
After my first 30 days,
I was invited by Dr. Pakamas ( Head of TEI and Thai City Org.) to go to Bangkok for a week and to work on a
project of building a documentary on UCRSEA and also to work along with TEI team to monitor the web traffic and to make
the website more user-friendly. This visit also gave me an opportunity to sit along
with academicians from a different set of areas and to brainstorm on how to make Thailand more sustainable. I am
keeping my fingers crossed, as I was also asked
to be a part of a forum of Rockefeller
Foundation ( upcoming sometime in August) to discuss sustainability from my
point of view.
Until
now MSU and UCRSEA have given me a lot of
opportunities to excel forward, and this is the experience which I can
talk about. I believe it is the same with
other Interns and Exchange students who
come to MSU and found it to be a “University
of Opputunity”
In my next article , I would be sharing about my
field visits and the progress report of last one month. Also, would be sharing
a profile of some interesting people I met here.
