Omani students help Indian team at Shell Eco-marathon 2016

Manila: Selfless students of the Caledonian College of Engineering participating in the Shell Eco-marathon 2016 showed a great gesture of goodwill by giving away some of their car parts to their Indian competitors.
On the final day of the event, the Indian team from Varanasi was struggling to pass the very challenging technical test, but thanks to the help of the Omani engineers, the Turkish drama turned into a Bollywood dance show as the Indian team successfully cleared the inspection.
“It wouldn’t have happened without Oman’s team which helped us a lot, even helping shift parts from their car to ours,” Akash Gupta, the leader of the BHU team of the Institute of Technology (IIT), said.
He added that the Omani students were treating the Indian-made-car just like it was their own. “We respect such support from the very good people of Oman,” Gupta stated.
The Omani team failed to pass inspection due to a last-minute technical error. However, they decided to give away their car parts including the engine, battery and the controller.
“We donated parts which had cost us roughly $5,000 to be part of our Indian mates’ success,” Omar Al Jabri, leader of Sadarah team, said.
Amuthak Kanan, associate professor at the college, said his students, or as he also calls them, his friends, managed to install all the parts in the battery-run Indian vehicle within just half an hour.
Proud moment
“Even though we didn’t pass our inspection, it was a very proud moment and we felt as if our heart is attached to another body, making it come alive,” Kanan said.
“The Indian team’s steering wheel was not functioning at all, so we did all we could to make them pass. Their happiness and joy is our happiness and joy,” Al Mutassim Al Jabri, an Omani student and inventor, said.
The college’s environment friendly, yet beautiful and colourful machine, took Team Sadarah (forefront) more than six months to craft.
“The best part of this competition is that we get to learn and share knowledge with other teams from different parts of the continent,” Mohammed Al Amri, the driver of Sadarah team, said during the closing ceremony held at the Manila Hotel on Sunday.
Thousands of students have said goodbye to the Shell Eco-marathon which hosted teams from all across Asia and the Middle East in Manila to put their self-built fuel-efficient vehicles to test on a street circuit in the heart of Philippines.