India trip 2004
It is my sincere hope that this trip will be a key step in the evolution of infraSys and its mission.
Please visit our website at www.infrasys.biz and contact me at murthysudhakar if you have any suggestions or comments.
ON THIS PAGE
KOLKATA
DR.KARVE PUNE
DR BHAWALKAR PUNE
FOLLOWING PAGES
ANNA HAZARE RALEGAN SIDHDHI
MADHAV CHOUDHARY PUNE
DR.ANAND RAILKAR PUNE
MUMBAI
INFRASYS PROJECTS SUTTUR
ARUN PANDIT MYSORE
ANAND KUMAR MYSORE
CHNNAI CENTRAL STATION
RENUKA AND BALA ODHIYUR
SRINIVASAN VELLORE
KUMARAN & JEYANTHI PUDUKKOTTAI
RAMESHWARAM
SV.PATHY RAMANATHAPURAM
REHABILITATION CENTER
INFRASYS SOLAR LIGHTING PROJECT
VAVIPALAYAM
SHANTI ASHRAM COIMBATORE
DEVELOPMENT,ADOPTION AND MODELS
DR.SIVANAPPAN COIMBATORE
SHORTCUT TO THE GODS
GRANDMOTHER'S SCHOOL ERODE
UNTIE-INDIA MOVEMENT
SHANTHASHEELA NAIR CHENNAI
DV SRIDHARAN CHENNAI
L.KANNAN CHENNAI
ILANGO RAMASAMY CHENNAI
ANANTH &
RAMYA NAGESWARAN SINGAPORE
Departed Los Angeles by Singapore Airlines.
JANUARY 13-17, 2004, KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL
Arrived in Kolkata and attended a wedding of my friend, Ashis. Had a reunion with 13 classmates at the reception.
Left Howrah Station by Azad Hind Express on the night of the 17th. The train journey as it usually is in India, was very interesting. My companions in the "booth" of the 3 tier bogie, were young school boys returning from an ALL INDIA high school athletic meet held in Jalpaiguri. They had represented Maharashtra...fairly successfully.
Also travelling was a Mr. Rao a seasoned pilgrim from Nellore in AP.
Mr. Rao has made multiple visits to every major center of pilgrimage in India. In fact he had just gone for holy immersion at the Ganga Sagar Mela (Hooghly in West Bengal) held during Shankaranti.
When I told him of my and infraSys' interests, he informed me that a company in Nellore area was selling a solar energy kit.The kit consisted of all the hardware for the system- 2 fans, 2 lights, batteries, panels and the wiring. This kit, he said sold for Rs18,000.00 and his brother had installed one. He has promised to send me by post info on this matter.
JANUARY 19, 2004 - PUNE, MAHARASHTRA
The train arrived on time at 8:00 AM at Pune Junction. So did the Coimbatore - Lokamanya express at 8:10 AM. The second train carried three passengers who were coming to Pune at infraSys' invitation and expense. The three are Sundara Moorthy, Saravana Kuamr and Dorai Rajan. All three are from Vavipalayam village in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu. More about them when we get to Vavipalayam
We met for the first time and were also met at the station by the staff of Anand Karve's Appropriate Rural Technology Institute. We checked into Hotel Jagannath (recommended) and after a shower and clean up, were on our way to Dr. Karve's field unit of ARTI in Phultan about 100 Km south of Pune.
Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) - Phultan
Set on a one acre of land, one half of which houses a building, this facility packs a lot into a small area. ARTI's emphasis as the name itself implies is rural entrepreneurship with an agricultural focus. Mr.Zende the head of the facility, very patiently conducted a tour and covered a wide range of topics- vermicomposting, food dehydration, mini gobargas, raised bed vegetable gardening, intensive fodder cultivation, conversion of agriwastes into charcoal fuel and water storage. There is more.
Their emphasis is women- in India this appears to be a trend. The facility has accommodations for a prolonged stay for trainees in various techniques and methods. Regular classes/sessions are conducted- in Marathi.
Dr.Karve who was heading to Seattle Washington for a conference was not available. I did talk to him and we have agreed to meet face to face in the future. Reach Dr.Karve at [email protected]
My idea of inviting the friends from Vavipalayam was mainly for them to see first hand some of the potential and inspire them to implement some of these ideas in their own reality. Judging from their reactions and interaction with them this was already happening.
January 20, 2004
Bhawalkar Ecological Research Institute (BERI) @ PUNE
BERI is Bhawalkar Ecological Research Institute. Uday Bhawalkar is its founder and driving force. Visit www.biosanitizer.com
We- the three from Vavipalaym and I -met Dr. B. by appointment at
9:00 AM at his home. Uday Bhawalkar has done many years of research and probing and has reached a simple conclusion and I quote... "Pollution can be due to solid, liquid and gaseous wastes. These actually are wasted resources and hence can be best tackled by going to the root of the problem." He has also done extensive work on vermi-composting.
As a response to this hypothesis BERI has developed several eco products that can help turn pollution into benefit and even profits.
Of particualr interest to us was the Biosantizer for drinkingwater and the other for sewage developed by BERI. NEXT
