Monday 21 August 2017

Madras Day 2017: Happy 378th Birthday … Peace and Prosperity Always



My city, Madras a.k.a. Chennai celebrates 378 years today, as the founding day of Madras is considered to be August 22, 1639!
Way back in 2014 I outlined why Chennai is so dear to me the many things that made it a happening city and put it on multiple must-see lists.  
 Napier's Bridge and the Buckingham canal
Travel blogs and sites list many must see, must do and must eat things but the city is more than what you can do, experience, and eat there. There is a spirit of the city that makes it unique and despite the high population density, manic traffic and easily flooded infrastructure makes it a great place to live.
 

 View from The Leela Palace, Adyar Seafront; The Broken Bridge
The city in just the past three years has seen floods, the Cyclone Vardah, political turmoil and the power of the community especially youth power [Jallikattu movement] to come together for a cause.
The city and its citizens have demonstrated phenomenal resilience and people’s power while facing natural disasters in Nov-Dec 2015, Dec 2016, and since. We lost lakhs of trees but so many replanting initiatives have since worked to restore the green cover. The kitchen/terrace garden movement, highlighted in 36 Vayadhinile has caught the imagination of many of Chennai’s citizens and doing  lot to improve nutrition and reduce waste.
While interacting with women visitors to the cities the feeling of safety and security is emphasized….the Swati murder and others being the exception. 
 View from St Thomas Mount
I also had the chance to view my hometown through the eyes of visitors as I took my friends from Vadodara (it being the most live-able, followed by Chennai in a 2015 India Today list!!!) around. The beaches, lighthouse, Dakshina Chitra, boating in Muthukadu, the Velacherry-Beach station train journey, the metro, the Kathipara flyover, art/culture installations at Chennai Airport, Madras Boat Club, the temple architecture and carvings, the view from St Thomas Mount, movies at Sathyam Cinemas’ Palazzo and Escape,  and shopping at T Nagar Ranganathan street and Saravana Stores were all big hits. 


 Displays at Dakshina Chitra: The Heritage Museum
 
 We have a wonderful legacy, history and heritage associated with the city that many are celebrating and highlighting this Madras week (Aug 20-26, 2017). We have come a long way, we have a lot to be proud of, but there is a lot more to be done to make this city better.
So happy 378th Birthday Madras and may you be peaceful and prosper. 
 Sunset from Madras Boat Club/Stroke Side


Thursday 17 August 2017

Interview with Arun George, Founder CEO, Avant Garde Innovations


 "Clean Energy for a Clean Planet: 'The answer my friend is blowing in the wind'," says the website of Avant Garde Innovations, a Kerala based startup focused on low-cost rooftop wind energy installations. They made news last year with their viral marketing ploy comparing investing in their installation which would give a lifetime supply of electricity to the cost of an iphone. 
Awaiting their game-changing innovations to our power crises, I was privileged to pose some questions to their Founder CEO, Arun George and was impressed with the startup. Here are some insights offered:
 
Q. Could you explain about your main focus areas and the inspiration behind your idea.


Arun George (AG): Necessity doesn't need inspiration - I would say its the pressing factor of our present day global necessity for affordable clean energy, rather than inspiration, that made us explore opportunities to harness clean energy from nature. This is all the more aggravated by the perils of climate change which we can't just wish away unless we take urgent sustainable measures to tackle this problem. We looked at various existing solutions and realized that wind energy isn't widely adopted at residential levels yet, although its widely available in most regions, and thus decided to develop a solution that taps this widely available clean natural resource.
Small Wind Turbine (c)Avant Garde Innovations
 
We are keen to integrate bamboo on not just the Small Wind Turbine but also looking at options for Bamboo towers.

Q: Is your technology Indian? Or are you importing any parts. - 
 
AG: 100% Make in India. 100% Startup India.

So make note of it those who want to encourage and adopt India technology and Indian innovation.

Q: Could you explain your company's French connection :) and a little about your talk at Viva Technology Paris 2017
AG:  Our company name 'Avant Garde' is a French origin name which means Pioneering.
Interestingly, we also have the largest demand for our product and dealership requests coming from France within all of Europe. There is also a great lot of interest from French artists, film makers, environmentalists, students etc to join hands with our company Avant Garde in various interesting ways. 
At the Viva Technology Paris event where I was invited to speak on our project, we were approached by various French companies including a prominent French Electricity company for collaboration.

Q: Do you have any installations in Chennai/TN? 
AG:  There is a very high demand for our product from all over Tamil Nadu, as the rest of the country, and installations there will begin soon after our upcoming official launch.

Q: Have you installed the system in any home till now and is it addressing all of a home's power requirements.  
AG: We have done two pilot installations in Trivandrum which have demonstrated that it can meet the targeted power consumption for those buildings.

Thank you Arun George, here's wishing you and your team at Avant Garde Innovations a successful launch and great success in pioneering clean energy supply.