Ashwin Upadhyaya's Blog

Recently, I had three experiences, however small they may seem had a huge effect on me. First is about entrepreneurs, possibilities and the hope of capitalizing a possibility that brings happiness. Second is about a grassroot approach that can bring immense change. Third is about the necessity to attack common human tendencies with radical approaches.

1. I visited an industry called Kennametal to have a look at the rainwater harvesting and energy efficiency measures they have implemented  over the past 5-6 years. To summarize, I could say: Every drop of rain which falls inside the campus is made to flow into the water table, every possible energy wastage is stopped or in the process of it and the company is saving crores of money every year with the effort. The site visit was attended by many entrepreneurs and people with interest in cleantech. I read a quote sometime back which said “Entrepreneurs do more than anyone thinks possible with less than anyone thinks possible”. Here was a great opportunity in energy efficiency sector and here were all these entrepreneurs. Think of the effect. Think of the effect 20 years from now!
2. Although I always loved planting trees, I never used to get into the grassroot level. Recently, Aditya, a SJCE student and volunteer at Vivekananda youth forum convinced me to start tree planting in a different way; No laborers or money involved but instead we do the task ourselves. We dig the pits ourselves, ask the homes around to provide us with decomposable waste, plant the trees, provide thorn protection and water it. Every day, we make it a point to talk to at least two neighbours. I was never so convinced about this kind of grassroot level work until now. The effect has been tremendous. With just 10 days of work, neighbours have started to show interest in the activity. Some of them even want to involve themselves  in the activities. Such concepts of grassroot level work can never be believed unless you do it. Also, the possibilities of such work and the happiness it gives!
3. I typically have a starting problem in whatever I do. I sometimes used to hesitate to write mails. A few days back, Anil was insisting on me to write a mail to a stranger with some requirement. The same day, I also read a blog by Rashmi Bansal on a concept called 10-10-10. According to the concept, you could take any task and break its outcome on 3 levels. 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years. So applying it in my case, writing that mail would cause me a bad feeling for the next 10 minutes (mainly because I was reluctant to write to strangers), would create a good working relationship in the next 10 months (because the person whom I was to write had the same business interest as me) and in 10 years, it may possibly be the best decision I ever made (because, some outcomes can never be predicted). So, I wrote the mail. And yes, first 10 minutes were not good. But I didn’t need 10 months for the good things to show up. 10 days was enough!

If at least one person gets the real emotion in my mind, my purpose  of writing this is served. Also, do read about Ayyappa Masagi, a grassroot worker in rainwater harvesting who was responsible for the rainwater harvesting methods employed at Kennametal: http://www.waterliteracy.org/about%20us.htm

Links in this post:

Enlen.in – Kennametal energy efficiency programme

Sapgreen.com – grassroot work

Ayyappa Masagi – rainwater harvesting expert

10-10-10 concept

A few days back, I had been to a school to provide teachers with technical help related to environment related projects. During the discussion, I came to know about some interesting activities being conducted in one of the classes; With a view to teach students about how a seed turns into a plant, they have practical demonstrations and hands-on activities. Similarly, another class did projects based on biogas production. Most of the teachers seemed to be very Eco-conscious. Yet, even the teachers seemed to lack knowledge related to many of the activities. This led to a thought.

Why not introduce environment science as a part of main curriculum at schools. At least 1 or 2 hours of this class per week would go a long way in improving the state of our planet. This subject could include theoretical and most importantly practical lessons in rainwater harvesting, biogas generation, energy efficiency etc. Just like every school has a lab, every school could have a tree nursery. Each student could be made responsible for one sapling, from seed to tree in an year. How many crores of trees could be planted in a year!! Also,  with renewable energy technologies being taught in practical form, think of the innovation that would result when the children grow up; assuming at least a few would be inspired.

Also, from my past year’s experience at Sapgreen, I have seen that children in cities lack respect for saplings or trees. I have seen them vandalize saplings I had planted; for no reason. I can’t blame the children for such acts as I have seen that the reason for this behaviour in most cases was ignorance. If the same children had learnt the process of growing a seed into a tree practically, I am sure they would be much more caring for other trees too.

Its just a matter of government policy. One small change in the rule book could change a whole lot of things for the world. For the time being though, I am trying to get one school to make this activity part of its curriculum.

What do you want to become when you grow up?

When I was 10 years, my reply was simple; Engineer. When you are a child, it always feels good to give the “right” answer. When being “right” means being acceptable by the people around you, the “right” answers are always easy.

5 years later, the reply was a slight modification; Electronics Engineer. At this point, I had told so many people that I’d be an engineer that the pressure to become one was just too much. Also, I was “good” at school. When being “good” means being on the right path to assured money and success, “good” is easy to achieve.

Another 5 years later, a further modification; Software Engineer. At this stage, this seemed to be like the only thing I could ever be. If I was not this, it would seem like I had wasted my life. At least, that is what people told me. It was the “goal” of all the education I had. When “goal” is a constant derived from a few set of parameters, “goal” is the easiest mathematical problem of life.

The greatest challenge in life is to redefine these simple looking words.