Ashwin Upadhyaya’s Blog

It was already 10AM and I had to catch the 12PM train from Mysore if I were to reach Hyderabad for the TIE cleantech conference which I had decided to attend just minutes earlier. A flight was possible but taking that when you have a cheaper option is out of question in a startup.
8AM next day, I was having breakfast at Hyderabad for the first time. A 5 year old American Desi child explaining her grandfather that it is ‘healthy’ and not ‘hyealdhy’ meant I was not too far from Bangalore. An hour later and after a bad episode with an autorickshaw, I was at the Marriott. As I entered the conference hall lounge, I started hearing people talk my language, the green language. This was the place I belonged.
In a world which talked of financial, climate and political crises, here was a micro world which talked only of the good things. The sun, the wind, the water, energy and of course the money in all of these. This was a world of hope.
One speaker talked of the 15 years he struggled with his solar product and how he subsequently became the market leader. Another tried to sell an electric scooter 25 years ago, failed, went away from India for a couple of decades, came back a few years ago, tried to sell the same again and succeeded superbly this time. Another started his cleantech business for the love of environment. Yet another started for the money in it.
Environment, Entrepreneurship and Money, all in one place. 40+ speakers and 15+ new contacts in one day and I was still looking for more. Unfortunately, time didn’t seem to be so green.
With more than 3 hours remaining for the train, I hired an autorickshaw and traveled Hyderabad. Hussain Sagar, Charminar, Karachi bakery and PullaReddy sweets later, I sat at the railway station Coffee Day looking at my 9 o’clock train writing this travelogue.