Like most years in my fifty five years of existence 2012 too was good, bad and indifferent but what matters most is that the good was a whole lot more than the bad and the indifferent put together!
The year started with some interesting developments on the professional front because our company decided to put its money where its mouth is and invested heavily in a biotechnology led algal biofuels initiative in Australia. Parallely, we set up an Algal Research Facility in Chennai, India to validate some of the algal research results we have shown in Australia as well as to develop solutions for some seemingly intractable problems in the algal biofuels domain. Happily for me and for the company much of what we had set out to do we have been able to demonstrate ‘proof of concept’ and show that we could well be on the way to producing bio-crude from algae – stuff that can actually go into a regular oil refinery whence it can be turned into petrol, diesel, kerosene and other fuels as well as organic chemicals.
Open Algal ponds (left) from which algae are harvested and processed into algal bio-crude (right)
Our Indian Algal Research Facility has recently been accorded recognition by the Government of India’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) – the only algal lab in India to be so recognized.
Algal research ponds in India
And in Australia the Federal Government recognized us by conferring upon us a major $ 4.4 million dollar grant from the Australian Biofuel Investment Readiness (ABIR) fund. It’s another thing that the money hasn’t yet begun to flow from the Aussie government but we are hopeful that it will start soon and we will be able to show the world that it is possible to produce bio-crude sustainably from seawater fed ponds built on un-arable lands, at costs lower than current petro-crude cost.Enough of blowing my trumpet I would imagine!
On the personal front life has been good – Sudha and I have been around a fair bit this year, both in India and overseas. Most of our travel being to Kerala, Ketti, Bengaluru and a bit of it overseas. My school reunions are still the best – we had an awesome reunion in school in July and then again in Kodaikanal not so long ago. These school reunions and get-togethers have been happening so often that a lot of folks (including our kids!) wonder how Sudha and I manage to find the time to get around to all of those reunions, meetings and get-togethers! Sometimes, I wonder too!! The reunions in Bali and Kuala Lumpur in Oct-Nov this year were fantastic and it was wonderful catching up with so many Georgians who showed up from all over Australia, Malaysia and India.
Sudha and yours truly aboard the Bali Hai II (left) some of the school alumni who made it to Bali, Indonesia
Health has been fine for me and mine but some of my friends have had to deal with reverses, a good friend in Berlin, Germany was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease which is progressively getting worse – he now needs 24x7 nursing care – he’s on a ventilator, has no control of his bowels and cannot find the strength to stand up and move about, ironically his mind remains as sharp as ever. Another friend from university lost a 25 year old daughter in a most heinous murder in Mumbai, India. And sadly two good friends in Australia lost their wives to the big ‘C’. We hope the families of these dear friends will find the strength of spirit to take them through these tough times.
Our children have been busy – Ammu and Arun moved from Mumbai to Bengaluru early in the year and that means we find ourselves heading off to Bengaluru at the drop of a hat. Their little doggy Mousse Nair is a major attractant for me to do that trip to the garden city! Ashwin also was posted out from the Indian Naval Submarine base in Vizag to the Indian Naval Academy in North Kerala where he is Divisional Officer in-charge of a Division of Naval Cadets and is mentor and tormentor to the bunch! We hope he will be able to nurture those young lads and lasses into the finest officers the Navy can possibly have.
Ammu, Ashwin & Mousse Nair
Ammu and Arun
We look forward to an eventful 2013 and hope that all of you, friends and family, have a healthy, happy, happening and joyful year ahead. May there be plenty of all the good things in life for all of you and very little of the niggles that life sometimes throws our way. It’s been an absolute treat to count you all among our friends and family and we look forward to plenty of interactions with every one of you in the year ahead.
