It’s mind-boggling. Just 5 weeks ago, I was first introduced to Deepinder Mohan, CEO of the R/O manufacturing company Environment Planning Group Limited, over e-mail. Tomorrow, I will be spending the entire day with him face-to-face, experiencing first-hand the transformation of an opportunity–to bring clean drinking water to a needy community in India–into reality.

In convenient bullet-form, here is what has happened in the past eight days (since the last post):

• Deepinder Commits to Visit : after reading the previous blog post, Deepinder booked his plane and train rides to travel from Ahmedabad to Gadag (16 hours one-way!). Both a huge financial and time expense, Deepinder decided to take the leap of a faith (financial funding was not yet 100% secured), fully inspired and committed to see our work to its completion.

• Financial Funding Secured! : my personal network stepped-up big time - and it happened to be my family–my parents–whom were willing to provide the interest-free loan for $6K to purchase the plant. Getting the money in was tedious and difficult because of technical difficulties (constant e-mails/calls to customer service, calls in the middle of the night from my parents from 14.5 timezones away). With a little persistence, we struggled together and got the money in safely, a family effort in the name of philanthropy!

• Terms of Agreement Created : Deepinder, Jabashetti, and I drafted, negotiated, and redrafted a tripartite memorandum of understanding. Rules and roles established, all players are in the game and ready to play.

• Machine Assembled and Shipped : the machine was assembled in two days time, boarded on a truck, and will make its four day journey South.

And, here are the plans for the next eight days, a furious sprint to the finish line:

• All-Day Meetings and Visits: all parties–KNS Foundation (Swamiji and Jabashetti), EPGL (Deepinder), and Financial Funder (me, representing my parents)–will be coming together to discuss details, sign the agreement, and prepare for implementation. Additionally, we have organized a meeting in Kukanoor, a village 60km East of Gadag, to discuss an opportunity with potential key players to address their water needs.

• Commence Plant Housing Construction: the structure for the water plant will begin being built on Monday, and be completed by Thursday.

• Installation of Water Plant: two technicians will be traveling by train from Ahmedabad to Gadag to install the plant and train the operator on Wednesday/Thursday.

• Water Plant Initiated! : if all goes according to plan, the plant will be operational just seven days from now. The day I depart from India.

-Bronson

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 at 1:26 am and is filed under Hubli Water and Health Project. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.