My OperaInvention, idealism and the market
Thursday, May 8, 2008 10:06:59 AM
Hariharan’s first construction project, Trans-Indus, almost ran aground. In 1998, inspired by Alvin Toffler’s book, The Third Wave, he decided to build a 50- acre eco village called Trans Indus with 60 homes on barren land off Kanakapura Road, 22 km from the heart of Bangalore. He wanted to replicate Toffler’s idea of a community living in harmony with nature, sharing values and sensibilities. BCIL planned to convert this desolate stretch into a verdant forest. Each home would be built with ecofriendly material and lit with renewable energy, it was decided. “As a business, BCIL had the freedom to plan and execute unlike an NGO, which would have to win over people and deal with the several layers of government beginning at the village before being able to implement an idea,” explains Hariharan. “We knew that if we got this many clients we could do what we wanted to without having to worry.”
