Hauz Khas Village

It's anything but. A village, I mean. It looks like a European street, in Paris or Amsterdam. It's a small cluster near a deer park (opposite IIT Delhi), where there was a Madrasa built by Allauddin Khilji. There is a lovely lake that reminded me of Ulsoor lake a few years ago. There are also nice 6 centuries old buildings which housed the madrasa.

But today, the hip crowd of Delhi and foreign visitors frequent the place, which has antique stores, art galleries, and cool cafes which have a European-sounding Menu (and prices). The desi  touch comes from shops that have old Hindi film posters. And some dirt and half-finished construction- we are always creating and destroying, right?

My guides were my new friends in Delhi, Devapriya Roy and her husband, Saurav Jha, who are both  authors, in different genres- she has to her credit "The Vague Woman's Handbook", a fictional work, while Saurav is an energy consultant who has written a book about Nuclear energy. He also consults for FICCI and govt. of Bihar on renewable and conventional energy. They are also collaborating on The Heat and Dust Project, a travelogue in India, with a difference.

A to Z of Nuclear Power

I read an intriguing book by Saurav Jha called 'The Upside Down Book of Nuclear Power'. It is the most comprehensive stuff about nuclear power you can find in one place, and is written by an economist who seems to know almost as much as nuclear physicists- at least more than electrical engineers like me- do about nuclear power. Many of the myths associated with this energy form are cleared effectively. I think the govt. could do well to make this compulsory reading for all those involved in policy making AND SELLING THE POLICY to the public.

I found the research fascinating, and some of the gems hidden in it are mind-boggling. Example- nuclear reactors can, as a by-product of their core activity, desalinate sea water! Can you imagine how that would affect future water-warriors of our world? And an unhidden gem is that India can do more than many with Thorium instead of Uranium-at some point in future.

The arguments about renewable versus nuclear power are pretty persuasive, but could change if renewables technology progresses into hitherto uncharted territory. In any case, for a central, large facility, there is no comparison between the nuclear/conventional and the renewables. It is only for smaller, decentralised applications that renewables are pretty good even today.

Environmentalists get the rough end of the stick in this book, and rightly so. In fact, nuclear energy is potentially the cleanest, if waste disposal is properly attended to. Russia seems to have set everybody back by a few years by letting the Chernobyl disaster happen.

A minor grouse is that China's emergence as a nuclear power - how they did it in particular, is not clear to the reader. In general, shenanigans of various other nuclear powers are dealt with very well.

There have been stories about nuclear waste being dumped in cahoots with African dictators in their countries. The truth or otherwise needs a mention. Overall, an interesting, informative read.

An irrelevant aside- should the book have gone from Z to A in its chapters instead of from A to Z, to go with its title?