As Nana walks towards the refrigerator in the kitchen, he passes the living room on the way, and there he is horrified by an unholy sight! Whatever could it be?

Nana: What is this god awful mess you have made here?

Nina: It’s not a mess Nana. It’s a project for school. I have to make a model of a Solar power plant. We are learning about renewable energy.

Nana: Oh yeah. Renewable energy is the newst fad isn’t it. It’s funny how these things come full circle.

Nina: What do you mean full circle Nana?

Nana: In the past sail boats were run on wind energy, and then coal burning steamers took over and after much advancement we are reverting to wind energy.

Nina: That’s right Nana. Did you know that India has the second and fourth largest on shore windfarms in the world?

Nana: I’m not surprised. With the amount you talk, I bet you could power one all by yourself. Besides, with the disastrous effects of climate change looming on the horizon we can no longer afford to burn too much coal no matter how cheap it may be.

Nina: Actually Nana I was reading up on Solar power, and for the first time in India electricity produced from solar energy has been cheaper than the electricity from coal, by about 18%, and with time electricity obtained form solar power plants is expected to become even more cost effective.

Nana: In that case it would be nice to switch to solar energy as quickly as possible. Then I wouldn’t feel so guilty about overusing my electric massage chair. But in India nothing gets done quickly or efficiently. There is a reason IST is synonymous with tardiness.

Nina: Actually Nana, India met its target of 20GW for solar power generation 4 years ahead of schedule in 2018, and has increased its target for 2022 from 20 GW to 100 GW. It’s ambitous, but I think we’ll get it working, don’t you Nana?

Nana: I sure hope so. Then I can have my massage chair on all the time. And I can use rechargable noise cancelling headphones too. May be I can get your parents to install a jacuzzi hot tub.

Nina: Now Nana. You are not the only one who needs electricity, so don’t get greedy. But I think this news calls for a celebration. So perhaps mama will finally agree to buy an automatic ice-cream maker.

Nana: Slurp! That sounds good actually.

Nina: Nana, I know India is the world’s seventh largest producer of hydropower, but at the rate we are going, it will all be used to power just this household.

Nana: I think we should get our own solar panels installed on the roof to generate our own electricity. Instead of making a model of a solar power plant, why don’t you do some reasearch on installing solar panels so we can generate some of the electricity we use? That's a far more uselful and impressive science project, I'd say.

Nina: That’s brilliant Nana! I’ll go read up about it right away!

Nana: She is going to be busy for a long time doing something productive. I have finally found a way to put her love for research to good use, so I can have some peace and quiet. What a win for me!

Nina: (Yelling from her room) Nana will you buy the solar panels? We can work on the project together.

Nana: We? Did she say we? How did I get roped in? Now I have to buy the pannels? Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea after all. I think so hard to come up with ways to get some peace and quiet around here and it never works. The brat always finds a way to make my grand schemes backfire. It's just not fair!

This post is a part of the #NinaAndNana series I co-host with Lavanya Srinivasan. Her posts can be found here.