It's burning hot in Kerala. While mercury has tipped 40°C in some parts, the rising humidity levels have only contributed to an elevated ground temperature in many others.
The Met Department officials along with the state authorities have stressed on the importance of staying hydrated under the reeling heat.
While fear looms of an acute drought in the days to come and a shortage of potable drinking water, the condition only seems to worsen.
Clean drinking water is one important commodity that is most recommended during this period, an essentiality for our very existence on the planet. About 152 million of our population lack access to safe water and we face a huge challenge in ensuring this supply to the masses.
Meet Thomas Cyriac and Anto Biju, two men on a mission to alleviate the perils of unclean drinking water in the country.
'Lamaara,' their student startup, was conceived after years of ideation, planning, design and prototype testing, to produce potable water off of any water source.
The initial idea of a start-up began in 2015, in their first year at college.
"Thomas was always fixing things and I felt I could put this talent of his to good use," says Anto.
"At first we developed an automated plant pot, and a smart dustbin later. We had a few products to our name by the end of the year, and were now certain that ours was a winning collaboration."
It all began at a thattukada (roadside eatery) in Kottayam, where they happened to receive unclean drinking water after a quick snack. This experience rattled the minds of these young innovators.
"We couldn't complain much. This was a prevalent situation in every part of out country," Thomas says.
They had got their names registered at the annual innovators competition hosted by the Kerala Startup Mission at college. They had designed a smart pen used to detect impurities within a given water sample.
Their product, though innovative, couldn't bring out a possible solution to the problem and it forced the duo to go back into their workshop, and don their thinking caps.
They had to address the root of the issue. After a number of trials and further research, they stumbled upon a project left behind by the scientists at the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhuvaneswar, in 1992. This low-cost method involved a set of mini cartridges that allowed for filtration of particulate matter using activated carbons within the core of the device.
Thomas and Anto had then spent a week with the scientists involved in the project, grasping much-needed information and technical know-how to develop 'iBo', their first-full fledged innovation that was ready for the market.
It was perhaps the Kerala floods of 2018 which gave their start-up a name among the general public.
Lamaara, now Lamaara Technologies Pvt Ltd, had modified their technology to facilitate clean drinking water at various disaster relief camps across the state. Though the initial water purifiers which ran sans electricity were set up free of cost, organisations soon came forward to buy their product in small units.
"We now began taking our first orders, and funding kept coming in," says an elated Anto.
Their stand-alone water filter, developed under BIS standards, is capable of storing up to 30 litres of water and has an operational period of 5 years.
As the filter gained traction, Thomas had worked on modifications and further manufacture of their product iBo, which could now be folded and crammed into the pocket after the introduction of a collapsible, food-grade silicon covering. They plan on hitting the shelves later this year.
Their startup dreams are being supported by a slew of angel investors, besides training, mentorship and support from the Kerala Startup Mission.
The Startup Mission has selected Lamaara amongst various other start-ups within the state under their Global Exposure Programme to visit the Silicon Valley in California, which is a hot bed for innovation.
Brand Capital had recently pushed a brand equity investment of Rs 4.5 crore into the company, a first for a student startup in India.
Anto and Thomas are final-year engineering students at St Joseph's College of Engineering and Technology, Palai.