He has spoken frequently at Energy Professional and Trade Associations; he was awarded the Power Plant of the Year award by the Power Magazine; EPRI’s first Discovery-Development-Delivery recognition for successful construction and operation of the first CAES plant.
Despite his knowledge and achievements, he believes that a healthy mind and body are essential for a successful life. “Your health is the most valuable asset in your life. Follow the daily discipline of the five pillars of healthy life: Plant-based whole foods (with no dairy, eggs, sugar, salt and fat), physically active life (10k steps, yoga and pranayama), emotional and spiritual health (unconditional love and gratitude), circadian rhythm (timely sleep and meals) and body detoxification (intermittent fasting and therapeutic fasting),” advises Bhupen.
Versatile Background
His proactive thinking and actions have helped him rise from the small village of Liliya Mota to Silicon Valley – the world capital of innovative technologies. He was an active Member of the Energy Committee of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and outreach coordinator for the Sustainable Silicon Valley group. He has also served Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the California Energy Commission where he was a Project Manager for the Public Interest Energy Research program. He has more than 30 years of experience in the energy industry. He has managed several projects at the EPRI since 1978. “In 1979, I found my mentor, Arnold P Fickett, then known as the Father of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies. He was the creator of wider and wiser use of electricity concept. Today, the world has woken up to the value of hydrogen energy.”
Bhupen was the Founder of the National Hydrogen Association in 1989 in Washington (DC) for all the major hydrogen stakeholders to advance the technology for its wider applications.
An Unconventional Journey
This legendary leader, born on September 28, 1938, in Songad and raised in a rather unheard village, Liliya Mota – where he had his early education. His father, Ratilal Dahyalal Mehta, was a lawyer practicing in the Liliya Taluka court. Bhupen was just 15 when he lost his father to an undiagnosed stomach disease. His mother, Kamalaben, was a brave and loving lady and devoted herself to his higher education. “I’d say she was really strong and left no stones unturned to help her only son – I.”
“I was fortunate to have been born to such amazing parents. I remember when I was 8 I was was diagnosed with typhoid and Liliya Mota had no medical help. As I was recovering, I wished for two things: dozens of shoes and sandals next to my bed and bajri rotla and hot pepper for lunch and dinner every day. Out of love, my father hired a mochi* and my mother cooked as much bajri rotla as I wanted!”
Because there was no high school in Liliya Mota, Bhupen moved to Songadh, where not only did he stay with his maternal grandparents but also enjoyed helping his handicapped grandfather. A Brilliant student, he enjoyed studying and earned the highest ranking in the district of Bhavnagar in grade 11. He went from a Gujarati medium Gurukul High School to English speaking St Xavier’s College, Bombay, to study physics, chemistry and mathematics in 1956. After his second year of college, he decided to study chemical engineering and joined the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), graduating in 1962. He immediately took a job at the National Rayon Company (NRC) in Kalyan, a suburb of Bombay. While at NRC, he was awarded a scholarship for post-graduation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, in 1963. He did not have funds to travel to Canada, so he took a loan from the Jain Education Society to travel in a freight boat to Europe and Canada.
In 1968, a wonderful woman entered his life. Minal (aka Mrudula) was a school teacher of mathematics and science in the girls high school in Wankaner. They were introduced by a family friend and tied the knot on January 26, 1968, in Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay). “Professor of UDCT, MM Sharma, Padma Vibhushan and the world’s most recognized chemical engineer, attended our wedding and *mochi Hindi for cobbler also our 50th anniversary celebration. It was a pleasure to host my chemical engineering guru on these special occasions,” shares Bhupen.
Pansy and George Strange, a Canadian couple who had adopted Bhupen and several Indian students from University of Alberta campus, welcomed Minal as part of their extended family. Sunil and Samir, their two talented and wonderful sons, found grandparents in the Strange couple. Bhupen completed his MSc in Chemical Engineering and worked in various companies in Edmonton until 1973 and became a Canadian citizen.
Thereafter, they moved to Toronto because of the extreme and long winters in Edmonton.
In 1978, they moved to San Francisco, California for a better professional life. Bhupen started working with EPRI in Palo Alto, which is a unique R&D organization that manages R&D for the US electric power industry.
Sunil studied Environmental Science at the University of California, Davis, and after working as an Engineer at Siemens and CISCO, he is currently working as a Group Manager of a software company. His wife, Reena Bankar, works at Oracle and they have two daughters, Kaeya (17) and Bianka (15). Samir studied Microcell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, to become a doctor. But his interests in business led him to join the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley for an MBA program. He is now the vice president of a software consulting group. He is married to Kyung Ji (KJ) Yoo, who is currently working with Amazon. The couple is blessed with two children, son, Tejin (15), and daughter, Zoe (11).
MeHtamorphosis of His Life
Bhupen retired in 2001 and started helping the underprivileged beyond the boundaries of culture or community. In 1979, he met a disciple of Swami Shivanand, Dr Shivanand Adhvaryoo ‘Bapuji’, an ophthalmic surgeon. His mission was to provide free cataract surgeries to the needy and so had established ophthalmology hospital, Shivanand Mission Hospital, near Rajkot. Inspired by him, Bhupen started a non-profit organization, the Charitable Care Foundation in the San Francisco Bay area. “Bapuji was a live example of the idea, Service of humanity is service of God.” Bhupen also joined and became the President of the Indians for Collective Action in 1990, which was founded in 1968 by Professor PK Mehta of University of California, Berkeley, for the non-resident Indians to create a secure life for the poor Indians.
The couple has also found inspiration to lead a healthy and caring life. “Our chronic health conditions of diabetes, heart condition, overweight and elevated BP did not improve after many years of medicines. Lalit Kapoor, Founder of Plant Based Wellness Foundation, empowers people to improve their health. In a few months after following his program in 2021, we both lost pounds of extra weight and reversed most of our chronic conditions. I still play tennis. I am now trying to introduce this program to everyone, including the Jain community.”
Minal unfortunately lost most of her vision in October 2021 and Bhupen shouldered all the responsibilities like any loving and caring husband. “I have learned from her the skills of cooking and managing the household activities. I am very happy to help her 24/7. Taking care of her dressings, tracking all vital signs, scheduling doctor visits and keeping her entertained, I am already in heaven on the earth.”
Watching his mother struggle to provide him the best education, he realizes the value of good education and has pledged to extend his best to educate the very poor and bright students in India. “Get the best education at the best possible schools and achieve the highest level of education because that will set the course of your life wherever you are. Follow the example of your parents and grandparents who strived hard for higher education even if they had to borrow money and go abroad to study,” that’s the simplest advice from Bhupen Mehta!