She wants to help clean the Ganga, but

It will take many years to clean the Ganga. It will not happen in five years like the prime minister wants. If you want it to be sustainable, temporary measures won't work.'

Twinkle Tom, an environmental engineer by training (from Stanford no less!), now designs wedding gowns because India, sadly, does not want her expertise and skill.

So why did the 30 year old forsake environmental engineering to design wedding gowns?

"The Indian government consults Singapore and The Netherlands in matters relating to the environment as both the countries are pioneers in the field," says Twinkle who has a master's in environmental engineering from Stanford University and a bachelor's in civil engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, "but they don't want me though I have trained in The Netherlands and worked in Singapore."

Twinkle's master's at Stanford was part of a scholarship programme at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. It came with a bond to work for the Singapore government for a year.

Twinkle found her work fascinating, but, eight years later, had to resign when she married a naval officer. The Indian government does not allow spouses of Indian defence personnel to work for foreign governments.

Back home in India, she discovered that rule-bound Indian officials were not interested in her expertise as an environmental engineer. So, she decided to become an entrepreneur and set up her designer wedding gown boutique.

Her business is doing well, Twinkle tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com, but at heart, she says, she is still an environmental engineer who would like to use her know how for her country.

A passion for environmental engineering

As a final year student of civil engineering at NIT, Calicut, Twinkle became interested in preserving the environment and green architecture.

She completed her master's at Stanford and NTU on a scholarship funded by the Singapore government. This required her to work for the Singapore government for one year.

Her first assignment after joining the Public Utility Board in Singapore in 2007, which managed water for the country, was setting up the Marina reservoir (The Marina reservoir, located in Marina Bay, was formed by the damming of the mouth of the Kallang basin).

The reservoir, which contained mainly salt water, was to be converted into freshwater through natural desalination and releasing the excess water that collected after heavy rains into the sea. The work started in 2008. By 2010, it was made into a fresh water reservoir situated in the middle of the city.

"Our work mainly dealt with pollution management. We needed a lot of public support as we had to make them realise they were polluting their own water sources and environment. The government took measures to educate the people.

"Once the people realised what they were doing, they themselves took care not to pollute. Getting people involved was the best thing the Singapore government did."

Twinkle's work included inspecting the sewer lines and ensuring they didn't leak into the soil and pollute the water body. "It made me think of the situation back home in Kerala, where we have a lot of water bodies that are contaminated, though they are cleaner compared to the other states in India."

In Singapore, she walked along the canal to see if it was getting polluted at any point. "We took many corrective measures to see that flooding, which was a regular feature there, didn't occur. I realised that the work I was doing had a lot of relevance in India."

As Singapore had limited water bodies, Twinkle says it was dependent on Malaysia for water at one point. Now, with storm water collection and artificial water bodies, Singapore is self-sufficient.

"They treat sewage water and make it safe to drink; it is better than the drinking water we get here. They realise there is value in everything, but we don't. We can learn a lot from Singapore on how to preserve the environment."

Disappointment in India

Twinkle always wanted to return and work in India. Before that, she wanted to get as much experience and exposure as possible in Singapore. She was sent for frequent training programmes to The Netherlands, a pioneer nation in environmental engineering.

She had hoped to use what she had learnt for the benefit of her country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked NRIs to return home and serve the country. She believed she would be able to contribute to his pet Clean Ganga project.

She was in for a huge disappointment. When she returned home, no one was interested in her expertise.

"The Indian government consults Singapore and The Netherlands in matters relating to environment as both the countries are pioneers in the field, but they don't want me though I have trained in The Netherlands and worked in Singapore."