At the first meeting, you are sure to take Tara S Ganguly for a retired army man. Once you strike a conversation with him, you understand why: the chairman and chief executive officer of Tara International has the same zeal and fervour of a general. He is a visionary who wants to give back something to the society.

It is this urge in Ganguly that has goaded him to conceive pollution free, battery-driven cars. He visualises in his mind's eye a pollution free world where green aka electric cars would replace fuel-driven cars.

"With the phenomenon of global warming breathing down our necks every minute, it is high time we switched over to battery-driven vehicles," he told rediff.com during an informal chat in Kolkata on March 15. During the meeting, he also shared some interesting details about his life, business, electric cars et al. Excerpts: