Each Indian is an Innovator / Designer
Written on March 5th, 2010 by AnuragWhizzing past the empty roads and barren landscape of western Rajasthan the attempt to think was way past my ability. All one could do was hear the radio singing above the whistling wind. Daddam khan, the taxi driver was the proud daddy of the innovative radio. He beamed and told us how he had invented it in only Rs.500. He could even take out the chip and insert it in his phone to upload songs. He had been bored with the cassettes and had figured out the ‘chip technology’. He fiddled with it needlessly and continuously changed the songs with his remote.
We stopped for a tea break in one of the road side dhabas to see the small innovations all around us. It just reiterates my thought about how Indians will never be able to replicate like the Chinese – each Indian is an innovator or designer due to his own survival needs.The dhaba owner had long stone sink that had a hole though which a pipe drained into a kanaster or aluminum container. Simple and clean solution.
One of the remotest villages we visited near the Rajasthan border where there were several widows who had made self help groups. The main administrator was one of the older widow women. While we sieved thru histories of old textiles the widowed lady conduced her work over the phone. How effectively the phone was being used to ensure that work was done timely and effectively.
I felt like a proud Indian where communication and technology had finally come of age
