Sheikh Jahangir starts an old scooter at his modest car painting workshop in Jalgaon as the daily power cut begins and the electric lights, spray painting device starts working again. While industrial units most parts of rural Maharashtra come to a grinding halt due to load shedding, Jahangir's miraculous innovations have helped him move ahead in life.
Besides the mobile spray painting device, Jahangir has converted four second-hand scooters into super machines capable of working as a washing machine, a mobile sugarcane juice making unit, a generator, and even a flour mill.
This uneducated man's extraordinary innovation, the scooter-powered flour mill that he built 20 years ago, was also exhibited in the Hindi blockbuster, 3 Idiots.
The world watched even as Aamir Khan rode his scooter in the film. For Jahangir, who has struggled all his life, this was a great honour. "I had mixed feelings of happiness and pride. I also felt strange when I saw my scooter designed 25 years ago in the film.
While the reel life Rancho has everything at his disposal, Jahangir, the 50-year-old real life Rancho with a family of nine members, lives in a rented 'one room' accommodation and hopes for a better tomorrow.
Sheikh Jahangir dropped out of school, just like millions of other under-privileged children in India. But unlike other children, he dreamt big.
He did odd jobs to support the household. His father sent him to his aunt's village to study. But they forced him 'to look after the cattle and made him do other household chores'.
Perhaps, this was a blessing in disguise for him. Life turned out to be his biggest teacher. His mind was always full of ideas despite his poverty and problems. He never thought any of these could actually be implemented, but no one could stop him from toying with new ideas.
People in Jalgaon called him a 'mad man'. There were only critics all along, none to guide or support him. Today, much to the surprise of the people in Jalgaon, he has worked his way to become one of India's most enterprising innovators.
With power cuts for 8-10 hours in a day, life is thrown out of gear in his hometown, Jalgaon. "What is the point if the power supply comes after 8.30 at night?" he asks. At the age of 20, along with helping his father paint cars, he started working on his dream projects: the first being a scooter-powered spray painting device.
"I have painted thousands of cars. I realised that a new device needs to be made to work efficiently. My father used the brush when the electric spray painting machines worked much faster. The frequent power failure, expensive charges of hiring the compressor from other vendors made me think about an alternative device," says Jahangir.
Later, he built a scooter-based mobile spray painting device to get work done faster and easier. He always believed that the scooter was a powerful machine. So he experimented with the idea of making the scooter work in his favour.
"I spend about Rs 4,500 to buy a second-hand scooter and convert it mainly into spray painting devices as they are in good demand. I have managed to sell about five spray painting machines for Rs 13,500. With one litre of petrol, an Ambassador car can be painted in one hour at half the charge of a normal painting." he says.
He had the opportunity to meet and talk with President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. "Kalam-ji appreciated my work and said he is very impressed. I really treasure these memories. I feel really blessed."
He even improvised an old scooter into a flour mill and gifted it to his wife Abida. "The scooter-powered mill runs on gas and petrol. It can grind about 50 kg of wheat in three hours with one litre of petrol/gas," Jahangir says.
There has been a good interest among people for the mobile sugar cane juice centre. It took him about 15 days to make this device. Many have expressed their interest to buy this juice unit. Similarly, a scooter powered washing machine can wash a pair of shirts and trousers in two minutes, he says. Currently, the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) is checking the feasibility for making this a commercial device. "This washing machine can become a mobile laundry unit in the future," says Jahangir.
So how did Jahangir's innovations move out of his workshop in Jalgaon?
Jahangir's life changed dramatically after he got in touch with the NIF.
"To make the innovations more user-friendly and cost-effective, I need more funds. But who is there to help me? I have approached many government officials but no one has helped in any way. It took 20 years for the world to see what I made at my workshop. This year, with the help of the district collector, I manage to secure a bank loan of Rs 5 lakh," Jahangir says.
"The workshop is now a fair source of revenue. I earned a profit Rs 7,000 in two weeks," he says.
Jahangir's advice to youngsters: "Bring out the talent in you. What you make should be useful to the society," he says. "Learn a trade, even if one does not get a job, one can make a living if you know to do something," he adds.
A publishing company has approached him for a book they are planning to write based on Jahangir's inspiring story.
An ambitious Jahangir hopes to make a cost-effective water pump for farmers. "Farmers are the most ignored people in our country. They work so hard in the field but they are not rewarded for their work, nor are they given equipment that can lessen their burden," he says. (Source: rediff.com)
To get in touch with Jahangir, e - mail at info@nifindia.org; Mobile number: 94222 82938
