One who understands the importance of what a mother can offer to her child, he or she is bound to do something special for mother, isn’t s/he? They say only a son or daughter knows the value of a mother’s active presence at home. A mother gives absolutely everything to make her kids happy.
Likewise, the child after attaining maturity begins to reflect the same on mother. We have come across boys doing anything for the welfare of mothers. They just can’t bear to see their mothers do tough jobs. They enter into the grand scheme of things and do everything to sacrifice time, energy and fulfil mother’s dreams just to see bring a ‘smile’ on mother’s face.
Meet this 41-year-old rural innovator Bommai N who managed to invent a Roti maker to help her mother make Rotis in the best possible way without having to strain much during the passage of cooking.
Hailing from Karnataka, Bommai indeed has come a long way to touch the pinnacle of success. His natural ability to invent something innovative makes him a class apart. He was one among the very few people who attained a meteoric rise in his career. Everything started when he tried to innovate machines in his cycle shop. His passion and dedication towards his work was nothing short of an effect. Currently, he owns a licensed workshop in his hometown.
He was not the kind of guy who got much into academics because of financial difficulties in the family. He realised that he had to do something to make up in the hope of a bright future.
“Due to financial constraints in the family, I couldn’t study much. I dropped out after a job-oriented course (JOC) in sericulture. However, I have persistently been motivated to innovate on products that reduce rural household labour, says Bommai.
Bommai, who is a huge Roti lover, never wanted to watch his mother putting physical efforts to make the Rotis. So, he came up with an idea to innovate a device that would be beneficial for his mother in a bid to reduce the efforts and save time. “I’m a huge roti lover and it hurt me every time to watch my mother painstakingly roll chapatis and fry them. She used to spread newspapers to prevent the wheat flour from spilling out. Watching this elaborate process made me think and innovate something new,” says Bommai.
“In the traditional method, you rotate a rolling pin over a smooth and stable wooden surface to flatten the chapati/roti dough. Taking inspiration from this age-old method, I designed a mechanism where the rolling pin remains stable, and inserted plate-like structures rotate and roll out the roti instead”.
The roti maker is designed in such a way that it would work on both solar power and alternating current (AC). The portable device is estimated to be around 15,000. It is easy to operate the machine as it weighs just 6 kg. It is based on the principle of the simple lever mechanism, this roti maker can flatten up to 180 rotis/chapatis in an hour which can directly go to the frying pan.
Seeing her son doing everything to make her happy, Bommai’s mother is blissfully pleased as punch with his son’s invention that paid rich dividends. “My mother is very happy with my roti maker and does not refuse to cook for me plenty of rotis anymore,” he said.
Not just his mother but also many other women appreciated Bommai for his innovative roti mater. “Many other women from the village have also used and appreciated the roti maker since it reduces their effort and saves cooking time,” he adds.
Though Bommai craves to take his innovation to next level in intensity, in the strong hope of reaching out to the large audience, financial constraints are stopping him. However, he added saying that, “Under the ‘Make in India’ campaign, I would love to improvise on this roti maker and market it better to help all rural women and farmer families. But only if I get appropriate monetary support.”
Apart from inventing the roti maker, the talented Bommai is also known to have invented a sustainable coal stove. According to him, it reduces almost 80 percent of pollution in comparison to traditional firewood stoves. “To heat water, my mother constantly struggled with the old-style stove that often chokes the chimney and fills the house with smoke and soot.
To help this situation, I invented a comparatively eco-friendly stove that produces only 20 per cent emission of smoke. Fitted with an air filter and silicon metal piece, this stove works more efficiently than the traditional one,” explains Bommai.
Bommai’s coal stove, which costs Rs 2,600, is already known to local village people. He is believed to have sold 50 pieces of the same. Bommai who is nothing short when it comes to innovation plans to upgrade his current model of the stove to bring a cooling fan which is under process.
When asked about his thirst to invent things, he said that the family circumstances and difficulties drove him to make something big in his life. “The familial circumstances, difficulties and drawbacks in the working of a rural household inspire me to come up with new innovations that help village folk,” he says.