An Eulogy, a Well & Innovations

A noted intellectual from Assam, Dr Hiren Gohain, wrote a long glowing eulogy about my recently departed father, Dr Pranav Jyoti Deka. Though trained as a geologist and a teacher of the subject for most of his life, my father shall be remembered for his literary work, from compiling the largest, 40,000-word English-Assamese dictionary for 17 years, to becoming a Sahitya Akademi awardee for his short stories in his deathbed.

My father Dr. Pranav Jyoti Deka, at about the time

when he decided to dig a well in Shillong.

In his article, Dr Gohain mentioned a long-forgotten fact that my father dug the first well in the NE-Indian Hill Station Shillong, then the capital of Assam, now of Meghalaya. When he started this project, it was just a matter of calculation for him as a geologist, as our house was in a depression amidst two hills. For the rest of town, he was a laughingstock, with people gossiping, "Even British engineers couldn't do it," till he struck the water, that too, at a relatively shallow depth. Soon, wells were dug all over Shillong.

A deep-rooted skepticism towards any innovative or inventive capabilities of our fellow citizens is almost written in the Indian DNA. We proudly throw the word innovation around, mistakenly correlating it with the pan-Indian word "Juggad", which in its best translation means "make-do" if not "cobbling up," but rarely acknowledge or believe in an original design or breakthrough work done by a compatriot.

When I designed and built a virtually smokeless Biomass Stove with a rotating vortex flame without using electric fans or any forced air, people wanted to know from where I copied the design. After we built the first Bamboo Composite boat, some (knowing that I was a frequent visitor there)asked me if I got the technology from Russia, of all places.

Recently, during an interaction with potential investors, explaining our next project of converting discarded Wind Turbine Blades into multi-hull vessels, a proposal earlier selected by the European Innovation Council, but unfortunately couldn't see the light of day, they too expressed skepticism about the idea's originality, and that nobody thought of it or done it before, which effectively sealed the matter for any further discussions from our side.

All the while, the IIT professors on various juries couldn't resist asking, but where is the innovation? But my best experience is still the grimacing Startup SuperGuru from an IIM down south, who demanded to know from me why boats should be built in Assam since they are already being built elsewhere!

I am still disappointed that he didn't end with the word "Rascal"!

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