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Innovators' Children |
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| Title |
Chips off the Old Block |
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| Details |
Dhruv Mehta (12) remembers every detail of the different awards which his father has won for his innovations. He also remembers the pain he felt when his favorite room had to be rented out to augment the family income. Richaben (16) thinks there is no problem in the world which her father cannot solve. But she also admits that when they were going through financial difficulties, she wished her father had a regular job, rather than dabbling in innovations. Karimbhai’s children have only words of praise for their father. Mansukhbhai’s grown up sons feel that their father has the right to even beat them when asked whether their father tended to stifle or inhibit their own seeds of solutions to problems at work. But Sasikanth Shukla’s son cannot see eye to eye with his father at all. Pride, anger, disappointments and frustration! The Honeybee attempts to understand the feelings which the children have towards their innovative parents.
Dhruv Mehta adores his father, Yagnesh Mehta, who designed an innovative air curtain blower. He calls him the “Best daddy in the world”. But there are regrets from his childhood days. “Sometimes, I never got to see my father at all. He would only come home after I was asleep. I only got to spend some Sundays with him.” Dhruv wants to grow up and help his father with his business. When asked if he will repeat the same pattern with his children, his answer is a vehement ‘No’. “I will get back home on time and I will also ensure that my father gets back home on time. When both of us are working, the work will get over sooner, right. So we can both get back home,” he says.
Richaben Patel feels that she has learnt ‘problem-solving’ from her father, Arvindbhai Patel, who has designed many innovations including the natural air cooler, auto-kick pump, body movement operated sprayer etc. “The way he ponders over a problem, he often comes up with different approaches to solve them. He makes diagrams and models and then he finally comes up with the solution. I also try and do the same. If I can’t find an answer, I go and ask him.” She can’t think of any problems, which her father cannot solve. But her brother, Jaymeenbhai adds, “There are times when my father gets so immersed in whatever problem he is trying to solve, that he gets irritated with small things. If we disturb him at that time, he gets very angry,” he says.
Recognition from society of the merit of their parent seems to be a crucial factor in children’s perceptions of their innovative parents. In some cases, the children internalize a large part of the image which society has of their father. This image is continually reinforced by society. For instance, according to Sarifaben, daughter of Karimbhai (traditional herbal healer), “My father is a great man. No one can have a father like him. People who have been cured by my father come back and say he is like god (Bhagwan jaise hai).He has cured so many people, whom even the doctors had given up on,” She recalls one case. “There was one man from Madana village. He had cancer. The doctors said he had only three months to live. But he took my father’s medicines. And he has been fine for almost two years now,” Her brother Inushbhai also recalls the case, “This man was not even able to eat or drink anything. Now he is fine,” he says. He also recalls another case where his father’s medicines produced striking results. “ There was a patient with blood cancer. He could not get out from his bed. Now he is fine and active. It feels nice to see him like that,” he says.
Mansukhbhai’s sons, Kiritbhai and Nitinbhai, however seem to have always had respect for their father, irrespective of the social recognition. For them, the value of social recognition lies in the fact that it has changed the way the others see their father. “Getting an award from the President is definitely an achievement. It has changed the way many people in our community and our family thought of us. Now all of them respect my father and ask his opinion on many matters,” says Kiritbhai.
For Sasikanth Shukla’s family however, the fact that his efforts have borne little fruit, both in terms of material reward as well as social recognition, has led to strained personal relationships. Acording to his wife Renuka,
“I appreciate the passion which he has for the field of ericulture. I will never be able to have the same passion. From him, I learnt that you must never let things go if you believe in them. But he will never let things go at all, till we are ruined. You can’t let your hobby affect your life. Whenever we go out, my husband talks only of this. He does not like it if people come to our house, because it disturbs his weaving. And people are just not interested in ericulture. If they had been, we would have got some orders. As it is, whenever people ask us for samples, we have to put in so much effort to prepare it. But, unless they are interested, they will not place an order. I don’t think a single person can do anything in this field. The government must take an interest and promote ericulture'.
Many of the children also seem to be intent in following their father’s line of business. For both Nitinbhai and Kiritbhai, the decision to join their father in the cotton stripper manufacturing business seems almost inevitable. “The business was such that it could not be managed by a single person. My father was also in service at that time. He needed me to help out. So I decided to join him as soon
as I finished graduation,” says Kiritbhai and adds that he had not thought of any other career even while studying. His brother Nitinbhai also joined them after completing his graduation. “When my father started the factory, my brother joined him. I continued with my studies. I also got admission into a Post Graduation course. But at that time, they needed another person in the business and we could not afford the salary for an outsider. So I decided to join.” He has no regrets about joining his father and adds “I might have got a government job with my qualification. But, when the family business needed me, I decided to join them.” Both the sons also show interest in diversifying the business. While Kiritbhai is interested in agricultural implements, Nitinbhai has already taken charge of the wire making unit they have started in Viramgam. They don’t perceive their father’s presence as a source of interference. “In our family, the decisions are taken together. We also listen to our father. He is older and knows better. In fact, we wont even mind if he beats us”, says Kiritbhai.
Jaymeenbhai, son of Arvindbhai Patel, also wants to emulate his father as an innovator. He is currently pursuing a degree in engineering, so that he can get the technical know-how to enable him to design machines. He also wants to focus on aspects like marketing of innovations, which his father is not involved in. “My father lets off aspects like marketing to outsiders. I don’t want to do that. I will get some knowledge about marketing and other aspects, so that we only can market my father’s innovations,” Richaben, however is not interested in following her father’s footsteps. “I have never been interested in the mechanical line I am interested in medicine and pharmaceutical line. I will pursue a career in pharmaceuticals”, she says.
Sarifaben on the other hand cannot even think of any course of action other than following her father’s footsteps as a traditional healer. “What other aim in life can I have. I have to be like him. This is our traditional knowledge.” She however does regret having left school. “I did not leave because of money. But after my sisters got married, I had to leave because I needed to help at home and also my father with the medicines. Anyway, since I only ever wanted to be like my father, I have not lost anything by leaving school. My father has been teaching us about these medicines ever since I can remember. So I have just been continuing to learn,”. Karimbhai’s two sons Inushbhai and Nazirbhai also do not go to school. Inushbhai was withdrawn from school due to financial reasons. He later rejoined school and studied upto tenth standard, before discontinuing. “I was never particularly interested in studies. So it did not matter to me when I left school. I got an opportunity to go back, but I did not succeed in clearing my tenth standard exams. So I stopped”, he says. Nazirbhai on the other hand left school after first standard, because he was never interested in studying and wanted to roam around in the forests and collect plants for his father’s medicines.
The three children, however show varying levels of confidence in their ability to emulate their father. Sarifaben, who at 15 is the youngest, is the most confident. I have learnt to identify plants. I can make and give medicines,” she asserts. Inushbhai (24) however feels that he can make medicines, but would prefer to do them under his father’s guidance. “I am not very sure of what medicines to give and when. I usually make the medicines based on his instructions,” he says. Nazirbhai (20) is more confident about going into the forests and gathering the plants. “That is what I have always done. If people come home and there is nobody to see them, I can prepare medicines, but that is not the work I generally do”, he says.
In the case of Sasikanth Shukla’s son, however, there was little chance that he would follow his father in the field. He has been involved in the business and also made a visit to London, when some people showed an interest in buying silk made by his father. But the deal fell through. He works as a lathe operator and has no interest in his father’s passion. Shukla himself recognizes the consequences which his interest has had on his family. “My wife and son have had to bear the brunt of my passion, my whim, call it what you will. My son at least rebels. My wife has no choice. She has to stick with me. But I can’t change now,” he says.
Times of financial difficulty have proved testing for the families of the innovators, although it has not shaken the respect which the children have had for the father. Dhruv Mehta was just around seven years when his family was forced to rent out one of the rooms to get an additional income. “It was my favourite room,” he recalls, “but they said it was necessary to rent it out to get money.”. “I was angry with my father when he did it. But my anger lasted for about half an hour. I know, when my father has decided to do something, he will do it. So what was the point in being angry. It would have had no effect” he shrugs.
Richaben recalls difficult times in the previous year, when she was appearing for her tenth standard exams. “I was already under pressure because I was in tenth. People had not placed any order for the water cooler. So there were money problems at home. We had to cut a lot of costs. But because my mother was earning a regular income, as a teacher, we were able to manage.” She also recalls that her brother, Jayameenbhai, who had wanted to pursue engineering at that time had thought he would have to give up the idea and join a graduation in science. “I did wish then that my father was also doing a regular job with regular income. There was so much uncertainty then,” she says.
For Karimbhai’s children however, their strained means is not cause for concern. “My father takes money only from patients who can pay. But that is because he can then give free medicines to poor people like some of the adivasis who come here”, says Inushbhai. “ I remember a case of a young boy from Kutch. He was very poor. He had come to my father. My father had to go up to Rajasthan to get the proper plant for him. But he did that and made the medicine. He did not take any money,” says Sarifaben.
The innovators and traditional knowledge holders, who have achieved fame and recogniton from society, also seem to have found ready recognition in the hearts and minds of their children. It does serve to underline the fact that with success, a lot of hardships seem easier . But Sasikanth Shukla’s case bears testimony to the fact that nothing fails like failure either. If we continue to condemn creative grassroots individuals to relative anonymity and poverty, their own children will cease to respect their creativity and knowledge. The transfer of knowledge is thus stopped at the household level itself. Moreover, the creativity of the next generation is also suppressed since the youngsters might choose to stifle their creativity and opt for a mediocre life, rather than follow the ideas of elders and suffer in the process.
The question still remains : When do children in school get to meet or listen to the stress and struggles of the grassroots innovators. If they don’t feel challenged, cajoled or inspired, will they break out of the mold in large numbers and discover innovative solutions to problems all around. How will India become an innovative society, if children don’t get an opportunity to learn from the struggles of grassroots innovators ? |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 16(3):16-18, 2005 |
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