Opportunities come to those who are open to ideas. This came true for Gujarat-based craftsman Mansukh Prajapati, the inventor of Mitti Cool — a clay refrigerator that works without electricity.
Life changed for this 45-year-old after the earthquake in Gujarat on 26 January 2001. Prajapati, who manufactured water filters and pots made of clay prior to the disaster, lost all his products in the destruction. It was a huge loss for him. “A newspaper report mentioned our losses under the headline — ‘Garibon ka fridge toot gaya’,” shares Prajapati. As soon as he could start working again, he took a cue from that headline and started planning a ‘garibon ka fridge’.
Once the plan and design were in place, finance proved a stumbling block. “I had no savings. In the four-five years in which I was completing the project, I even had to mortgage my house and take loans from various sources — banks, moneylenders,” says Prajapati. He had borrowed `10 lakh by then. And while this inventor has bagged six national and two state awards, his loans still trouble him. “I have got recognition. But there are only few who come ahead to help financially,” he says.
A lending hand came from IIM Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta, who helped promote Prajapati’s product. Still awaiting monetary help from the government and other organisations, Prajapati hopes one day he can make his product available to all of India’s poor.
His next dream project is an eco-friendly mud house that would be cool without an A/C and lit up without electricity.
In the meantime, he has invented a clay pressure cooker which awaits production and marketing. “It’s a successful product. I wish God helps me translate my ideas into reality.”