Since a young age I developed an interest in technical tasks. From the few gadgets we had I recall staring off with a table fan my dad bought for the study. Mumbai being dusty the leading edges of the fan blades very often gathered dust. I found it interesting to open the fan guard and wipe off the dust from the blades. Taking it further I then one day unfastened the blade from the shaft and took it outside of the house to clear off the dust. This disassembling and putting back of the fan blades gave me a buzz and the joy of being able to take something apart , put it back and find that it still worked.
My sister soon had a sewing machine and I took on the responsibility of oiling and cleaning it. She was very happy as she could then just get along with her sewing. My grandma once bought a small electric motor to go on the sewing machine, so no more continuous paddling. The trouble was who will install the machine on her sewing machine? I straight away volunteered. I ran to the local tailors shop to see if I could figure out how he had put up the motor on his machine. Just a push of the motor paddle and off went the machine.
Kitchen appliances slowly came up and we now had a gas cooker, a kitchen mixer and grinder, a spark stone operated gas lighter etc. I was now the problem solver, the fixer, the mechanic, the engineer, call it what you may. Looking back it was the risk my parents took and the patience of my elder sister that I was able to play with pretty much all gadgets around the house.
I really feel indebted to them.
I remember opening up most gadgets even if there was no need. It was shear curiosity to see what was inside and how it worked and mainly the joy of seeing it working again after I put it up. Even though insignificant, I believe the above led me to university to be a successfully engineer.
Thanks for reading
Siraj Ershad
Director