Village innovation man

I am going to share the exploits of our village’s innovator of the 1960s. The word ‘innovation’ had not entered the lexicon of politicians. All knew him by his nickname ‘Siddhoo’. He had become so famous that over a dozen villages were aware of this moniker.

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Siddhoo belonged to a purohit family of three brothers and was a bachelor, living alone in his small two-storeyed, slate-roofed dwelling of mud walls. The roof leaked during rains and storms. His house opened towards an open courtyard and a common path. He could be seen sitting cross-legged on a gunny bag, poring over books and accepting greetings from passers-by. He was of middling height, fair-complexioned with beautiful features. He always talked in a sweet, soft tone that endeared him to all, especially children, who thronged his house, but he never admonished them. He wore a knee-length dhoti like Mahatma Gandhi and covered his head with a round white cap. During winter, he could be seen enveloped in a woollen shawl called loi or pattoo. The highlight of his character was his indulgence in myriad skills that surprised everyone. He was adept in carpentry and had innovated many agricultural tools and designed tools for special purposes. He was a mysterious exorcist too and villagers approached him for consecrated mustard seeds to be sprinkled on milch cattle or elsewhere to ward off evil spirits that were believed to haunt vulnerable souls and places. Above all, he was a good priest and astrologer and provided free consultations on horoscopes and stellar combinations. He would not accept any invitation for dinner or lunch from any household. However, he occasionally welcomed a full-meal thali if brought to his house.

The most interesting aspect of his character was his innovative mind. He neither discussed nor shared his innovations. This secretiveness heightened the curiosity of people. Among his myriad innovations, he procured a sack of flax seeds, ground and boiled them in a big pan in his courtyard. The contents of the pot were stirred till they turned into a thick brown paste. Enquiries by inquisitive passers-by were brushed aside with ‘wait and watch’. When the pulp was ready and cooled, it was applied on the slate roof of his house with the help of two men. It was hot summer and the coat of the pulp dried in two days. It hardened like a stone and emanated a unique lustre. Then he revealed the secret of his innovation: ‘The flax seed coat I have applied on my roof will act like cement and there will not be any leakage during rains and storms.’

But alas, things did not turn out as the innovator had planned. The very first rains loosened the hard pulp on the roof. This failed innovation became village lore. Siddhoo’s innovation did fail but his innovative spirit did not perish. He moved on unmindful of the chuckles of the villagers.