Everyone knows ‘Rancho’, the
protagonist from the classic ‘3 Idiots’. Rancho epitomizes out-of-the-box
thinking, creativity and positivity by challenging the routine discourse of
life. In 3 Idiots, the world watched Rancho (Aamir Khan) and his lady love ride
a unique scooter fitted with a flour mill. The movie is full of such small
innovations by Rancho but very few know about the real brain behind these
simple yet great machines ……. the ‘real life Rancho’.
The real life Rancho is Sheikh
Jahangir Sheikh from Jalgaon, now 52-year-old and a car painter by profession has
shown immense ability to innovate since his childhood. As Jalgaon faced huge
electricity crises, Jahangir first designed scooter powered spray-painting unit
about 25 years back to sustain his business. Initially, he developed a compressor on a Luna
(a moped) but as it did not work properly due to Luna’s low engine power, he
experimented with scooter to build mobile spray painting device to get work
done faster and easier. Jahangir spent about Rs. 4,000-5,000 for buying
second-hand scooter and modified it into spray painting devices. Till date
Jahangir has sold about 6 such spray painting machines.
Although, a school dropout,
Jahangir considers life as his biggest teacher and firmly believes that mother
is the necessity of all inventions. While the reel life Rancho had everything
at his disposal, Jahangir supports family of 9 members and lives in a rented
'one room' accommodation.
Despite his poverty and problems,
Jahangir enjoys toying with new ideas and doesn’t stop experimenting. Initially,
people around him use to call him a 'mad man' but today, much to their surprise
his innovations have been appreciated by the high and mighty including President
of India.
Jahangir is full of pride to see
his scooter in 3 Idiots. Now, he has converted multiple second-hand scooters
into super machines like portable front loading washing machines that even
saves water, a generator which can power tube-light, TV and fan, automated
sugarcane juice making unit, etc. His scooter-powered flour mill is a big hit
and of immense help to poor who can only afford to buy grains in very small
quantities. Jahangir has even modified bicycles to charge mobiles, run mixer,
play FM radio, etc.
National Innovation Foundation
(NIF) which works for promoting grass-root innovations has also appreciated
work done by Jahangir and because of NIF’s efforts, Jahangir’s innovations were
exhibited on multiple platforms including at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Former president of India, Dr. APJ Abdul
Kalam and Smt. Pratibha Patil have personally appreciated Jahangir’s work.
Jahangir says "I wish to
develop machines that will help people in solving their problems. Giving back
to society is the most satisfying experience and I want to work to make the nation
proud. Whatever I have learnt, I try giving back.”
In 2011, while Jahangir was going
through a lean patch in his life due to health reasons, he thought on the
concept of innovation school and started his ‘Masti Ki Pathshala’ under
Jahangir Foundation initially on pavement due to lack of facility and
infrastructure. This year, he renamed his school as ‘Rancho Innovation School’
and shifted to a free space allotted by Mr. Hemant Patil.
The primary objective of ‘RANCHO
Innovation School’ is to promote creative and out-of the box thinking amongst
young students. Jahangir is also keen on imparting practical skills to students
that will make them employable. This school is almost free and the enrolled
students are only expected to pay Rs. 10 for the entire year. Currently, the
school has about 400 students. Jahangir says “Students come to my school to
gain practical knowledge and majority of them are from very poor economic
background. There is no qualification and economical background bar for taking
admission. Even students from good schools or technical and engineering courses
are enrolling to get practical knowledge.”
Jahangir is very keen on promoting
practical education especially amongst kids from slums that will make them
employable. He personally visits slums and rural areas to inspire students to
join his school. He is looking to increase the number of students to 1000 soon.
Another key feature of his school
is that Jahangir organizes ‘idea competition’ every alternate day. Jahangir
adds “till date students have submitted more than 900 unique Ideas which
highlight their zeal, creativity and ability to think out-of-the-box”. Now Jahangir
dreams of taking this ‘idea competition’ to every nook and corner of
Maharashtra to create an idea bank.
Jahangir is very passionate about
his mission to promote innovation but expects suggestions and support from the
society to take this initiative forward. Anyone can reach him on 09422282938.
Jahangir says “we need to create
many more Ranchos, as only Ranchos can change India”.
Important: National Innovation Foundation (NIF) and Prof. Anil Gupta is working aggressively with Sheikh Jahangir to take his innovations to masses.
Important: National Innovation Foundation (NIF) and Prof. Anil Gupta is working aggressively with Sheikh Jahangir to take his innovations to masses.
Really appreciate the work done by Jahangir. Many more like this are expected and also the government should encourage them with many more facilities in order to become world famous.
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