Chapter 41: Seeds of Change
October 1983 – Fields of Renewal
The northern winds had returned to Uttar Pradesh, bringing with them the scent of burnt hay, ripening rice, and the faint bitterness of dry mustard leaves. It was that time of year again—when the earth was ready, and so were its people.
But for Singh Technologies, this season of growth had deeper roots—planted not in soil, but in a simple evening conversation.
---
The First Spark – Winter of 1982
It had been early winter of 1982. The house was quiet after dinner. The brass plates were stacked, the fire in the courtyard had dimmed to embers. A soft woolen shawl clung to Dadi Saraswati Singh as she sat on the old charpai, warming her feet near a kangri of coals.
Ajay came out, his ledger under his arm. He had been thinking of expansion—perhaps a new research wing for electronics.
Dadi looked at him and asked gently, without preamble:
> "Beta… You've spoken about machines for healing people. But who will heal the land?"
Ajay paused. "The land?"
She nodded, staring into the red coal. "Your Pitaji tilled those fields with cracked hands. The tractor arrived too late. No one ever built machines for the poor kisan—only for the cities."
That night, her words stayed with him.
They stayed with Bharat, too, who was nearby, curled in his wool blanket and pretending to be asleep.
> "Machines for the land," he thought.
"Not for labs or hospitals. But for soil, and sweat."
And so, before Singh Technologies made a single medical device, the idea of agricultural innovation had already been born.
---
Recruitment – Building the Green Team
By January 1983, Ajay began assembling a team.
He visited agricultural universities, government offices, and regional workshops. Notices were posted, phone calls made, and handwritten letters sent.
The goal was clear:
> "Real machines for real fields."
On a foggy February morning, inside the Singh Technologies conference room in Lucknow, Ajay held the first meeting.
Chairs were mismatched. Tea was poured into steel tumblers. The table smelled faintly of machine oil and fresh blueprint ink.
Present that day:
Prof. D.S. Shekhawat, who had worked under M.S. Swaminathan during the Green Revolution
Sudheer Ganesh ji, a mechanical artisan from Nashik with 40 years of rural invention experience
Kamala Bai, an agricultural NGO leader from Vidarbha
Ramdas Yadav, a lifelong farmer from Faizabad district
Ajay opened the session:
> "We can build engines. But we don't know the land like you do.
Tell us: Where does it hurt?"
Ramdas Yadav smiled. "Not every field needs a tractor, babuji. Some only need their bull's shoulders lightened."
Prof. Shekhawat added, "And some machines don't need petrol. They need patience and understanding."
Thus began the Kheti Vikas Anubhaag—Singh Technologies' Agricultural Innovation Division.
---
Initial Struggles – July 1983
By July, the first round of devices had been built.
A compact tractor model
A hybrid thresher
A seed spreader mounted on a cycle frame
But something wasn't right.
> Too heavy.
Too expensive.
Too alien for the average farmer.
In one trial, a village elder simply shook his head and said,
> "Good machine. But it eats more diesel than my buffalo eats fodder."
The team knew they had missed something.
That's when Sudheer Ganesh ji took center stage.
> "Let's go back to our feet and our hands," he said.
"Let's ask the land what it needs—not what we want to give it."
---
Bharat's Simplicity – The Mind of a Child, the Memory of a Future
Bharat, barely nine, sketched quietly in his room every night.
He thought of what he remembered from his future life:
Robotic farming arms, solar drones, GPS soil mapping.
But this was 1983. The future wasn't here yet.
So he worked backward. He found bridges between memory and reality.
He presented:
1. Third-Wheel Bullock Kit
For single bull carts: a third wheel attached at the rear center, reducing downward pull and pressure.
For paired bull carts: a small, pivot-mounted front wheel placed between the bulls, balancing drag and reducing neck strain.
> "Let them pull together, not pull each other," he wrote.
2. Seed-Funnel Shoes
Sandals fitted with tubes that dropped seeds every third step. Efficient, precise, joyful.
3. Hand-Powered Pedal Thresher
Pedal to thresh. No motor. Operable by anyone—even an elder or teenager.
---
Final Testing – September to Mid-October
By September, Singh Technologies had developed a full range of small and mid-size devices. They returned to the fields of:
Barabanki
Nandurbar
Latur
Hoshiarpur
Gaya
There, they tested, listened, and adjusted.
Dozens of farmers sat cross-legged around the machines, watching like schoolchildren at a fair.
Some spoke:
> "Can this be folded?"
"Can my daughter operate this?"
"What happens in muddy soil?"
Every question was noted. Every improvement followed.
---
National Rollout – October 1983
By mid-October, Singh Technologies officially launched its agricultural line across India.
Third-Wheel Kits
Seed Shoes
Pedal Threshers
Grain Shade-Carts
Soil Levelers
At Krishi Kendras, Doordarshan covered demonstrations with commentary in Hindi.
All India Radio aired morning programs:
> "Suna hai aapke khet mein naye yantra aaye hain?"
("We've heard new tools have arrived in your fields?")
Some small tools were even described step-by-step on radio and in pamphlets so farmers could build them at home with common scrap and local wood.
> "Yeh yantra keemat nahi, soch ke bane hain," Doordarshan announced.
("These tools are made not with money, but with thought.")
---
Dadi's Words Remembered
That night, Ajay sat under the stars with his mother.
He told her about the national launch.
Dadi smiled quietly and pressed her palm on his forehead.
> "You listened to the land," she said.
"Now the land will answer you."
---
.