Tauseef Ahmad
Bandipora : Through years and centuries, Kashmiri people shape our culture, and thereafter, culture shapes us. Our culture has a physical link to the past. be it in the form of a “Kangri” or a “Samovar.”
Every Kashmiri household had one or two Samavors. However, because of advanced technologies, we had forgotten about our culture and heritage. Kashmiris make tea in a samovar. Kashmiris are very fond of tea. That is why tea can be served at any time. A samovar contains a fire container containing charcoal and live coals. There is a space for water to boil around the fire container.
“This was a matter of pride for all of us as we as Kashmiris have forgotten our culture. We use advanced technologies for cooking and other purposes, and this innovation helps us to adopt our old culture as most people don’t use a samovar because it is heavier in weight and everybody hates to carry it from one place to another, especially when it boils, tea falls out, which sometimes burns hands,” added Abdul Razaq, who recently heard about this innovation by local students in Bandipora.
The innovation was done by a group of six students at the Kashovatics Institute of Bandipora who discussed the idea first with their teacher and, after finding a solution, worked on it and innovated it properly.
“We used thermal stability and thermal control in it, which not only pours the tea into the cup itself, but when the tea boils too much, its lid closes automatically and the tea does not spill, which also avoids the risk of burning,” added one of the while talking to Kashmir Dispatch, who was part of this group that made this innovation.
Jehangir Bhat, a University of Texas graduate and passionate engineer from Bandipora, is a five-time gold medalist in innovation and invention at the international level. “We have around a thousand students enrolled in Kashovatics Institute in Bandipora and Pattan area of Baramulla; these innovations come from students who come with ideas and discuss them with us; we only give them ways to do things; they make the models themselves and work on them,” Jehangir Bhat told the Kashmir Despatch.
He also stated that we can still make changes to the samovar, but that it is a part of our tradition and we do not want to change its aesthetics. We have 20 more innovations on the table, and students are working with them. We will try to give more and more innovations to the world with these young minds.
