Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 828

Chapter 828: Journalists Arrival
March 25th, 1670

The quiet and cosy village of Gulmarg suddenly saw the arrival of journalists and writers from all over the empire. It immediately became extremely lively as the people of the village excitedly followed behind the carriages of the journalists and walked to the outskirts of the village to a large courtyard house.

Suhail Karan, carefully watching his daughter ride the bicycle around the house, was suddenly surprised when so many people stood in front of his house for no apparent reason.

“Clap!” “Clap!!”

He immediately made a clapping sound so that his daughter could hear it and come back quickly. Sheela, who was riding the carriage through the back of the house, was taken aback when she suddenly heard the voices of so many people coming from the front. Although the clapping of her father was mostly drowned out by the sound of the people, she still keenly caught the sound, almost like she had trained her brain to be more sensitive to that particular sound, and quickly pedalled forward.

As soon as Sheela riding the carriage became visible to the sight of the crowd, the journalists’ eyes immediately lit up.

Chandrakala, a journalist for The Observer, muttered to herself, “Wow, what an amazing invention.”

“Amazing!!!” a journalist from Nepal Times commented out loud.

“Who would have thought such a revolutionary invention would be made by someone in such a remote corner of the empire,” Niranjan, reporter for Times of Bharat, lamented.

Suhail Karan was relieved after seeing his daughter. For a few seconds, he was so worried about her, but he once again became nervous after having no idea about how to handle so many people.

Although the people still stood outside the compound and had not placed a foot inside, he was still scared because he felt helpless and unable to resist if anything were to happen.

“Hey, what is happening here?”

“Why are you all gathered in front of the chief engineer’s house?”

As if answering the prayer of Suhail, the police officer of the village arrived, pushing through the crowd. Even the crowd of villagers who were densely sticking together like lead atoms split apart, giving way as they still had respect and fear for the khaki uniform and the wooden lathi of the police.

“What is happening here? Can anyone tell me?” Sanjeev once again repeated the question, but this time he looked at the group of reporters who were obviously dressed more exquisitely than the people of the village.

Niranjan came forward and spoke out, “Officer, we are a group of reporters from various newspaper companies in the empire, we are here to interview Mr. Suhail and Miss Sheela.”

Sanjeev looked at the reporters and then at Suhail Karan. He was taken aback. ‘Did the chief engineer invent something in the factory that was revolutionary?’ He was confused because if that was the case, shouldn’t the reporters go to the company in the development zone? Why did they come looking for him at his house? And also, why are so many villagers gathered? He could understand people wanting to follow the excitement, but normally, not so many people would be attracted. But now nearly half of the village is here. ‘Forget it, I’ll know the reason soon enough anyway,’ he comforted himself.

He sucked in a deep breath as he was about to yell loudly to ask Suhail Karan if he wanted to do the interviews, but suddenly he remembered that the chief engineer didn’t seem to be able to speak. Like a deflated balloon, all the air he had sucked up left his mouth like a gust of wind. He immediately stood his lathi against the compound and used both his hands to communicate with Suhail.

This action immediately surprised the journalists. In their intelligence, they only knew about a new invention that was made by the father and daughter; apart from that, they knew nothing. But now, looking at the father who was using his hands to communicate, admiration couldn’t help but spontaneously appear on all the journalists’ faces. However, there were a few journalists like Sriram, Bali, and Vienna who lost all the colour in their faces as they completely did not know sign language. They were asked to learn it. They never got to it in the end. But now, seeing Suhail having completed gesturing and going into the home, for some reason,n the feeling of dread couldn’t help but emerge in their hearts. If the assistant editor and field intelligence supervisor knew about their mistake, would they let them go?

Fortunately, this was a problem only for a few members of journalists. The majority of the journalists, like the majority of students who are still studying in the empire, are aware of the sign language that is taught as a compulsory course every year.

“Mr. Suhail said he cannot have too many people inside his compound, so he asked only the journalists to come inside.”

“So dear journalists, please show your credentials to me and please enter.”

Sanjeev resolutely stood at the gate, taking back the lathi into his hands and letting the journalists go in one by one.

By the time the journalists were inside the compound, Suhail had brought out a couple of wooden chairs for the journalists to sit on, while he himself and his daughter sat on the potika, which had been raised a few feet.

Looking at the journalists who seemed to have understood his instructions, they themselves brought the chairs forward, after which Suhail gestured with his hands. “Before I can answer your question, can any of you please answer a doubt of mine?”

Chandrika from The Observer immediately gestured, “Please ask, sir!”

“All of you should have come because of my invention of the two-wheel carriage, or else it doesn’t make sense because I haven’t made anything newsworthy in the company or the factory.”

“My doubt is, how did you all get to know?”

“Oh, this!!” Chandrika smiled and immediately gestured, “We actually got to know about this after a professor in the SVG College, Srinagar, wrote a paper on it and published it in the journal a few days ago.”

“The paper caused a huge storm in the academic circle, especially among the group of top scientists and academicians of the Academy of Civilian Sciences, who research all day long how to improve travel.”

“So, inquiring with the college, we got to know about where you lived, and inquiring in the village, we got to know the location of your home.”

Suhail nodded in understanding. ‘It makes sense,’ he thought, because a few days ago, Sheela did attend the first day of college by riding a bicycle. Maybe at that time she did catch the attention of a big professor. He looked at his daughter in doubt.

Sheela immediately understood her father’s confusion and nodded hesitantly, “There was indeed an old man who asked a lot about the two-wheeled carriage, Father. He said that he wanted to write a paper about the two-wheeled carriage. I did not say no, thinking that maybe it would be helpful to you.”

Suhail was very touched. He wanted to hug his daughter, but realising that he was among a lot of journalists and, most importantly, a crowd of fellow villagers who were still standing outside the compound, he stopped himself and motioned for the journalists to ask the questions.

Chitrakala, taking the initiative, asked the first question, “Mr. Suhail, what led you to develop this amazing mode of transportation?”

“It’s my daughter. I did not want her to stay in the hostel when she went to Srinagar, so I made this two-wheeled carriage for her to ride back and forth.”

“Did you design it yourself, sir? And how did you design it?” Niranjan from the Times of Bharat took the initiative and brought forward his own question.

“Yes, I designed it. As for how? This is a long story, I’ll tell you guys briefly,” Suhail thought for a while and gestured, “There are a lot of machines in the factory I work in, most of them run by a gear-driven system similar to the one used in the two-wheeled carriage. I also saw some machinery with the same gear-driven system, which works with animals to provide the power. My initial idea came from there. I thought, what if the size of the gears could be reduced and what if people could turn it with their hands?”

“Now I had this idea a few years ago, but I did not know where to go from there because I did not have an idea about what to power and what the end goal of this mechanism I thought of in my mind is.”

“But when I realised that my daughter would be graduating from high school and she would have to attend the big college in the big city, Srinagar, I was distressed, as I would have to leave her at the hostel. At that time, I wasn’t rich enough to afford a carriage that could be used by our family at beck and call. It was then I realised that I can make a machine that is similar to a carriage, but this one does not depend on horses, and this one can be ridden by oneself anytime and anywhere.”

“In the past, I had taken a vocational course in engineering. In the course, I saw a demonstration of how fast-moving circular bodies provide stability to the whole structure. I used this principle to build the two-wheeled carriage. I did many tests with hundreds of models as well as a few wooden prototypes, and after five months, I was finally successful.”

Niranjan was very impressed. “Thank you for your reply, sir. You are an inspiration to the people of the empire.”

Suhail immediately felt a little flattered. He didn’t know how to respond.

“Mr. Suhail, could you tell us more about how the two-wheel carriage works?”

“Ah, sure.” He immediately pulled the two-wheel carriage in front of the people and started to point out the parts and what they do.

The journalists did not understand the scientific terminology, especially since the mode of conversation was sign language, but they still got a rough understanding of what the parts were meant for.

“In fact, the two-wheel carriage is already iterated for the second time. The first time when my daughter was given to ride the carriage, the carriage fell down after going a few feet. I was confused and worried, thinking that I may have made a flawed design, hurting my daughter. I even started to doubt physics.”

“In depression, I forbade my daughter from riding the two-wheeled carriage.”

“However, my naughty daughter, disobeying my permission, still rode the dangerous invention I had made. To my surprise, this time she went forward several meters before eventually falling down.”

“So I understood that it is not that the two-wheel carriage has a problem, but it has a learning curve. People should learn how to balance their bodies on the two-wheel carriage and how to utilise momentum to stay stable.”

“So I came up with a learner support, which is two small wheels that can be attached to the rear wheel, something like this.”

He immediately took out the learner wheel he had made and showed it to the journalists.

“My daughter has already learned how to ride the two-wheel carriage, so she does not need it any longer, but this could be useful for anyone who is looking to build their own two-wheeled carriage.”

“Other upgrades include—I have added a basket in front of the handle to carry lightweight things. With the suggestion of my daughter, I also added a small platform at the back, on top of the rear wheel. This can be used to carry belongings that are not too heavy. In my daughter’s case, it is her college bag.”

“In fact, if the frame is made of higher quality steel, I think even another person or two can sit on the carriage.”