This Diwali, Ashok Panchal's mechanism will make your diyas rotate under a tropical palm, rather than just float
This Diwali, Ashok Panchal's mechanism will make your diyas rotate under a tropical palm, rather than just float
Imagine shimmering blobs of light serenely rotating clock-wise in a plastic water-filled bowl. There's a strange plastic palm tree that shoots up from the centre of the bowl, turning, making the diyas, connected to its base, turn with it. You search for the electric cord that's moving the tree. There isn't one. Battery-operated, you think. But where's the electric socket? You give up, and Ashok Panchal is ready to let out the secret. "It's simple science."
|
|
The rotating diyas move clockwise while their shadows moves anti-clockwise.
pic/Nimesh Dave |
Panchal, a resident of Malad, who manufactures a variety of rangoli designs and diyas, was unhappy when he saw floating diyas cluster together in a bowl. He decided to devise a mechanism to help them stay afloat, fixed to a spot in symmetry. A rotating clock motor left an impression, and Panchal decided that he could make these diyas rotate. A year of innovation later, he was ready with his contraption in July last year. "It turned out to be a rather simple design," he says. "When the air above the lit diyas heats up, it rises upwards. The palm tree's leaves are angled in such a way that the air pushes them gently. Because the base of the palm tree is connected to the moulds in which the lit diyas are placed, they start rotating too."
The surrealistic anti-clockwise movement of the reflection of the diyas adds to the visual treat. "The bowl is contoured in a way that the shadow seem to be rotating anti-clockwise," says Panchal. He likens his diyas to Sai Baba's. Since Baba could not procure oil, he poured water in the diyas and they miraculously burned all night long. A slight difference here, these simply rotate on water. But this was reason enough for Panchal to name his innovation Sai Aarti. Panchal has applied for a patent.
The diyas are priced at Rs 90.
Available at Jalaram Industries, 241, Bombay Talkies Compound, Shreeram Marg, Malad (W).
Call Panchal on 9892683682 to place an order
