The Theory of Instincts

Let me press the rewind button and take you three months backward, that is, the month of November. I want to show you the flashback to tell you what made me come to SELCO.
                                          So the basic question that is in everybody's mind is WHY SELCO ? You being an engineering student of Information Technology background, Why Selco, a company that solar electrifies the villages of India. Everyone wants to know the answer for this particular question. After a lot of soul searching I got the answer and the answer is well explained in the 'Theory of Instincts' - a theory that works on each one of us. The phenomenon of instincts works on us all the time. But how many of us have noticed those instincts that guide us, that keeps telling you the answer for every question you ask. Insticts do not do the logical thinking, but still they give you the right answer. Any important decision you make in your life, it's the instincts that will guide you. Lets take an example, if Harish Hande would have done the market analysis and all other surveys to the find the feasibility of solar lights in India, would he have started SELCO 17 years back. Naah !!! That's were his instincts told him, YOU GOT TO DO THIS, he listened to it and he did it and you know what SELCO has achieved in 17 years. Instincts are that part of your life that is intelligent enough to somehow figure out what is the best thing you can do.
So, three months back what made me apply for the internship at Selco was my instincts. If I would have thought logically I would be in an IT firm right now. But I trusted my instincts, the inner voice that kept telling me you got to go there no matter what. So here I am, at the most beautiful place.A kind of place that I always wanted to be in and with the right kind of people. Thats what the instincts do to you- keep you happy, indeed very very happy !!!

The Tale of a Paddy Seed Transplanter

Ever wondered what journey a simple but elegant machine goes through before it smoothly lands into your backyard??? Well that's something even I never bothered about until I came to SELCO as a intern. There was this simple paddy transplanter that was in the lab waiting to enter the fields. It had come a long way from China into the humble town, Ujire and finally it enters the SELCO Labs. Well this is just the beginning of the journey for this smart looking machine. Then comes a plan to take out the machine to the paddy fields for testing on 24th January. Why testing ? To find out whether the machine is serving the purpose i.e whether it is planting the seedlings, to find out whether it runs smoothly on the fields, to find out what the farmers think about the machine and their level of interest in the product. So, as planned the machine sets out in a share auto, through the bumpy roads of Diduppe, a small lush green village in Ujire. It makes it's way, battling every obstacle and lands on the field like a warrior, ready for the ultimate showdown. The field is set, the engineer then puts the paddy seedlings into the machine, slowly turns the knob and starts moving it on the empty, wet field. The machine showed an initial hitch. But then after some adjustments . .. Alas !!! Its working perfectly !!! The warrior finally wins half the battle. The machine is moved and slowly you see the entire field filled with seedlings planted by the machine.
                                      Me, being an IT engineering student, trying my hands on the transplanter was an amazing experience.I tried the tradition method of planting and then tried the machine, the machine really seems to be a winner here- much easier to use and much less labor required. Finally after a days work, the machine gets certified as a true warrior.
It still needs to be tested in many fields before it is available for purchase. After all it is a machine that will help a small scale farmer and needs to go through the tough tests to prove that it is as good as the farmer who can then show off his cool machine !!!!