“I took my fridgeto Ahmedabad and showed it to him. Soon, he received a call from an IIM Ahmedabad professor, Anil Gupta, who offered him support through National Innovation Foundation (NIF) and Honeybee Network. It damages neither the health nor the environment.” Mansukhbhai working on his clay products (Source: PR handout)Įxplaining how it functions, he added, “It’s a natural eco-friendlyfridge that uses only water. After taking a loan of 19 lakh and 5 years of dedicated hard work, I created this clay refrigerator,” he said. This gave me an idea to create a clay refrigerator that could run without electricity. Next month, a local newspaper published a picture of our broken clay pot with the headline – ‘ Gareebon ka fridge toot gaya‘. “In 2001, when an earthquakeshattered Gujarat, my clay products were destroyed. The idea came from a rather unfortunate incident in Gujarat. However, it was his clay refrigerator that earned him worldwide recognition. I created a clay water filter that could be used to filter out impurities from drinking water,” Mansukhbhai added. This water was impure and so, they had to filter it using a cloth. “In the village I live in, people used to rely on wells and rivers for drinking water. It was then that I knew I had to return to my family profession and start my own business,” he said.įollowing the success of his first functional product, he realised the need for a second one. After a year, I joined a roof tile factory and with my dedication and hard work, I made around 22 lakh roof tiles in just five years of working there, using different technologies. Since my fiancé was from a well-to-do family, I was quite ashamed of my profession. “After leaving masonry, I started working at a tea stall in Wankaner. Mansukhbhai is known for creating the first-ever clay refrigerator. After Mansukhbhai failed the 10th standard, he, too, joined his father but couldn’t sustain in the field for long due to lack of interest and the effect of masonry on his eyes. ![]() Keeping these difficulties in mind, my father completely stopped me from engaging in pottery work,” Mansukhbhai, whose inspiring story of change will feature on National Geographic this Environment Day as part of its ‘One For Change’ campaign, told .Įventually, the family left the profession and his father started masonry work. Secondly, nobody was ready to marry off their daughter to a potter. My grandfather and his brothers couldn’t live longer than 50 years due to this. The smokeand dust would reach the lungs, causing breathing issues. ![]() The pollution caused due to this work led to many health problems among potters. Pottery used to be an extremely tedious task and they used to work all day. We used to live in a village near Morbi district in Gujaratand my elders were involved in this work. “I was exposed to clay in childhood because it was my family’s traditional profession.
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