My mother forwarded a video today that was truly inspirational! The simplicity of the idea and ease of implementation was amazing! A simple scientific concept with a good implementation supporting thousands of people eat meals everyday!

Sharing the video I received earlier today.

A group of volunteers are trying to cook food for thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of farmers protesting for a cause. While all of them have reached a common place, what do they eat and how do they survive? The volunteer community took it upon themselves to support them. The technology they use is so simple yet is delivering multiple rounds of meals to everyone.

Sharing the video for those who understand Hindi (Indian language), for others just play the video and look at the technology & innovation and read the highlights of it below!

For those who do not understand the language, sharing some highlights of the technology & innovation piece!

1. The team is using the backside of a truck to cook for hundreds of thousands of people
2. The aluminum barrel seen at the back (other end) of the truck is a steam boiler
3. Steam boiler is fed wood (like a furnace or wood burning fireplace) at the bottom
4. Top part of the boiler has water filled to some extent – leaving space for steam to be formed
5. The pipes from the steam boiler are connected to both ends of the truck with taps to let out the steam
6. The tap individually are connected to big cooking pots
7. Rice, Lentils and a gravy are getting cooked in the pots
8. There is space for one more big pot, however the day’s menu did not need another – and so it has not been connected
9. It takes 30 minutes to cook for approximately 2500-3000 people
10. The pots are emptied when ready to serve and refilled to start cooking another batch
11. Washing, cutting and frying items are not handled on the truck. They are setup near the truck
12. 40kg lentils get cooked in 30 minutes at one stretch
13. As hot vapor rises, the pots are getting hot at the top and getting cooked and bottom of the pot remains cold. Half way through, the pots are tightly sealed and turned around (like a waffle maker) to cook the other half
14. Minimal cost, minimal setup, ability to feed hundreds of thousands of people
15. As the cooking time is only 30 minutes for 3-4 large pots, if the crowd increases, it is easily to start a batch – no need to consider food wastage or excess cooking or storage etc.

People who want to serve, figure out a way to make it happen! Truly, when necessity drives innovation – science or technology or expertise in it no longer remains an issue!

The people who are cooking say that they do it all the time in Gurudwara (religious place for Sikhs), crowd management becomes easier!

There is another anecdote that it uses a similar technology like the erstwhile rail engines that used to run on steam.

Bow down to all those who made this turn into a reality and are continuing to feed thousands of people!

Please share this with your friends & family and especially students around the world who would be inspired by this!