Yearly within the coastal city of Puri, Odisha, an ocean of individuals gathers to witness one thing bigger than life. The Rath Yatra — the grand procession of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra — isn’t confined to a single day or place. It begins a lot earlier: on rooftops the place households watch the chariots being constructed, in crowded trains crammed with pilgrims, in kitchens the place prasads are ready with care. Lakhs of devotees, some barefoot, some in tears, tug on thick ropes to tug three towering picket chariots by the streets, their chants rising like waves.
However few know that for many years, this deeply non secular journey carried an unseen threat.
These majestic chariots, every weighing over 40 tonnes, as soon as had no brakes. As soon as they gained momentum, they wouldn’t cease simply. Even when a whole lot tried to carry them again, they might roll forward uncontrollably — typically by as a lot as eight to 10 ft. And in these moments, folks acquired harm. Ft crushed. Lives endangered. The enjoyment of the yatra was shadowed by nervousness.
Ashwini Kumar Mishra, a retired engineer, noticed this unfold 12 months after 12 months. And it troubled him deeply.
“If I, an engineer, can’t cease this hazard… what’s the purpose of my training?” he requested himself.
And so, didn’t communicate loudly about what was fallacious. He merely started engaged on what may very well be proper.
With no funding, no formal project, and no highlight, Ashwini took it upon himself to alter this. He started designing a brake system with what was out there — sal wooden logs and rubber straps. After months of trial and error, he developed a mechanism that may very well be lowered by a sequence and pulley system to behave as a brake when wanted.
The rubber was reduce in a particular sample to grip the highway, and the straps cushioned the impression, stopping the chariot with out damaging its huge picket wheels.
“Rubber doesn’t tear simply. And it acts like a shock absorber,” Ashwini explains, gently however with regular pleasure.
It was a easy resolution. However one which labored.
And since that day — for the final 16 years — Ashwini and his small workforce have returned, 12 months after 12 months, to suit their brake system to every of the three grand chariots. They do it with precision. They do it with out fanfare. They usually do it with out accepting a single rupee.
“This work of making certain security is a service,” he says. “And that, to me, is true devotion.”
He doesn’t communicate of awards or recognition. There are not any information clippings in his house. What offers him peace is the information that immediately, the chariots cease when they should — and folks really feel safer pulling them.
In a world usually speeding in direction of the brand new and the shiny, Ashwini Kumar Mishra’s story reminds us that actual impression typically comes from essentially the most unassuming corners. From previous fingers that also construct. From hearts that also care.
