State Award in the 6th National Biennial Competition and IGNITE 2010 and 2009.
What’s the Big Idea?
Well, there are many from this young girl who is truly a serial innovator. Her ideas include a multipurpose trolley for moving heavy stuff; hi-tech toilets for trains; a flameless seal maker; conveyor belt system and many others.
What’s the Inspiration?
“Simply that I love to innovate. I like challenges and get motivated when I have to find my way out of a problem,” says Masha matter-of-factly about her many innovations.
Her first innovation was when she was just nine years old and the number has gone up to 10 since then.
Some of her innovations include:
Hi-Tech Train Toilet
It’s a way to keep railway lines near the stations clean. All toilet waste is stored in a tank while the train is standing at a station. Once the train travels to a remote place, the driver releases the valve that opens the tank to dump the waste.
Flameless Seal Maker
Masha’s father worked for the government. Visiting her father’s office, she often saw him use lac to seal important documents. He did it manually by holding a stick of lac in his hands over a candle flame and heating it for 10 to 15 minutes. It was risky because lac is inflammable. Masha felt bad for her father and when he challenged her to “try to find a new way of doing it,” she accepted.
It was difficult because “for 350 years since Emperor Jehangir, lac has always been heated over a flame”. But Masha was not one to lose hope. Encouraged by her father, she spent that entire summer vacation working out a solution. Six months of hard work and many trials later, she came up with a modern solution to an age-old problem.
Her Flameless Seal Maker does exactly what the name suggests– it seals documents without using fire. It has a compartment where lac is placed and heated using batteries or electricity. A piston pushes this melted lac on the document and allows the user to control its flow. The result – accurate and uniform seal with no danger of getting hurt. It’s so simple, even an untrained person can operate it.
Applications
The flameless seal maker was successfully tested at polling stations in Kanyakumari during elections. “This was the first time no flame was used,” says Masha proudly. The then Chief Election Commissioner also came to know of this device and had discussion with Masha on using it in more places.
Mechanical Porter: Lift, Move & Place Heavy Things Comfortably
Masha travelled to different places for receiving awards or participating in conferences. Many times, she was alone and struggled with her heavy luggage. Airports had trolleys to move the luggage, but it was difficult to lift and place it on the conveyor belt and then back on the trolley.
She came up with a brilliant solution: a multi- purpose trolley. It has a flat base that can be moved up or down. Once luggage is put on the base, it is raised to the required height using a jack-like mechanism. The trolley is very handy for placing luggage on the conveyor belt at airports, in the car trunk or even for moving heavy things around the house such as gas cylinders or 10 litre water bottles.
It was difficult because “for 350 years since Emperor Jehangir, lac has always been heated over a flame”. But Masha was not one to lose hope. Encouraged by her father, she spent that entire summer vacation working out a solution. Six months of hard work and many trials later, she came up with a modern solution to an age-old problem.
Her Flameless Seal Maker does exactly what the name suggests– it seals documents without using fire. It has a compartment where lac is placed and heated using batteries or electricity. A piston pushes this melted lac on the document and allows the user to control its flow. The result – accurate and uniform seal with no danger of getting hurt. It’s so simple, even an untrained person can operate it.
Applications
The flameless seal maker was successfully tested at polling stations in Kanyakumari during elections. “This was the first time no flame was used,” says Masha proudly. The then Chief Election Commissioner also came to know of this device and had discussion with Masha on using it in more places
Mechanical Porter: Lift, Move & Place Heavy Things Comfortably
Masha travelled to different places for receiving awards or participating in conferences. Many times, she was alone and struggled with her heavy luggage. Airports had trolleys to move the luggage, but it was difficult to lift and place it on the conveyor belt and then back on the trolley.
She came up with a brilliant solution: a multi-purpose trolley. It has a flat base that can be moved up or down. Once luggage is put on the base, it is raised to the required height using a jack-like mechanism. The trolley is very handy for placing luggage on the conveyor belt at airports, in the car trunk or even for moving heavy things around the house such as gas cylinders or 10 litre water bottles.
Awards & Accolades
She won the State Award in NIF’s 6th National Biennial Competition and IGNITE 2010 and 2009. The Japanese government invited her to visit Tokyo and Gifu. She also participated in the 93rd Indian Science Congress at Hyderabad and the 32ndNational Science Exhibition at Raipur. She has also met Chief Ministers of 5 different states.
Masha’s innovations have got her many awards and an audience with many high-placed people. But her favourite is still Dr. Kalam. She says, “I have met him six times and he always encouraged me. The last time that I met him, he asked me how many awards have I won? When I said six, he smiled and told me, ‘That’s very good. See, winning awards has become a habit for you.’”
Support from Family
Masha’s family includes her parents and a younger sister. Her family supports her a lot. They make money available for her innovations and travel with her to different competitions. And when they can’t travel with her, they trust and allow her to go alone. “Muslim girls don’t generally get the same opportunities like I did thanks to my parents. I have been travelling around the world attending conferences and I have also travelled alone to Japan. There are many children with hidden talents, but without correct guidance and motivation they cannot do well,” she speaks with pride in her parents.
Hopes & Dreams
Her next innovation is an alarm that sounds an alert if a child is drowning.
Masha dreams of using her ideas to help people. Her achievements at such a young age show that there is truly no limit to what we can accomplish if we set our heart on it.
Note: Masha won the State Award in the 6th National Biennial Competition and IGNITE 2010 and 2009. NIF has supported her in prototype development. It also engaged interns from a design institute to improve upon the prototype, which was displayed at the India International Trade Fair in 2010. NIF has also filed an application for a patent (3285/CHE/2010) in her name. She was covered on Teenovation, a program on Zee Q that showcases child innovators identified with NIF’s help.
Patent No:- 3285/CHE/2010