Invention: A few kilometres from Gola Bazaar in Sipsu is a small village of Girigaon. And here is a man that locals call “scientist”.

Budhiman Mongar, 52, is famous. He is always thinking about creating or inventing something. His mind works like a machine.

This is the same man who some years ago wanted to build a helicopter. He did but the chopper could not fly. The project proved too expensive and he ran out of budget.

“The dream has not died,” says Budhiman, looking over the craps of the machine he so wanted to see hover in the sky. “I will succeed someday.”

While he has stashed his dream of building a flying machine temporarily, Budhiman is on to his next project – building a machine that can peel 100 domas in a go.

Peeling doma is an exhausting enterprise. And this sure is a good news for paan shops.

“Such a machine doesn’t exist. And that’s exactly what I am going to create,” says Budhiman, who expects to complete his project in about a month. “This machine can peel more than 100 domas automatically in less than 10 minutes.”

The idea struck him about two years when he was sitting by a paan shop looking at a guy peeling doma. Not long after, Budhiman developed a prototype without automation.

Now, though, everything is pretty much all set. Nuts and bolts, blades, wire…all ready to give shape and roar to the machine.

“All I now need is some peace to focus on my project,” says the village scientist. “Complete peace is what I seek.”

Already Budhiman has received orders from doma sellers in Samtse. That means he must work hard. Building one doma-peeling machine will cost him no less than Nu 6,000.

Budhiman’s fame as local inventor shot up when in 2000 he designed satellite dish. About 6,000 dishes were distributed. He still gets orders.

He also designed a brick-manufacturing machine. Labour ministry recognised his contribution and sent him to Hyderabad, India to learn brick making. Government also gave him a 30-decimal plot to start a brick plant. Budhiman Mongar has approached the Business Opportunity and Information Centre (BOiC) for a Nu 2-million loan.

Rajesh Rai, Samtse

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