Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Rajeev Singhaniya was sanding down the wooden frame with all his might. Sweat dripped from his brow, soaking through his already drenched shirt. He had not worked this hard since his college days. When he first emigrated to Surya Nagari, his ability to read, write, and have a college degree allowed him to secure simple bookkeeping and accounting jobs. However, even in those, the hardest task he faced was carrying a ledger from one room to another. But as the saying goes, there is no better guru than necessity.

In order to make his dream a reality, he not only searched all over the city for a woodworking shop that was willing to make 1000 small wooden plates for him at the lowest cost, but he was also willing to sand them down himself in order to save some money.

While he was continuing to process the frame, the sound of a door opening was heard. Looking up, it was a porcelain doll-like girl who looked at him with her watery eyes, making his heart melt like an ice cube placed under the afternoon sun.

" Papa, mother called you to have lunch "

Hearing that voice, he was able to immediately cheer up.

" It will only be a while longer, go ahead, dear, I will be right behind you "

" Promise? "

" Yes, promise "

" Alright then, but if you don't come quickly, I will do two with you " ( A children's thing, 'two' shown by two fingers means two children are no longer friends, and a 'say' shown by a thumbs up means two children are close friends )

" Haha, ok " He was amused and quickly picked up the last wooden plate.

Truth be told, his hands had been killing him for days, robbing him of sleep. His forearms cramped constantly, and his palms bled without rest. Yet he could not give up, not now, not while that angelic smile still shone before his eyes. To protect that smile and to turn his dreams into reality, he had to persist, no matter the suffering.

Nearly twenty minutes passed before he was finally done. He tossed the wooden plate onto the growing pile and immediately collapsed onto the cold floor, utterly spent.

If not for the faint rise and fall of his stomach, anyone who saw him in that state, with his darkened face, malnourished frame, and limp, strengthless posture, might have believed he was already dead.

Ten minutes later, he got up with difficulty and brought himself into the hall where his wife was waiting for him, holding a food utensil.

He looked around, but his daughter was nowhere to be seen.

As if noticing his gaze, Dhanya motioned him to sit down and started to serve the rice. " Kutti went to play "

Rajeev understood and ate silently after submitting the first bite to the gods.

While he could feel the gaze of judgment that was cast on him, given that he was done with sanding down all the wooden plates, although tired, he was in a stellar mood to argue with his wife.

Seeing as how her husband did not say anything and ate, Dhanya didn't want to cause unnecessary stress either.

She sat silently at his side, staring at her husband. A pang of guilt rose in her heart when she saw how weak and haggard he had become. She knew she was part of the reason Rajeev had turned out like this. If only at the time of their marriage, she had rejected him, knowing life would be hard, maybe her own life would not have been so difficult. And if only she had not pestered him all these days, he would not have become so miserable and thin. But what could she do? Her husband's recent actions truly frightened her.

She was satisfied in the first few months after they came to Surya Nagari. Life was not rich, but it was fulfilling. But ever since her husband started to write stories and draw Chitrakalas, everything had gone downhill. Now, he did not even step outside and simply kept rubbing those wooden plates all day long. There had been no income in the family for the last month, and the expenses were only growing. If this went on...she did not want to imagine.

Rajeev was not aware of the thoughts in his wife's mind, but even if he knew he wouldn't say anything, as he was already determined to do what he set out to.

Finishing the delicious meal, he washed his hands and went back, not to work, but to rest.

Not that he was being lazy or anything, but because his hands were currently unusable for what he wanted them to do.

In order to paint, he needed steady hands, and unfortunately, when he held his hand out, it shook like the hand of a 70-year-old.

So the most he could do was hasten his recovery by rest.

---

When he woke up, his condition was much better. He went for a morning walk, read the newspaper, dropped his daughter at school, brought a litre of milk while he was coming back, talked with a few neighbours, read a few chitrakala's until the tiffin was ready, and after it was, he quickly ate the tiffin and went to his room, finally ready to start painting.

Rajiv pictured the story in his mind and tried to imagine how long it would take. The answer he came up with was about a minute for a single chapter.

Thinking about the speed at which the wooden slides would flip in his mind, he concluded that he would need around 20 slides for every second to cover a full minute. So, after taking everything into account, he decided to make the story in 1000 slides. Depending on how fast the user flipped through them, it could last anywhere from 40 seconds to over one minute and 20 seconds.

Closing his mind and picturing the cute little Pandu, a dog, in his mind and the adventures he had in the first chapter, he took up the first slide and started to draw.

He used a pencil at first, since, unlike a paper manuscript, this could not be discarded, and he did not want to use ink and make it permanent. By the time he finished his first slide, it had taken him a whole hour, his hands were sore, and he had to punch at the air continuously to make the blood flow properly again.

Fortunately, as he continued to draw, his confidence increased, and on the first day, he was able to draw 4 slides, with the fastest one only taking around 20 minutes.

The same routine continued the next day, and this time, with renewed confidence and knowing exactly what he wanted, he used the paintbrush directly. As he thought, it was faster, and by the end of the second day, he had completed 15 slides.

In such a way, his days continued until, eventually, 5 weeks later, he was finally done; he had completed all the slides. Although there were hiccups along the way, he was still able to get the job done.

" Papa, this is very funny, haha "

His daughter giggled as she saw the silly image of the older dog on the last slide.

Looking at his daughter, he felt fulfilled. Isn't this what he wanted, to see his daughter smile and be happy forever?

The determination in his heart only increased, and even the remarks his wife casually threw this morning no longer affected him.

With the drawing being done, he quickly took up a piece of paper, roughly sketched a mechanism, and went directly to the post office.

He placed the manuscript into the envelope, had it sealed, and posted it to his own location.

After he came back, he did another sketch and went to the woodworking shop, where he bought the wooden plates directly.

After he showed the young carpenter what he wanted, the young man stroked his chin.

" The chamber shouldn't be too difficult; it can be done. The legs are also not a problem, but the problem is this "

He tapped on the paper.

" In order for the crank to work, we need metal parts; it cannot be done with wood "

"Unfortunately, these metal parts are costly. They will either have to be custom-made for your requirements, or salvaged from a bicycle, and both options are quite expensive."

After staying silent for a while, the young carpenter named Purusottam looked up.

" Brother, since you're an old customer, I'll not count the profit from you, I'll do this machine for you at cost price "

" If you want me to import a custom part, then it might cost over 10000 Varaha "

" Although this is a little expensive, it is the best for quality and compatibility "

" However, if you want me to use parts from a bicycle, then it will be cheaper, maybe around 6000 or even less, but I don't know when the parts will be available "

Rajeev was shocked, " It costs so much? "

Purushottam shook his head, "It's really not that much if you think about it. I could earn the same amount of money by doing other work that takes far less time than this custom job. So I hope you understand why the price is set like this."

Noticing the pained look on Rajeev's face, Purushottam softened a little.

"Alright, brother. I can't promise anything, but I'll try to find a defective bicycle part. It won't be of any use for a bicycle, but it should work perfectly fine for your device. If I can convince the workshop to sell it at just the price of the metal, then I can build what you asked for, only at a few thousand Varaha."

Rajeev let out a breath of relief. "Thank you for your help, Purushottam."

"Here's the deposit," he said, handing over 100 Varaha.

"It's a little less," Purushottam said, taking it, "but since brother is an old customer, I'll make do. However, once I get the part, you'll need to pay 75% of the price before I can begin the work."

"Sure, no problem. I'll come again in a few days, you can tell me then."

But as Rajeev walked back home, he couldn't shake off his unease. He had thought that since the whole thing could be built with wood, the price wouldn't be too high. But he was completely wrong.

Thousands of Varaha, money he simply didn't have. His whole house didn't hold that much. If it had been under a thousand, maybe he could have convinced his wife and taken it out of her savings. But even if he combined her savings with his own, it wouldn't cross 1500.

Worry weighed on him. Then, suddenly, he remembered a piece of news he'd read just a few days ago: entrepreneurs were being offered loans with no interest for two years, and a company could be registered for just 20 Varaha.

His eyes lit up. 'I'm an entrepreneur too, am I not?'

With that thought, he went straight to the Panchayat, only to realise, halfway there, that he hadn't brought any money. With a heavy sigh, he turned back.