An ATM machine for ‘Education’? How we created world’s first education vending machine.
There are certain things/topics that should be devoid of any statistics. There should be certain things which should require no ‘proof’, ‘stats’, or ‘report’ to prove its importance or need.
EDUCATION is that thing. It is something very natural. More natural than food, water or air. For if you have knowledge, rest will follow.
Before I jump further into the details, let me give you a very quick background of where I come form.
Having lived my entire live in India, history was something that I was always fascinated about. Given the timeline of India (dating back to 20,000+ years) the material and resources were abundant and enough to make me love history and literature.
The moment I left Infosys, I started my own magazine by the name of ‘The Wounded Tiger’ but was not able to sustain it for more than 2 issues. But, the entrepreneur in me was just getting started. Soon enough, I started Kalaage.net (a platform for writers, and publishers) with my co-founder and moved our base to Gurgaon, where we eventually got funded and incubated.
One fine day, with Kalaage completing 3 years and amassing 50,000+ writers, one of my friend gave a very bizarre idea : ‘Raghav, what if stories could come out from machine?’……..
That did it. That line did it. That thought did it. That idea did it. I was sold. Even before knowing what he meant, even before asking for more, even before thinking. And one fine day…. GAATHA was born.
GAATHA (sanskrit for story) was Asia’s first ‘Story Vending Machine’. After six month of R&D and investing some decent amount of money, we were able to create a physical ATM type machine which actually spit out stories.
Have a look at this video to see it in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCZpD5KRZOs
But I was not yet satisfied. I was happy that we were able to create something unique, but I needed to do more. India wanted me to do more, and eventually she whispered it to me : ‘Raghav, use this to educate them…..’
That did it. That line did it. That thought did it. That idea did it. I was sold. Even before knowing what she meant, even before asking for more, even before thinking. And one fine day…. GAATHA SHIKSHA ATM was born.
I wanted India to be the world’s first country to have ‘ACCESSIBLE’ free education for all without any rule, compulsion, or bondage. I wanted education to be like a person’s ‘FREE WILL’.
So, we deep dive into various discussion, and modified GAATHA to GAATHA SHIKSHA (Hindi word for education ATM.)
So, already having the machine, we tweaked the interface and made it very simple for a common man to access it.
The steps to operate it were very easy:
- Tap on the screen mounted on machine (just like ATM).
- Select your preferred language.
- Select the category related to which you need information:
a) 1–12th class notes
b) Regional language stories
c) Government Schemes
d) My Government
e) All minister profiles
f) General awareness - Select the preferred category and the scroll will come out of the machine with all the information.
Have a look at below screen:
We did meet Mr.Nitin Gadkari in 2018 to collaborate with Maharashtra Government and implement it in the state of Maharashtra
Even after 10+ meeting with the then Education minister, Mr.Vinod Tawde, and after his approval the project did not see the day of light.
We were forced to shut down our operations as no one was willing to help or support us.
As an Indian Entrepreneur, what I have realized is that there is no place for real innovation as of now. People are not yet ready to accept solutions to India’s issues that could be implemented on a national level.
We gave or blood, sweat, money, brain, and everything else to GAATHA but……
But, as a wise man has once said :
When GOD puts a dream in your heart….you are bound to succeed.
I thank my entire team to making this happen. One day we will create a realization of epic proportion…….
