Hi All,

Deeply inspired by Roots Of Progress, I have written a series of essays that discuss science and technology progress from an Eastern perspective. They mix history, technology, and philosophy into storytelling.

Would love your feedback on this one. Hopefully, it gives me the confidence to share the others :)

Engineer and the Saint

A Polish engineer’s pursuit to design the perfect spinning wheel for Mahatma Gandhi

During the winter of 1931, Polish engineer Maurice Frydman (Maurycy Frydman-Mor), was in Paris in search of work during the Great Depression. He was at the Gare de Lyon railway station when he saw a large crowd gathering. A train pulled in, and a short half-naked man “all luminous and shiny as burnished gold” got down the train. The police were trying to control the crowd but the saintly figure stepped peacefully into the rabble to greet and bless them. Frydman experienced a “rapturous” and “mystical” experience. It was his first glimpse of Mahatma Gandhi, an apostle of non-violence and India’s eminent leader against the British colonial government. Such was the magnetic charisma of Gandhi that Frydman landed in India in 1935 to seek spiritual enlightenment. What was waiting for him in India was not just the life of an ascetic but the call of a humanitarian engineer, who would catalyze the Indian freedom struggle.

Spinning out a Revolution

The British government had a policy of economic exploitation of its colonies, particularly India. Cotton was bought at extremely low prices from India and then processed in the industrial mills of Manchester. The finished goods were sold at expensive prices in India. Britain’s industrialization was based on the premise of the deindustrialization of India. This policy of economic abuse was designed to keep Indians poor and subjugated.

Gandhi wanted to create a mass movement of boycotting foreign products in favor of locally manufactured goods. His strategy was to adopt the spinning wheel, a device for spinning yarn from cotton fibers, as a tool for making coarse cotton fabric or khadi. This would serve as a non-violent protest against the British textiles and create financial liberty for every individual. The idea was that Indians would feel a sense of empowerment, and self-reliance, and build up the courage to stand up against the injustices of the British Raj.

Gandhi championed the spinning wheel (Chark...

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