The Umbrella Kid that charges your phone

Every day, Ramkrishna Ahirwar, who lives in Karmedi village of Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, was worried about his father. The 14-year-old would watch his father, who is a farmer, struggle with his commute between their home and the farm land, especially during the rains.

So, the young man created an all-purpose solar umbrella that would make his father’s life infinitely better. In fact, so ingenious is the umbrella, that not only has it won awards in exhibitions at the national level but Ramkrishna will be heading to Japan in May having been selected for Sakura (Japan) Exchange programme, which falls under INSPIRE award of Ministry of Science and Technology.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Ramkrishna says, “During the rains, my father had to carry a torch in one hand and an umbrella with the other during the rains. So I thought it would be great if I could one umbrella with a number of features that leaves one of his hands free.”

And the umbrella boasts a bevy of features that would leave anybody impressed. For starters, it comes with two LED lights that are charged by solar panels built into the umbrella.

But that’s not all. It comes with a music player (you read that right) and a mobile charging unit (so your phone doesn’t run out of charge). If you are worried about getting chased by wild animals, then there is also an in-built siren that can be activated to scare them away. And in case of cloudy days, one can also electrically charge the umbrella.

To build this one-of-a-kind umbrella, Ramkrishna resorted to scouring bits and pieces from everyday household items. For instance, he pulled out the bulbs from basic torch lights; he used the charging point of a mosquito killing racket to fix the charging unit for the umbrella and the solar panels were also pulled out of torches.

And in this tiny little village, he created a high-tech solace for his father.