Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Dakshin Bharatiya Empire, Vijayanagara State, Bharatiya Academy of Sciences, Capital city - Hampi.

|| 1655 Vedic Calendar, three months and three weeks after the New Year ||

Hey Ram, who was busy managing the affairs in the Bharatiya Academy of Military Sciences, received a sudden invite from the Bharatiya Academy of Civilian Sciences. Looking at the invitation letter, he concluded that this was the work of His Majesty, the Emperor.

Usually, he is very busy in the Bharatiya Academy of Military Sciences with the affairs of upgrading various weaponry and equipment for the military, so he does not often get invited to participate in the various projects of the Bharatiya Academy of Civilian Sciences.

Now that the invite had been received, and that too with the royal family’s seal, Hey Ram concluded that the project this time should be special, as he believed it was something His Majesty provided himself.

Quickly finishing the work, he left a bookmark on the document for him to get back to it again. Then, he took a carriage and left for the Bharatiya Academy of Civilian Sciences. The building was not far, as it was only a kilometre away, so he reached the building within a few minutes.

Stepping inside, he was welcomed by various artisans—or rather, they should be called scientists now, according to His Majesty’s orders. Even their names in the book of registration had been changed from artisans to scientists, along with the field they specialized in. Anyway, Hey Ram soon entered the building and was taken to a remote corner that was locked away and isolated.

Hey Ram knew the protocols of secrecy, so he did not ask any questions. Besides, he had been here multiple times in the past, so it was not new to him.

Upon entering the secret room, he saw a group of men passionately discussing amongst themselves.

"It should go like this."

"No, this gear and lever should be attached."

"No, it is obviously like this."

"And the ink should be attached here."

They were obviously very passionate in their discussion, almost about to fight with each other. But when Hey Ram entered the room, everyone quieted down.

"So, what is happening?" Hey Ram asked, to which he was quickly taken to the design drawings drawn by Vijay.

Hey Ram, who looked at the design drawings, stood there in stunned silence for a whole 15 minutes. The scientists nodded in understanding, as they too were mesmerized by the designs. "Beautiful," Hey Ram said to himself. There were dozens of different design drawings with prototypes of multiple parts. Individually, he could understand each one of them.

There were design drawings for some sort of plate, a belt driving system, different gear and shaft designs, attachments for the water wheel, an ink injection system, and other things. However, when all these things were put together, he did not know what it was.

Fully turning over the design drawings, he finally came to an understanding that this was a design drawing for a printing machine called Raya Printing. "Is this printing machine invented by His Majesty the Emperor?" he thought after reading the name of the printing machine.

Although he knew that His Majesty was very talented and knowledgeable when it comes to mechanical designs, he was still shocked beyond belief that His Majesty could design such complex machines right after leading the development of machine tools. "Your Majesty, where is your limit?" he said to himself, with admiration.

Finally, he looked at the notes written by His Majesty, which contained the detailed manual about various parts in the prototype and where they should be assembled.

Hey Ram had almost grasped most of the concepts of this printing machine, except for some mechanical problems he still couldn’t figure out. Just as he was thinking about this, he heard the sound of a teenager right outside the room.

"Oh, it’s here! Why is this place located in such a remote location? I almost thought we were lost."

Opening the door, the person who came in was the young scientist and nobility title holder, Naveen Bhatt. Hey Ram was relieved to see the boy, as he could understand his majesty’s thoughts. With the boy managing the mechanical and gear-related issues in the printing press, he would handle the rest. ’It is a sound solution,’ he thought to himself.

"Oh, you are here too, Uncle Hey Ram," Naveen said as soon as he saw Hey Ram.

Upon hearing the word "uncle," Hey Ram suddenly became unhappy. He was not yet in his middle age, so why was he being called uncle? In his unhappiness, he responded in a stern tone, "It’s Director Hey Ram for you."

"Alright, Director Uncle Hey Ram," Naveen said, still with the same enthusiasm.

"Sigh"

Hey Ram let it go, and Naveen, looking around, greeted all the familiar faces he had met before. Finally, when he asked about the reason for his summons, he was shown the design drawings His Majesty had drawn.

"Whoa!"

"Look at all these parts."

"They are designed so exquisitely."

"Each of these parts is working with the other parts in absolute harmony."

"Which freaking god designed these drawings?"

"Wow, look at the gear system design. This design is even better than mine."

"How did this designer incorporate two different functionalities into a single gear system?"

"Wow, is it because of this central gear shaft? Why didn’t I think of that? I am such an idiot."

"Wow, wow, wow."

Watching the kid going nuts after reading the design paper and rambling on again and again, Hey Ram could understand the boy for the first time. He left him alone for a while and went to discuss with the scientists present their ideas.

"So, what do all the scientists think?"

"We all unanimously think that this is an epoch-making design. It’s just that we are not understanding how to assemble all these individual parts together, which is what we were debating about."

Hearing the scientists’ worry, Hey Ram nodded his head as he replied, "Leave that worry to me and the kid back there. He may not look like it, but he might actually be the most Talented mechanical design and gear system design expert in the empire," he said. But suddenly, he remembered something and added, "Well, except for His Majesty the Emperor, that is."

"So, is there any problem with the individual manufacturing of these parts?" he asked.

"There is no such thing, Your Excellency the Director. The difficulty in manufacturing these parts is actually no different from manufacturing a machine tool. You can leave this task to us," one of the older men among the scientists replied.

"That’s good. Then do we have a metal engraver who is among the best in the empire, in order to engrave the printing plate?"

The scientists looked at each other. Although they were previously craftsmen, they wouldn’t dare to claim that they were the best engravers in the empire. Metal engraving requires a lot of years of experience, so it is inherently a rare profession. But now, the level of artistry needed was to be the best in the empire.

How could an engraver work in the Academy of Military Sciences, where most of the work does not involve metal engraving?

Still, one of the scientists lifted his hand and answered, "Your Excellency, although the Academy of Sciences does not have such a person, I do know of an artisan who would be considered one of the best in the empire. He owns an engraving shop on the northern outskirts of the city. I will call him right away with your orders."

Hey Ram thought for a moment and ordered, "Bring him." At the same time, he glanced at a corner where a person was standing and winked at them.

"Hey, Uncle Ravi, when are we going to build it?" Naveen Suddenly asked.

"If this marvel of a machine is not built, the god who designed it will strike us down with his thunder." n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Hey Ram rolled his eyes in exasperation. He didn’t even care how the boy dropped the word "director" when mentioning him.

"God, why are you punishing me with a younger brother I never wanted," Hey Ram fretted to himself as he went on to deal with Naveen and jot down his thoughts. Although he did not want to do this, unfortunately, the boy was very talented and had more ideas than him, so he was left with no choice.

"By the way, Uncle Hey Ram, which god designed this?"

"It’s His Majesty the Emperor."

"Ah, it is His Majesty. No wonder it is so sophisticated and precise. I already knew His Majesty was a god in industrial design after I worked for him while designing the machine tools."

"So, do you have any ideas about how to arrange these parts together?"

"Of course I do. It’s like this..."

Four hours later...

An old man around 50 years old was brought to a room in the Bharatiya Academy of Sciences. Hey Ram, who had finished discussing with Naveen Bhatt, went to meet the director of the civilian academy, Gambhir, along with his assistant. Hey Ram looked directly at the assistant and asked, "So, can the old man be trusted?"

Hearing the question, the assistant and the director were not surprised by Hey Ram’s inquiry, as they knew what he was referring to.

"Your Excellency, the old man’s name is Gyanesh Reddy. He hails from a village in Kakatiya Puri state (Andhra Pradesh). After reviewing all his documents, we found that he has a clean record. He has had very little contact with the Mughals or any Muslims for that matter. The only exception was when Portuguese merchants came to inspect our industry; his works caught the eye of one of the merchants.

Apart from that, there is no outside influence on him."

"Does that mean it’s a green signal to employ him?"

"Yes, Your Excellency, that’s what my analysis conveyed."

Hey Ram nodded his head as he bid goodbye to the director of the Bharatiya Academy of Sciences and the assistant, who was actually the direct subordinate of Selvan, the director of Bharatiya Internal Pragya.

After their meeting, Hey Ram promptly signed a contract with the old man. The agreement stipulated that he would work for the Bharatiya Academy of Sciences and train apprentices as required, in exchange for generous rewards.

P.S. It was an unproductive day today, could not study anything, but hey I was able to put out 2 chaps.