You know, two months from now, on this very day (Friday the 13th), sixty-one years ago…
…a little man from South India reluctantly took a train journey to a tiny little hamlet all the way in Gujarat, to serve out the government job that would pay off his student loans.
He spent his days groaning away at a clerical desk, never getting the chance to let his MIT-trained engineering skills out to play…
…until the head of a small milk farmer’s union came to ask him to fix their pasteurizer.
Eager for some real work, he threw himself into it heart and soul, but eventually metal fatigue got the better of the machine and he told the union that they needed to upgrade. Somehow or other, every milk farmer scrimped together enough money to reach a total of over sixty thousand rupees (comparable to six million dollars today) – which was no mean feat – and they were able to get new machinery.
The little man was ready to get the hell out of dodge by this time, but the machine hadn’t arrived by the time his long-awaited resignation-acceptance letter had, and so the farmer’s union begged him to stay on for another month or two to help them – they even took up a collection to pay him.
Two months later, a country that was on the dole took its first steps into becoming one of the biggest milk producers in the world, because the little man and his college buddies made the impossible happen.
They created milk powder from buffalo milk – a feat the Anglophonic world thought impossible. (Ask the chemists. I’m just a writer.)
Friday the 13th turned out unusually lucky for an entire nation…
Chithing Premium Member over 4 years ago
Can’t decide what color Michael’s shirt is today?
jpayne4040 over 4 years ago
The day is already unlucky for Michael. His manly green jacket just turned into a girly pink one!
Michael Thorton over 4 years ago
You know, two months from now, on this very day (Friday the 13th), sixty-one years ago…
…a little man from South India reluctantly took a train journey to a tiny little hamlet all the way in Gujarat, to serve out the government job that would pay off his student loans.
He spent his days groaning away at a clerical desk, never getting the chance to let his MIT-trained engineering skills out to play…
…until the head of a small milk farmer’s union came to ask him to fix their pasteurizer.
Eager for some real work, he threw himself into it heart and soul, but eventually metal fatigue got the better of the machine and he told the union that they needed to upgrade. Somehow or other, every milk farmer scrimped together enough money to reach a total of over sixty thousand rupees (comparable to six million dollars today) – which was no mean feat – and they were able to get new machinery.
The little man was ready to get the hell out of dodge by this time, but the machine hadn’t arrived by the time his long-awaited resignation-acceptance letter had, and so the farmer’s union begged him to stay on for another month or two to help them – they even took up a collection to pay him.
Two months later, a country that was on the dole took its first steps into becoming one of the biggest milk producers in the world, because the little man and his college buddies made the impossible happen.
They created milk powder from buffalo milk – a feat the Anglophonic world thought impossible. (Ask the chemists. I’m just a writer.)
Friday the 13th turned out unusually lucky for an entire nation…
…thanks to Dr. Verghese Kurien.
erin.adamic Premium Member over 4 years ago
Shouldn’t Gabby be the one saying Michael’s line in the second panel??
WCraft Premium Member over 4 years ago
They are correct.