The portable dheki. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Guwahati, Jan. 14: The times they are a changin’, and so is Bihu.

In keeping with the needs of urban society, an enterprising youth has modified one of the few remaining symbols of Bihu, the dheki (wooden grinder), into a modern, easy-to-use contraption. The improvised dheki is the brainchild of Lakhimpur-based innovator Uddhab Bharali and was displayed for the first time at the pre-Bhogali Bihu festival at the NEDFi Haat here.

By all accounts, the mini dheki is portable and easy to operate. “It is a handy tool and can be operated by even a child. Unlike the traditional dheki, there is no chance of hurting yourself while operating this tool,” a NEDFi Haat official said. The dheki is considered indispensable in making pitha, a Bihu delicacy, out of ground rice.

Government official Rupa Barua is one of those impressed by the dheki in its new avatar. “I miss the rural ambience, characterised by the dheki, each Bihu. But I cannot go to my village each Bihu and it is difficult to set up the traditional dheki in a house within the city.

So, I was really happy on seeing the mini version, which is suitable for people like us.”

The mini dheki, priced affordably at Rs 250, can grind one kg of wet rice in 20 minutes. “It has been designed in such a way that the moisture content remains intact. The bowl is four-and-a-half inches and is made of gun metal and stainless steel welded together,” its creator said.

Bharali, who runs a “small enterprise” called UKB Agrotech, has three more innovations to his credit — a mini supari-cutting machine and two gadgets for husking rice and dressing broiler chicken.

He has submitted a model of the mini dheki to the Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN)-Northeast at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.

GIAN-Northeast helps in the transition of an innovation into a product and, subsequently, an enterprise.