This story is part of “India Invented This?” — The Better India’s weekly trivia series that uncovers the Indian minds, ideas and innovations behind inventions that have shaped the way we live. From ingenious solutions created by scientists and engineers to technologies developed in response to some of India’s biggest challenges, each story goes beyond the invention to explore the problem it solved, the impact it created and why it still matters today.

At 14, Remya Jose had more than enough competing for her time.

She was preparing for her Class X exams, spending nearly four hours travelling to school and back, and helping at home while her mother was ill and her father was undergoing cancer treatment. Then there was the laundry.

With no washing machine at their home in Kerala’s Malappuram district, Remya and her twin sister, Soumya, spent hours washing the family’s clothes by hand. Soaking, scrubbing, rinsing and wringing ate into time she desperately needed elsewhere.

Her family could not afford a washing machine. But Remya began wondering whether she really needed to buy one in the first place.

She had seen how an electric washing machine worked. At its heart, a drum simply had to keep turning through water and detergent. An electric motor usually did that job.

Remya looked at something her family already had and asked a different question: could a bicycle do it instead?

Could a bicycle do the job of a washing machine? 

After her Class 10 exams, Remya began putting that........

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