A 42-year-old artisan near Santiniketan had a childhood dream that he would one day own and drive a bus.
After years of living hand to mouth as an adolescent and adult, Uday Das of Dhanai village found out that buying a bus would not be a cakewalk. So, Das, now a father of three children, has fulfilled his childhood dream in a different way by constructing a “bus-house”.
The home has become an attraction for people around Santiniketan, many of whom make weekend trips to the site.
“In my childhood, the only vehicles that we witnessed were a few buses of the Bolpur-Suri route plying on our village road. As I can’t buy a bus, I thought about it differently. I am happy as many people are coming to see my home and are taking photographs within a fortnight of its completion,” said Das.
Das’s house is 22-feet long, 7.6-feet wide and around 8-feet high —with bus owners confirming it was exactly like a medium-sized bus.
“Our bus has no engine or steering. I made the driver’s cabin our kitchen. There are slabs where at least 20 people can easily sit” the artisan’s wife Chandana Das said.
Villagers said they knew Das as having a knack to create something new, including cement idols for local Pujas. “He is a different kind of person who is always busy in making something new. But we had no idea that he would be able to construct such a bus-house,” said Radharani Mondal, a villager.
Now, his village became a place of attraction for many from Santiniketan, who board the stationary concrete bus and return with memories and photographs.
“I heard about the bus-house two days ago and came to witness it. I took a few pictures of the house and plan to bring my family members here,” said Ataul Hoque, an English teacher of a local high school and a resident of Santiniketan.
Das said he would apply for a government identity card which could help him get a government allowance of Rs 1,000 per month as an artisan.