Berhampur: Hari Govind Maharana is a crafty with cars and motorcycles - anyone who has had their vehicle checked by the 49-year-old at the garage he works will testify to that.

But Maharana also has a keen eye for detail, as evidenced by the chariot with three deities he made out of dry foods.

"I used 51 varieties of dry foods to make this chariot. I returned home from my garage at 10pm and concentrated on making the chariot after dinner for about two hours. It took me five months time to complete it. I made the 30-inch tall and 16-inch wide chariot with my daughter, Preeti, a Class-IX student," he said.

Hari used maize grains in the 16 wheels and pillars. Sugarcanes were used as axles and more than 500 turmeric to create the platform. Another 120 turmeric were used as the pitha where the deities sit. The turmeric was polished according to their required size. The roof structure was made with cinnamon, green gram, horse gram, black gram, rice, wheat, mustard seed, cashew, ragi and others.

That apart, Maharana created the dadhinauti with paddy, parrot with aniseed and its beak with red chilli, flag with seven neem leaves and the flag rod with tulsi stick, the rope of the chariot with fibres of maize, white horse with poppy seed, black horse with black cumin seed, sarathi with lac, the three deities with betel, saffron, dry ridge gourd seeds and arrowroot, their crown with paddy, rice and wheat. The deities were placed on red sandalwood, Hari said.

"The idea came to my mind after I surrendered my cable connection about a year ago. I used to spend my leisure time watching television and it affected the studies if my son and daughter. So I decided to divert my mind to something else."

"I made a statue of Lord Ganesh with soap. Then I made a statue of Radha and Krishna. My friends encouraged me to make more such items and I decided to make the chariot for rath yatra," he said.