Amit Kumar Saha drives his self designed autorickshaw in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 4: Travelling in autorickshaws is an exasperating and wearing experience for commuters. If the seats are replaced with a comfortable couch and the dull interiors are turned into a beautifully decorated space, one would probably love to enjoy long drives in the three-wheeled vehicle.

Autorickshaw driver Amit Kumar Saha’s vehicle is infact, a realisation of the above dream. Decked with beaded chains and adorned with lights and hand made crafts, Saha’s rickshaw is favourite with tourists and local commuters.

“I have been riding the vehicle for the last three and half years. But the thought of decorating the interiors of my vehicle struck me two years ago,” said Saha. “First, I replaced the hard coir seats with a soft couch since uncomfortable seats is usually a complaint of customers. Soon, I started collecting old, discarded waste items and started designing small crafts out of them to place at the dashboard,” he said.

The dashboard of the vehicle has same-sized idols of different Gods and Goddesses created with intricate craft work. But the attractive feature is the miniature fence that Saha has made out of small wooden scales and thermocol.

He had placed small balls fitted with lights on the fence and cut-outs of figurines on invitation cards have been used on a small gate at the centre of the fence on his rickshaw’s dashboard.

“I collected few colourful bells and balls during Christmas that are used to decorate Christmas trees. I lined some of these inside the auto and inserted lights in few of them,” he said.

He had pasted a collage of tourism spots of the state inside the vehicle. “Many tourists sit in my vehicle and even shoot the interiors. They inquire about these tourism spots. This is a small way of promoting our state’s tourism attractions,” said Saha.

Commuters seem to love the decorated vehicle. “Right from the comfortable couch to Sachin’s posters instead of loud film posters, the rickshaw has a perfect homely feel,” said Renuka, a customer.

Saha’s vehicle picks people from the Ram Mandir Square or Ekamra Haat. He believes the vehicle is decorated only half-way now.

“I have many plans for further decoration. I’m currently collecting money to buy a small LCD TV to fit in behind the driver’s seat and in front of the customer,” added Saha.