Odisha's chaiwala turn into an incredible craftsman | Chai प्रेम : Chai | Travel | Stories

A prolonged freeze, necessitated by a deadly coronavirus pandemic, has deprived millions of their livelihoods. But a few others have used the time as an opportunity to succeed, Ved Vikash Sahoo is one of them.

Bhubaneswar neighbourhood-based Ved Vikash, who used to sell Chai (Tea), unleashed an innovative impulse to turn him into an incredible craftsman. He used the old newspaper to represent the art and culture of Odisha. Among his works are the famous Eiffel Tower and many home decor pieces. He's even been making drawings.

Ved Vikash have a cafe in Infocity, Bhubaneswar. With lockdown his business was hurt and with no work he diverted his attention to his crafting skills. He began to do these crafts, he said, to distract his stressed mind. He used waste old newspapers and reuse them to build beautiful crafts using glue and watercolor. He rolls these newspapers papers neatly and stack them using glue to build various designs. So far, he has created more than 30 incredible crafts, including Lord Jagannath, Konark Temple, Shri Khetra, Chariots of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, Eiffel Tower and many more.

The dream of Ved Vikash is to train his craft to school children. Ved Vikash said "through this I want to promote Odisha's art and culture." Three years ago, Ved Vikash came to Bhubaneswar, who comes from Patnagarh in Balangir District. He studied hotel management and spent five years outside Odisha, working in the hotel industry.