Harmony Siganporia

Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad will soon boast of a designer bus and that too for street children. The designs will be conceived and implemented by none other than the country's foremost automobile designer, Dilip Chhabria.

And if that wasn't great here's more good news. The designer,who charges lakhs of rupees for his service, will do it for free! However, Ahmedabad is no stranger to the work of Chhabria — he designed and modified a car for world billiards champion Geet Sethi, the 'Karma', over a decade ago.

And it is this association, which will see the noted designer modify a bus for the city-based aProCh (A Protagonist In Every Child) programme's 'Bus Karo' initiative, for free. aProCh was conceived of as a 'dialogue' between the students of Riverside school, run by Sethi's wife Kiran, and Ahmedabad city, seeking to make it India's first childfriendly 'space'.

“I agreed to be a part of this initiative on impulse. Geet first spoke to me about it a few months ago,” says Chhabria The designer said he has always admired what Geet stands for and so was sure of the worthiness of the cause.

“I looked into the logistics of what the task at hand entailed and agreed to be a part of it immediately,” says Chhabria.

“In a sense, it is my way of giving back to India for having given me so much,” says Chhabria.

On the brief he's been given and the ideas he's generating for the bus, Chhabria says, “Keeping in mind that it's for children, I want to ensure that the look of it is one which will bring them joy".

"It must also have extremely high visibility, so as to attract more people to join hands for the cause — it needs to have what I call the wow factor.”

Chhabria said it was going to be young and playful, but professional at the same time -which means it won't be covered in caricatures or other stereotypical 'décor'.

“It's also going to have a futuristic edge to it and will, at the end of the day, be all about generating positive energy.”

The cost of a project such as this, were it to be commissioned on a professional basis, would come to well over Rs1 crore, perhaps even Rs2 crore, says Chhabria.

“It simply isn't viable to take on a project of this scale for under that amount.”

Chhabria says that he is looking at having the bus ready by August 15, 2008, the first anniversary of aProCh's 'Street Smart' initiative, and the date on which 'Bus Karo' was launched in 2007.

Source : DNA