Darrang cycle mechanic utilizes lockdown to build beautiful earthen house
With innovations and hard work even worse time may be transformed into memorable ones. Nagen Baruah, an artisan by nature, but a cycle mechanic by profession, and a resident of Mahaliapara – Ramgaon under Sipajhar Assembly constituency in Assam’s Darrang district is one such example. He is presently under limelight at the local level as he has built an attractive earthen house while confining himself at the residence strictly following COVID-19 lockdown norms.
The structure with 10 feet length, seven feet width and just over eight feet in height christened as ‘Lockdown – 2020’ was the result of the demand of the female members of the family for an alternative kitchen to use old conventional fire wood to get rid of irregular supply of LPG gas cylinder. Baruah believes that though it will be conducive for kitchen use with the eight inches thick earthen walls besides exhauster holes, the structure is so strong that it is usable for residential purposes.
“The structure required soil equivalent to four full trailors. The walls got strengthened with the use of few slides of beetle nut trees both horizontally and vertically. Roof is made of six small tin sheets. Apart from this few bamboo pieces and some wires were used,” Baruah said. He acknowledged the physical support of his family members including his elder brother, sister-in-law, his son and a cousin’s son among others.
He claimed the durability of the structure to be not less than 30 years with little maintenance. “The structure would easily serve for 30-40 years if can be saved from water with a little zero cost maintenance in between,” he said .He is also very hopeful of building a similar larger structure in near future. Notably, Baruah has already drawn the public attention by exhibiting his creative artisan works with like making locks, pens etc out of bamboo.
