This Willy lookalike model Jeep is meticulously crafted by applying minute details, customization, paint, electric supply, etc excluding the engine, which is apparently justified since the architect is a 13-year old designer Abdul Rauf who is partially deaf and cannot speak properly.

More surprising is that every small and big part/accessory used in this shining motor vehicle is from waste items collected by Rauf and then assembled accordingly. From the cutting of a scrap metallic sheet and moulding it to the shape of a jeep, to joining all the electric wires, Rauf has made everything on his own, except the color, which was painted by his elder brother Riyaz.

Abdul Rauf who lives in a frail mud house located in the narrow lanes of Chittora Ka Timba near Jatwadi is no less than an exceptionally talented child with an extraordinary ability of observing anything that attracts him and then craft it in his own way.

Mostly he constructs lookalike cars, motorbikes and animals just by seeing them (Rauf has no television at home). His innovative ideas and fantastic imagination helps him to decide how to use waste scrap into a utility, like the edge of the front mirror of his car is a rubber used in pressure cookers, the heavy tyres are actually of a bicycle which he sliced into two and then joined each of them with iron nails to give it a bulky look.

Mohammad Ilyas, father of Rauf helped him communicate with UT correspondent. He told UT that this jeep is one of the best and biggest model made by his son who studies at the Theosophical Society at Shiksha Bhawan Circle, Udaipur.

Rauf’s mother Rashida Banu died of an illness when Rauf was just a 4 year old. The youngest of 6 siblings, Rauf is partially disabled like his eldest brother Riyaz who is a professional painter and is the only bread earner for this family.

“Rauf started making things from mud when he was 4; he used to make toys, animals, etc. His art became polished by the time he grew up”, says Ilyas, an unemployed driver.

Narrating the financial problems Ilyas told UT that he left his job soon after his wife died to take care of their children and always encouraged his children to follow their passion. “I know that their talent will make them earn one day”, he states confidently.

When asked what Rauf does after making such beautiful models, his father said, “He just gives it to his friends or neighbors for free, but if someone gives him money he takes it.”

Rauf is also a passionate painter; he loves doing body paint like a tattooist. The spark in his eyes indicates how high his dreams are, but the life of this Slumdog Engineer is lying between fortune and misfortune, like any other slumdog living in grimy narrow lanes while possessing superb talent.