Indian Man Dug a Tunnel for 14 Years to Park His Truck Outside His Home

When talking about willpower, most of us could learn a thing or two from Ramchandra Das, a 53 year old Indian villager who just couldn’t cope with the word no. Determined to make his and his fellow villagers’ life easier, the man dug a tunnel for 14 years to connect to a main road.

As Ramchandra Das became the first truck owner from his village, an important problem occurred. His village did not have direct access to any roads, so he couldn’t park his car outside his home.

The man who lives in eastern Bihar state, turned to the authorities for building a tunnel which would connect his home to a road, as most villagers had to walk on a trail for 7 kilometers to get to their homes. After being refused, the man decided to do it himself.

Das started to carve the mountain which separated his village from the main road with no help from others, using only a hammer and a chisel. It took him 14 years to complete the 10 m long, 4m wide tunnel from his village to Kewati,

"I could not park my truck near my house since the mountain blocked my path," he told Reuters. Das said he was also afraid of bandits stealing his truck. "I had to leave my truck miles away, so I decided to do something about it myself," Das said by telephone for the Guardian.

It seems that Das’ work was inspired by another Bihari villager, Dasharath Manjhi, who carved a 120m-long, 10m-wide and 8m-high passage so that villagers could reach a local hospital. It took him 22 years and he started after his wife died as she was unable to get to the hospital.