He a small time bus owner in a remote village and she the Greta Garbo of Bengali screen who shunned public life after her farewell to films decades ago.

But the Garboesque engima surrounding the post-retirement life of Bengali screen goddess Suchitra Sen, whom the nation remembers for her power woman role in "Aandhi" in the early 1970s, has not detered Sarat Konar of Burdwan district from zealously celebrating her April 6 birthday every year - for the past 30 years.

Sarat Konar of Natun Pally in Burdwan ekes out a living by running a bus service but every April 6 he decorates his vehicle with flowers and garlands Sen's portrait inside the bus.

He also distributes sweets among passengers and employees and plays old songs from Sen movies to celebrate the day and remember his first brush with the actress in the 1960s during the shooting of a film.

Konar, now in his 60s, was a student in a Kolkata college when he went to see the shooting of "Grihadaha", a Bengali film based on a Sarat Chatterjee novel. He was 20 then and was stumped by the beauty, charm and august bearing of Sen, who dominated Bengali filmdom for over two decades in tandem with matinee idol Uttam Kumar.

"She was ravishing in a blue-bordered saree. Since then, I became a blind fan of Sen and never missed a single movie of hers. I also started celebrating her birthday," Konar said.

Konar also named his bus "Biswabandita", meaning one whom the world appreciates - a label that stuck to Sen in her heydays.

Sen, who scorched the Bengali screen in black and white era and also won many a heart with Hindi movies opposite stars like Dev Anand, Ashok Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar and Dharmendra, remained incommunicado and mostly unseen after quitting films in late 1970s.

Her daughter Moonmoon Sen and granddaughters Ria and Raima act in Hindi and Bengali movies.