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| Sunday, 4 January 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Dazzling vehicles with a fusion of colours by Neomi Kodikara
During my short stay in Dhaka, thousands of vivid, dazzling vehicles adorned with Bangladeshi folk art or decorated with gods or cinema stars marvelled and impressed me as we travelled through the usual crowded tangle of traffic. More colourful than their counterparts in other cities, the Bangladeshi rickshaw has many distinctive features, unique to that country. A rickshaw or ricksha is a cart-like taxi used in many metropolitans in Southeast Asia, and more so in the Indian sub-continent as a mode of human-powered transport. Rickshaws pulled by runners are banned in many countries, though they can still be seen in cities like Calcutta. In Bangladesh, the quite common type is a cycle rickshaw, in which a cart is attached to a bicycle operated by a 'driver'. 'Puller' was promoted to 'driver' with the disappearance of hand-pulled rickshaws, though the word 'puller' is widely used in Dhaka. The history of rickshaws goes back to Japan, where a European missionary is said to have invented it during the nineteenth century. The name derives from the Japanese expression 'ji riki shaw' which means 'vehicle propelled by man'.
For thousands of villagers migrating to Dhaka the rickshaw is a means of earning a living. No one knows exactly how many 'rickhas' there are today in the streets of Dhaka, where there are most. Registered rickshaws in Dhaka are around 100,000 but the actual number is said to be at least five times higher, providing employment for twice as many pullers. The cycle rickshaw is quite popular with the common man in Dhaka. It is used by employees going to work, children for their school ride, women for shopping and even young couples for their evening outings. At peak hours of the morning, the pavements, the roads and every nook and corner overflow with busy crowds, rushing for their day's work. A traffic policeman standing patiently, in the middle of vehicles rattling through the road, waving a stick, reminded me of the manner of a conductor. Buses lurched along the way. Cars, trishaws and motorcyclists wound themselves about the heavier vehicles, stealing space. In the midst of all this, numerous rickshaws trotted along, one after the other like waves. Chrome panels sparkled in the sunlight. The painting of a famous movie star's face smiled at us. Hundreds or rickshaws waiting at traffic lights give a fusion of colours. Every bit of the cart is decorated with tassels, metallic stripes or some sort of knick-knacks. Bunches of plastic flowers sprout in the front on the sides. Pictures and patterns painted all over. The overall effect is spectacular, impressive. Rickshaw art is like an open book on Bangladesh, giving an insight to the country's heritage, through manifold images of famous film stars, endemic birds and wild animals, religious symbols etc. Waiting in queues until it is their turn, common among trishaws in Sri Lanka, cannot be seen among rickshaws. People simply choose which rickshaw they want to ride in from a group of rickshaws. Naturally, people are attracted to rickshaws that look clean, comfortable and reliable. A shiny, new rickshaw dramatically improves income, as it is much more sought after by customers and renters alike.
Cycle rickshaws were introduced to Dhaka even before the independence. One would have expected them to disappear with the fast growth of modern transport. However, surprisingly their number has grown in the last two decades, testifying to the increasing demand for this service. Cycle rickshaws provide a much needed and valuable public service, especially for the common man. Even today, a kilometre long ride in a cycle rickshaw costs five to 10 Takas whereas an auto rickshaw charges 20 to 30 Takas for the same distance. Most of the rickshaw pullers in Dhaka are daily-wage labourers who try to make ends meet by pulling hired rickshaws. A good proportion of them are seasonal migrants from agricultural families. Rural migrants who come in search of work can hire a rickshaw within hours of reaching the city and start earning money almost instantly. They hire these vehicles from contractors in Dhaka on a daily charge ranging from 80 to 100 Takas, depending on the state of the vehicle. A part of the rental has to be paid in the morning. Needless to say, rickshaw pullers, trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, shed buckets of sweat to eke out a living. There are two shifts - day and night While some work two shifts a day, some others opt to work only one. However, they earn a handy sum, 200-300 Takas a day! Mussffer (35) is a seasonal migrant from Rangpur district. His wife and two children are in Sharbahu. The two children are not going to school, but attend some classes run by an NGO. He goes home every week, taking nearly 1600 Takas per week. On some days, he works as a porter in the bazaar. He stays in the village in order to tend his fields for months at a time. However, he prefers rickshaw pulling. "We get good business, and a good sum, but it is a hard life." He proudly claims that he has not met with a single accident, in highly traffic congested Dhaka. He has been pulling a rickshaw for 10 years. The day's work starts around 7.30 a.m. and after haunling people around the city all morning he goes for a rest by about 1.30 p.m. His comes back for the next shift around 5 p.m. "I do it when I want it and the way I want it," was his careless reply. When he needs, he can take a day off every now and then. Mymen Singh (20) is pulling rickshaws for seven months. Before that, he used to drive a baby taxi, which ran over a girl, killing her and injuring his leg. "After that incident I shifted to work as a driver for an oil company, then the government banned old vehicles in the city, so I had no choice but to pull a rickshaw to eke out a living." His is a ramshackle cycle, with wobbly wheels, broken seats and loose frames. His daily rental is only 30 Takas and the daily income seldom exceeds 150 Takas. He only works a few hours, a day, whenever he wants to. The rest of the day, he either listens to the radio or gossips with his friends. Saju Mian too is from Rangpur and he is only in Dhaka for eight months, the rest of the time he spends in his hometown, working in the farms during winter and storing crops for the season. Twenty-two year old Mian married six years ago. He has a baby daughter. He too is able to take 1000-1500 Takas home every week. "The money I earn is quite enough to run the family throughout a month and save about 1500-2000 Takas a month. It's hard work, though we get money." "I started this job about seven years ago. They know me here. I don't own this vehicle. I rent it and everyday I have to pay the owner a fixed amount. There are also some days when there is no profit," said a rickshaw puller who joined us uninvited. I asked whether he wants to purchase his own rickshaw one day. "No, no, I don't like this job, it is a dog's life in the dirty slums of the city, I want to save some money and start up some business in my village." For some like Shahin (18), unemployment has made rickshaw riding an option that assures a relatively steady and constant income for survival, that does not demand skill, technical know-how or investment. 'It is not like a factory, I can work whenever I feel like', is their common refrain. Having migrated from Bogra, where his father and two brothers tend their small land, Shahin is not happy with the life as a rickshaw puller. He is illiterate and has been pulling a rickshaw for the last 2-3 years. He says hauling a load, many times a day has given drastic consequences for their health. In answer to my questions he said that he feels it very painful and tiresome to pull the rickshaw, especially when he gets two passengers at a time In most instances, this job has taken a heavy toll on their health, Emaciated and frail, Juljsha has been pulling rickshaws for nearly 15 years. "It's a cumbersome and difficult task. I recently fell severely ill, and have been in bed for six months." He hopes to pull rickshaws only for a few months more before returning to his native land in winter. There again he will have to work in the farms. As saving gets priority they are forced to live in substandard slums where disease runs rife. Dhaka has several thousand contractors owning rickshaws from five, ten to a hundred, or so. Add to it thousands of those in the small-scale sector who are involved in the manufacture of various components used in assembling of rickshaws and rickshaw artists. Thus, there are thousands whose livelihood indirectly depends on the rickshaw. For the traffic police, rickshaws are the biggest nuisance on the road. Since rickshaws are considered slow moving traffic, the Motor Vehicles Act is not applicable to them. They may not even know that their vehicles cause chaos on the road. Within the city, there are zones allotted to a rickshaw, and numerous forbidden zones. "No Entry" areas are declared arbitrarily, complained rickshaw pullers. Recently the Rickshaw Pullers' Association launched several strikes protesting the government's move to declare 'No Entry' zones. Lack of monitoring of the number of rickshaws in a locality, has created a constant struggle and competition among the rickshaw pullers. Many residents of Dhaka prefer the cycle rickshaw to other forms of transport, because it is relatively cheap and very handy for short-distance travel. The argument against the rickshaw is that having people, rather than fuel, for power is inhumane and enjoying the luxury of a rickshaw ride at the expense of another human being's health is something brutal. But then the question rises, where will these needy members of society go once they have been deprived of something they have been doing so efficiently for years? The Bangladeshi government has plans to continue this form of transport, while paying attention to uplift their living conditions. |
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