Tale of rickshaw puller during
and post curfew-lockdown in border town
Amir Chand – Rich by name but
poor in pocket because of Covid-19
Amir Chand, 50-years-old, having spent a significant part of his life ferrying
passengers on his rickshaw, laments the way things have changed. Though uneducated yet a few minutes talk with
him, speak highly of his physical and mental sensory - has been plying rickshaw in the border town
Ferozepur for the last 30 years. He was seen standing in the corner of the
busiest crossing – Udham Singh Chowk named after martyrs Udham Singh who
sacrificed his life for the freedom of India but after more seven decades of
independence, the plight of people has not improved.
Before sharing the tale of a rickshaw puller, let me put you wiser in
a few words about its history. A pulled rickshaw is a mode of human-powered
transport by which a runner draws a three-wheeled car that seats one or two
people.
The rickshaws were a convenient means of travel, able to traverse
winding, narrow city streets. During monsoon season, passengers might be
carried out of the carriage, above the flooded streets, to the door of their
arrival. They offered door-to-door travel, unlike scheduled public bus and tram
service.
In recent times the use of human-powered rickshaws has been discouraged
or outlawed in many countries due to concern for the welfare of rickshaw
workers. Pulled rickshaws have been replaced mainly by cycle rickshaw and auto
rickshaws.
Amir Chand, after initial years
of struggle, doing whatever little work came his way, he took to transporting
passengers on his rickshaw in this small border town. He has been in this
profession in border town Ferozepur for the last 30 years when the things were
very different.
The roads were not so congested and there were fewer cars and bikes. So
people were dependent on us for moving from one place to another. But now
everything has changed; now we struggle to find customers on most days, said
Amir Chand.
Amir is right when he said, rickshaws are considered as the only option
for people to enter into the narrow street lanes which were rather impassable
for other modes of transport, due to heavy water logging during monsoons.
He was seen standing in the corner of the busiest crossing – Udham
Singh Chowk named after martyrs Udham Singh who sacrificed his life for the
freedom of India but after more seven decades of independence, the plight of
people have not improved.
There has been no change in his daily work schedule, which usually
begins as early as 6’o Clock in the morning till late in the evening, with only
a short break for lunch brought packed wrapped in the cloth and a quick nap
around noontime under the shadow tree on the rickshaw itself.
During the curfew-lockdown period, all were confined to the four walls
of the home. While the middle and upper
class families had easily managed the household affairs during this period but
families like of Amir Chand’s profession and daily wagers, laborers who were
solely dependent on daily earnings had been more miserable if the distribution
of ration by the government and regular distribution of food by the various social
organizations had not come forward to help them.
Coming on the road after more than two months period, Amir Chand in his
choked voice said, I made ‘zero-money’ during the lockdown period. Whatever we have kept, repeated a small
amount for the rainy season, has exhausted.
For us, things are not yet normal because of the movement of buses and
trains as we hardly get any passenger by waiting for a number of hours in the
scorching heat with high temperature.
Sharing his old days, Amir Chand said, I used to earn Rs.200-300 per
day when the starting point and terminal point for all the buses was at Ferozepur
City Bus Terminal but with setting up of Cantonment Board stand, all long route
buses don’t pass through the City bus stand, putting a great loss to our
class. I have to pay a daily rental of around Rs.30 for the rickshaw but with the
passage of time the value of money has also decreased, he rued.
Wiping his face and blinking eyes were saying more than the words from
his mouth perhaps cursing the system which has not improved the conditions of
poor people who are still sailing in the same boat of 1947.
However, now, his passengers are far and few; most of them take the
ride only if there is no other alternative. On one hand, while social critics
have been calling for the ban of this mode of transport — pulled by one human
being for another — even common people have been avoiding the usage of this
mode more on compassionate grounds.
However, sometimes I am called by the owner of a store to deliver the
goods in certain specific areas and established a mark of honesty.
Amir Chand was seen murmuring something – as if asking a question to
him – will the governments think of improving the condition of class like ours
adding we don’t have funds to give higher education to our children. What to say, our family doesn’t have television
even.
India has entered into 73rd year of Independence but people like Amir
by name are still struggling to become ‘amir’ – rich to earn a decent
living. Governments come and go; but
very little change comes into our lives, said Amir, adding in a low tone to
make virtual policies poor by cutting down the unwanted expenditures in crores
on making statues.
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