Jalandhar is a small town in many ways – nice friendly people who want to know everyting about you and invite you home for garam khaana (hot food) right after the first meeting…
And small enough for people to commute by cycle rickshaw… Five rupees can take you a long way in this city. And people bargaining with the rickshaw puller – paanch rupaiye kyon? paas hi to jaana hai – teen rupaiye le lo (why five rupees for such a short distance – take three rupees)
I guiltily think about how little five rupees means to me. I wave away the rickshaws who stop near me and start walking…
What is worse – to ride on one of them, with another human being pulling you? or walking away and depriving him of this opportunity to earn his living? I never know…
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Another thing is the number of travel agents and ads for airlines – in the half kilometere stretch that I walked between my hotel to my work place, I counted nine travel agents, one one side of the road, that is… Japan Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Slovakia Airlines, Gulf Air. You name it.
Ad most of these travel agents offer an additional service too – filling up of visa forms. One of them says that they make a lot of money this way, apart from the regular service of procuring the visa for their customers…
And many old people who say that families spend between a lakh to three lakhs on this business of sending a young relative abroad year after year. Families which cannot afford it but manage it somehow…
Each family has one or two young people abroad – among whom many of them have disappeared – there is no news of or from them… for many years now.
Yet people want to go… and keep going. And many never come back…
Hi Charu
I once rode on a cycle rickshaw…in of all places Victoria Canada. It was fun. Of course, I had to pay more than 5 Rupees for the privilege. The rickshaw cycler was a college student trying to make some cash over the summer months, so he wasn’t going to starve or something.
I don’t know how I would feel about such a cycle-rickshaw if I were to see one in India. My wife tells me that they are long gone in Chennai – replaced by auto-rickshaws.
Charu,
Nothing wrong in it as long as they are paid well. If I took a cycle rickshaw, I would make sure to pay them more than I would pay an auto – as is the case here in New York. Its not the best occupation in the world, but far better to pay them well for their labour than have them starve because of our conscience.
Neela
Charu
Did you check out any of the cricket or hockey bat manufacturing units while in Jalandhar ? Supposedly, some of the worlds best.
Sourin
Saket (www.vulturo.com) had a post on the cycle ricks in Noida……worth a read (too lazy to go to his blog, and get the permalink)……..raises many questions that you do.
I don’t think there is much of a decision involved in it…If you need a rickshaw use it and then pay the market price..IF you feel you are getting short-changed, argue with him…theres no point thinking that its cruel to make him drive you..don’t butcher’s cut our animals for us, sweepers clean the drains, farmers manually plough the soil in sun and stuntemen do the stunts..if you stop them from doing their job more than half the world will starve and die.
charu – thoughtful post, as always…these questions are never easy.
Hi Charu,
I feel the same about maids at my family members’ houses whenever I visit India. I feel very uncomfortable when these maids insist on doing everything around the house, from bringing you water to cleaning your room. I never receive this kind of treatment in the US, so it takes a few days/weeks for me to get adjusted to it. I get scolded by my family in India if I start rinsing a dish after eating or if I take an empty cup back to the kitchen, but I continue to do it, because it feels more comfortable for me.
Vikram
Vikram,
Thats not exactly in the same league. The domestic help in your house have already been paid (or will be) so if you do your own work, then so much the better for them – they get their pay without work. The appropriate analogy would be paying the cycle-rickshaw walla and not using his services. I think the dilemma that Charu is referring to is: pay them and use their services or resist using their services on conscience-driven grounds and therefore deprive them of a chance to earn a livelihood?
n!
Charu! I agree with Uma..For those questions we hardly find answers..I know you’ve written about ricksha pullers emotionally..But there is a point in it..
Neela,
In my aunt’s house, some of the domestic help gets paid by the hour. If I do some work, that is less work for her, and less money for her to earn. So if I feel uncomfortable in asking her to do something, I might actually be giving her less of an opportunity to earn money.
Vikram
yes, I guess the answer is to use their services and pay them for it – instead of depriving them of this honest money – but then it is not easy for me to sit while someone pulls my load…? I console myself in the knowledge that if I do not use them, there are enough others who will…
but what really gets to me is the way people bargain for one and two rupees – and no, these are not people who do otherwise think about spending one or two rupees elsewhere carelessly….
Sourin, I did not personally check out any sport equipment but heard quite a bit about them…
Shivaji, the point that you make about butchers and sweepers is very interestin – it is to do with our very unique Indian notion of dharma- it is believed that a butcher does no sin by cutting up aniumals because he is only doing his duty…
Vikram, I understand what you mean… but often, the maid or in this case the rickshaw wala does not feel “exploited” – as we think they do – or the way we feel do using their services…
I think the issue here is that when you ask someone to transport you under his own manpower, it somehow feels like you are using a human the same way you would use an animal like a horse or a mule. The guilt ensues from the dehumanizing of this man who is pulling our body weight using nothing but his own muscles. I used to have the same feeling of guilt whenever I would give my heavy bags to carry to the railway station porter.I do not think I would ever be able utilize a cycle-rickshaw for transport (unless I were doing the cycling myself), even though I know the fellow himself would probably benefit from my using it .
yup gawker, that is exactly how it feels… despite the thought that you are providing with income… that thought is somehow quite useless in such a situation….