The Ekkah and other contraptions of yore"
Its much easier now ! Just tap a few buttons on your smartphone and a slick OLA cab appears within minutes at your place to take you to your destination in comfort !!
It was different sixty years back, particularly in the small towns. You had to walk down the road looking for a transportation and suddenly you heard the jingling of bells and an Ekkah would be seen comimg.
Ekkah was common in Northern India for many centuries. It had a hard flat wooden platform of about four square feet on which you sqatted along with half a dozen more persons
It was drawn by a half nourished small horse. The driver sat on the bamboo shafts. It could go almost anywhere. It was a cheap transport.An ekkah ride thououghly jolted your bones. The Ekkah had no springs or seats, most passengers having to sit on their haunches on that springless flat wooden board and bear constant jolts transmitted by the wooden wheels. In my younger days I just once rode an Ekkah and that was a nightmare enough to drive me crazy.
The Delhi iron contraption driven by a powerful motorcycle was another nightmarish ride of the fifties. It was a four or five seater autorikshaw which made a huge noise and vibrations. It usually left a heavy trail of black smoke in its wake as it moved along the road.
Then there was "The Tempo" . It resembled a huge black fish and made a shattering engine noise as it started. It carried eight passengers or so. I travelled in these tempos for a few years in the sixties before the present auto rikshaws were introduced.
Another tortuous ride was the calcutta hand pulled rikshaw. I once sat in one in early sixties. It was a precarious ride on a vehicle without brakes on a busy calcutta road.. And I felt so sorry for the poor rikshaw pullar that I never used it again.
The British time Nainital hand pulled rikshaw was quite another type. It was a very comfortable luxury ride pulled by four or five sturdy Dotiyal men . And they were paid well for a kilometer trip from Tallital to Mallital on a perfect metalled road of those days. The rate for a trip was rupee one which is equivalent to rupees 150 of today.
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment