Old Memories, Trams and Rickshaws

A friend sent me a link yesterday

I howled in laughter when I saw the photo. I strongly believe that a person who does not like a particular environment can walk out of that, provided he does not expect to be subsidized. It is the morally weakest amongst us that expects to be subsidized citing one reason or the other (does it sound like Ayn Rand now?).

Today I was reading a newspaper when I saw a photo. It brought back a flood of memories from the past. 

Shown in the picture is a person pulling a rickshaw and a tram. Both are quite unique to Calcutta. 

Trams were there in Bombay and Madras as well till about 50 years back. Calcutta continues to have it, though their routes are quite restricted these days. Trams have 2 compartments, with a seating capacity of about 30 in each. The front compartment is 1st class (I think it has ceiling fans) and the rear compartment is 2nd class (with no fans I think). The cost of the ticket used to be (and I think still is) slightly higher in the 1st class. The best seat of course was right behind the driver, who would usually be standing. 

People would climb in or out of moving trams, as the trams rarely went at a speed exceeding 20km per hour. Where there was a junction (meaning where the tram could now go in 2 different directions, say right or left), there would be a person at the junction who would manually change the tram track alignment (based on the tram's route number) with a lever so that the tram could take the right path.

The rickshaw in the picture is a 2 wheeler which can carry two passengers and is pulled by a man. He has a metal object fastened to his fingers which (object) he shakes to hit the rickshaw bar that he holds in each hand. He simulates a "horn" this way. Usually he walks and sometimes he would run at a fair pace perhaps 7-8km per hour. Since there is no mechanical brake, he has to be careful and not move too fast while carrying passengers. 

The seat has a plastic cushion. The rickshaw is designed like a convertible car. There is a hood which can be pulled up to cover the head of the passengers should it be very sunny or if it starts raining. 

I used to travel in such a rickshaw to school about 30 years back. The driver's (rickshaw puller's) name was Ramdev. He was from Bihar and an extremely gentle and nice man. And I would go to school with 2 other boys, Sridhar and Madhusudhan. Since we (boys) were small, the rickshaw could accommodate three boys. 

Once when it started raining Ramdev pulled the hood over so that we would not get wet. I asked him how he could continue to pull the rickshaw while it was raining and would he not get a cold or get sick. He replied to me that rain was god's gift and that no one would ever fall sick by getting wet in the rain. His reply affected me profoundly. It's been more than 30 years since that day when Ramdev told me about rain. To this day I don't carry an umbrella. I have lived in Mumbai where it really pours. I have visited places where it rains incessantly. But I don't carry an umbrella nor wear a raincoat. 

And I do believe Ramdev was right. Rain is God's gift and it's good to get wet. I don't know where Ramdev is now or whether he is alive. But he made a long lasting impression on me that day.