Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Citizen CANE

I had the best start of the day today. When I was busy ‘picking-up’ a customer at the Metro Station, the thulla (I can barely call him Police constable) punctured my rickshaw's rear tire twice with his big needle (better known as Sooaan).

Of course my rickshaw was standing in “No Parking” (where else would it stand?) but does that give that ‘prick’ any right to prick my tires? Plus, I ensured that it wasn't standing in a place where it might cause a traffic-jam or inconvenience to people. Yet I was targeted. I wonder what he achieved out of all this childishness. If he thinks puncturing tyres will scare the sh*t out of rickshaw-walla’s and they will stop going to the Metro Station, then he is clearly day-dreaming.

I am not as much annoyed at the loss of money (in mending the punctures) but more at the loss of time – one and a half hour! You should know that the morning hours for a rickshaw-walla and the night-hours for a you-know-who are most critical from the earning point of view! ;)

When I asked an auto-walla if the cop punctures their tires with the needle if they happen to be in 'No Parking', he replied with an emphatic NO. "At max, he can make a 'no parking' challan. He can't touch the Auto nor he can misbehave with the driver," he added with conceit.

A rickshaw-walla is doing his job (or business so to speak, however menial it may be assumed) and he deserves to be treated as a respectable citizen with all his rights. If nothing else, he deserves to be treated as a Human Being. Then why are they beaten up with canes and their rickshaws wrecked and punctured? When would this high-handedness of the authorities end?

It's ironical that government pumps in billions of rupees in various employment guarantee schemes (viz MNREGA) yet it constantly sabotage the attempts of these self-respecting individuals who attempt to earn an honest living on their own!

In the past two weeks I have observed that Police, at its whims and fancies, keeps chasing away rickshaw-guys from some locations - Primarily Metro Station which is like the Reserve Bank of India for a rickshaw-walla!

Often they block the ‘Chatra marg’ – the arterial road connecting the campus with the Metro station – during the morning hours when time is money for a rickshaw-walla. Ok, even if I agree that they do so to regulate the traffic, the randomness of these decisions is what baffles me. Also, some ricks are permitted while some are not!

When I raised question on this partiality, they retorted with, “tu zyada vakeel ban raha hai?” (Are you trying to be a lawyer here?). They almost took the air out of the rear tyres, threatened to impound my rickshaw (which is illegal by the way) and warned me to use their lathi (cane) if I didn’t relent. I was arguing with them for equality as a citizen, realised that I was just a rickshaw-walla: a citizen cane!

In my childhood I enjoyed watching tom & Jerry. Least did I know how much fun it is to actually play this cat & mouse game. Sometimes the cat wears ‘khaki’ and sometimes white & blue.

A cop arrives on the scene out of the blue. Few rickshaw-wallas see the cop and raise an alarm. The herd starts fleeing. The cop runs after you with lathi in one hand and the needle in the other.You run as long as he keeps up with the pursuit. The moment he stops, you stop and the moment he turns back you also start moving back to take the original position.

What is going on here? This is a zero-sum game; a lose-lose scenario. It seems that the government and authorities have a habit of neglecting and negating the basic rights to the poor till the time they evntually revolt. I hate to compare but that’s exactly what has happened in the Naxal hit regions of the country.

I acknowledge that few rickshaw-wallas park haphazardly, go deep into the metro station, and hound a person in an attempt to lure him/her in his rickshaw. However, the same rickshaw-wallas are capable of working in a highly disciplined manner. You can see that professionalism in front of colleges where they patiently wait for their turn in long serpentine lines.

I can almost take a personal guarantee here that if some clear, reasonable and mutually acceptable guidelines are laid down, the rickshaw-pullers will abide by it.

What is required here is better communication between the police and the rickshaw-wallas whose prerequisite is mutual respect. Till the time the police look down upon the rickshaw-pullers and consider them as nuisance and the rickshaw-pullers consider the police as a blood-sucking tyrant nothing positive can possibly be ever achieved.

(PS: According to a latest Supreme Court ruling in which it has upheld Delhi High Court’s verdict, there can’t be any cap on the number of rickshaws in the Capital. So it fairly and squarely puts an end to the license or permit requirement and makes it perfectly legal to pull a rickshaw for a living.

Also, legality and reality are often two different entities. Legally speaking, 50% of the Delhi is living on illegal land (according to an article in The Hindu). But the reality is, only last month, Delhi Government regularized 917 unauthorized colonies!

Above all, a rickshaw is a necessity in a city life rather than a menace. It’s not for nothing that Delhi has around 5 Lakh rickshaws even when the upper limit set by the government was just 90,000!)


16 comments:

  1. What a brilliant initiative, Gaurav. For not only actually becoming a rickshaw wallah instead of giving us an interview with a random rickshaw puller, but also for writing about it through such crisp, no nonsense posts, thank you. 'We' need to understand 'them' better.

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    1. Thanks buddy. Probably it was my limitation as well - too bad with interviewing someone! ;)

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  2. Hope this will be circulated among police officers (assuming they read English) and hopefully translated and circulated among constables.

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    1. hahhah... inshahallah!
      wud u help me with the translations??? ;)

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  3. What a wonderful way to write about the subject....and so extremely well written. I've never understood why the minimum fare should be set by the Govt. Or why Rickshaw drivers can't charge the fare they wish to...

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    1. Thanks man.
      i guess govt doesnt set the fares...at least rickshaw fares. but it all boils down to the demand and supply and the neediness of a rickshaw-walla to earn. Its very difficult for him to say no to 20 bucks although he deserved 25 or 30.

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  4. Very well written. And you have given us an insight that we probably never even considered.
    Your blog was shared on Facebook, and it has really amazed and inspired, as to what people can do, the choices they make, and how, perhaps, I should stop cribbing about things I do and take for granted. Thank you.

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    1. ur comment was very well written as well.
      Its amazing that you could understand those nuances with just a read. My mental faculties are not that profound... therefore had to personally experience it! ;)

      thanks a lot. cheers

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    2. Ah. But then, Gaurav, mental faculties, which seemingly understand nuances take a beating when it comes to actual experience. I wonder if I sounded patronizing. I did not mean to :)Do excuse me if I did. (I do know for certain, that I'd rather sit in the comfort of a room, and "read" into the nuances, rather than find the guts to step out :D!)

      And thank you, once again, for the grace with which you accept it :)

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  5. Gaurav I boarded your rickshaw from VKRV Rao to DSE. I knew you were some kind of spy or learning something about life of rickshaw pullers :). Nicely written. Well done.

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    1. Hey Deepak, thanks for those valuable 20 rupees! I hope the ride was safe. But I aint no spy! :)
      btw, did you had a word with my fellow rickshaw friends about my whereabouts? if yes, then please dont disclose much details about me to them. they were asking a lot of questions about my education and motive to pull a rickshaw yesterday.
      catch you around. thanks again.

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  6. I cant tell you how amazed i am at this initiative of yours. It must have taken quite a bit of courage to actually go ahead with this venture. Im a little curious about your actual job though. Did you leave it or is this project somehow linked to it?
    Also, I really hope i get to ride on ur rickshaw sometime! i'll pay you whatever you charge me man!

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    1. hhhahah... I will charge you a blank cheque ! ;)
      It took me almost a week to contemplate and the walk to my rickshaw garage was the most taxing one...rest everything just in place!
      I have studied journalism from IIMC but not working anywhere currently. so in a way this project is linked to my 'expected profession'. and hence I can claim myself to be a freelance journalist ( a euphemism for jobless in my case! :P)

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  7. Well you have really turned around my perspective of the cops doing the right thing by puncturing rickshaws. It just seemed so inhuman after reading this blog, to take away someone's means of meager living.
    Real life experiences can only bring things to light.
    Are there any NGOs or any organization helping or fighting for them?

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    1. @Akki - I saw the issue highlighted in an article by the a think tank in delhi called the Centre for Civil Society (http://ccsindia.org/lft.asp)

      @Gaurav - Thank you for sharing your experience. Please continue doing so. Your writing style is truly brilliant.

      One clarification though: What are the implications of the recent supreme court ruling? Does it mean that rickshawpullers can carry on their trade freely? Or do they still need permits/licenses? Are rickshaw-pullers no longer harassed by the police?

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