Posts Tagged: rickshaw

…….. where no man has gone before !!!

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20141215_131818I have to confess I may be a little obsessed about the hand pulled rickshaws. In each of my trip to Kolkata the thing that stands out amidst a lot of differences between Kolkata and the city that I was born and raised and to any other city in the world that I have ever visited is the hand pulled rickshaws. In every narrow lane in parts of Kolkata where no other form of transport can reach, because of the narrow lanes albeit the place where the rich and elite of Kolkata thrive, there are these rickshaw walas to ferry you. Again I won’t debate the right or wrong of the humanity aspect of the trade but the fact remains that it is the only source of livelihood of many people of India. Personally I haven’t and wouldn’t sit on any one but it being a convenient mode of travel is very popular to travel in these very narrow lanes. I am reminded of the popular quote from the series Star Trek:

“……… to explore strange new worlds…….. to boldly go where no one has gone before”

😀         😀         😀

Cycle Rickshaw on the bylanes of Kolkata

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I took this pic in one of the bylanes of my native place in Kolkata. Cycle rickshaw is one the easiest modes of transport in Kolkata. The narrow bylanes make it impossible for huge vehicles to reach these places also it is one of the cheapest modes of transport. With the oust of hand pulled rickshaws from the streets of Kolkata because of it being a human right violation, the rickshaw walas who are out of job are now resorting to the cycle rickshaws as a means to earn their livelihood.

I have very fond memories of this part of Kolkata, my native place. This pic was taken on a very sunny day. It has the humble rickshaw wala probably returning after dropping his passenger to their destination. The election season has the various political parties put up their posters on the walls. You can notice the Congress party leader waving from the poster. The monochrome effect gives the pic the old world charm something I always associate with Kolkata.

Hand pulled rickshaw, Kolkata

 

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I took this pic in one of the very narrow bylanes of Kolkata. The hand pulled rickshaw still runs in some parts of Kolkata. The lanes in these areas are so narrow that it would have been congested with the auto rickshaws. These are pics from my trip to Kolkata last week. With the mercury hitting a high of 40 plus degrees Celsius, it was difficult to venture out to take pics. In the few occasions that I tried…… the camera malfunctioned because of the excessive heat plus I was actually melting in the sweltering heat. The rickshaws that I clicked were too fast to capture on my cell. This pic is of my aunt when she came to meet me. She had hired a rickshaw to take her to and fro. I took this opportunity to take some shots….. Also the rickshaw puller agreed to get photographed as he waited for my aunt.

The third pic I took with my cell. A Bengali babu travels in one of the rickshaws in the bylanes. It has the rickshaw puller in motion and running. They are too fast and in very less light it was difficult to take good shots.

I mono-chromed it to get the old world feel. Kolkata seems so much unchanged every time I visit that the constancy comes alive in the monochrome. The vibrant Bengali colors are of-course missing but the black and white gives the pic a different feel that I like.

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