The art of the piggy-back

I visited Calcutta for the first time a while ago, and apart from the fact it was as crowded and dirty as expected, it didn’t disappoint.

The regional HQ of West Bengal and former capital of Empire was not quite up to Mumbai’s exacting standards of people per sq inch and failed to display the level of rubble I now associate with Maharashtra’s jewel. Furthermore it had a visible presence of (admittedly open air) male “toilets” which wouldn’t even begin to compete with Mumbai’s public conveniences the general style of which usually double as walls, bushes and rail tracks.

Though in it’s favour it does have something Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore all lack.
Hand drawn rickshaws.

The city has several unique offerings as far as transport is concerned. It is the only metro to possess a tram network, it was the first place on the sub-continent to inaugurate a metro system and it’s roads and gullies are plied not by the battered old fiats or Tata’s found in most Indian cities, but by a classy retro looking fleet of ambassadors.

But that’s neither here nor there. It’s the short distance human powered modes of cycle drawn and hand pulled rickshaw that I am interested in.

Most of the wallahs working the trade seemed to have little business, indeed I only saw two in action during my stay and both of them were pulling their rickshaws at a speed approaching crawling pace.

What lazier git would chose to make another human being pull more than their own body weight in order to earn just a few rupees when you could walk quicker?

OK, maybe during the humid build up to the monsoon and the ensuing floods which hit this region every summer I could see its advantage, but on this day it was about 27 degrees and dry.

And then I thought maybe these poor folk have come up with a pricing scheme to incentivise punters to travel. Maybe the reason they encourage these wiry little humanoids to run themselves into an early grave is simple.

It offers VFM.

4 rupees you reckon? Rude to say no really.

What would you get for 5p in the UK? You wouldn’t even get the cab door opened for you let alone the engine started.

Perhaps we should bring back the art of the piggy back?

Well, cycle rickshaws are allowed in Central London, so how about a pub to pub piggy back service for the rather inebriated?

Imagine the tips!

I could think of worse jobs….