Rickshaws
Rickshaws (or rickshas) are a mode of human-powered transport: a runner draws a two-wheeled cart which seats one or two persons. Rickshaws were mainly used in Asia, but nowadays they are outlawed in many places and have been replaced by cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws (and the term "rickshaw" is today commonly used for these vehicles as well). The last sizeable fleet of true rickshaws can be found in Kolkata (Calcutta), where the rickshaw driver union resisted prohibition.
Rickshaws were invented in Japan at the end of the 19th century by a European missionary who had been in Japan. The name derives from the Japanese expression jinrikisha (人力車) which means literally 'human-powered vehicle'. The first rickshaw appeared in India around 1880 on the avenues of Simla. Some 20 years later a few of these vehicles arrived in Calcutta, imported by Chinese traders who used them to transport goods.
In 1914 the same Chinese people applied for permission to use them to carry people and it was not long before rickshaws were to be found in many metropoli all over Southeast Asia. For peasants migrating to the big cities the rickshaw offered a means of earning a living. No one knows exactly how many there are today in the streets of Kolkata. Unofficial statistics suggest 50,000, providing employment for twice as many pullers. Economists have calculated that the economic value of rickshaws and their pulling is $6 million - a quarter of the budget of the whole urban transport system of a city like Paris.
Film
In the movie City of Joy, referring to Kolkata, Om Puri plays a rickshaw puller, revealing the economic and emotional hardship that these underpaid workers face on a day-to-day basis.
See also
