Around Madras city in hand-pulled rickshaws

The Japanese name for a rickshaw is jinrikisha. It can be broken up into jin (human), riki (powered), and sha (vehicle). | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives The Vaideekar Pattina Pravesam referred to in an earlier article in this supplement also has the orthodox villager setting his eyes on a hand-pulled rickshaw for the first time. He asks if an ostrich is meant to draw this along as the yoke is too high for a bullock. When told it is a man, he is horrified and comments that to live in the city you need to stifle your conscience.Who but the down and out would want to eke out a living by hoisting a passenger on to their vehicle and dragging them around on foot? Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zamin (1953) really brought the pathos to the fore with Balraj Sahni as the bankrupt villager forced to become a rickshaw puller in Calcutta. Five years later, J.P. Chandrababu brought comedy to the task, in Sabash Meena (1958). It was also the first time perhaps that a major character spoke Madras Bhashai in a Tamil film. Rickshawwas an import from Japan, the original name jinrikisha can be broken up into jin (human), riki (powered), and sha (vehicle).Hand-pulled rickshaws made their appearance early in 20th Century Madras. People found it a convenience, ignoring the bad design and the havoc it caused on the rickshawpuller in the long run.In 1938, Rev. C.W. Ransom, in his pathbreaking A City In Transition, Studies in the Social Life of Madras noted that “the rickshaw is a small two-wheeled gig, pulled by a coolie and it is not uncommon to see a wretched coolie struggling along with two heavy adults in his vehicle. It is a cheap but slow method of transport and involves a type of human labour which is open to serious criticism.A sensitive person can hardly ride with comfort behind the strained and sweating back of a fellow human being, or feel justified in thus employing him as a beast of burden.” The rickshaws needed two licences, one from the Corporation and other from the police. Getting even one was not easy, so illegal vehicles multiplied. Handpulled rickshaws were ultimately banned on December 20, 1973. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives The rickshaws needed two licences, one from the Corporation and other from the police. Getting even one was not easy, so illegal vehicles multiplied.An idea of the ratio can be had from The Hindu’s April 13, 1973 edition announcing the end of handpulled rickshaws. That year, to celeb-rate the 50th birthday of M. Karunanidhi, the Government resolved to replace all 2,000 hand-pulled rickshaws with the mechanised equivalents. That was the official number. But, as early as the 1950s, 6,000 rickshaw pullers had received free raincoats from M.G. Ramachandran. Life became a little easier in 1969, when the tax on rickshaws was abolished (The Hindu, November 6, 1969) and then, on December 20, 1973, The Hindu reported on the ban of hand-pulled rickshaws. As the curtain fell on the era of the handpulled rickshaw, the cycle-powered variant quickly took its place, its dawn heralded by Rickshawkaran, an MGR blockbuster from 1971. As late as the 1990s, it was possible to see MGR stickers on rickshaws near the High Court. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives Thereafter, it would be the reign of the cycle rickshaw. Its dawn had been heralded by a blockbuster of MGR in 1971 itself. Rickshawkaran, as The Hindu noted in its review, had MGR as the “popular, vigorous, and romantic hero.” As a graduate, he voluntarily takes on the profession of a rickshawallah to “demonstrate the dignity of labour. He indulges in some unique fights with great competence, using the rickshaw as his weapon.” The Hindu made note of Thengai Srinivasan as a fellow rickshawwallah who “is quite amusing with his Madras Tamil.”As late as the 1990s, it was possible to see MGR stickers on rickshaws near the High Court. To a man, the rickshaw men adored him. But, even in 1973, when the city was transitioning from hand-pulled to cycle rickshaws, there were 200 autorickshaws around. They would eventually displace the cycle rickshaws. Published - August 22, 2026 05:45 am IST