Rickshaw driving in Madras.....as long as Im strong enough

[A skeptic]

(interviewed in Tamil and translated - In Madras, India, one of the main transports is the AutoRickshaw, motorcycles with little carriages in the back which allow people to ride in and which will take you door to door for a minimal price. We caught this rickshaw outside our hotel to go to the mall.)

I am a rickshaw driver. I started this job because it is an honest living. I've been at the rickshaw stand in front of this hotel for over 25 years. They know me here.

I don't own this vehicle. I rent it and everyday I have to pay the owner a fixed amount. If I owned my own vehicle then all the money I earn would be for me and I wouldn't have to give it to somebody else. This way, there are often days when there is no profit and I have to give money to the owner from my own pocket. Somedays there may be a profit and somedays there may be a loss.

I studied only up til 8th standard (about 8th grade) and then I got a license. Once you get a license, you can get a vehicle. Just the license is enough.

One time, I was going at about 11 oclock in the night along the right when another rickshaw overtook a lorry and crashed into me. All of us were thrown out of the rickshaw and the vehicle was torn into pieces and we just escaped with our lives as somebody came and crashed into the pieces.

In the future, I want to get a vehicle of my own so I can help with the devlopment of my family - right now, I can't save all that much. I have money to eat but that's about it. We don't earn that much.

I see myself doing this for the forseeable future - as long as I'm strong enough.

[jane austin janeeaustin@hotmail.com]

It is obviuos that this narrow minded individual hjas never been to India and seen the incredible poverty there. It is ignorant people like him/her, no doubt in america, no doubt growing fat from eating junk food, while the rest of the world starve, no doubt little knowing or caring what happens outside their living room as long as it doesn't mean they have to use their brains or pay more tax that are morally responsible for the suffering of many. The incredibly selfish, narrow minded, ill educated, so called moral majority. Get back to your burgers and your six pack, (the beer, not your ab muscles, no brain) and stop commenting on things you've never experienced and know nothing about.
<br>
You use your so called cynicism as an excuse for never getting off your lard butt and making a change

[betsy bbh00]

Good on ya Jane! Why on earth would you disbelieve it?

[Bettina]

the antiamerican thing is a bit strong though!