Guntur - Cycle rickshaws

Guntur is a unique place - it boasts of an Arundelpet (Arundel Castle is a castle in Arundel, West Sussex, England), a Brodipet (Brodie is a surname of Scottish origin, and a location in Moray, Scotland,) and a unique Jinnah Tower (named after the founder of Pakistan) There is an overbridge across the railway track that runs through busy localities of the town. On one side of the overbridge are residential localities and on the other side are shopping and business areas. I used to live in Brodipet and for my work I had to go across the railway overbridge everyday to go to Govt.General Hospital where I used to meet Doctors as a part of my work as a medical representative. For about a year after my taking up the job in May 1972, I did not own any vehicle. Necessarily, I had to hire cycle rickshaws for my movements. Coming from Proddatur, with only horse-drawn jutkas for intra town movements, I hadn't travelled by rickshaws till then (rickshaws made their appearance in Proddatur long after I left that place in 1967 for my college in Bangalore)

My young idealistic mind (I was just 21-22 then) used to haunt me with a feeling of guilt at making another human pedal the rickshaw while sitting in it. So I used to ask the rickshaw puller to draw up the collapsible top to hide my identity and guilt under the hood. Generally, only when women were sitting in the rickshaw, the top used to be drawn up for their privacy. If men were in the rickshaw, the top was always removed (రాజు వెడలె రవి తేజములడరగ అన్నట్టు మగవారు ప్రయాణించే వారు, meaning men travelled in kingly style) Drawing up the top results in increasing air resistance making it harder for the rickshaw pedaller in his efforts, particularly while going across the overbridge. There used to be a mental agony in my mind every time I hired a rickshaw - my guilt feeling wanted me to raise the rexine top. But I knew that aerodynamics makes it harder for rickshaw pedaller. This mental conflict always troubled me. Those were funny younger days when the mind dictates you to be idealistic but the world around compels you to compromise with realities of life.

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