Adil Najam
Pictures of overloaded vehicles are nothing special. Not in Pakistan. And our fascinations for rickshaws (here, here, here, here, here, here) is also well known. So, why yet another rickshaw picture?
Unless I have it terribly wrong, what we have here is really an ordinary motorcycle – probably not 7occ, maybe more like 140cc (what do you think, Owais?) – that has been retrofitted to become a people-carrier. All very good till here.
But the question is, how many people are riding on this, well, motorcycle? And did they just break any records without even knowing about it?
By my count, there are at least 9 people on this (3 in the front, four in the back, at least 2 hanging), and maybe as many as 12!
Even by Pakistani standards, that is impressive (and really really dangerous!).
Has anyone here seen worse? Or better? [Depending on what you consider worse, or better!]
This is a problem as a whole, in Indian subcontinent. Even in India and Bangladesh we see as many as ten people sharing a ride. Obviously this is a very dangerous practice.
Chingchees are originally from Bhawalpur where they were introduced to replace the manual-driven cycle rickshaws . The man driven rickshaws can now only be seen in Kalabagh/Mianwali .
Now in Karachi they started chinqchi ,and its written in english behind it .Some friends from lahore told me its from there and very common in lahore.I dont think there is any use of these or rikshas in Karachi as roads are broad and with high speed traffic.Accidents are more common and they are really fatal,i survived one and i was lucky and that was the last day i used riksha.RTAs (Road traffic accidents)are very high due to rikshas and bikes in Karachi i dont know other cities but i think its same there too as i worked in ER of Jinnah Hosp during my Internship and highest number of casualties are by them.I believe there should be ban by government on such mobiles or restriction to limited areas where they are more useful.I am not against chinqchi, i am in favour of passengers safety and thats more important and fares are more or same as taxi.
My teacher once said he’d seen people driving with a cigarette in one hand and a mobile phone in the other!
In Lahore, one of the common names for “chingchee” is ” Chaand Gari”. The hot make for a chand gari is a two stroke 150 cc Suzuki . A closer look at the “chand gari ” in the picture reveals that it has two rows in the front. (Its a long body model). Observe the man sitting behind the ” maulvi sahib”. I doubt maulvi sahib will dare the unislamic act of sitting in a namahram lap(goade). One can see the support legs of the front seat on which maulvi sahib is sitting ( extreme left). And behind him , you can see the legs of another person sitting on the second front “row”. The driver is on the motor bike seat and yet another man is sitting behind the driver. This makes it at least 6 in the front or may be 7. The 2 hanging on the left side means that there is no room to hang on the other side. That makes it 4 persons hanging. HOw many are sitting on the back seat(s) is anyones guess.