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!]
@Nadir,
No, you’re not the only one. I never had any problems with this blog while I was in the U.S but its been a pain since I moved back home. The images never show up. I have to refresh the page several times and then once in a while, the images do show up. Also, the spam filter keeps telling me that 2+3 does not equal 5 when I’m trying to submit a comment. This is one more “saza” for me for committing the crime of moving back to Pakistan, forget about loadshedding, inflation etc.
All I can say is “Ik sitam aur meri jaan, abhi jaan baqi hai”
QINGQI is of course the Chinese manufacturer of an inexpensive motorised Rickshaw system that has become popular in the rural and poorer urban areas of Pakistan.
It provides a faster, affordable, long-distance transportation for the poor-THE AWAM- who like all of us, also need to move from point A to B but lack the resources to possess their own means of transportation. Dangerous as it obviously is, but their desire to make a living and support their families transcends all the incumbent risks.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT there was a time not too long ago, when there was a functioning urban Omnibus and an efficient Railway system. The Bureaucracy and the Civilian and the Defence establishments had to destroy them sytematically so that they can be provided with official cars for the personal use by the officer and his family with official petrol and driver.The demise of the Railway system allowed them to be able to travel by air.
On a related matter, the excellent system of Guest and Rest Houses scattered all over the country was allowed to degenerate so that the Baboos could stay in fancy Hotels and also collect Fat TAs / DAs.
Provide the AWAM with some alternatives and then let us TALK of the OTHER important issues so dear to us.
Look at the men riding comfortably (relatively) in the front while women are hanging on for dear life.
There are interesting color matches that make this picture attractive: The blue baseball cap of the bearded passenger with the blue color of the body of the rikshaw; the yellow dupatta of one of the two girls matches with the triangular patch on the front of the rikshaw and the red in the dupatta of the second girl matches with the flower work on the windshield and that of the stuff on the roof rack. Coincidence?
This definitely does not look like 70cc engine. More like 125 CC. So much weight must be a drag on this type of motocycle engine. I bet it must be getting its ring-pistons changed every few months.