Hey Auto

Rickshaws are such an integral part of life in Kerala, and for that matter India, that memories of Kerala are never complete with out a few sprinkles of rickshaw memories.

I can remember as far back as kindergarten, when Vandikaran used to haul me and a bunch of kids to school in his little cycle rickshaw. All of us in our red and white checkered St. Theresa’s school uniforms cramped into the rickshaw, with our plastic bottles and school bags dangling on the sides of the rickshaw.

Flash forward to first grade, and Vandikaran’s cycle rickshaw was no more, instead replaced by a motorized version, the auto rickshaw. There was this time when Kunjachan uncle, loaded all the kids into Vandikaran’s new auto rickshaw, while he was not looking, and took us all for a joy ride. I can even remember the two getting into a heated argument after the joy ride. That joy ride, I can never forget, and from that day on one of my dreams was to take an auto rickshaw for a ride.

Then things changed, the family moved to Dubai, and auto rickshaws were no more a part of life, except when I got to ride them during summer vacations in Kerala. However, the story did not end there. It was 11th grade, and the first Gulf War broke out. My dad was concerned about our safety, and shipped us all back to Kerala. We were back in Kerala and auto rickshaws were once again a part of life.

The word “rickshaw” originates from the Japanese word jinrikisha, which literally means “human-powered vehicle.”
wikipedia

By now, Vandikaran had retired and we had two new auto rickshaw drivers, Domenic and Babu, who hauled us to school and back. Domenic was chilled out, and I constantly hassled him to allow me to drive the rickshaw. He was reluctant at first, and then one day it happened. We were getting back from school. Along the way, Domenic stopped the rickshaw, made me get in the drivers seat, and gave me my first rickshaw driving lesson. The joy of that moment was priceless, a dream come true. Before long I got the hang of driving a rickshaw, and I can still remember driving the rickshaw on those back roads from home to school.

In North India, there is a variation, powered by a Harley-Davidson engine, called the phat-phati because of the sound it makes.
wikipedia

Today, whenever I go back to Kerala, an auto rickshaw is my favorite mode of transport. To help capture some of these memories, I started taking photos while riding around in an auto rickshaw, and created a flickr group, View from a Rickshaw, so some of you can share your favorite auto rickshaw photos with the rest of us.

On my last trip to Kerala, I met Domenic again, after almost 14 years. He was older, still drives his auto rickshaw, and still remembers that day when he let me drive his auto rickshaw.