Transports of Delight - Manjula Padmanabhan

                  Transports of Delight by Manjula Padmanabhan is a satirical essay which discusses the Rickshaw culture in India. She narrates funny incidences which involve her travelling from place to place in an auto rickshaw. She also describes the different types of auto rickshaws. Almost all of these are over exaggerated in their descriptions and seem very unrealistic and obviously are.

          Instead of ‘Auto rickshaw’, ‘TSR (Three Wheeled Scooter Rickshaw)’ has been used in the whole essay. This essay has a lot of dry humour which might make the reader bored after a bit of reading. She differentiates TSRs in different areas and different cities and also talks about the decorations on them. These decorations usually have symbolic meaning pertaining to religion or fictional characters or simply exist for cosmetic reasons.

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The following extracts would help you the grasp the main idea and help you get a clear understanding over this essay:-

(It would be helpful if you have the text side by side as you read these points)

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“In the jungle of urban traffic, it is the bumble bee.”

The Bumble Bee here refers to the TSR because of the similar black and yellow colour scheme. In the chaos that is the urban traffic the TSR moves with nonchalance like a bumblebee which would move past all obstacles to reach the destination.

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“Indian city streets is an example of the Survival of the Unfittest.”

Indian streets as we all know are not exactly commanded by the best drivers. On an average 14 traffic accidents happen in India per hour. Here, ‘Survival of the Unfittest’ crudely refers to the way Indian people drive. ‘Unfittest’ here, also refers to rickshaws considering they are the only ones who do not seem to get in many accidents compared to the other vehicles. And ironically they might as well be the least protected vehicles on the road.

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“A gas trap for poisonous fumes, unstable and flimsy…..as hammer blows to the passenger’s fragile sinews.”

This is a description of the TSR. It tells how dangerous TSRs are and how rashly the drivers drive the vehicle.

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“His chariot took a corner at Grand Prix Speeds.”

It’s called a chariot because of the regressive design and technology that goes into making a TSR. With all that it still manages to take sharp turns at high speeds.

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“In part, the secret of their success…….yet are fastidious enough to disdain the sweaty intimacies offered by a bus…….what they lack in volume.”

This excerpt says that, A TSR is an intermediate between a bus and a taxi. Money wise it is not as expensive as a taxi and not as cheap and crowded as a bus considering public transport.

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“Though we have reports from Outlook Magazine that women auto rickshaw drivers are flourishing in Kerala here in the wilds of the north it is hard to imagine such a development.”

Here we can see the clear distinction in culture and how the society in different places thinks about each gender and their line of work. In the south where gender discrimination is decreasing and the job diversity of women is slowly increasing, North India doesn’t seem to be progressing much in this sense.

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“Perhaps the reason they are generally very young is that…..warily, as if tensed for attack.”

This excerpt, in its satirical sense the writer tells us that many TSR drivers start their jobs at a young age which would be like 19 or 20 and don’t live long enough because of the danger to lives in their job.

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“The likelihood of finding a driver willing to travel….and desperation of one’s need.”

TSR drivers are very stubborn considering their cause many a times. Instead if the passenger being the boss, they act as the boss. This helps them extract more money out of the passengers and they are willing to pay more to get to their destination due to their yearning for shade and rest.

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“In Madras, TSR drivers consider it their privilege…..I’m a rascal I know it.”

Here the drivers have been shown in a bad light as it is told here that they always try and extort more money out of the passengers, relative to the meter. For this extra profit they charge unreasonable prices and then gradually come down to a not really reasonable but ok price point.

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“Some drivers swaddle the front and rear wheel guards with webs of metal tubes……of the latest film hits on request.”

The TSR drivers love decorating their rickshaws in the most unique way possible. But this differs from place to place as not all TSR drivers have enough money for decorations. Thus, the economic diversity can be seen from state to state delving into the cosmetic differences between these TSRs.

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“Delhi rickshaw owners seem to prefer verbal messages....…….’Love for Sale – 100% Discount.’”

The influence and the culture can be seen if one notices the different messages written on auto rickshaws around town. The traditionally influenced drivers with the Gazals quoted on the side skirts or the cheesy messages quoted on the influenced on the younger rickshaw walas all in relative from place to place.

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“There are standard ornaments in the form of 3D reliefs…….Mahavirs or Zoroasters, however!”

The different religious following can be seen through the hangings and the ornaments. The usual religious symbols of the Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims are seen. But for the others like Mahavir and Buddha are not seen. This tells us that the population following these religions are in a very tight minority which cannot be seen publicly like this.

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 “Tweeters have peevishly squawking electric horns…….voiced adolescent boys.”

This line and the paragraph it lies in talks about the differences and that all of them cannot be related to each other considering the amount of decorations and the different canopies being black or yellow or any other colour. Many of them also have cheap audio systems and overtly decorated insides.

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“With so much invention and creativity on view………..adventurous auto designer”

This is the ending to the description and the viewpoint embraced by the author of the TSR. This also prompts the start to the description of autos encountered by the author which were adventurous in design.

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Different types of auto rickshaws:-

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Bikaneri Phut Phut:-

These are the usual Rajasthani kind of autos that have been described here and which have been over exaggerated in terms of description.

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Autorustic

The over exaggerated satirical outlook on the village autos which aren’t taken care of properly have been described by this auto.

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God’s Rocket

The well-kept auto with a really good engine and usually looks good and is seen as a new auto is the auto discussed over here. There are a lot of ornaments pertaining to the faith of the driver in this auto.

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Baroque-on-wheels

This auto is literally art on wheels. These autos in reality are literally decorated a lot. But the description given in the textbook is far too exaggerated (again).

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Hell’s trishaw

Only a fool would believe that these autos would ply even if there was an artist who would work on this auto, autos like these would be banned and wouldn’t be allowed to ply.

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Auto-Ethnotic

Some autos used for competitions which make you drive an auto with your team across India have such exotic designs. These do not ply on a usual basis as they are only available during such circumstances of stake.

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Strato-Darter

This auto is definitely a fake but might portray those autos which travel to the destinations really fast.

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Road Rani

Similar to the Strato-Darter this example portray the autos which command the business and are customer satisfactory.

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