India: Tuk-Tuk Or Rickshaw?

WE prefer to call the three-wheeler transportation vehicles (usually black and yellow) that swarm over India's roads tuk-tuks. But, apparently, they are rickshaws. Or, more precisely, motor or auto rickshaws.

Still, some of the drivers in India refer to them as tuk-tuks - because that is what tourists know them as. The name originates from the sound of the engine.

If you read most of the signs, though, the word used is rickshaw, though originally rickshaws were pedalled vehicles.

Auto or motor rickshaws are common in developing countries and an inexpensive way of getting around. They have handle bars like on a motorbike, but with seating at the back and usually a roof. But we've seen them in pick-up versions and in many different styles. There's one, made by Indian car manufacturer Mahindra, which is bigger and sturdier.

As if India's roads are already not dangerous enough, drivers in India love to decorate their tuk-tuks, sometimes flamboyantly and almost to the point you cannot see clearly through the windscreen.

Zenchai adores them. He always immediately approaches the driver and asks if he can sit up front. Nine times out of 10 they will say yes. But in bigger cities and towns, where the roads are filled with traffic, we make sure he sits at the back with us.

But you would be surprised how many people can fit into one of these small vehicles. We shared a tuk-tuk with a Russian family once - a total of eight people including the driver!

I don't think we've seen the last of them. We're off to Thailand and other parts of eastern Asia where they also have them in abundance.

 

Comments

[Bill M]

Actually, "rickshaw" comes from 力車 (the characters for strength--human strength in this case--and the one for cart; pronounced, in Japanese, "rikisha," with the middle "i" sound nearly silent). The word, written (but not pronounced) the same in Chinese and Japanese, means, then, a person-pulled cart. Of course, Indian usage may apply the word as it will, but in East Asia, if a human's not supplying the motive force, it cannot be a "rickshaw."

[Claude]

That makes sense. However, in India they continue to call it rickshaw in spite of the engine. But, there again, perhaps they are not aware of the word's origin.

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