As we had spent a bunch of time shadowing rickshaws the day before collecting very quantitative data about their daily jobs, our goal of the day was to collect qualitative data from the rickshaw pullers themselves about their daily life, habits and health. Krishna had very kindly organized around 20 rickshaw pullers to meet us in Mirza. The plan was to begin with a more general conversation with the whole group to get them a little more comfortable with us, the translator and the format of the forthcoming discussions. Following that, three of the rickshaw pullers would take the healthcare groups off to their respective families while the rickshaw group stayed behind to conduct one on one interviews.
The questions we wanted to ask the rickshaw pullers could easily be categorized into three main themes: first, we wanted to get a general sense of the rickshaw puller demographic, so we included simple questions like age, how long they had ridden rickshaws, how much money they made / saved and how many people they supported with their daily wages. Second, we wanted to know more about their daily habits to get a sense of their daily nutrition, water intake and vices (smoking/drinking etc.) Finally, we asked questions about their daily routine with respect to their main occupation. This included questions like work hours, best / worst parts of the job, unpleasant passengers and so on.
When we got to Mirza, the 20 or so rickshaw pullers were all standing in a group and had prepared chairs for us to sit on while we asked questions. As soon as we sat down, all the pullers squatted on the grass in front of us. I requested Krishna if we could sit on the grass as well as it made me more comfortable asking questions that way. The initial bout of questions was pretty well received. The pullers seemed very eager and often discussed amongst themselves to provide a well thought out answer that everyone agreed on. We found that the pullers in Mirza were mostly between the ages of 25 and 40 with a few of them being over 55 and some temporary pullers under 20. They made between Rs. 100 and Rs. 250 per day (significantly less than what a puller in the city made) and supported families ranging in size from 4 to 11 people.
We also got a sense of their diet which involved a large amount of rice and lentils augmented with immense amounts of sugary milk tea (almost 7 cups a day!) At this point, the rickshaw pullers seemed a lot more comfortable with our questions and us in general so the healthcare group split off with the respective rickshaw pullers while Mihir and I stayed back with the remaining pullers for one on one interviews.
We picked two pullers for the one on one interviews; one was 55 and the other was about 40. They told us that after each day, it was their knees, calves, shoulders and waists that hurt the most. Some of them invested in a small tube of ointment which they would use sparingly during very dire circumstances. These tubes cost them almost a day’s wage and they would make them last for almost 2 months. An alternative remedy for aches and pains was hot water heated on a wood stove. Using this method meant increasing their daily fuel expenditure to about Rs. 30 a day.
Almost every one of the pullers chewed tobacco and most of them drank alcohol and smoked about a pack of cigarettes a day. When asked about the most painful parts of their daily rides, the general consensus was that muddy, sandy or dusty roads and inclines were the worst. In addition, it was interesting to note that they found head-on wind very strenuous as well. As a side note, one of the pullers we interviewed, who was 55 years old, had a daughter that had been recently married off. I tentatively asked Krishna if it would be ok to ask what he gave as dowry (in traditional Indian weddings, a dowry is sometimes given to the groom’s family from the bride’s family as a gift in exchange for the marriage and can include anything from cattle to cars to cash) for the marriage. When asked, the puller said he gave about Rs. 20,000 worth of wooden furniture. Using a very optimistic daily wage of Rs. 200, that would equal about 100 days of income.
Once we were done with our pre-defined protocol, Mihir ventured a question which polled the pullers for any ideas they had had to improve the rickshaws in any way. For me, this was the most interesting part of the whole conversation. Almost every single puller in the group had an idea or two to contribute. One of the pullers took us over to his rickshaw and showed us how the cover over the rickshaw was flat. He explained that if it was pointed downwards at the front, the air would “slide over the top” instead of getting “trapped inside the rickshaw”. Another idea was to include a visor in front of the rickshaw to shield the puller’s face from dust and wind. Someone then piped in that the visor should be “arrow” shaped so that the wind would “slide off” and move around the rickshaw. In general it seemed like a lot of their ideas revolved around reducing drag followed by improving comfort.
At this point, the pullers felt a little more comfortable around us and would even laugh at our simply translated bad jokes. We then heard one of the pullers whispering something to Krishna. When we asked him what the puller was saying, he explained that almost 80% of the pullers have problems with swollen testicles. After riding day after day for almost 10 hours a day, one of the testicles usually swells up and starts to cause severe pain.
To end the session, we requested the pullers to ride around the grassy area as well as a nearby pakka (good) road to get some video of their pedaling technique. This included the regular cyclical pedaling as well as the now famous “half-pedal” where the pullers would push and draw back the pedals in a quick back and forth motion. At this point, I also noticed that all the pullers we saw riding around in Mirza seemed to use the middle of their foot or their ankles as the main contact point with the pedals while every single puller in Guwahati city that we saw used the ball of their foot. I am unsure if this was just a coincidence or there is actually something behind this observation. Finally, before the healthcare groups slowly trickled in, we used a tape measure to get some quick physical measurements of the pullers’ bodies.
Again, we will fill in pictures once we are back in the US - sorry for the delay!
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