Riding Along in a RickshawPedro |
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COMSUBBBS Posts: 2974 Location: Liverpool, England | Subject: Riding Along in a Rickshaw Some of you might recall or have even engaged in the rickshaw races we used to have in Hong Kong in the days before it become a sprawling modern metropolis of concrete canyons and towering skyscrapers. Many were the times me and a shipmate on a run ashore would rent two rickshaws and place bets as to which one would reach our destination first. The local rickshaw boys loved the competitive rivalry and were well rewarded for their herculean efforts with healthy tips which were always paid by the loser. People who thought that a childish pastime might also be forgiven for thinking that rickshaws were a mode of transport peculiar only to Chinese or other Asiatic cities. They would be wrong on that score because rickshaws were also a most popular method of travel in the city of Durban, South Africa. Rather than a small Chinese coolie being your rickshaw boy here you were confronted with a tall Zulu warrior in full ceremonial tribal regalia as your chauffeur. These giant Zulu’s undertook this type of work in order to raise enough money to buy cattle, pigs and goats as a dowry for their brides of choice back in their tribal homeland, the Valley of a Thousand Hills in KwaZulu, Natal, just west of Durban. Being such physically demanding work they usually retired after five years returning home to polygamous marriage and family life. A part of city life for more than 100 years there were once 2,000 registered rickshaw pullers in Durban this being the preferred holiday town choice for South African tourists and their families. Today, the number has radically declined to around only 20 operators, as small motorised trishaws have taken over the trade. Fortunately, Durban is a city of mostly flat terrain but the distances covered could be long and demanding on the pullers. The Zulu pullers were always fine physically fit specimens of manhood, tall with rippling muscles and sinews. When pulling passengers they devised a method of building up enough speed on the flat or the occasional incline and then counterbalancing the rickshaw and passenger weight. This enabled them to momentarily rest their legs on the shafts until more running was required to maintain forward momentum. I remember one night two drunken sailors off a visiting French destroyer arriving outside the Smugglers Inn in West Street on the city waterfront. They dismounted from the rickshaw refused to pay their fare, and ignoring the puller walked off into the bar. Those stupid French matelots must have forgotten who they were dealing with. Didn’t they know that this was a direct descendent of the mighty Zulu nation who armed with assegai spears and cowhide shields had once humiliated the great British Empire, by defeating its massive modern army equipped with guns and cannon? The 6’ 6’' Zulu puller, now minus his regalia, walked into the bar grabbing the two Frenchman by their necks and smacking their heads together. He turned each of them upside down till their loose change dropped from their pockets onto the floor from which he picked out the exact amount of the fares owed to him. He then dragged the dazed couple outside and putting them between the shafts of his rickshaw, jumped into the seat, ordering them to take him back to where he had picked them up. They did try attracting the attention of two white policemen enjoying a coffee break in a parked patrol car in an attempt to get them to intervene. They did intervene but not in the way anticipated by the Frenchmen; instead they asked the Zulu puller for his destination downtown which he gave them. They told him to proceed there and that they would be along shortly to the location to arrest the two sailors for being drunk and disorderly in charge of a rickshaw. I casually asked one copper how far they had to go and he said it was about three miles away, by which time the two Froggies would be completely tuckered out and about ready for a night in the police cells. Now that was poetic justice being handed out - South African style. Pedro  | ||
| Ralph Luther |
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| Subject: RE: Riding Along in a Rickshaw Just a small quick question Pedro. Did they use recap tires on those rickshaws?  | |||
