A Rickshaw Puller
The man who pulls rickshaw for money is a rickshaw puller. He is a poor day laborer who is earning his livelihood by pulling a rickshaw. A rickshaw puller is quite familiar in cities and towns. He carries passengers and goods in his rickshaw from one place to another on payment. He lives in a slum. His dress is very shabby. His income is very poor. He comes out of there the roads and streets early in the morning and works with his rickshaw till the late hours of the night. He never cares for his health and pulls his rickshaw for maximum hours in a day.
He supports his family through much hardship. He has to live from hand to mouth. Generally, he has no rickshaw of his own. He cannot provide food, education, and medicine to his family properly. He toils hard. He has to work in all good and bad weather. In all weathers good and bad he is seen carrying passengers. Poverty is writ large on his face. If he becomes sick, he cannot drive his rickshaw and earn money. So he and his family starve if he can earn more than his expectation, his face smiles. The money that he earns is spent mostly on buying his daily food. He suffers greatly when he cannot pull a rickshaw. He bargains with his passengers. He demands more when the weather is very hot or foul. Sometimes he tries to cheat passengers. But most often he is cheated by passengers. If we don’t pay him more than the real wage, it’s alright. But we should never underestimate his labor. He cannot enjoy peace and happiness. His services are really very great. But this opportunity is very rare in his life. He belongs to the poor class of our society and serves humanity in extreme weather conditions also. We must feel the rickshaw puller’s misery and be a little more lenient towards him.
In spite of all these odd conditions, he feels proud to live on his fair earnings from his sweat. A rickshaw puller is seen sleeping on his rickshaw beneath a tree or silting idly on his rickshaw. Sweat is his, close fond and this leaves a peculiar smell on his body. Though he drives rickshaw from morning till late night, he leads it very miserable life. His life is full of sorrows and sufferings. He finds great pleasure to serve human beings at a minimum cost. We must treat him as a useful member of society.
