This old man pulling rickshaw for last 50 years in Odisha capital, watch

Bhubaneswar: ‘This rickshaw is my world and my family. This is my companion for the last 50 to 60 years. This rickshaw has provided me income with which I have brought up my children and nourished my family. This is my best friend who never leaves me and hence I also live with him, day and night. After my work gets over in a day, I do not return to my house, but I take a nap on this rickshaw before venturing to the work for the next day,” says Adhikari Behera, a rickshaw puller from Bhubaneswar who has been pulling a rickshaw in this Odisha capital for the last 50 to 60 years. Kalinga TV Digital reporter Raja chatted with the old man. Here are the excerpts:

With the advent of new technology, the world of locomotives has experienced a huge change. After the age of carts, rickshaw or cycle rickshaw, which is manually paddled to run, was largely used in the capital city. There were many rickshaws in the capital city. Even rickshaw has been filmed and songs have been made showcasing manual rickshaw. The ‘Mu Rickshawbala’ song from the Odia film ‘Punarmilana’ (1977) was a super hit song. There were other songs where rickshaw was dwelled upon. Even, in the Odia films of the eighties, we have often seen rickshaws on the screen. Later, autorickshaws took the place of manual rickshaws.

These days we hardly see any rickshaws in Bhubaneswar. However, still there are a few. Adhikari Behera is still pulling rickshaw in the capital city though he has become old now. Of course, according to him, these days he hardly gets any passengers and hence he mostly carries goods in his rickshaw.

A man from Palaspalli area of Bhubaneswar, Behera is pulling rickshaw for the last 50 to 60 years. Asked what change he has observed in these long years, he said that there is hardly any change, though a number of new buildings have cropped up in the city.

Behera had bought the rickshaw at a price of Rs 1500 long back. In the earlier years, he used to get Rs 3 to 30 for carrying passengers to different destinations. Later, he started to carry goods.

It is not that the old man does not have a family. He has a family and house, but he prefers to sleep on his rickshaw at night. When asked whether he picks passengers from the railway station square, he said that he used to carry passengers from the railway station to different destinations for about 10 years. Now, he is not interested to stay at the Master canteen Chowk and people prefer auto rickshaws also.

Asked if there is any other thing the old man wants to do in life he said that he pulls a rickshaw which is enough for him.

Also read: This Tribal Old Man Guarding A 100 Acre Forest For Last 25 Years In Odisha’s Nabarangpur, Watch