Hooghly Cycle Culture
These are some pictures from my ride in a cycle rickshaw from Bandel to Chinsura in the Hooghly district of West Bengal. Bandel and Chinsura are suburbs of Kolkatta. They are poorer suburbs with a lot of history built around the banks of river Ganga. A commuter rail provides transportation to Kolkatta. The cycle rickshaws and auto-rickshaws provide transportation from the train stations. There are busses but are very unreliable.
The cycle rickshaws are modified roadsters. They are comfortable for two people. Some are modified with facing seats for school children. There are no gears. The rear sprocket seems to be a larger one. The front sprocket looked like a 42-48 teeth.
The slide show has pictures of people in various forms of cycling around. The particular day this picture was taken was the morning of a holiday. Hence the crowd appears to be slim. There are pictures of multiple people on a bike, a cargo trike etc.
A few things to notice: no helmets, no bike lanes, no stop lights and much more. All movement, pedestrian to cars to large trucks happen in a sort of mini critical masses.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
That looks a lot like where I was in Thailand. There is essentially a paved road and you get from where you are to where you want to be by whatever best possible and safest route you can manage. Generally, traffic flows in a sort of pattern, but it was by no means set in stone.
Thanks for the pics.
December 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Cool! I’m looking forward to more.
December 21st, 2008 at 7:53 am
Great pictures, fascinating how much use is made out of the bicycle in Indian daily life. Thanks for sharing them with us.
January 6th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Good to have you back. Maybe we’ll see each other soon as we wait for that green light at Southside and Skinners.