Presents
‘Jin-Riki-Sha’ by
Ajay De
The Gallery in Cork St. 28 Cork Street Street Mayfair, London W1S 3NG 2nd to 8th November ‘08
The exhibition continues at 54 Queen Anne Street Westminster, London W1G 8HN
10th to 27th November ‘08 Gallery Timing: 11 am - 6 pm By Appointment Only For details, please contact: Vaishali Thakkar: 07951433021 www.visualartuk.com
Rita Mehta: 07785268716 info@ visualartuk.com
India Preview : 7th-8th October, ‘08 at Art & Soul Gallery, Mumbai
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Mystique The mystique of the rickshaw has captured western imagination since the turn of the century
Man PULLing RICKSHAW
bringing to mind exotic images of passengers being pulled through the Orient’s crowded markets. But to Kolkata’s14 million inhabitants, they are an enduring symbol of an era of colonial inequality and source of ceaseless debate on the morality of man pulling man.
Origins The hand rickshaw of jin riki sha literally meaning “man powered vehicle” was designed in about 1870 in Japan. Its invention has apparently been credited to at least three different men: an American missionary named Jonathan Gable, Ahika Daisuki, an out of work Samurai called Yusuke Tzumi. It is a light wood cart with large diameter wheels, generally also in wood, drawn by man running between two long shafts to project in front. Insofar as it required only one men to pull another, it was an advance over the previous available vehicles, such as the palanquin. The design however, seems to have caught on more widely an spread widely throughout Asia and perhaps to the parts of Asia that had been colonized by western powers of were under the strong influence of westerners such as missionaries. It seems at least possible that it was the networks linking this alien stratum of society, as well as their own migration, that might have been primarily responsible for the spread. Within as little as a decade of its invention, the rickshaw was first seen in Shimla in present day Himachal Pradesh, the summer capital of the British Raj in 1880. Twenty years later, they were introduced to kolkata permission from the municipality, to operate rickshaws for passenger transport and for many years later Chinese rickshawalas (rickshaw pullers) awaiting cuystom at the roadside were a familiar part of the Chowringhee scene. Rickshaw numbers have grown steadily to this day (although their Chinese flavour has been replaced by one of Bihar) Every visitor to the city notices their shadowy forms in the dark of evening and the metallic chink of their small bells. Their have become a trademark for kolkata.
Present day Kolkata is the only city to still have pulled rickshaws. Many of these are hired for the day by the pullers. They exist only in small parts of central Kolkata and restricted to the roads. Across the river in Howrah, other suburbs and even other areas of Kolkata, there are cycle and auto rickshaws.
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Life A typical say begins with unrefined heroin for some of the rickshaw repairmen, a greater percentage of whom smoke that the pullers another toxic fume, that of recycled rubber rickshaw wheels being
What I See…
pitching in the clay hearth as fuel for cooking the day’s rice and lentils. The repairmen spend most of
The ‘Human-horse rickshaw pullers’, unseen, unknown, fleet through crowded, narrow streets of
their time sitting in the dirt replacing one or more of the eight sections of the wooden wheels.
Calcutta, carrying load or man through sun, rain and wind, with the pace of the wind, as unheard as ever, except for their bells clanging- “Halloa, make way”.
Mind of a rickshaw puller A rickshaw puller is deterred neither by the torrential rains that swamp Kolkata streets, nor the heavy he that melts the tar beneath his sometimes bare feet. The human horse, the rickshaw puller taken his place between the rickshaw’s shafts, assuming the yoke as he has daily for the past several years.
I have been watching them entranced, since they caught my eye, my interest, my curiosity, three years ago. Now, I see them as they are and have portrayed them as I perceived and conceptualized them. My little beroes live their daily lives of bardship, stand in line t attract passers by to take them to their destination, from Free School Street to New Market, or carry load under the bridge at
Though the rickshaw poses a dilemma for some passengers who may balk at supporting this
Sealdah Station or transport an Angel across the Maidan passing the Victoria Memorial on the way.
seemingly undemocratic means of transport, such ethical questions are non-issue for pullers. “We
They strive to give us comfort, they carry the burden to relive us of it. They, even, like trustworthy
don’t think about such things”, says a rickshaw puller, a man with hollow cheeks, a brow corrugated
brothers make regular trips from home to school and back, were Mother waits their return anxiously.
with wrinkles and a villy-goat beard, weighing only 45 kilos. “God has given us life and we have to
They are always at beck and call and do as they are bid, Goddess Durga chooses to make her return
work at it, whether it’s pulling a rickshaw or carrying goods on our head.
journey on a rickshaw. They run thorough the streets incognito, but, are the blessed children of God
The pullers justify their trade trade by arguing that rickshaws provide affordable transportation for
in wake and sleep.
the poor, do not pollute and provide a desperately needed source of income for the uneducated and
I have tried through my medium to portray the ‘Human-horse rickshaw puller’, the most unsung
unskilled. The pullers, most of whom are from Bihar and sleep on the streets, also serve as a 24 hour
modes of transport today, when speed is the way of life, where Metro has taken over and the jingle
emergency ambulance service and are used by many families to take children to and from school.
of the bells is replaced by the jingles of innumerable advertisements. The Metro trains travel through the dark tunnels onto the electric light of platforms, the rickshaw puller with the rays of the Sun
Reality
God’s chariot travels his distances from the first ray of sunrise to the fall of dusk when slowly the city
Most rickshaws are owned by businessmen and three pullers share a single vehicle, splitting shifts.
comes to a still.
The owner receives a daily fee of Rs. 20 or 40 cents, while the pullers earn from Rs. 100 ($2) to Rs. 150 ($3).
My little hero, You strive and toil,
Observation
Through burning streets and wet soil,
Many observers in Kolkata see the rickshaw as a product of socio-economics and its demise is
With sweat on your brow,
unlikely as long as dire poverty exists. Kolkata has some 3 million homeless people.
Sometimes eyes full of tears, You jingle your bell,
The future
But do we always hear?....!!!
Though the future looks bleak for the hand pulled rickshaw but like the proverbial underdog, it may still carry on, pulling people to their destinations and reaching form one future of uncertainty
– Ajay De
to another. – Jay Danani
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Charcoal \ Acrylic on paper 30 x 40 in. 2008
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Charcoal on paper 30 x 60 in. 2008
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Charcoal on paper 20 x 40 in. 2008
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Charcoal \ Acrylic on paper 30 x 40 in. 2008
Ajey De Cat-re.indd 10-11
Charcoal on paper 30 x 40 in. 2008
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Charcoal on paper 12 x 21 in. 2008
Ajey De Cat-re.indd 12-13
Charcoal \ acrylic on paper 23 x 40 in. 2008
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Charcoal on paper 20 x 40 in. 2008
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Charcoal on paper 12.5 x 36 in. 2008
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Charcoal on paper 12.5 x 36 in. 2008
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Charcoal on paper 12 x 21 in. 2008
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Charcoal on paper 20 x 20 in. 2008
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Charcoal \ Acrylic on paper 20 x 20 in. 2008
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Ajey De ... Born :
14th February, 1967
Studied at Government College Of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata. Sir J.J. School Of Art, Mumbai. Solo Exhibitions 2008 Habitat center New Delhi 2008 Gallery Bijutsu Sekai, Tokyo 2007 The Art House, Singapore 2006 Aicon Gallery, Parlo Alto, CA, USA 2004 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 2003 The Asian Cultural Center, New York 2002 Gallery Art Resource Trust, Mumbai, Studios, Pune, Taj Blue Diamond Hotel, Pune 2001 Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai 2000 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 1999 Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai 1998 Noa Gallery, Tokyo, Oberoi Hotel, Mumbai, Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai 1997 Artist’s Center, Mumbai, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore 1996 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 1994 Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, AIFACS, New Delhi Select Participations 2008 Tao Art Gallery Mumbai, Asian Art Show Tokyo 2008 Uno Musulam Tokyo, Jehangir Art Gallery Mumbai 2007 Tao Art Gallery Mumbai 2006 Visual Art, U.K., Cork Street, London. Mumbai Festival, Mumbai 2005 Gallery Reflection, Hong Kong, Indian Habitat Center, New Delhi, Indian Art Gallery, Pune 2004 Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai, Taj Blue Diamond Hotel, Pune, Indian Exhibition, Dubai, Harmony Show, Mumbai, Tao of Shiva, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai SunSand Hotel, Pune 2003 R.P.G. Art Camp, Mumbai, Icon of Bengal Show at NGMA by R.P.G., Mumbai, Harmony Show, Mumbai, The horse Show, Boat Club, Pune 2002 50 years celebration of Jehangir Art Gllery, Mumbai, Harmony Show, Mumbai, R.P.G. Mela Show, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, Taj Blue Diamond Hotel, Pune, R.P.G. Art Camp, Mumbai, Oberoi Hotel Art Camp, Mumbai, Lake Palace Art Camp, Udaipur 2001 R.P.G. Art Camp, Mumbai, Harmony Show, Mumbai 1998 Colour of India, Dubai, Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai, Taj Blue Diamond, Pune 1997-95 Taj Blue Dimond, Pune, Academy of Fine Arts, Pune Collection Represented and auctioned in several private and public collections both in Indian and abroad. Artist lives and works in Mumbai, India.
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