Click to play videoMoradabad (UP): In the West, a car means a Honda or a Mercedes, and in India too, the urban automobile has moved beyond the Morris Minors and the Fiats.
But these cars have always found the going tough when it comes to the roads of rural India. For those rugged terrains, there is a car which is a beast for all seasons.
The inimitable jugaar succeeds where modern mechanics fail. On busy highways lining the countryside to narrow bylanes of north Indian villages, jugaar is the poor man's taxi.
A jugaar has a diesel engine and rubber tyres but its body is still made of wood. It has a clutch and an accelarator but moves at a constant speed of 30 km/hr. In a sense it is a unique cross between a western automobile and a troditional Indian Bullock Cart
Habeeb Miyan runs a Jugaar shop in Moradabad. He reveals the secret mechanism behind the jugaar. “Put together Kirloskar irrigation pump, Mahindra Jeep tyres and steering wheels fo rthe jugaar,” he says.
The indigenous vehicle costs much less then any other automobile, in some cases even one fourth of what a taxi would cost.
“It’s very cheap and I got it only for Rs 60,000,” says Habeeb.
However the convenience apart, expect no pollution control, no licences and of course no seat belts. The drivers maintain there is no need to worry. There is no chance of losing control, it’s very sturdy,” says a driver on UP’s Moradabad highway.
Though delays are common and passengers complain of getting late for work, they all know and appreciate that jugaar is not about speed.
The makeshift continues to trudge on, simply because it goes where none else can.
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