view from my window: rickshaws

rickshaws are everywhere in chittagong. they wait for potential passengers to hail them, as you would a taxi in an american city. the ride from my apartment to the university - perhaps 1.5 miles - costs around 20 or 30 taka (1 dollar = 75 taka).

because rickshaws don't have gears, wallahs frequently have to get out and pull a rickshaw with passengers up a hill, as is seen below. it is common for several people to ride together, and i have seen as many as six people in a single rickshaw - two women and four children. 

the typical rickshaw wallah wears a skirt-like piece of fabric tied around his waist, and a pair of cheap plastic sandals. as you might guess, rickshaw wallahs are very lean and muscular. 

rickshaw wallahs work in sunshine and in rain. when it rains, a wallah will pull a plastic tarp across a line to keep his passengers dry, and occasionally use an umbrella for himself.

although most are young, it is not uncommon to see a wallah who is well into middle-age, with gray in his beard.