Rickshawallah's odyssey

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM, AUG. 20. Thirty-seven-year-old P. Padmavati is a rickshawpuller and a gritty one at that.

Not content with pedalling around the streets of his home town, Guntur, he is letting his three-wheeler have a run of the national highways.

"I bought this rickshaw from the amount I saved from the Rs.10,000 the State Government had sanctioned for my illness in 1998, and since then I have pedalled to places like Puttaparti, Mysore and Sabarimalai," says Padmavati, who is now in Visakhapatnam on his latest odyssey to Calcutta.

Displaying newspaper clippings of his adventures and the endorsements of his stopovers that he had obtained from police stations en route, Padmavati say he had logged 1,130 km on his maiden expedition on the rickshaw to Puttaparti, next spent eight months journeying to places like Shirdi and Mysore and, early this year, undertook a pilgrimage on the three-wheeler to Sabarimalai.

He set his rickshaw rolling once again at Guntur on August 8 and would be crossing Orissa to reach Calcutta to participate in Mother Teresa's birth anniversary celebrations on August 27. For Padmavati, who has dedicated his three-wheeler to free service of the needy like physically handicapped persons and pregnant women besides transporting dead bodies for cremation, Mother Teresa is his source of inspiration.

"I would be covering a distance of 3,000 km when I return to Guntur on December 6 in time for Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's vardanti," he adds.

Born in Lakadi in Palakkad (Kerala), Padmavati grew up in Guntur after his father took up a job in a hotel there. "I sought alms from people, never more than five paise from anyone and donated amount -- seven sacks of coins -- towards flood relief in 1987 to NTR (the then Chief Minister) and made another contribution to the present CM," he says.

Back home, Padmavati claims that he plies the rickshaw at a 50 per cent discount fare for normal passengers and free for the needy, never allowing smoking or liquor in his vehicle, and continues to seek alms from people to help the poor. "I still ask people for five paise as it makes them realise the worth of money. I may accept a 25 paise coin but I return back 20 paise," he says.

While on his missions, Padmavati logs about 80 km a day and, except for being manhandled once in Maharashtra, he has had a smooth run so far with people helping him out with food and money for the maintenance of the rickshaw. His dream? "I want to pedal to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister," says the determined rickshaw puller.

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Section  : Southern States
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