They are riding into oblivion

Tonga Lahori mera, ghora Peshawari mera!
Dekho miyanji, dekho lala, Mein hoon albela tongewala

As rickshaws have been banned from Kolkata, so has the sword of the municipal authorities fallen upon the heritage carriages of the vintage times of Delhi — the tongas. I still remember plying by tongas and trams during my childhood at a price of ek aana (six paise), do anna (twelve paise).

Today, who is bothered about the albela tongewala! Gone are the days of tongas as they have been replaced today by the rickshaws and battery manned buses in old Delhi. There were more than 3,500 tongas in 1971 that are at a great speed being replaced by the rickshaws. In 1981, the tongas got reduced to about 2,000 and in 2009, there are only 232 tongas all over Delhi as per the MCD records.

Ram Dulare, who makes his living by driving a horse-driven tonga — a mode of transport which is clearly the last vestige of a legacy unique to the country, believes that in this day and age, when an ingenious set of four-wheels is the ultimate yardstick of rapid modernisation, the tonga is probably a misfit on the roads, unable to find its bearings amongst the fast and flashy crop! He hardly earns Rs 100 a day. Whoever climbs onto the tonga nowadays, does it to experience the sheer novelty of it or for a joyride!
Maintaining a tonga according to Nasiruddin of Jama Masjid tonga stand, is a tough job. A good horse costs anywhere from Rs 70,000 to Rs one lakh or more. Moreover, there is a very trying test for the “passing” of the tongas by the municipal corporation of Delhi and an annual fees of about Rs 2,000 is to be paid by the tonga owners. Besides, the minimum cost of a mediocre horse’s daily food is more than Rs 150. There are not the usual trips of tongas carrying people as used to be the case about three decades ago.
Whether it’s Ram Dulare or Nasiruddin, they don’t name their horses as it is only the fancied horses that have names. The horses of the mazdoors can’t have names! Altogether different is the breed of the Bollywood and race-horses that respond only to catchy nicknames.

“Those are chakachak (grand) horses who have many a trick up their ‘legs’!” Nasiruddin smiles. His fondness for Dhanno, her mistress Basanti’s main escort of Sholay fame, is evergreen. Dhanno is still his favourite mare that galloped her way out of the vandals’ domain, as also Amitabh’s tonga in Mard.

Nasiruddin says that the tongas plying only between Kauria Pul, Gandhi Nagar, Shahdara and Seelampur too are dwindling today. Gulzar, another tongewala, laments that there are no good repair shops for the tongas in Delhi. Moreover, except for racing horses, Delhi doesn’t have good vetrenary doctors who can tend to their horses. They have to medicate the horses themselves using old time formulae and leaving the matter of healing to God, says Nasiruddin.

Owing to the roads being blocked all over the city, the tongas, classified as the ‘slow moving vehicles’, are banned and even if they were not banned, it would have been difficult for them to move on the congested roads.

“No, not at all,” Nasiruddin exclaims, “A tonga does not cause any problem on the road. Left on its own, it moves on the left-hand side of the road which is reserved for the slow-moving vehicles.”

To bring the horse on the road, it needs quite a bit of pampering. Catering to all the mundane routine of changing the horse-shoes, foraging fodder and tending to frequent limb injuries, is a tedious affair. Quips Nasir, “It can get very hectic, but what can we do? The horse is our means of livelihood. It’s like a member of the family.”

Today, the main purpose of these tongas is to serve shopkeepers, whose cartloads are transported with their help. Truth is that a tonga demands lesser attention than the flashy cars and the ubiquitous auto-rickshaws. Besides, a tonga has capacity to carry more luggage than the auto-rickshaws or even cars.

However, the odd foreigner on the street stops to take a look. To them, a tonga is a typical image of the land of Maharajas and fakirs. “They stop and stare as if they’re in the paradise of nostalgia We try to tell the truth, but they don’t understand.”

Who knows that these tongas will one day be relegated as antique pieces only to be found in the museums and the Hindi films. But Ladli Prasad of Gandhi Nagar tonga stand is of the view that these tongas are destined to come back for Delhi is becoming heavily polluted and in such a situation, only tongas can provide decent mode of transport.
Mohammed Mustaquim from Ajmeri gate tonga stand tells that the horses frequently fall ill as they are not in the habit of trotting at a snail’s pace in the sandwiched roads. There are no places to get the fodder for the animal and few syces (who take care of the horses) are left who can give a proper massage to the animal. All his tongas in Ajmeri Gate are used to carry hardware, sanitary and electrical goods within the walled city or to the other parts of Delhi.

Adds Mustaquim that these days, most of the day is spent in idle chit-chat with others of his fraternity and tending to the ageing horse. “The sword also falls from the policemen who do not allow tongas to park here.” 

When asked, whether Mustaquim would like to dispose off his horse for an auto-rickshaw, he nods in the negative saying that the stud is the only sincere companion that he has had. “Now it is unimaginable for me to survive without my horse!” says Mustaquim while the horse nudges closer for a bite of chana — its favourite food!