Tangas – the old time transport of Udaipur

My childhood was a wonderful one with memories of Tangas- passenger cart pulled by horse. I remember going along lake side in tanga where the sound of tok-tok , one you can mouth, was a very pleasurable moment as it brought a lot of music with it. I also have very clear memories of my grandfather going to work in a tanga daily, a tanga that was a very special one. It had a cushioned passenger seat, the one my grandfather preferred, and a pillow for support. This tanga was in a way his personal tanga, or I can say it was always waiting for him since he was a man of elegant taste and would not use any other tanga as replacement. As a child, I would go the colony’s choraha and ask the tangawala to get ready to take him to work. The memory is still fresh, as I had a chance to sit in this special one once. My ears already ringing with the music of tok-tok-tok-tok.

Tangas were very cheaply priced as compared to auto rickshaws because they did not consume fuel. Oh Yeah! They did not pollute the atmosphere either. So many Hindi movies have songs shot in tangas. The melodious songs, the funny ones, the thoughtful ones …all in tanga can never be forgotten and I seriously pray to keep on rolling the tanga stories for the generations to come.

Basanti ka Tanga in Sholay, Mard ka tanga, Rajkapoor ka kanga in Teesri kasam, Dilip Kumar in tanga in Naya daur(beautiful song “maang ke saath tumhara mainey maang liya sansaar”) do a lot to the nerves and set you drooling.

When on my lake side trip, moving along in tanga at fatehsagar with my cousins, playing antaakshree and singing all tanga songs of movies is a memory which I wish could repeat though it saddens me to think that these times are the ones which history may not repeat. The fun of being in such a cart is completely incomparable to the high tech versions of machines that we have today. Also the movement of body sitting in these tangas used to cause a tickling sensation that made us laugh beyond control.

Why can’t we have these pollution free modes of transport back in our city of lakes? No driving license would be needed, no tension of being in queue for refilling and no hassle of speed limit. A cheap yet most wonderful mode of transport, the tanga needs a comeback. Probably the Indian movies will also be able to create a new style of respectable romance once again, romance that existed long back and that seemed so pure.

Udaipur had tanga stands at Ambamata choraha, Delhi gate, Hathipole and Surajpole which I believe should start again and be known like they used to be and create another never ending history.