Cycling for a living at 68 years
Ratnam Aiyampillai on his cycle rickshaw.
Jaffna – More than a century ago, cycle rickshaws were the main mode of transport in parts of Asia. The earlier Jaffna Urban Council (now Municipal Council) taxed cycle rickshaws at 75 cents a month.
While this mode of transport is no more (except as a tourist attraction), one elderly man in Jaffna is using it to earn money and feed his family. 68 year-old Ratnam Aiyampillai, a Malaysian-born Jaffna resident, for decades has been operating a cycle rickshaw as a Montessori school transport in the northern city, as his livelihood.After quitting his job at the Marketing Department in 1990, he started the cycle rickshaw transport service. He has four children, gets just Rs. 15.000 a month from his rickshaw and also receives the Samurdhi dole. Keen to provide his children a proper education, he says he hopes for some assistance from a friendly NGO or well-wishers.