On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 12:27 PM, Abhijit Menon-Sen <[email protected]> wrote: > At 2010-01-21 11:51:34 +0530, [email protected] wrote: >> >> The way I heard it, the very cheap truck/vehicle Suresh is referring >> to above was actually called a "jugaad" and the generic usage of the >> word for any hack of this nature came later. > > I know nothing about the etymology of jugaad, but I've just returned > from a quick trip to the Chambal river in UP at a village called Bah > (no, really). It was full of Jugaads (as in the cheap truck/vehicle) > made from water pumps and the like, carrying fodder and wood around.
There's a Tamil variant of this called the "Meen Body Vandi" - i.e. "fish bed vehicle" because they originated among the fishermen who needed a quick and dirty transport system for carrying fish. It's a motorized tri-wheeler (derived from the non-motorized variant [0]) with heavy duty suspension and a motorcycle engine - typically the czech yezdi or Enfield bullet. It's origins are typical of other Jugaadu innovations - dead fish are typically considered unhygienic and vehicles that carry them won't or can't be typically used to carry anything else, hence the need for a cheap single-purpose transport vehicle. These aren't officially recognized as road worthy, and despite a few proposals to regulate them vote-bank politics have time and again trumped any safety concerns. They have since become rather popular as a means to transport all manner of goods from lumber to steel rods to school children [1][2]. There are similar vehicles to be found in much of SE Asia [3] [0] http://indiantriporteurs.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/a7.jpg [1] http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/14/stories/2005061412610600.htm [2] http://becauseitreallyispersonal.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/india-school-bus-tricycle.jpg [3] http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/motor_tricycle-showroom.html
