Autorickshaws are a ubiquitous sight on Indian highways. These low-cost public transportation vehicles are often available in simple configurations. However, creative drivers are frequently observed personalizing three-wheelers in order to ‘improve’ them.
A video of one such car is currently going viral. The brief video shows an autorickshaw with a cooler on the back. According to the registration plate of the three-wheeler, the footage was shot in Punjab.
On May 22, Instagram user @kabir_setia posted the video. It has received over 3.6 lakh likes so far. One person commented, “Mini BMW,” while another joked, “I am giving money to the wrong auto driver.”
In reality, this is not the only autorickshaw that has piqued the interest of netizens in recent years. Satyawan Gite, a Mumbai-based autorickshaw driver, gained headlines in November 2019 for inventing a one-of-a-kind ‘home system auto-rickshaw’, complete with a washbasin, mobile phone charging outlets, plants, and even a television screen. A decal on the vehicle’s rear encourages passengers to “take the airplane ride experience.”
Similarly, Mahendra Kumar, an autorickshaw driver from Delhi, rose to popularity in May of last year after a video showing a garden atop his vehicle went viral. On the top of his three-wheeler, Kumar had planted a small kitchen garden with 25 different plants, including tomatoes, okra, snake gourd, and spinach. He said that the landscaping shielded him and his passengers from direct sunlight and decreased the temperature inside the car.
