Showcasing 2 unique 3 wheelers, which I noticed recently (may not be unique to those who see it regularly)
The Mumbai Police amphibian patrol vehicle
On an early morning I went to Juhu beach, primarily for a walk, secondarily to try my luck spotting some celebrity hollywood star or industrialist (I’m told many of them stay in Juhu). I didn’t spot any of them (it was too dark to spot as well), instead, what I saw was this:
Does this vehicle have a name? if you know pls comment.
Mumbai police have recently acquired amphibian vehicles that can be driven both on water and on land. These boats, with their 3 wheels would add extra muscle to Mumbai Police. However I couldn’t see it in action. I feel people in Chennai should buy something like this- will be handy during the annual floods. Trying to imagine how it will be to drive this on the roads of Velachery…
The fully mechanical sugar cane juice machine-Pune
The next day I was in Pune, accidentally spotted this cart. The cart is used to churn sugarcane and squeeze juice out of it. Unlike mechanized ones, this cart is powered manually.
The gears were made out of wood. The top half has meshing gears, which were for initial squeezing. The bottom half was plain and was being for finer squeezing. As in most of the setups, one is stationary and the other is powered-by hand.
This looked like a family business. Father, Mother and son were involved in making the juice-either feeding the cane or rotating the handle or collecting the juice. I tried rotating the handle, it wasn’t that difficult. At times sugar cane would get stuck between the gears and vendor would use knife to ease them. The juice was good, but there was watery due to excessive ice.
Another idea would be to offer this as a Do It Yourself juice machine, wherein customers can have their daily exercise trying to make juice out of sugarcane sticks…
If you have any additional information about these machines, please share.
Also read: Tender coconut carts- Coco Fresco by Coconut board… *
The Mumbai Police amphibian patrol vehicle
On an early morning I went to Juhu beach, primarily for a walk, secondarily to try my luck spotting some celebrity hollywood star or industrialist (I’m told many of them stay in Juhu). I didn’t spot any of them (it was too dark to spot as well), instead, what I saw was this:
Does this vehicle have a name? if you know pls comment.
Mumbai police have recently acquired amphibian vehicles that can be driven both on water and on land. These boats, with their 3 wheels would add extra muscle to Mumbai Police. However I couldn’t see it in action. I feel people in Chennai should buy something like this- will be handy during the annual floods. Trying to imagine how it will be to drive this on the roads of Velachery…
The fully mechanical sugar cane juice machine-Pune
The next day I was in Pune, accidentally spotted this cart. The cart is used to churn sugarcane and squeeze juice out of it. Unlike mechanized ones, this cart is powered manually.
The gears were made out of wood. The top half has meshing gears, which were for initial squeezing. The bottom half was plain and was being for finer squeezing. As in most of the setups, one is stationary and the other is powered-by hand.
This looked like a family business. Father, Mother and son were involved in making the juice-either feeding the cane or rotating the handle or collecting the juice. I tried rotating the handle, it wasn’t that difficult. At times sugar cane would get stuck between the gears and vendor would use knife to ease them. The juice was good, but there was watery due to excessive ice.
Another idea would be to offer this as a Do It Yourself juice machine, wherein customers can have their daily exercise trying to make juice out of sugarcane sticks…
If you have any additional information about these machines, please share.
Also read: Tender coconut carts- Coco Fresco by Coconut board… *
I was a few days ago wistfully looking at a sugar cane juice stall while stuck in traffic, thinking I could post a few pictures!
ReplyDeleteThat vehicle also looks quite intriguing.
Thanks Mridula. Do you find similar sugar cane machines around in Delhi?
ReplyDeleteThese sugarcane juice machines are new to Pune too. I dont remember seeing them last summer. This year, I saw a few of these in Gujarat too. Usually in Gujarat sugarcane juice vendors from UP, Bihar come and set up shops. I wonder why, in spite of rising sugar prices are these farmers pushed towards the cities.
ReplyDeleteThe sugarcane machine that you saw is quite common in the village side ,i have seen it many times.The idea is that it does not need electricity ,so it is mechanical device which makes things easier for the village folks.
ReplyDeleteIn Alemane (traditional sugracane growers) who convert them into jaggery,u will see a slight modification to this where in a ox turns a spindle which crushes the sugarcane.You can see them if you venture into interior parts.
Janit,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment.
Regarding your question, rising sugar prices aren't benefiting farmers much. Its all pocketed by middlemen and sugar factories and merchants. Selling sugarcane juice ensures that they get some daily income. Cane sent to factories will take long time before the payment is realized...
The Wild:
ReplyDeleteI guess jaggery is also made through a similar process in alemane...
Thanks
Yeah .. I also seen these manual machines a lot in Navi Mumbai. Also had an opinion that it can be used by people to have a different kind of workout :)
ReplyDeleteSandeep,
ReplyDeleteYeah.. May be make it more stylish, build an AC room around it and charge a premium for the exercise benefit one would get...
My thoughts on rising commodity prices:
ReplyDeleteDO NOT buy from large corporates that monopolize market power. These large corporates with deal with large agriculture. Not only will the food supply quality go downhill, but prices will shoot up. Only buy from street vendors who deal with small farmers.
I have a concept in mind where the end consumer should have a direct link with the end producer with the middle man only acting as transport and facilitation and earning a low fixed amount. In this way, the end consumer can find out exactly where their product came from and can deduce the quality of the product. If wines are based on name and where they are produced why should any other commodity be treated any different? Fraud can be delt with when products come with a serial number hat can be looked up on a website. When the same serial # is entered into website twice you know there is fraid involved. This can be done with a sck of rice, wheat flour, etc.
Only when people realize it is in their benefit to support the small guys, will everyone benefit (the consumer with sustained low prices and high quality) and the producer with a steady livable income.
The other option is to be under control of large corporates and be abused by them with higher prices every year and lower quality, dangerous GM crops, and pesticides. And people in the cities will have to pleasure to read about farmer suicides when they open the newspaper and get to drop paise in the hands of newly arrived beggers from hard hit villages.
I leave you with a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJNMlXWZSwY
More info on my blog:
http://askbutwhy.com
Wake up before it's too late.
Sorry, Please fast forward to 2:35 to hear P Sainath:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJNMlXWZSwY
Sugar cane crusher looks like made from 19th century technology and never saw this kind of machine in my life...
ReplyDeleteInteresting machines!
ReplyDeleteRam
Manjunath,
ReplyDeleteNow that you've seen it, you know what to do when we run out of fuel and electricity and will be forced back to 19th century in near future...
Ram,
Thanks