HACKNEY MAN

 HACKNEY MAN

As a part of recalling acquaintances, arises the present write-up about someone, whom I had befriended way back in 1956 and again had the opportunity of meeting him after 3or 4 years in a new place. Incidentally the name ‘hackney’ baffles many who are fairly well- trained in English terms. I picked the term up from the very person whom I name the hackney man. It is essentially a British term to specify men who ‘drive’ horse-drawn carts. Till late 1960s, even carts drawn by cattle or horse were issued Driver licence with defined period of validity. The driver ought to wear it visibly over the biceps -as an authorized person to ferry persons in the cart. The man I am referring to  was one Mr. Gopal by name and he had several qualities that we may not expect from a person of that activity/ trade.

At that point of time he was 40-45 in age and was widely respected in Sivagangai town for his skills of handling horses, training them for being used in carts and in selecting horses from distant places like Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka from where horse-cart owners of Tamil nadu try to buy good animals for using in cart. On such missions, the most sought after selector was Mr. Gopal; he and the owner of the horse cart would together travel to horse market in those places. Gopal’s job was to select the best animal for an appropriate price and select the animal free of defects or sentimental objections like ‘moles’, facial features and central muscle between front legs and the way the animal stands and so on. In addition, specific gender features too were considered auspicious or inauspicious. Gopal was thorough with all those criteria. In fact, my narration of these characteristics was briefed to me and my brother [by Mr. Gopal] when we were school boys in Sivaganga.

Though a 6^th class drop-out, Gopal had a reasonable command over English and used to tell us some grammar rules even when he was just a Hackney driver. Unfortunately his hearing was defective and had to be clearly briefed of the destination to drive the cart. He had a very good control over all horses in the town and could easily tame them if ever they revealed rogue-like tendency. He could quickly restore normalcy of the animal by tricks of where and how to hit the animal. His discretion was more effective than any summary punishment of severe beating of the animal. A travel in his cart was a pleasant experience as he used to talk to the animal in some sounds like ktch, ktch.huh huh or tutta ta tutta ta or pup, pup depending on the horse he was using. He used the whip very sparingly, and if ever using it would carefully hit the mane of the animal instead of all over the body. Curiously, animals were clear as to who the driver was. On a Chitra pournami day carts were not in demand; Gopal took me and my brother in 7 or 8 carts in a sort of a demo and showed how each horse can be made to work like a race horse. Only one horse was whipped once; many responded to his voice signal; for one animal he planted his three fingers [right index, mid finger and ring finger] simultaneously over the back near the tail and the horse simply picked up speed. When we moved out of Sivaganga, we lost contact with Gopal  and by 1960-61 we spotted him in Manamadurai, working for another owner. He was visibly happy when WE SPOTTED EACH OTHER and was very happy learning that I was in SSLC, my brother in 9^th std.

We had to painfully part his company after half-yearly vacation and he wished us well advising us to study much and become officers. He began his career as an Attendant in Brooke-bond who popularized tea in South India by giving free tea for three months in street junctions. His English skill impressed British people who appointed him; since the free tea scheme stopped, all temporary employees had to go. Gopal changed over to horses and did an excellent service to his job requirements. Logically, now it is unlikely that Gopal is around; there could be someone of his category on a different name -for, good ones do not disappear outright.

Prof. K .Raman