The New Indian Express ·
Recalling an era gone by: Tirur honours its last bullock-cart driver Ahmed Bava
MALAPPURAM: For more than three decades, Ahmed Bava travelled the roads of Tirur with no engine beneath him, only the steady pull of oxen and the creak of a wooden cart. Now, at 77, he lives a quiet retired life, carrying memories of a time when bullock carts were the lifeline of villages around Tirur.
The carts once formed an essential link between the railway station, Tirur River and the interior villages. Goods arriving by boat or train were loaded onto the carts and transported along narrow, rugged roads to places that had little access to other means of transport.
More than 15 bullock carts were once stationed at Vandipetta near the Tirur railway station. That world disappeared around three and a half decades ago, as mini-lorries and goods autorickshaws gradually took over the roads.