Navigating old Jaipur traffic in a Pink City Rickshaw.Jen Rose Smith/Supplied
We were an island of femininity in a sea of aggressive male drivers in India. And it was wonderful. Two local women and three female tourists navigating the wild traffic in the old town of Jaipur. Our drivers Komal Mahavar and Pinky Gehalot – neatly turned out in pale-blue kurta with deep pink vests – returned the jeers from other drivers with aplomb and honked the horns of their fuchsia rickshaws often. I was impressed.
Pink City Rickshaw driver and guide Pinky Gehalot stares down a driver in Jaipur, India.Catherine Dawson March/The Globe and Mail
This tour of the old town was like no city tour I’d been on before – likely because the women driving these rickshaws were not like other tour guides. Their employer – Pink City Rickshaw – hires women because when women can financially support themselves and their families, they earn respect and standing at home and in the community. In India’s male-dominated culture, this is not a small thing. And there appears to be a lot more public awareness about making changes. Even the inflight magazine of India’s largest airline runs a full-page ad of a female flight attendant with the tagline: “Escaping patriarchy at 800 kmph. Girl Power.”
I booked my tour in September, after travelling in Rajasthan to experience community tourism projects supported by Canadian non-profit Planeterra and tour company G Adventures.
In Jaipur, my friends and I did not have a local fixer (as we would have if experiencing this through a tour company) so booking took a bit more effort. And our guides did not speak English all that well. When we pulled up to a monument such as Jaipur’s Jal Mahal water palace, the three of us got out to stroll the promenade while one of us read out the Wikipedia entry for context.
Pink City Rickshaw driver Komal Mahavar outside Jaipur’s city palace gate in September, 2024.Catherine Dawson March/The Globe and Mail
Another time Mahavar asked an English-speaking local to translate. It was a little odd, but not a big deal in the end. And when we wanted to alter the route to, say, do a little shopping or find a toilet, pronto! – Mahavar and Gehalot had our back. There may have been some local history I missed on my Pink City Rickshaw tour but what I did grasp was an insight into local culture, the lives of these working women and the kindness that kindred spirits can offer – and this was invaluable.
Pink City Rickshaw Company provides female-run tours in Jaipur and Udaipur from $40 a rickshaw; pinkcityrickshawcompany.com
The writer’s flight to India was covered by G Adventures. It did not review or approve the story before publication.
