“Its maximum speed is 30 kilometres an hour, but it doesn’t go over 27.”
Even so, Waseem Qureshi is pleased to have his vehicle working once again. The 34-year-old uses this motorised tricycle to get to work and back.
As he mounts the bike, he tells me the wiring is still a bit tricky and he must be careful while using the brakes. Seated comfortably in the chair fitted onto the tricycle, he leans down to show me the battery underneath the seat, and a small storage compartment behind.
Waseem starts the bike, and he’s off to his small mobile repair shop tucked behind the trees along the Delhi–Alwar national highway, less than a kilometre from his village in Haryana’s Mandikhera. I watch as children from his neighbourhood run behind, laughing and hopping onto the small compartment at the back of his tricycle. He doesn’t seem to mind, joining in their laughter.












