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Lest we forget the "Baby"

21 December 2003, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Prof. Mamunar Rashid, On e-mail
21 December 2003, 18:00 PM
Photo: AFP
It was in the early sixties (or was it late fifties?) that those of us living in Dhaka were introduced to the three-wheelers. At that time they were cute little things with working meters. These three-wheelers were given the name "baby taxis" while the genuine taxis (which were mainly Chevrolets) were mostly plying the 'Dacca'-Narayanganj route. We started calling the three- wheelers as "baby" and that became a household name.

Till the introduction of the CNG driven three-wheelers, we knew of only one name and that was the "baby". How ungrateful could we become! No sooner had the CNG driven three-wheelers hit the road, after four decades we abruptly abandoned the name "baby" and started calling them 'CNG's. Little do we realise that CNG cannot be a name. Otherwise, we would have called the old three-wheelers "petrol". CNG driven or not, they are still the sweet old "baby" and all that has changed is their internal supply of a source of power. Why not start calling them again by the name which was a unique one so fondly given by the city dwellers.

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