Sir
Stephen Hawking used this customised Mahindra Voyager to travel
around while in Mumbai
Can
Maruti bring Suzuki's compact PU3 Commuter to India? Passenger
seat can be used as a wheelchair with power-assisted loading
system.
A red Mahindra Voyager pulls up to the lobby of the five-star hotel. On
first glance, there’s nothing unusual about the vehicle. But as its
famous occupant comes into view, one starts staring with interest. For
the modified Voyager is the mode of local transport for celebrated cosmologist
Sir Stephen Hawking recently in Mumbai to attend a high-powered convention
on the revolutionary ‘String Theory’. A personal encounter with
the big man set us on a trail of discovery of our own.
Much before Sir Hawking set foot on Mumbai soil, the local British Council
had started making arrangements for his special conveyance needs while
in town. Hawking suffers from motor neuron disease and, for his mobility,
is dependent on an electric wheelchair. To move around in the city, a
Mahindra Voyager was selected and duly customised, which included cutting
away the floor, widening the door and building a foldable 10deg ramp to
allow Hawking’s wheelchair to climb onto the van. The roof height
was also increased to accommodate the famous occupant. Though his Voyager
had a driver, it set us thinking about the cars and the driving facilities
available for financially independent physically challenged
persons in India. We started talking to people, and what followed was
a vindication of the fears we had had all along - physically challenged
people
don’t count in this country, at least as far as car companies and
red-taped officialdom is concerned.
We spoke to
Sandeep Duphare, occupational therapist, All India Institute of Physical
Medicine & Rehabilitation (Mumbai). “The first and foremost problem
is that hardly anyone is aware of the fact that there are physically challenged
drivers on the road. As a result, they face problems in routine things like
getting a driving licence, etc. In one case, a licensing official wasn’t
even aware that physically challenged persons are eligible to drive! The
second problem is that, unlike developed countries, there are no separate
lanes on the road for physically challenged drivers, who have a lower average
speed than able-bodied drivers. This can be risky. What’s more, there
are no special facilities for parking their vehicles; this necessitates
parking at a general parking lot, which may be a long way off from his/her
workplace. Tell me, how does this person cross the road on a wheelchair?
Another big problem is the lack of qualified engineers and mechanics in
small towns for the purpose of modifying vehicles.”
While most of the above-mentioned problems require long-term initiatives
of the government, we couldn’t help but wonder about the last one...Why
the need to modify cars? Why is it that in a booming car industry, no manufacturer
has a variant for physically challenged drivers? Maruti used to make an
automatic 800 and sell it only to certified physically challenged persons.
However, since the car was sold with all possible subsidies, it was incredibly
inexpensive, and as a result, malpractice and black-marketing was rampant.
The state-owned company realised the lacunae in the system, and instead
of working with the government in strengthening the system against malpractice,
decided to stop production of the car itself.
When we posed the question of re-introducing the car, a company official
retorted: “We already have automatic versions of the Zen, Esteem and
Wagon R. And anyway, how do we make one common car (800) for persons with
different types of disabilities?” Firstly, considering the limited
employment opportunities for the physically challenged in India, we aren’t
sure about the number of people who would be able to afford any of the above-mentioned
cars that come with a premium, leave alone a subsidy. As for making an affordable
(and realistically subsidised!) Maruti 800 for physically challenged people,
a viable solution for the state-owned company could be cars ‘made-to-order’.
But is Maruti, or any other manufacturer, listening, and importantly, willing?
Sanjay's
customised hand-operated Gypsy gives him total independence.
Will
it be too much to expect of other road users to respect such
signs?
Mission
Possible
Way
to go! Sanjay and Ferdie Rodricks with modified
Gypsy.
The
man who customised Sir Stephen Hawking’s Mahindra Voyager,
Ferdinand ‘Ferdie’ Rodricks, has over 60 assignments
to his credit, all for physically challenged drivers with
various types of disabilities. What started out as a hobby
for him is today a serious passion.
One of his most notable creations was a fully hand-operated
manual transmission Gypsy for a person with no legs - Sanjay
had lost his legs in a railway accident 11 years ago. After
being allotted an LPG station by Hindustan Petroleum, Sanjay
started getting his life back on track, and two years later
bought a Kinetic Honda with a side-car. After riding that
for seven years, he scouted around for a hand-operated car,
but none could be found. It was then that he heard of Ferdie.
After the vehicle had been selected, the brain-storming started...
Ferdie fitted a vacuum-clutch which engages three seconds
after release, thus allowing Sanjay to use the accelerator/brake
lever with his left hand, while his right hand took care of
the knob on the steering wheel. Taking the lever up accelerated
the Gypsy, while pushing it down resulted in braking. Sounds
simple enough, doesn’t it? For those of us blessed with
all four limbs, just try and remember your first driving lessons.
You will immediately begin to appreciate Sanjay’s effort
and determination in learning to drive a manual vehicle for
the first time in his life, with two limbs less.
Apart from Ferdie, we have heard of only one other person
called Kotkar from Pune who is involved with this kind of
work.
Ferdie
can be contacted at
B-37, New Sagar Darshan CH Society,
Building No 9, Jan Kalyan Nagar,
Malad (W), Mumbai 400 095
Tel: (0) 022-417 1086, 4181823/(R) 864 0861
Fax: 022-417 1086
E-mail: ferdier@bom8.vsnl.net.in
February 2001 
