A historical Anglo-Indian term for the driver or operator of a tonga — a light two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage used as public transport in colonial India. Like 'compass wallah', it combines a specific noun with the Hindi '-wallah' suffix denoting the person associated with that thing.
The tongawalla bargained hard before agreeing to take them to the railway station.
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(India) The operator of a tonga .
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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