Email
Print
ShareFor Prabhakar, the best thing that can be done for cycling in Mumbai is "to find a way to make it cool again, like Karan Johar has done with Hindi films." Her big appeal for the activity has been the memories it brings back of her childhood in Delhi's Karol Bagh area. "We would cycle everywhere, and the feeling of the wind in my hair and against my cheeks just takes me back to that freedom." It has also given her a more intimate feel of the city she now calls home."On a cycle, you see details you miss while zipping past in a car. It helps experience the city in a different way."
Easy rider
When Nikhil Kurian started arriving for work on his second hand cycle, he found himself at the receiving end of his colleagues' jokes. "There were a lot of wisecracks about how the recession had hit me really hard." But the 23-year-old researcher with an international consultancy firm, was determined to pedal his way from his Bandra home to his Khar office. "Not only is it more eco-friendly, it makes sense in terms of money and time," he says. His morning run gets him there faster than an auto, besides giving the usually late riser some early morning thrills. "Its not entirely safe," he admits sheepishly, but I get a big kick out of beating the cars at red lights."
While some mornings see him set out in his formal office wear, the recent heat has led to his arriving at work in a sweaty T-shirt. "It really helps that my office is supportive and has facilities where I can shower and change," admits Kurian, who routinely carries spare shirts in his capacious bag.The large number of expats in his workplace as well as colleagues who have experience of cycling abroad also means that his cycle is treated with due respect. "In many places, the security guards don't let you park inside with the cars, but I don't have that problem."
The biggest problem he did face after moving to Mumbai was finding a place to buy a bicycle. "In Bangalore and Chennai (where he lived) there are cycle shops everywhere." The Bandra sshop he finally found sold him a lemon, which crowned off a series of minor mishaps with a loud and spectacular tyre puncture in the middle of a traffic jam. "Road safety is a big issue here; motorists will just mow you down given a chance", He does admit, however, that cyclists are not always the blameless victims. "I was teaching a friend to ride, and let her go ahead alone only to find her lying in a heap on Hill Road. She was OK, but there was hell to pay from the little old lady she knocked down."
