More Lessons in Humility

There's something about riding a bicycle amongst the nouveau riche crowd of this city. They do not respect any vehicle and its owner that is smaller than theirs. Therefore being on a bicycle, and one that is not expensive, is quite a humbling experience. The administration has built cycling paths alongside the main roads but they're used less by cyclists (who prefer being on the main road) and more by cars and two-wheelers as shortcuts to their homes and yes before I forget, by people to walk their dogs and spread their poop as if the act will bring them good fortunes. 


The other evening an autorickshaw driver with a couple of his goon friends sitting inside hurled the choicest abuses on me while I was negotiation a turn on a roundabout, I did raise my hand to announce my intention of turning but who gives a shit about it when you're riding a bicycle. It was humbling because I know that in all probability they wouldn't do so if I were on my motorcycle. I controlled my fight-impulses as knew I couldn't tackle four men alone, especially with no police around. It took me a whole two kilometers in the darkness of the night to calm down and accept the fact that I had just been treated either as a poor man or maybe presumed to be a school boy as I was wearing my sleeveless grey sweater and white shirt (a common uniform in many schools here). However you do chance a few kindred spirits on the roads who do give way to cyclists and maybe even a pass a smile (now lemme think...ummm! nope that's never happened. Might happen if I'm riding a Hayabusa).


Whatever it was the fact remains that when people think they can take you down, even on these roads, they probably will. A few days down the line, I'm absolutely calm thinking about the incidence. Cycling my way up to my institute nine kilometers away is a humbling experience almost everyday. When I see Royal Enfields roar past me, I think about mine that is parked silently at my place. I sure love cycling nowadays that it is winter season; summers would roast me half way. 

The bicycle model that I own. The BSA Mach

Whatever it is, it's neither easy nor pleasant to commute on a cycle but that's exactly the point. You willingly jump into a mild adversity to test your mettle, both physical and mental, just another form of practice to strengthen your senses and sinews. When I look back, a decade ago, I couldn't get myself to cycle because I found it demeaning in many ways. I was very conscious of the fact that people will think that I don't have the means to sustain fueling my scooter (I had a Vespa back then). Even today, my father finds it awkward that I ride a bicycle to work. He has discourage me many a time saying that I should maintain my status as I keep riding my motorcycle till I buy a car. I understand what he's saying, he's only echoing the thoughts of my city folk something that I have rubbished in my mind. In fact I feel that now, for the first time in my life, I would not mind riding a baabu cycle. This is something that would've appalled me till even last year. However I do not plan to buy or ride a baabu cycle and will carry-on with my semi-trendy racing cycle as that would really tarnish my father's respect in the society. I'm just happy that today I have no qualms, in my own mind, about riding a baabu cycle to work  :)

A typical baabu cycle: ridden mainly by poor people in the city. It is extremely sturdy and low maintenance but if you ride it, you'll definitely be considered belonging to the economically weaker section of the society. We joked about this bicycle when we were in school and it still is one of the most uncool things you can ride in the city. If I were ever to tell my dad I'm buying this, it might lead a war-like aggression against the idea at my place.

Tired

I'd exercised quite a bit yesterday. I ate well and slept well and the morning ride was interesting. Since I was already running late and I knew that there was no way I'd reach IMTECH on bicycle on time to mark my attendance, I took it easy and clicked it few pictures of whatever I found interesting on the way there. I could see the moon in the broad daylight and while crossing the mosque in Sector-45, I thought it would make a great shot to click the moon in between the minarets of the mosque but something stopped me and I moved on.

In this picture I captured the support that the workers made for the newly installed park-railings in sector 44. The more I look at it, the more I feel that I could've done a better job with the composition but then there's this in inhibition that I still feel when the passersby look on with curiosity.

I found this tree trunk pretty interesting in sector 43, especially that the dead tree was still supporting the growth of creepers on it.

Ah! Saw this yesterday and wanted to click it but I thought people might think of it as disrespect but today I argued that disrespect came from the people who threw it after worshiping it, not me. I clicked it thinking that it didn't matter, the idols are probably, in themselves, don't matter, what matters is the thoughts and prayers (and possibly reverence to god in your heart). Whatever it maybe, some people like me are there to just log, not reason. This picture could bring a thousand thoughts to mind, good or bad, I'd keep myself neutral and present it.

So it's been nice easy ride today but the ride back home was pretty tiring. I was tired and sleepy by the evening. I even exercise and made matters worse, then I had to cycle 9kms back home. Feel tired but happy. I see motorists whiz past and feel nice to think that I'm tuning down my carbon footprint, getting healthier internally, getting to see the sights that I normally whiz past, reflecting on satire as a way of life and not to mention saving money (not left with any anyway!).

Happy cycling.

spit and blow

Hi, now although the weather is cooling down, the sun is holding on. By 9am, it's kinda hot to cycle but not very. The traffic on the roads is outrageous at some places and with many a car driver busy on his cell-phones, you gotta watch out. Generally speaking, Chandigarh is a clean Indian city, however it's not like it doesn't get dusty, and especially so when the cleaners are out brooming the roads and burning the dry leaves at every corner, the deluge of vehicles moving to their designated office parking area, and the DULEVO road-cleaning truck dusting the roads and sucking the dust thus raised, in vain,.

For a motorists, the vehicular pollution and the dust might not be too much of a problem but for a heavily breathing cyclist, it is as unpleasant as it is (possibly) unhealthy. Now the nose is a great machine itself, it has a moist membranous lining covered with hair. This functions to moisten the air you breathe. this is necessary else your lungs would start to dry quickly, also you might know that this inhaled air is gonna donate all the oxygen to your blood that is networked very profusely in the lungs. The hair in the nose act like a sieve and filter the  air you breathe. You might not think of it as efficient but it sure is. So here's the suggestion, if you're cycling in a particularly dusty, dirty area, have no compunctions about blowing your nose (in a handkerchief of course) to constantly keep your sieve clean. Quite a bit of the dirt will still enter your nose, much of it will get adsorbed on the mucous secreted in your nose. This mucous collects and you have the option of spitting it out.

Spitting is a very bad habit, as gross as it looks, it can even spread disease but the part of the world I live it, I guess it comes under good manners; why else would people be spitting left, right and center all the time, rich and poor alike. At times you have to dodge through the projectiles emanating through the mouths of the citizens. So I have imbibed the virtue. Time to time, though not too frequently, I do donate back to the city what it shoves down my nose, along with some contribution of my own (mucous). Even as I type this, it sounds evil to me but trust me, doing it is quite a release. Besides, people might even smile at you seeing you do it; if you wish them Good Morning, they'll glare you down. On second thought, they'll abuse you anyway. Everybody on the roads in my city is hypertensive and in a hurry, earning money to pay for the inevitable heart-diseases they'll contract by these habits.

Cheers! Cycle on and hey before I forget, keep drinking water through the way.

Epilogue: Buying a face mask filter might be a great idea but you'll probably get gawked at by everyone that passes you and it might be difficult to breathe through it anyway, considering that breathing can become heavy when you push those pedals.

maintenance free

Here's and interesting link I found on FB. http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678778/a-maintenance-free-bike-to-give-africans-some-mobility. In a growing economy like India, we look towards bigger things, more money, bigger cars, trendier attires and the likes. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that work like this also goes around in the world and that some people who are very well placed are thinking about the less fortunate ones. To think that a well designed bicycle could be a boon for so many people somewhere in the world really gives me a reality check about being a human. Today I respect my bicycle a wee bit more as a simple, useful machine that instills humility in me. Wouldn't it be such an oxymoron to say that "I'm proud of my humility", so I won't...wow! that's another one-liner generated...hmmm! I'm loving it.
By the way winters are here and I'm back to commuting on my bicycle. It's been four days in the roughly 20km to&fro commute. I'm loving it. My Enfield is resting it's ass.

Chandigarh for a cyclist

Wish you all a very Happy New Year 2011.

The thought of writing the following contents spawned while cycling back home two days ago. About writing they say that people do so when they're a moment of revelation, a situation that stands out like a beacon, something that shocks you, something that attracts you intensely, something that you hear, see or feel that relegates the surrounding to a fuzzy backdrop even if for a very short while.

It’s been a long time since I’ve commuted on a bicycle and it seemed all the more difficult to do so after getting habituated to riding a motorcycle (a Royal Enfield 350) that I bought almost three years ago. The time that the latter takes to get you from A to B is addictive.

The advantage of a two wheeler in on these clogged roads is immense, at times I feel, even greater than that of travelling in a cozy shielded box. It’s maneuverable and swift. Of course on the other hand, a bicycle, although maneuverable doesn’t come close to a mobike in terms of speed and this is no esoteric knowledge. The advantage that the humble cycle is sublime, the piston and conrods are your legs and the pedal and you can go only as fast as your legs will allow. As in a mobike, the rpm is not just limited by the gears but also by the power of your legs. The disadvantages are many and it is unsafe to ride a cycle in a city obsessed with its newly acquired money. As a cyclist you need to watch out for all kinds of dangers posed by motorists who give a shit about anybody else on the road, let alone a poor cyclist.

Chandigarh was an awesome city, still known as the city beautiful for it's design and layout which was the work of a celebrated French architect Le Corbusier. In his time I believe almost everyone commuted through the then tiny city on a bicycle barring maybe a motorized two wheelers, a handful of cars and maybe the odd bus. Time has changed since then, in fact it has changed drastically since my childhood days, the 1980s and the 1990s.

Owing to the growing traffic congestion, a decade odd ago, the administration constructed cycle tracks next to the main-roads to make it safer for cyclists. The administration meant well but the only problem was that when on the on hand they were doing this good deed, on the other, they were carelessly issuing driver’s licences to careless people without ensuring that the receivers learnt the rules well enough to follow them. Surely the roads in Chandigarh are filled mostly with unruly, ill-bred drivers with no respect for anything smaller than their vehicle.