The Bike called 'the
bicycle'
No body speeks of
bicycles these days. But it was not so thirty - forty years ago.
This was when the Maruti cars were not born and the roads were ruled
by the Ambassador cars and Fiats.
In the old time
Delhi (exactly the New Delhi of 1976), a friend of mine told me he
used to go to his college and other places on his bike and when I
demanded to see it, he took me to an old bicycle (which my friends in
Kerala used to call a piece of thorn hedge). I was not surprised,
though it was half joke and half simple vanity of intelligent folk.
This was the order of the day among the simple people, who worked
either in a government office or a factory or private office where
the take home salary was meager and ends were to be met and children
were satisfied with what ever was available.
The bicycle had
appeared in the market as a new invention far back but the buying
capacity was meagre and even if one had the capacity, one had to be
careful of the caste and social positions before one attempted this
extreme event. Since New Delhi was a newly built cosmopolitan city
where very many people from all States assembled, the caste stuff was
not much in prevalence and hence, one could easily buy a desired
transport, which was the bicycle. The other modes available were the
'tanga', the famous horse cart, a horse itself, if one could ride,
the bullock cart, and of course the super rich could possess a motor
car and the motor cycle. Other wise, buses were the convenient mode
of transport which people embraced with great zest.
But the bicycle
became the heart throb of many and one felt elated to be with one and
possess one. In that respect, my friend youngster was right and I
was thrilled by his expression of the 'bike'. That time New Delhi
(not Old Delhi-which is a city apart from New Delhi even though both
the cities are side by side places complimenting each other) was a
place of peace and tranquility, a well laid out city with different
sectors with its own housing units and parks and places of worship.
From sector to sector one had to walk a few kilometres and a bicycle
was a really helpful equipment then. Each sector had a sector market.
Different sector markets had different shops which specialised in
some item or the other and when one needed to to vsit such special
shops is the need of the bike.
My young friends
bike is a rusty bicycle with a stick for a pedal on one side and at
the other a full pedal where the rubber supports were loose and
hanging making a sound every time one pushed down the pedal. Somehow
the guy used it with great expertise and took advantage of possession
of the same. I had seen that kind of a bicycle with my uncle in
Kerala who also used to use it with great love and affection. He had
corns in his feet and walking was difficult for him. Hence, the use
of the hedge was really a boon for him.
He used to come to
see me every time I came down to Kerala from Delhi. Kerala soil had
lot of little sharp stones in it making walking bare foot difficult
for those who did so. This was interspersed with a few sharp thorns
too which was available from the bamboos on the side hedges of the
roads and by lanes in those days.
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