Friday, September 4, 2009

Though I am neither a Trinamool nor a Maoist, quite a few times I have been nabbed by our smart Kolkata Police. Usually before the festive season - for reasons obvious to all Calcuttans. My offence: cycling downtown. In streets where cycling is prohibited but vehicles belching dense black smoke ply peacefully even today. Why the prohibition for cyclists? There's no sane answer.
They say we slow down the traffic. They say we do not heed traffic signals. They say we are nuisance, dirt! What they won't say is that we city cyclists (a tribe that faces extinction) do not pollute the environment, we keep fit through cycling and during peak hours we can reach our destination faster compared to city buses. What a marvel of an invention - the bicycle.
Its time to question. Why this lopsided policy? Why car industries are booming and cycle industries are facing death? Why modern light weight bicycles are out of reach for perhaps 100% of the city cyclists? Are there more takers for cars than bicycles? Why is the greenest of vehicles banned in important city streets and sparkling flyovers? Why do roads do not have a cyclists' lane? Is it only myopia? Or vested interst at its worst. Or just plain callousness? GOK.
Its high time that we set up something like 'Kolkata City Cyclists' Club'. Some of you might suggest a better name. As soon as we will have 50 members we will get our club registered and celebrate with a party somewhere in Kolkata. We will bring out cycle rallies with our demands. We will be free from all political colours. Someday, I hope, we will have enough voice to move things. To demand cycling lane in each street and flyover. Someday, maybe we will have green lanes - for cyclists only. Together we might live to see that day when we will not be afraid to ask our children to cycle their way to work or school, something we cannot imagine right now in Calcutta. Some day we may see our ministers cycling to Writers Building (though that's an eventuality). And some dream day it may be more prestigious to cycle to the workplace (road conditions, distance and weather permitting, though within a 8 to 10 km radius, believe me, cycling to and fro daily is not at all tiring - I have been doing it for the last 28 years) than 'driving' to work.
Those of you who see sense in this, let us join hands. Irrespective of caste, creed, status and age. Blog in here. All we need is the love for the bicycle. Those who doesn't, drive on till the fuel last.