Here's to the Humble Bicycle

Chandigarh: World Bicycle Day today isn’t just a landmark date on the calendar – it’s a quiet celebration of everything that’s simple, efficient, and joyously human-powered.

And as an avid cyclist myself, every ride reminds me almost daily that the bicycle is far more than just a simple machine first created by a German Baron in 1817 and vastly improved upon since; it’s a symbol of freedom and human endurance.

Moreover, in a complex world rushing toward equally befuddling technologies and rapid urbanisation, the bicycle remains elegant in its simplicity: no fuel bills, no honking, and definitely no updates to install.

It's all fitness, fun, and freedom rolled into one in a world badly tangled in cables, sensors, and software upgrades and with the bicycle reminding us that not everything needs a motherboard and network centricity to move forward.

Cycling isn’t just a mode of transport – it’s therapy with gears, the wind in your face and the quiet satisfaction of passing a traffic jam with a smug smile. Whether you’re climbing hills or just cycling to the nearest coffee shop, the joy is real and the calories just keep burning.

In a world obsessed with speed and convenience, the bicycle reminds us that slower can be better. Besides, cycling promotes health, reduces carbon emissions, and fosters a slower, more connected way of living and absorbing ones environs, that is simply not possible in a vehicle.

For millions across the globe, the bicycle is a lifeline to work, education, and opportunity – an equaliser on two wheels, and Indian cities, choked with traffic and pollution, would do well to embrace cycling not just as recreation, but as urban policy. Safe cycling infrastructure, public bike-sharing, and education around cycling culture, can well reshape how we move and breathe as out cities increasingly become choked and unliveable.

The author, Rahul Bedi, on a bicycle. Photo: Sheela Bhatt/rediff.com

For me personally, cycling is a daily meditation – a quiet protest against fossil fuels and one that fosters deep thinking, brings clarity, boosts stamina, and establishes a palpable sense of presence no engine can replicate.

And if you live part time in Chandigarh, as I have over the past decade, it’s a pleasant reminder that this city, so thoughtfully planned by a Frenchman in the fifties was practically designed with two bicycle wheels in mind.

It’s the only Indian city offering over 110 km of dedicated biking tracks – at present being doubled – lined with massive trees offering a personal canopy to bike riders. This rare phenomenon of earmarked, smooth and wide cycling pathways, on which motorised vehicles rarely, if ever stray, has fortunately been duplicated across large parts of Chandigarh’s adjacent townships of Panchkula and Mohali.

Cycling for me in Chandigarh, is not just about fitness. It’s therapy, offering the opportunity to glide past grand, sleepy bungalows, set in spacious gardens and driveways packed with expensive cars, or race the early morning sun along Sukhna Lake, free from honking horns and red lights.

With deft navigation, it’s possible to crisscross long distances between the tri-cities of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula un-encumbered by traffic, even during rush hour, simply by sticking to bicycle-reserved corridors. Moreover, almost all these cycling conduits are smoothly tarred, rarely with potholes and were constantly being upgraded and repaired, even though the overall population of cyclists has, sadly severely diminished over the past decade.

Besides, cycling no more than 8-10km in any direction from Chandigarh’s city centre transports bikers to wheat or paddy fields, depending on the season. On some routes, the distinct pungent aroma of gur or jaggery being made from sugar cane juice in massive fire-heated cauldrons during winter, assails unsuspecting riders, pulling them agreeably towards the hot toffee-like substance, like a magnet. Customarily, the hearty gur makers always welcome such visitors to their deras for an all-you-can-eat go at their gooey gur, evoking pleasant memories of a childhood spent in rural Punjab.

A boy rides a bicycle as dark clouds gather in the sky, in Nadia, West Bengal, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. Photo: PTI

And in New Delhi, where I also live, my almost daily cycling peregrinations are limited to the pampered, expansive and highly protected Lutyens area that include Rashtrapati Bhawan’s lavish environs and in recent years, the adjoining and equally plush Vice President’s Estate, all surrounded by massive trees.

Over years of cycling up and down these wide imposing avenues, I register the residential roll-call of India’s political, administrative and military leadership. However, for the hordes of armed policemen and paramilitaries deployed on security duty here, I am merely an aging male trying inexplicably to pedal my way furiously along these broad avenues.

Over time, a handful of these bored stiff security men, cocooned inside suffocating pillboxes across this former colonial locality, have even taken to cursorily waving out to me as I glide by. Doubtlessly, I provide them fleeting comic relief in their humdrum and seemingly endless watch details, as they see me glide by in my salwar-kameez ensemble, topped by a baseball cap.

No conversation about bicycles in India can be rendered complete without a nod to our politicians. Come election season – or on the odd Earth Day – they emerge, flanked by photographers, wobbling down boulevards on squeaky cycles, kurtas flapping and security jeeps trailing behind.

It’s always a brief affair: a few dozen metres, some waving to the cameras, and then a quiet return to the comfort of SUVs with full AC and Z+ security.

Still, let’s not mock their efforts, as they do end up reminding us – however theatrically – that the bicycle still has symbolic power. That maybe, just maybe, the most revolutionary act in a congested city is to ditch the motor and ride a humble cycle.

So today on World Bicycle Day let’s raise a water bottle to the humble bicycle and cyclists – for all their breathless climbs, carefree descents, and the pollution-free peace they bring to both city and soul.

So here’s to the bicycle: our eco-friendly companion, our fitness guru, and our childhood friend that never left; may your chain never break, your saddle always be forgiving and your tyres always remain inflated.

Post Script: ‘Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realise fishing is stupid and boring,’ said the late Bishop Desmond Tutu.

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