Ode to the Bicycle

'This is not one of ours', said the shopkeeper when I returned the rental bike to him. I was stunned. 'How did the key open this lock then?', I tried to argue. The shopkeeper almost mockingly said, 'Lock? you call that a lock? All you have to do is sneeze loudly and it will open'. I had rented the bike a couple of hours before and had been on an errand for my mother. Apparently I had switched it for someone else's bike in the process. How could it have happened? More to the point how was I to make the switch again?

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I had recently learned to ride the bike and was eager to do chores for my mother. Learning to ride a bicycle is one of those childhood milestones that everyone is supposed to pass. When you don't have a bike at your disposal, it is kind of hard to learn to ride one. Children's bikes were not common when I was growing up. After the tricycle, there was the adult bike. Until one grew tall enough to handle a full sized bike, one simply had to wait. Not every household had an adult bike either or if there was one, it was most certainly being used to go to work and back by an adult. So one had to squeeze any lessons when the bike was free and someone was available to teach.

One way or the other, you gained access to the bike and an instructor (read older sibling) and after a few days of trial and falling you mastered the bike. Now you wanted to ride everywhere on the bike but had to wait your turn when it was free. All of sudden you were eager to run errands - get vegetables from the market, cash a cheque at the bank or get groceries. All you asked was to be able to rent a bike and ride it to the shop. Of course, having finished the trip, one could use the rest of the rental time for riding around freely.

There is something to be said for the bicycle. Before them and before motor cars, I suppose one had to rely on horses for getting around quickly. As a personal vehicle, horses leave a lot to be desired. They are expensive and consume vast quantities of hay and such. They also have an exhaust problem. The bicycle on the other hand requires little by way of maintenance and costs far less. With good care, it lasts generations. Bikes cause no pollution - air or noise, there is no exhaust to clean, and they definitely do not smell. The only requirement is a certain amount of muscle power. All right, I will admit that may be a deal-breaker to many but still...

The bicycle is also known as the velocipede. Thankfully, we do not use that term widely now. It sounds more appropriate for an insect. The precursor to the bicycle was called 'dandy horse' and required the rider to push the ground with his feet to move. From that to the modern bike has been an interesting journey. The design of the bicycle went through many stages before the rear-wheel chain-driven model became the norm.

For some, the love affair with the bike more or less ends with learning to ride. For some others, it is a passion for life. Many others continue to actually use the bike as a personal transportation. You may recall that in China, the bicycle was used very widely by workers of all kinds. In fact, China was dubbed the 'Kingdom of Bicycles'.  But did you know that it was not easy to get a bicycle in China in the 60's and 70's? I believe that the waiting period was several years and you might still need to have 'connections'.

The modern cutting edge design may use carbon fiber and such but the old workhorse bikes still rule the roads in many countries. They can be seen carrying immense loads on the rack on the back wheel. You can see cooking gas cylinders being transported on bikes among other things. The bikes themselves have changed little from the single-speed solidly built models of yore all in black. Or did we also have some green? Whatever the colour, they seem to have endured and I see that they are still being manufactured and sold.

In the US, there are attempts like National Biking Month and Bike to Work Day to get people to adopt the bicycle. But it really is more of a recreational thing. I use the term 'recreational' somewhat loosely. When I see people wearing those tight-fitting biker shorts, perched on impossibly tiny wedges that pass for seats (or should I say saddles?), with their bodies bent at an aerodynamic posture complete with helmets and goggles, recreation is not the word that comes to my mind. Each to his own, I suppose.

The bicycle has long been the vehicle of choice for the romantic hero in films when serenading the lady of his dreams. Remember Paul Newman and Katherine Ross in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head)? Or Rajinikanth and Kushboo in Annamalai (Rekkai katti Parakkuthu)? It is hard to imagine using a motorbike or even a horse in these scenes. Perhaps if the hero was trying to elope with the girl but otherwise, I am sorry, it just does not work.

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Coming back to my predicament, I now had to get the original bike back. I was really apprehensive. What if the owner of the bike had raised an alarm? Even if he had not, would I not look suspicious parking one bike and riding off with another? Luckily all was quiet outside the shop and the bike was still there as I had hoped. I casually parked the cycle and then quickly retrieved the rented one.

As I got ready to leave, I heard a voice call out, 'Hey, you!'. I was petrified. I tried to ignore it but the voice continued, 'Is this yours?'. I was now near panic. Surely, I had been found out. I turned around slowly thinking the worst but I almost fainted with relief to see the owner of the voice holding out a bag. 'No', I said and quickly jumped on the bike and shot off from there. All is well that ends well, I suppose even if I had to sweat a little. Well, more than a little given the Chennai weather.

Image Courtesy: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Left_side_of_Flying_Pigeon.jpg