CHENNAI: Separate track for cyclists. The most environment-friendly mode of commuting. Good for the heart, and for the planet. Don’t these sound cloyingly nice? They are like strains of music wafting in this cacophony of abuse the planet is being exposed it. Cycling to reach anywhere is a dream concept, a green concept, but a far-fetched one, considering the present mindset of road users towards cyclists. Of course, like the growing number of runners’ groups, cyclists have also managed to form groups to pedal away their flab.
Though I’m not part of any such group, I cycle around in the neighbourhood, and sense a strong hierarchy entrenched on the road. An acquaintance warned me the first time he saw me walking towards my cycle with my helmet: “Madam, in India, if you cycle, people will call you kanjoos (a miser). But in the West, you will be seen as being eco-friendly and a fitness freak.”
That probably sums up the mindset, a distinct class divide I feel on a Chennai road, probably a microcosm of Indian roads. As for any road user, it is always survival of the fittest and fattest vehicle. The space for pedestrians had shrunk long back. And, the cyclist might just go the pedestrian way, if one senses the aggression of those leaving their carbon footprints on the dusty tar roads of the city.
The menacing and obscenely huge corporate luxury buses and state buses almost always dictate the terms of traffic. Size does matter! They are fierce and angry on roads, honking the daylights out of you, but sometimes show a little patience to help one on an eco-friendly two wheeler, struggling to change lanes amid this cacophony. This “help” from drivers of these selfless giant buses always comes clothed in a patronising smile. Oh, that hurts more.
And, then when I am made to feel “oh-so-protected” by the big brothers, the bright and shiny sedans and SUVs bring me down to earth with their dirty stares and an expression which could read as “these things must ride in their little empty lanes, and not encroach into our space during peak traffic hours”. I stare back with an expression, which reads: “How dare you! Fuel guzzlers! I am doing this to clean up the mess that you guys created. I am peddling hard so that our children can live better in our planet”.
But they simply don’t get it!The small-sized cars get a little too smart for their wheels, when they try to tease me with their gentle nudges. There are two responses: you give them a high by looking flushed or just nudge back. I always opt for the second. Even the two-wheelers feel superior to the bicycle riders. They try and elbow me out of the corner space that they grab with an aggressive twist of their gear handles. I don’t give up. I race with them and claim my space, and my right to the road. The only ones that show respect to me are the fellow-cyclists and the pedestrians, all trying to carve a space in this tar jungle. Now grit stands as a lone warrior to save our planet because will power is also slowing giving up.
subhashini dinesh
The writer is Deputy Resident Editor with this newspaper