Blog 1 - My cycle(s)

The 1990s always remind me of a fun time of my childhood. An integral part of my childhood was my BSA champ cycle, a peculiar looking little cycle for kids below 5^th or 6^th standard: it had a long, narrow, mostly white colored seat and a long metal inverted-U shape rod for back support. I think it also came with a set of “wheels”, which were these small wheels that could be fixed to either side of the cycle, helping the rider achieve balance and preventing a learner from falling off. As the kid slowly learnt to balance and ride the cycle independent of the wheels, his/her confidence improved drastically.

Unfortunately, I do not remember the day we bought the BSA champ or who bought it (must have been my parents). My grandfather’s employee, Prasad anna, a draftsman, lived in a portion in our house and was the person who first taught me how to ride my BSA champ cycle. I remember telling him not to let go of me, as he held firmly the U-rod at the back of the cycle and asked me to peddle. He insisted that the side wheels be removed as his hold of the cycle was more secure. To convince me, he spoke about some angle of inclination where there was some scope that I may still lose balance and fall despite the side wheels and something about him holding the U-rod perpendicular to gravity which would prevent me from falling (!). When you are a 5^th standard kid, you are impressed with such geometrical talk.

Anyway, few days of him holding the cycle from the back and me peddling slowly, one day I noticed him standing in front of me! I suddenly realized he had let gone of me long back and I had cycled almost an entire stretch without his support! But this realization was more of a shock and I lost balance in panic and fell. I remember being very angry with him for not having my back (literally) but he was thrilled that I was cycling by myself. His enthusiasm was infectious and soon I forgot about the fall and enjoyed the process of cycling.

I remember going for small races with our colony friends (mostly we were all still in primary school- days when boys were still shorter than girls) on our respective cycles. Some of them had BSA SLR and some had the then fancy Hercules bicycles. We would race from one end to the other end of the circular road (it was a curved road, but I have no idea why it is called circular road). Usually, these races took place in the afternoon time, when the adults were busy watching TV or napping.

Once, during such a race I cycled very fast and crashed straight into a huge pile of crushed stone (“jalli kallu”), which they had brought in a lorry the very morning (unnoticed by me). I remember trying to brake as soon as I saw the shiny blue hillock of stones, but it was too late, and I fell side ways and went crashing straight into the stone pile, with one of the stones going into my knee. All my friends quickly rushed to the spot, but most were scared that the adults would scold us for having such races. I took the opportunity to be the silent suffering hero and told them not to worry as I would not tell anyone about my injury. I came back home quietly, limping in pain, pushing my BSA champ (bent handle bar) slowly, being escorted by a batch of solemn boys who were impressed by the girl who didn’t cry despite ‘grave’ injury. I bid them a quiet farewell and then quietly went to the backyard, removed the stone slowly, washed off the area, went upstairs to our place, applied Dettol and went off the sleep. Since my frocks usually covered my knee, no one noticed my injury for a few days! Mission accomplished!

When I moved to middle school, we had to take the train to go to school as the school bus was only for primary kids. By then I had graduated to the BSA ladybird cycle, a violet colored girls’ cycle with a cute basket in the front. I used a smaller variant of the regular ladybird cycle, which was smaller in size for use by shorter people. This cycle too came with side wheels, but I didn’t not use them.

On school days, I would put my lunch bag in the basket and school bag on the carrier and make sure it was held firmly and then would first cycle to my friend Shailu’s house, ring the cycle bell and wait for her to come out with her cycle. Then, we would both cycle towards the station and park our cycles in our friend Gomati’s house. We three would then go walking to the station, which would take us hardly 5 minutes as Gomati’ s house was right next to the station. We would then cross the tracks carefully and then catch the train to go 2 stations away, to Korattur, and then walk 10 min to our school. Many of our classmates and teachers would also come in the same route/train and it was time for all the school related gossip, homework and exam discussion etc. The train ride by itself is a separate blog!

Next to the station was also an old bridge, called the Loco bridge. We would all push our cycles up the bridge (again in the afternoon time on holidays when adults were not around) and then sit on the cycle and literally slide down the bridge at full speed like maniacs. It was a different rush, to go down (of course in full control of the cycle, this was not a stunt for the faint-hearted), at full speed with dust-filled wind hurling at one’s face. Occasionally, few bones were broken (luckily, not mine) but we continued it until this one time when we made a visiting NRI cousin try the stunt, and (needless to say) he had no clue how to control the cycle and he crashed into a bush. He wasn’t that injured, but he created a ruckus and there were accusations later by his family that we tried to kill him 😉 and this activity was deemed dangerous and we were forever banned from it. Of course, there were several times when we broke the ban but no NRI cousins were part of it.

From the smaller ladybird cycle I finally moved on to the regular ladybird cycle by the time I was in high school (and tall enough to put feet on ground while sitting on the cycle). I would attend tuition and to all other shopping work in the colony on this cycle. I would even take my little sister on “doubles”; she would sit behind me on the carrier and I would take her to my grandparent’s home (3 km away). As we went along, she would ask how far we had come and I would reply in percentage. Soon, she understood the concept of percentages and every time I would say how much we progressed (like 40%), she would say, “so remaining distance is 60%). I would also ask her to recite rhymes or songs and she would gladly oblige. In the summers, we would both wear caps (brought by our aunt from California) and go along on our cycle.

This reminds of a time earlier when my sister was much younger, and I was using the smaller ladybird. We had gone towards loco station side for some work and on our way back, I realized my sister was sitting very quietly. So, to engage her I kept talking as I cycled towards home but there was so reply. So, I thought that she had dozed off (sometimes she would doze off) so I slowly cycled back home hoping I wouldn’t have to brake anywhere and wake her up. After reaching home I gently got off the cycle and to my horror I realized she was missing! In full panic, I turned back and went cycling in the same roads I had come home in. Finally, on one of the roads near the station, I found her sitting on the side of the road looking at me angrily as I approached her. Apparently, we went over a speed breaker when she fell off, but I didn’t hear her falling off or her calling me out. Also, I managed to cycle all the way back home without her, without knowing she wasn’t right behind me! To this day it baffles me how I didn’t realize she had fallen off. She says she kept calling my name loudly, but I did not hear her at all. I was glad I found her though and from then on, I would always ask her to hold me around my waist. Soon, she graduated from her smaller cycle to my ladybird and I went off to boarding school and then to college and after many years of not having the time to use my ladybird, I gave it off to our ‘Istriwallah’ (we called him iron-man long before the days of Robert Downey Junior). Anyway, our iron-man’s sister used my cycle for quite some time and then his daughter used it. It was helpful to them to carry giant piles of clothes from house to their ironing-shop. I have no idea if my cycle is still in use by someone but it sure gave me many happy memories to cherish.

Special mention to our colony’s ‘cycle repair shop’ anna (still do not know his actual name), who has mended all our cycles, from punctures to tube replacement to tire replacement to filling air and any other service. He has probably fixed and catered to an entire generation’s cycle problems and needs, in the colony and with time, as his customer base had grown up, he graduated to servicing of bikes and Scooty’s too!

#ThanksBSA!