Pune was once known as the bicycle city. Those of us who have grown up in the city in the eighties and nineties would have been avid bicycle kids, right? If de Sica were to come to Pune till the late 1980's, he would have gotten many, very many indeed, bicycle briefs!
It is hence most appropriate that the first ever Indian version of multi-stage road bicycle race, so very popular in most all countries, should begin in Pune. It is to start tomorrow from the iconic Good Luck Chowk, and would return to Deccan on Friday. Quite an auspicious beginning of the lunar month of Magh!
This Pune version of the famous Tour de France is going to cover city roads as well as the hilly terrains. Quite tough this some four hundred thirty seven kilometers race would be for the one hundred and seventy one riders from twenty nine teams from thirty five countries. Puneites as keen n enthu spectators are going to love it though.
Yes, even today, there are cycle tracks on major Pune roads. If you ever were to go to the hip Hinjewadi area, most all I/T-wallahs would be riding a trendy gear bicycle to their swanky offices. Yes, even today the enterprising n adventours among the youngsters do go for bicycle trips n tours.
Yet that magic of the absolutely unpolluted Pune full of the musical tring-tring of simple non-gear Hero or Hercules brand bicycles, which could even be rented for less than a rupee for an hour, is now missing. Instead we have the cycle brand agarbattis now!
Hope such a bicycle race, supposed to be an annual event, brings back at least that nostalgia, if not the actual bicycles, almost impossible now, given the terrible traffic!
Pratima@ Nothing can beat the happy feel of pedalling away to glory, the wind singing in my ears, the feet n legs swinging rhythmically like a ballerina's, and the soul free n happy like a birdie's! And, oh, yes, the unique, the simply unforgettable memories of Papa teaching me to ride, the handle wobbling almost one eighty degrees on the first day to not even realizing soon that he is no longer holding the cycle from behind as a support! Such a lovely image for his absent yet forever present aura!
Quote of the day: H.G.Wells, who wrote "The Time Machine", maintains, "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, no longer do I despair for the future of the human race."
Word of the day: nostalgia Nostalgia means the sentimental longing and wistful affection for the past.
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