Why must you cycle now

Until I was 16 years old, I didn't know how to cycle. Though my younger brother and sister knew how to cycle, I hesitated to learn cycling.

My younger brother taught me how to cycle with perfect balancing. Initially, for the first four days, I struggled to cycle smoothly.  But once I learned how to balance myself without my brother holding the seat, cycling became my favourite pastime.  Every day after 8 pm, I would cycle for at least an hour.  I would cycle on the sprawling cement floor that was used to dry paddy before going to the rice mill.  The long, stretching Natham road before my house in Dindigul became my Sunday spot for cycling. While my whole family enjoyed their afternoon nap on Sundays, I would cycle on that empty road without any traffic.

After I came to Chennai, I enjoyed going to my shorthand classes in the morning. Every day after cooking both breakfast and lunch, I would go to my shorthand classes at Adyar.  I would always take the long stretch of Indira Nagar main road. With the government quarters lined with green trees, it was an experience to cycle on the free road with less traffic.

It is not so easy to cycle on the roads of Chennai now. Too many two-wheelers and cars occupy the road. No space for cycles and pedestrians.  I don't know if I will enjoy cycling on the busy, hectic roads of Chennai.

Near the place where we are living now, I could see little boys enjoy going rounds in their cycles. As it is a residential area it is free from heavy traffic.  I enjoy listening to my neighbour's nine year old son narrating his wheeling experience and how he enjoyed cycling at night after 10 near our home.

I bought a tricycle for my daughter before she learned to walk. In the beginning, she would cycle inside the hall. After she was comfortable cycling in the space before our apartments, I removed the supporting wheels from her cycle.  When she started to use my cycle, it turned out to be her favorite. I remember how she would help three girls of her age to sit on her cycle and go around the residential area. Two of them would sit in the back seat, and the other would sit in the space before her seat. She never complained of tiredness and had a sound sleep at night.