An old bicycle is still friendly to the planet

They missed World Bicycle Day by two days, but in the process kept their date with World Environment Day. Are not cycles easy on planet Earth and meant to be celebrated on this day too?

On June 5, a motley group comprising a cab driver, an artist, a security guard, an agriculturist, a banker and a few retired professionals assembled at a house in Anna Nagar West to celebrate the bicycle: It was a display of vintage and classic bicycles. Some of participants worked the vintage and classic pedals while heading to the venue just to illustrate these machines are sturdy and built to outlive generations of people.

They are members of Madras Vintage Bicycle Club that held its first in-person meeting-cum-exhibition after a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic.

Nostalgia is not the sole binding factor for this group, but also the knowledge required to keep these pedals moving.

And many of these cycles are familiar with what it takes to commute to work in these times.

Ten days in a month, N Sachidanandam, working as a security personnel, pedals a 22-inch Humber, 48 kilometres each way, between his workplace in Poes Garden and his home in Thiruchendur. On the way, he and his Humber lap up the generous attention that comes their way. “Some take pictures of my bicycle,” he says with pride.

At home though, his hobby hardly draws any brownie points, only arguments.

He believes the cycle has a lot to do with the fact that at 56, he does not have hypertension or diabetes.