Ashwin Upadhyaya's Blog

After more than 6 months as a pedestrian in Bangalore, I have come to think that this city just loves its pedestrians. The people are given so many opportunities to keep themselves fit, for sport and for adventure; I thought they should be documented. Here are some of those:

1. Warzone experience: This is one of the most thrilling adventures. You need to board a public bus first to experience this. The next step is to buy a ticket to any of the busiest junctions in the city. When the bus reaches your destination, the driver will stop just in the middle of a 4 lane road with vehicles speeding at full speed on all sides. Your aim is to now somehow reach the footpath (most of the times, an imaginary one). I do this 2-3 times a week and is my favorite. The silk board bus stop for buses coming from electronics city is the best place to do this.

2. Hurdling: We have a few roads here which have dividers inbetween the roads sometimes on the edges. Whatever may be its purpose, the pedestrian can see them as preparatory tracks for athletics. If you do not like hurdling, then you have the option of walking a few kilometers along the hurdles till you find a gap to cross and coming back along it again.You won’t find any pedestrian underpasses because the road authorities want you to stay fit.

3. Zebra running: In this city, people on wheels are very much part of providing adventure for the walking people, especially so at zebra crossings (I strongly feel that these should be painted like athletics tracks). Most traffic lights in the city have countdown timers and invariably, the sportive spirit is too high among people on wheels. A few people on wheels cheat here and start off even before the countdown reaches Zero. The walkers, with one eye on these cheaters make a run for the edge of the road. Now it ceases being a race for the other end of the road. It becomes a race for life. The short distance run is one of the best exercises for remaining fit.

4. Long jumps and high jumps: Footpaths with a few slabs removed offer a chance for long jump while construction debris on footpaths provide practise for high jump. And this one is only for serious athletes. A friend of mine tried this once in the rains and had a leg injury by almost falling inside a man hole.

It is to be noted that senior citizens, children below 10 years, pregnant women and physically challenged people are barred from participation and are kept off most of the city’s roads.

The interesting thing is, the city’s people do this in spite of all the dangers it presents. The activities are taken so seriously, the numbers tell the truth. 290 people died in 2010 while trying to walk. In 4 years since 2007, 1628 people have been killed. Still, a huge number of people walk. Although I don’t know if statistics are available for Bangalore, for a city of similar composition like Chennai, the statistics say that 34% of the people either walk or cycle. Do I need to say any more!

In the few hours that I can squeeze out from a working day, there are not many things that I can do. And, inactivity implies boredom, the opposite of happiness. After a 2 year gap, when I went back to my regular job, I had to do something to make my workdays work for me. Without a motivated plan, I knew how corrosive long hours at work can be on the self. One output of this plan was cycling to work.

I had been given a handful of reasons why cycling to work is not really feasible. “The Bangalore traffic doesn’t care for bicycles”, “You sweat a lot while cycling and it would be difficult to sit at office thereafter”, “People don’t respect a cyclist”, “Cycling is time consuming” and more. But I know that detractors are always there for a reason and in fact, each of those comments are true to a certain extent. However, there is a way around for those who are really determined.

I bought my bicycle about 40 days back, a rockrider 5.2 from a sports haven called decathlon. Having logged at least 400 kms on Bangalore’s roads now, I have begun to love my lifestyle. My typical day now involves reaching office before 6.30 AM and coming home in the evening before 5 PM. The side-effect of this is that I now have time for my guitar, books and almost everything which usually are reserved for weekends. Another good thing is that early morning hours are great for work since you have the office for yourself without much distractions. My office recently installed a shower facility which means I now am not bothered by all the sweating too. And finally the travel time; I travel 9 kms in the morning and it takes me 25 minutes. While coming back in the evening, to keep off from the traffic, I take circuituous residential area routes which increases my travel distance to 10 kms and the time to 35 minutes.

In the past 40 days, I have been through a lot of incremental changes with respect to cycling. I first bought the bicycle. Thereafter, I found that I required really good lights in case I have to ride during the night. The lights are mainly for oncoming traffic rather than for visibility. I started carrying clothes to office so that I can change. In fact, the shower facility was installed just recently at my request. Until then, I had to use the toilet. For me, the inconvenience of adjusting was easily negated by the happiness of cycling. The point is, if you are determined to cycle to work, you can do it anyway.

My next task is to get to know the numerous cycling clubs in Bangalore.

And for those planning to buy a bicycle, here are some places to consider:

• decathlon.in for rockrider bikes
• Wheel Sports for merida, KHS etc.
• RR international in Madiwala for any bikes from high end Bianchis and Meridas to low end Heros and Hercules.
• Track and Trail for cannondale and Bianchi
• BOTS for trek
• Firefox for firefox

The rockrider 5.2 I bought has now crossed 415 kms on road.

Highlights: Manchanabele reservoir, a place about 45 kms from Bangalore was explored by 5 of us. We started at 5.30AM and reached the place at about 10AM. Kengeri is the last place where you can find some decent breakfast. Once you reach the place, village folks and sign posts will forewarn you about the potential dangers of getting into water. So, we stayed at respectful distance from the deeps. The lake is about 4 kms long and 0.5 kms wide (according to google maps). One end is a concrete dam while another end is the hill, Savandurga. On all sides of the lake, shrub forests provide a scenic backdrop. The road to the dam is pretty free of vehicles (except for the Mysore road and Magadi road sections) and is well suited for cycling. The terrain has a few inclines but these are easily manageable with a good bike. There is some scope for off-roading at the dam site too. Among us, the majority were first timers in such long distance trips but they finished the trip in pretty good shape. Apart from my rockrider, the Venu, Sandeep, Avik and Ashish had firefox. Two were rented from RR international, Madiwala, Bangalore for Rs.350 a day.

Another beautiful place we went to is Kunti betta / French rocks. This place is about 35 kms from Mysore. I had taken my rockrider in the luggage carrier of a Volvo bus to Mysore so that I could do some cycling there. Along with Suraj, Anil, Preetisagar and Venu, we started on a cool and cloudy sunday morning along the Mysore-Bangalore road towards the spot. A small lake between two small hills, a temple by the side of the lake, shrub forests covering the hills, lots of rocks to climb around, and a road along the periphery of the small like make this an ideal place for cycling, trekking, rock climbing etc. We started at 5.15 AM and reached back home at 2.15 PM.

Chamundi hills is another location for enjoyable cycling. I seriously envy the guys who cycle here every day. My rockrider had its first fall on this hill. It toppled over twice while trying to attempt some stunts but no noticeable damage has been done.

Bicycling to work everyday has been more of a deeper experience. I think I can understand now how it feels to be a minority. I now am trying to learn patience. The traffic is pretty tiring; more mentally rather than physically. But since I first rode my bike till now, I think I have improved and am a better rider than before.

Cycling log: