Reflections of a bicyclist-I

My father owned a Raleigh bicycle. He cycled to work every day. He was an inspector of post offices and it was his job to visit different post offices everyday and inspect if they were working effectively. This involved some travel within Bangalore city which he did on his bicycle. He had his prejudices. Raleigh was the only worthwhile bike. All other brands attracted his ridicule. He also used a 22” frame. Frames of other sizes also were ridiculed. As a young boy, I happily inherited these opinions. I also inherited his bike, when he made the first moves to get himself a motorized vehicle. My older brother recalls all the vehicles that my father owned for various periods of time, but my first memory is about the Jawa Jet. It was a 50cc moped bought second hand. I think in those early days (mid-sixties) all vehicles had ‘starting trouble’. What this meant was that you could not get the bloody thing to work when it was late for office. It meant a trip down to the local mechanic, some expenditure and being late for office (and ditto when you tried to return home in the evening). This was also not an one-off incident. This would happen practically every day! My father found it often easier to leave the thing at home, grab the bicycle and pedal to office, even if it was in a huff. Finally he sold the thing and took his bicycle back from me.
The break came in 1969, when my father was allotted his Vespa. Those days, you had to apply for a scooter and wait your turn to get it. It took ten years to get your allotment. It was a silver gray MYQ 8895. For the first time we had something that would start when you wanted (after it had been given the mandatory tilt to the right). The bicycle became well and truly mine. I was ten and I learned to ride it. My father would hold the bike and run behind me. I remember the day when he let go without telling me. I continued to ride some distance, before I realized that he had let go. Terrified, I lost control and went straight into the drain.
I started cycling in the ‘Kathri’ (roughly translated as the scissors) style. The left leg on the left pedal and the right inserted through the frame on the right pedal. The left hand gripped the handle, while the saddle was held under the right armpit. This style is never seen today, as children’s bicycles have become very popular. Back in those days, the only bicycles you had were the adults’ bicycles (22” and 24” frames). The only way children could use these big bikes was by resorting to the ‘Kathri’ style. As you grew taller or more adept, you could graduate to the ‘bar’ (pedal over the top tube of the frame) and finally you took your place on the saddle! I started using the bicycle to go to school in my sixth standard. I have never really stopped since then. I cycled to school right through to my eleventh standard.
Later during my B.Sc., I briefly came to possess my brother’s Yezdi (MEE 3177). He was serving in the NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh) and could not take it with him. I rode on it to St. Joseph’s College occasionally. I was one of the very few in college those days to have a motorcycle. St. Joseph’s College always had a good hockey team and during my time my college team boasted of over 4 members of the Indian national junior hockey team. We were one day scheduled to play St. John’s Medical College at their campus. Hundreds of us rode from our college to St. John’s on bicycles and motorcyles. I took a friend and roared and revved on my Yezdi. We outnumbered the hosts in their home ground and amazingly we lost!
My brother returned and took his Yezdi away and I was back with my old faithful. Around that time my father sold his Vespa and replaced it with a green Bajaj (MEN 3971). His Vespa had cost him Rs. 3000/=. In 1975, he sold it for the same amount and purchased the Bajaj for Rs. 5000/=. We all thought it was a good deal. But in hindsight, I wish I had his old Vespa. It would have been 35 years old today, only 15 years away from becoming a vintage scooter. I have now reached an age, when starting from now, I have not enough time left to wait for any of my vehicles to turn vintage in my life time. Keeping this in mind, I keep my eyes open on the streets for the old Vespa. Just in case, I sight it, I may try to buy it back from its current owner.
The bicycle always fascinated me. Come to think of it! It is such a simple device, converting a rotary movement into linear motion, giving you an amazing speed in the process.