I go for daily cycling at a very odd hour. Usually around that time the entire world chooses to sleep. It is at around 3 am I start pedaling. I cannot include in the non-sleepers – like the modern-day coolies, otherwise lovingly called ‘Techies’, who in thousands, like ants, will be pouring out of their heaven looking hellish slave houses (popularly known as MNCs) after their hard labor – for they have not slept for yesterday. When they have not slept for yesterday, how can they get up at 3 am? It is not yet ‘good morning’ for them.
In other words, you can literally count the people who get up early every morning, on fingers, for their dose of morning exercise. In a country like India, where the very size of population makes both the country & life meaningless, it is impossible to get a cyclable road at any time and the badness at 3 am is bearable. These free roads give me freedom of thought, and to fully immerse myself in the joy of cycling. The cool breeze by the Indian standard and almost empty roads that are usually dark due to dysfunctional street lights sets my soul free!
I do not somehow like geared cycles. They are expensive and, in my opinion, defeat the very purpose of cycling. My cycle is manufactured by an old Indian company called ATLAS. After almost 100 years of helping India to pedal into the heights of unassailable corrupted glory, this company finally succumbed to COVID 19. The full name of my beautiful fire colored cycle is ATLAS AQUAFIRE. It is made of strong steel and hence the body very sturdy. It became a part of my life since 2017. It is a gearless cycle and it means business.
When I pedal this cycle, my calf and thigh muscles sing the songs of perspiration with joy and ecstasy. The thousands of closed eatery joints on both sides of the road, in that darkness speak volumes of Indian eating habits, often dirty! There is no Indian man or woman without either a stomach bulge or bum bulge or often without both! They refuse to get up before 8 am and sternly refuse to start their day without bed-chai! These are not original Indians, but imitating Indians. An original Indian is up usually before sunrise, bathed, clothed and ready for the day.
It is a treat to watch the closed shops every day, where you can see before every ship evidence of last evening’s business war. For a person like me who is used to all these wars the empty streets and closed businesses provide a chance to search for the face of peace! The cycling experience makes it more like Nirvana. This is that period where I am with myself.
Cycling helps me to think with focus and finds easy solutions to every ever-demanding life’s challenge. Mind & body becomes sharper, lighter and the day becomes joyful. As I put one kilometer after the other, all my tensions one after the other go away into the log book along with the kilometers peddled. I become childlike without any baggage called ‘yesterday’ and an ambition called ‘tomorrow’. In this extraordinary growth, I begin to live life every day. I begin to enjoy my life in its every breath. Fire & Water became one – Aquafire! For me no Atlas Shrugged, in a way the Atlas Smiled!
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
I appreciate how you broke down this complex topic into manageable pieces. Your clear explanations and real-life examples made it so much easier to understand.