The big Mac's ... Mr McCall and Mr MacMillan

Thanx to the Mac duo, for you gave us the two wheeled miracle; THE BICYCLE..........The age old adage which says; "All that goes comes back.....Evolution happens in a full cycle"; is turning true yet again!!!The rising crude prices, spiralling inflation the world over, decreasing purchasing power, scarce resources, dwindling foodstocks et al have forced earthlings to reconsider their spending priorities. Suddenly 5 star conferences, 7 course dinners, sporty looking SUV's and glitzy get-togethers seem to be a worthless exercise, a wasteful expenditure, an avoidable cause.....In the midst of all this flux, the humble bicycle is back in focus. 109 years after Henry Ford sparked the Detroit auto boom and 104 years after Rolls and Henry Royce met in the Madison hotel in New York, the world suddenly wants to forget them in a jiffy. The 150 dollar mark might not have been breached in oil futures, but it has definitely forced the GGA's (Gasoline Guzzling Americans) to switch their 4 wheeled monsters with the 2 wheeled bicycles. China has built dedicated lanes for cyclists and the West is following suit. Is it then a wonder that India which accounts for the 2nd largest number of bicycles in the world follows suit? Bhubaneshwar is probably the first Indian city to have built cycle lanes in its showpiece business district: Chandrashekharpur (how many of you knew dat now?). Bangalore, Chandigarh, Delhi, Ahmedabad and more are following suit. So why does Machomaverick suddenly pop up with a wierd bicycle theory???? The answers lie in the the metamorphosis taking place....slowly but surely. With our roads choked with traffic jams half a mile long, our air polluted with 4 times the permissible limits of dioxide gases and our fuel stations showing new increased gasoline rates every month, people have started considering the services of the bicycle again. Infosys has established facilities for employees who pedal to work; last heard a group of 119; in its Electronics City campus. Make no mistake, those pedalling to work include Project Managers and Team Leads. That the BBMP has identified corridors in which Bicycle lanes would be introduced comes as a welcome change.Bicycling has been associated with Mountain Cycling and offroading. Believe me bicycling in the city seems as exciting a proposition as any other adventure sport. It does have greater probability of accidents or health hazards, but where there is no hazard, there is no adventure.... I was recently in Jalori, Himachal on a mountain cycling trip. I met the kinda guys you nomads ld love to hang out with. One of them has terkked in China and regularly does rock climbing near Mumbai....up a waterfall! There was one other guy who has a catering business and works for 3 months during the marriage season and cycles the rest of the 9. Even as i write this extract, he must probably be on his way to Leh for yet another cycling trip. But the dude has serious plans in place....of cycling from Delhi to Hyderabad!!! Bicycling in the city offers the kind of exercise people would otherwise miss. It offers you great returns in terms of money as a good city bike costs anything between 5000 - 10000 bucks, a cost you can recover in months if you dump your car for daily transport. What's more in a city like Bangalore where you can get stuck at a traffic signal for a very long time, you can actually save on some time and road rage by manoeuvring your bicycle home.....Bicycle tourism is an unknown concept in our country. Western European countries (Italy especially) have such concepts in place for local sightseeing within city limits. That of course would require impeccable traffic management to avoid accidents. Hopefully one day, I would get to bicycle with some of the nomads in here. Wish the day dawns sometime soon....Ciao