The times have moved on. Even on the smallest of roads we find motor-vehicles being ridden. Rash and hurried, a young man rides to school a motorcycle that defines not his rules. All the chaos laden traffic does make us wonder how did these children of today lose the joy of being a pedestrian, of holding their parents’ hands, and the joy of riding a cycle?
There were days when a bicycle was a dream of every primary school kid. The younger ones, watching their older siblings learn, wished, hoped, and begged for a chance to ride that big cycle. Then came times when the little ones sit behind and the elder ones peddled along. The roads weren’t full, going far and getting hurt resulted in a secret being shared between siblings and the reason for whispers.
Then came the joys of riding along to school. Up and Down, with huff and puff, we used to go in all the corners or all the roads. The joy used to be made of facing the strong winds, and of pedaling fast to race motor vehicles. But now we find the kids racing for their future in a motor ride! The rains were then a blessing in disguise, the splash through the wheels in puddles ended with enjoyment of getting drenched.
The bicycle also got people together, as everyone took turns on that one cycle, and to train the friend to ride along. That one bicycle stands alone now, as a reminder of why our childhood friendship always stayed strong.
Today, children are hurried to concentrate their time in classes, as they end up losing the joy that came from in-between commutes. As we grow old, we are adopting bicycles not out of comforts but out of causes, like to reduce carbon footprint, or to travel around in huge campuses that forbids motor vehicles, or when we get ourselves in the mayhem of lack of physical exercise. It is not that we don’t have bicycles anymore, the trouble is that we don’t care to have space for them and the values that came with them.
