“Inside every car driver is a bicyclist yearning to pedal free”
-quote by us, just now.
Alright, perhaps cheesy quotes don’t help anyone get world peace, but extending a hand of friendship – cyclist to motorist – may just save a few lives. Or a lot.
So here we are, cyclists of India, standing before you (scratch that – riding beside you) asking you to maybe be our friend? To share the road?
Some of us cyclists have cars, and some car drivers have bicycles. It’s not like we haven’t been acquainted. But when we’re on the road together, we do feel a certain, should we say, lack of space (It’s not you, it’s us!)
It’s when we respect each other’s space, help each other out, be each other’s guardian – that’s when magic can happen.
Imagine. A road that’s safe for cyclists. Children cycling to school. People leaving their cars at home and hopping on their bicycles for errands, commuting, visits. A community that looks out for each other, where each person feels good to be out, breathing clean air, watching out for each other’s safety.
When did we start feeling unsafe on roads? When did road rage become a thing? When did we go from friendly to suspicious? And can we go back to a better place?
Here at ToffeeCyclogy we invite all of you to flood your minds with happy thoughts of camaraderie on the roads – drivers and cyclists chatting on a mountainside dhaba with sipping chai and eating maggi, cyclists holding onto a tempo’s handle and being pulled along up a steep slope, a car tire stuck in the mud or battery gone and a bunch of cyclists stopping to give a helpful push, driver taking a cycle tire to the nearest mechanic to get the puncture fixed, a cyclist taking a petrol can to the nearest pump to get a refill for a stalled car. Do tell us yours.
The road if you think about it, is the place where we all come together. We can choose to make it a happy friendly place. Where we are all each other’s keepers. Where we keep an eye out not to see if anyone is going to drive rashly, but if anyone needs help. Where we smile and wave and greet each other, feel safe around each other, and are comfortable to ask for a hand. Imagine that.
Let’s share the road.
© 2018 