Here's your Green Tip this Earth Day

Early on a Monday morning, Firoza Suresh, an entrepreneur and a former Mrs India finalist and her cycling friends meet to proceed for a 10 km ride through streets.

They are committed members of the "Cycle to Work" group that promotes cycling as a viable commuting option, and so, on workdays, after their 5: 30 am ride, they go back home, put on their work shoes and bike to their respective offices.

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race," said sci-fi writer HG Wells in the 1890s. Wells would have been rather proud.

Urban India is getting back to its old affair with bicycling. And trendsetters from Bollywood too have taken to it.

After Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor too has taken to it lately. He's bought himself a high- tech cycle, which he's often seen riding around his Pali Hill home in Bandra.

It's also helped that more cyclothons are happening around the country. In the pipeline is a Tour de India, on the lines of Tour de France. It is being planned as a event open to everyone across the world. Already cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai have had cyclothon events to help promote awareness for the sport.

In the 60s and 70s, India had quite a popular cycle racing scene, but the middle class was to look down upon cycling, as Indians aspired to "better" modes of transport.

Now, in a case of reverse snobbery, cycling has become cool. Salman Khan's Being Human Foundation promoted the first ever cyclothon in Mumbai. Salman often cycles from his home in Bandra to location shoots. It helps him to pack in a workout.

He said in an interview recently: "Cycling gives me a kick. Everybody can afford it, it keeps you fit, is the best way to prevent pollution..."

Unlike his need for speed in other activities, Salman likes to cycle slowly, in his own words, like a "postman or doodhwala".

The fitness benefits of cycling have been long known. Unlike most other conveniences invented for man, this is the one convenience, the more you use it, the fitter you become.

Beyond fitness, cycling is a huge boost to us guilty citizens of the earth. It fits in neatly with the go green mantra. Is it any wonder then that cycling is the buzzword in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi?

Adi Pocha is a 47-year-old ad filmmaker who has been cycling for more than seven years now. He remembers when he started out there were hardly any people like him cycling on the street, for fitness or leisure.

For most urbanites, as our lives get more hectic, biking is a curious reprieve from it all. Most cities now have bicycling clubs, where members congregate for rides together.

Firoza Suresh, 37, entrepreneur, remembers that she got back to cycling when she came across blogs about the activity. "We all give up cycling as we grow up. But it’s such a wonderful, simple pleasure. I got back to it about two year back and now I also ride to work and run all household errands on my bike."

With India's first bicycle mall opening in Pune and a cycling track coming up soon in Mumbai, others are seeing her point. Biking in our clogged cities has both its ups and downs.

Ashwin Shanker, 32, shipping lawyer has been cycling for about a year now. He has a high tech 21 gear bike and he enjoys accessorising his bike with gizmos like speedometers and high-tech lights, almost as much as riding it.

But it's not always a smooth ride. "Our weather is not always conducive to biking and it can be hot as hell. One ends up breathing in all those noxious fumes in heavy traffic."

Yet, it's worth the trouble. Safety is an important consideration while riding in our traffic-ridden cities. Most cyclists wear basic protection gear like kneepads and helmets, along with neon clothes, keep their flashlights on and stick to the extreme left of the road.

Online promotion of cycling has gone a long way in creating awareness for it. Renny Varghese, an architect and cycling enthusiast runs a blog for urban cyclists and is also a member of the 3,000 members strong Indian Cyclists Network, a social network for cyclists in the cities. He says: "I find it very de-stressing to cycle. There's great group dynamics, as you cycle with friends."

There are of course a lot more males cycling than females. However, this was not always the case. When the cycle was first invented, it became for women a symbol of their emancipation.

In our metros now, there are many female cyclists who are happy to pedal along despite sometimes attracting attention. Mrinalini Tyagi, 23, a model from Delhi is one such enthusiast. A speed freak, she draws quite a lot of attention when she zips past people. She says: "You get to learn and see things on a cycle, which you can never see in a car."

Perhaps, Mrinialini does have a point. You get to learn all sorts of new things on a bike. And in the words of Salman Khan, in the future, if everything is gone, "the cycle will still be there."