two posts in one

26th January 2014 

Republic day in all education institutes in the country are celebrated with patriotic speeches and songs on the PA system and flag hoisting. It's time for patriotism and bravado. 

This year I decided to attend this celebration because the students organised an alternate transportation day which meant we could either cycle/skate to college or take the college bus. 

We were to start at 7.30 AM from the college hostel which is a little beyond the chandni chowk toll naka. But I started from home at that time since I didn't expect anything to start on time, and also because I was hoping to not embarrass myself by cycling slowly in front of all my students as I had just recently recovered from an illness which kept me out of action for nearly all of 2013. Nothing like that happened. I met a student who was struggling with his bike before chandni chown. He stopped for a water break, but asked me to continue as he said he might take a lot of time. I saw a few more of his classmates cycling towards us, so I thought it'll be fine and carried on to CC. Surprisingly, I did that climb much better than I used to and as I reached the top, I saw a few teachers waiting there for the bus. After a quick chat, I continued on the undulating route to the college at Pirangut. I met a few more students on the way who needed slight encouragement or their chain fixed which wasn't a major problem. Along the way, there were a few students clicking photos of all of us cyclists 'Tour de France style' and everyone who cycled was received at the college parking lot with extreme enthusiasm. In all, there were 80 cyclists and 4 skaters. The rest of the gang took the bus! And considering the fact that there are only about 300 people in the college, this event was a roaring success! 

Later, I cycled back home as well :D

13th March 2014

There's a short patch of road running parallel to Karve Road which I take to ride to my yoga class. It's a nicely undulating and winding road which goes along a piece of Kirloskar property and between a few housing societies. It's not too crowded most of the times. So as I was riding back home after yoga, I decided to do a little experiment. I tried riding the whole stretch of the road without holding the handlebar to see if I could manage the slopes and the curves in the road by simply tilting my body a bit to shift the center of gravity. It worked for about half a kilometre till I encountered one of the many ridiculously built speed breakers sprinkled all over town which is on a turn. 

But the experiment was a success. i could maintain my path along the edge of the winding road quite well.