Spinning My Wheels: Cycles in India

Like a baby’s first steps, a child’s first tooth and a teen’s first drive, I too experienced a noteworthy milestone of high-fiving proportions.

I bicycled outside my sector.

To appreciate this act of heroism and skill, I need to first explain how traffic works in this beautiful city of nearly 1 million people called Chandigarh. By the planning of the French architect, Le Corbusier, the city is divided into roughly 80 or so “Sectors” which measure 1 km long by ½ km wide. At the corners, and often middles, of where these sectors meet, you’ll find that crazy European invention – the ROUNDABOUT – helping maintain the flow of traffic.

Although there are a few stop lights in Chandigarh (about the same number you’d see in a U.S. town of 10,000), the roundabout is the primary means of directing traffic without having to wait too long. This noisy, clockwise swirl of autos, rickshaws, and bicycles is not for the faint of heart. You’ve got to squeeze your vehicle in there, mere millimeters apart from others, honk (or ring your bell) like crazy, and make your way around to your ejection point without incident. We’ve seen more than a few overturned scooters, bloody faces, and rear-ending occur while “safely” encapsulated in someone’s car. And the traffic just keeps on flowing.

Jen had forbidden me to ride my borrowed HERO bicycle outside the sector for fear that I would get tragically washed out in the roundabout spin cycle. My errand to pick up train tickets required that I travel to Sector 35, our neighboring sector, to visit the travel agent. With my HERO bike and heroic confidence, I found myself flowing seamlessly with the traffic into and around that once feared circular menace.

Jen was so proud…

For being an avid cyclist, it’s been great seeing more than half of the city propel themselves via bi, tri, or quad-cycles, even if I do only spin my wheels in my own neighborhood. So much of everyday life is tied to human-powered cycles.


Everyday, our block is filled with the sing-song sounds of vendors calling out to advertise their goods. Vegetables, fruit, bread and snacks, webbing for beds, pressure-cooker seals, recycling pick-up, brooms, carpets, freshly-squeezed juice, roasted nuts, balloons and much more are peddled and pedaled around each neighborhood.


Cycle rickshaws, complete with convertible tops, are vital people movers here.


There are even rickshaw buses used to carry 8 or so small children to and from school.


The tricycle truck is a mainstay of the local economy and used for hauling anything from garbage and building supplies to refrigerators and shrubbery.



And finally there are the bicycles. I’m fascinated by them. I’ve only seen 2 multi-geared bikes the whole time I’ve been in India. Single speed, durable as a tank, and complete with a rear rack - Indian bicycles are definitely built for function, not speed.


It’s quite common to see one (sometimes two) extra passengers on bikes, sitting side-saddle on the top tube or rear rack or by straddling the rack. There are even tiny seats that attach on the top tube behind the handlebars for small children to sit upon. The idea of helmets and “child safety seats” is as foreign here as cycle rickshaws are in the U.S. I’ve been mentally constructing my own cycle rickshaw/truck design for when I get back in the States, though I have my doubts if it’ll catch on. We’ll see how Jen likes getting cycled to school first... Here she's sittin' side-saddle on the back of my HERO steed coming home from the market.


Along with being the most efficient means of transportation in the world, the bicycle is without doubt, the cooolest.

Jimmy