His love for bicycles is unmatched

Rasoolpura: From the evolution of bicycles to the revolution that it brought in people’s lives, T Vijayendra, has a multitude of stories to tell when it comes to his favourite mode of travel. A graduate in Electronics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Vijayendra has been a dedicated “cyclist” that he doesn’t even have a license issued on his name let alone having driven a scooter or a Moped throughout his life.

“I used cycles for nearly 50 years and it has been my friend through thick and thin. Hence, marking the bicentenary year since the invention of a cycle I decided to spend a year deciphering its life to people who do not understand the value it holds for the future,” shares the 74-year-old.

Having worked at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata, the IITian left his profession after being drawn into the whirlpool of Left-wing activism and the growing Naxalite movements in the region.

“I somehow got attracted to the social and political movements in Kolkata during the 1960s but it was a letter of Albert Einstein in a magazine that gave me a reason to utilise my knowledge for the betterment of people in the society. In the letter, the physics genius admitted his mistake for advocating the US government for the construction of an atom bomb unaware that it would later harm innocent lives.

It is through his mistake that I realised that I too could be putting my experience in harnessing war weapons. So, instantly I decided not to work either for the government or the corporate,” he expresses. While employing his skills for the development of people around him, he was intrigued to research about the resource depletion and its impact on the society.

“Most of the sufferings across the world and the politics between governments revolve around oil and petroleum transactions but hardly do they understand that with the choices we make, these sources are depleting at a faster rate and one day production of all the fossil-based vehicles howsoever costly they might or how many luxuries it might offer, have to see a dip. That day all these people have to again start at where they left- the bicycle,” he says.

Advocating for a cleaner environment, Vijayendra initiated a nongovernmental group called Ecologise Hyderabad in 2015 that comprised primarily of cycling enthusiasts and nature lovers across the twin cities. Moreover, he published books and articles on cycle maintenance and the evolution of bicycles in a fiction format to attract children and teenagers.

Expressing how cycles once were used by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government to depict women suffrage, the native of Mysore also compiled twelve autobiographical accounts of women who described riding a bicycle to be liberating their inner soul and filled them with profound happiness.

“It is unfortunate that today children view cycling as a hobby that they leave as they start to grow older but during our times, cycles were a prized possession accessible only to a few. Even while studying in IIT, I travelled on it and when I had to flee from Bihar during the Emergency period, it was a cycle I loaned from my brother that gave me company. But it sad to see cycles lying in a dusty state in garages of the affluent,” sighs Vijayendra.

By Maitreyi Tadepalli