Ride to Glory

6 bikes, a rollercoaster ride through the scenic waterfronts of Bombay, & 140 minutes of pedaling action, lead us to the Gateway of India

The idea
It all began on a Wednesday evening on my way back home from work when one of my friend called me asking me to make some interesting Sunday plan. After all the conventional options he himself, suggested the idea of cycling in the city. Cycle rides have always fascinated me, infact I was amazed by the special cycle paths in parks in US, and My friend, let me call him the Event manager and he actually is one by profession, although he organizes events which can change peoples life sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad(decoration business). So our organsier connects the other two friends on a conference call.
Where should we ride? Where will the bicycles come from? Who else will join us ? Should we start bicycling at night? What about 4am? Will any one wake up on a Sunday morning ?
After a lot of discussion we decided that we shall bicycle from Carter road, Bandra to Gateway of India exploring all the waterfronts on the way on Sunday morning. Our organizer ensured he would arrange for the bikes and we agreed that if no one else comes, the three of us will definitely go on this expedition. Honestly I did not expect any one to come as I know of very few people who would like to give up their Sunday sleep for a crazy thing like this. Nevertheless we flooded inboxes with email and sms, but got just best wishes as responses. Three of our organizer, the Event Managers friends agreed to join us

Getting the cycles
My friend, the Event manager had a big task ahead of arranging those cycle.17 pages of Google search, help line searches and cycle dealers contacts all proved futile in arranging the cycles on hire. Cycles on hire were available in Bandra but they were the Bhaiya cycles which would have been difficult to ride. Our Event manager finally got hold of someone in Dongri who took him to a hire shop located in a patli gali ( narrow lane ) of Bori Mohala. For 75 rupees each we had the cycles. This is where the resources of our event manager came as good help. He loaded those cycles in his tempo and transported them to his home in Bandra. I think our Event Manager friend definitely deserves a shabashi for his resourcefulness


Morning alarms
My biggest fear was that I would land up in Bandra at 5am just to find out that the other bikers are still sleeping. So from the previous night I kept reminding the computer geek friend who stays in the same building to wake up our Event Manager friend, and if he doesn’t wake up then to bang his door. In turn I kept reminding the Event Manager friend to remind the CA friend and his brothers to be on time

The journey
With the thought of mistakenly snoozing the alarm haunting me, I could hardly sleep so after completing my morning chores I left home at 4.30a.m I called the other people just to ensure they would be awake. It was dark but still seemed a little crowded, with people waiting at the ST bus stands, elder women rushing to the temple, people happily sleeping on the road, jain monks , newspaper suppliers unwrapping the papers, doodhwalas rushing to complete their deliveries.


Kickstart
At 5:15a.m when I reached our Event Managers building compound in Bandra. It was in action as the others were busy removing the bikes from the garage. We pedaled through the dark streets of Bandra to Mahim causeway where we halted to debate on the route we would take. It was too dark yet to have a look at the scenic sea. I demanded rather commanded we go through Shivaji and other six unfortunately had no choice but just agree.
As we cycled through Shivaji Park and moving to Worli Sea face I looked at the other cycle riders that we passed by and thought we were hardly any different from the doodhwalas and bhaiyas who use the cycle to go around. At Worli Sea face we were surprised to see so many people walking we also saw a few professional bikers. It was still a little dark for us to get a good view of the sea. Moving further near the race course we got to see the first ray of Sunlight a beautiful orange twilight on our left. Haji Ali at Mahalaxmi was still waking up to the morning. It was nice to ride through Tardeo, and Nana chowk and watch the old buildings of Wilson college.
The sun was almost out but hold on when we reached chowpatty I was just lost seeing the beauty of the sea which was still wrapped in its Sunday slumber with a thin line of fog. The ride from chowpatty to Nariman point was magical, although it could have proved dangerous as I was hardly looking in the front and looking at the sea, but thanks to the other bikers vision behind I managed.
In just a few minutes we were at our destination Gateway of India. The sun was waiting for us. After taking a short break and doing the touristy stuff of taking pictures we moved to our final destination in Dongri where we had to drop the cycles.

Riding through fort
I have always been very fond of walking through the bylanes in fort area and watching the buildings around. So we took the back road to go to Dongri passing through, Asiatic Libarary, RBI, Horniman circle and when I looked at the Marshal & sons building I couldn’t help but think of Dadaji and sofas. Then we passed through the Dockyard area which really saddened me. I looked at those Slums filled with people just surviving. I looked at those children for whom the busy street was playground and could also turn into death ground. But these children were happily playing their little games devoid of the dangers that may come their way. Finally we reach Dongri at our Event Managers office and wake ups his oversmart office peon.
The peon runs to get anda bhurji, inspite of me telling him not to go as I want to go to the restaurant and eat and not eat in the naphthalene smelling office of our Event Manager. By now I guess other six bikers have had enough of my bullying and they are not ready to take it any more and thus they also don’t join me to Café Naaz. At the counter I ask the elderly uncle to give me brun pav with double maska and one chai without sugar. He tells me Beti Betho. I look around to find some interesting characters around, At the adjoing table I see 3 men draped in a pathani and sporting the red ghamcha, to me they could be anyone from a normal trader to a terrorist, or maybe even a spy. I take my parcel and move to the office next door to join the others. Later we all walk to Sandhurst road station and take our train home
All in all it was nice adventure ride. I think maybe I should probably buy a bike and ride to places over a weekend. Next bike trip could be to Manori.
Any takers ?