Adventures on a Cycle
Written on 18th February, 2019
I have always found the beauty of traveling to be a very personal joy. It is about witnessing beautiful
sights, meeting new people with rich cultures and wonderful characters, understanding tradition and
history, connecting yourself with nature once again and making everlasting memories. One of my favorite
hobbies is to travel around the beautiful city of Bangalore. I always thought that I had seen a lot of
the city, having small recollections of traveling here and there. But as I grew up, I realized how
little I knew about the depths of this city. There is just so much to see, the greenery, the lakes, the
streets, the parks, the markets and so much more.
One of the ways I was able to discover the excitement behind traveling was taking my cycle onto the
streets. You might ask - “Why cycle when you can drive or ride a bike?”. According to me, cycling is
the perfect way to move quickly while not missing out on the wonderful things to see around you. While
cycling, you are able to feel everything that is happening around you, from breathing the air of the
city, listening to the noise of the streets around you, the sunlight gleaming on your helmet, and you
feel like you belong to this city more than ever. In the rather busy street life of this city, a cycle
is a perfect way to take in the best of your commute.
Compactness and Usability? Unmatched. Perfect for the Bangalore Traffic, you can get past anything with
much lesser waiting time, a use case which I find very notable. It is honestly a huge relief when you
can get past anybody stuck in traffic, something I am sure anybody can relate to.
What about the work involved in cycling? Why not? Drive slow if you need to, but just don’t stop
pedaling. Incline, decline, good roads or bad roads, the objective is one and the same - reach your
destination within the time. Everything becomes a lot simpler when you are only focused on covering the
distance. It is very tiring at times, especially when you just can’t escape from the boiling heat.
However, the satisfaction of stepping onto the ground from your cycle, standing exactly where you
wanted to be is something else altogether.
Mistaking your route is something which is absolutely inevitable while cycling in a city like
Bangalore. The frustration and anger of not having a power bank to charge your mobile while Google Maps
drains your battery is something which every cyclist would feel. A smarter option would be to plan your
trip, stop at the right checkpoints and optimize the travel time.
When I realized I could cycle far, I decided to visit places which I haven’t been to before. Since I
stayed near the south of Bangalore, the center of Bangalore seemed like a good place to start with. The
stretch which covers Cubbon Park, Vidhana Soudha and the High Court was one of my first trips, which
was a total of about 40 kilometers to and fro. I remember learning about the new parts of this city,
the roads, the iconic streets, all of which I hope to never forget. I slowly developed my
interest in VLOGs, sharing the stories and all the fun behind traveling to all those viewers who might
have missed out on this. I had a wonderful experience when I visited Lalbagh with a friend and we made
a VLOG for the entire trip. Some places yet to cycle till are - Hesaraghatta, Nandi Hills, The Big
Big-Banyan.
There is so much more for me to see in this city. It’s just a matter of when.