Some of the cyclists of
Bengaluru decided to organise an event called 'Critical Mass' on the evening of
28th November in the city. They would like to reclaim the roads of their city
for cycles and other forms of non-motorised transport. All over the world, the
Critical Mass (CM) is done on the last Friday of the month. Even though it was a
working day, the idea was to spread the message in a live form to a large
commuter base. If it were to be on a weekend, it would simply be a weekend
leisure ride. CM helps in recognizing the importance of respect that cyclists
who commute daily deserve. The first Critical Mass event was organised on 25th
September 1992 in San Francisco, USA. Over the years, citizens of 300-odd cities
across the world have embraced the concept. It is known by different names, such
as bike-lifting, corking and mass-up in various cities. Some Critical Mass
events across the world have participants not only on cycles, but also on
skateboards and wheelchairs.For more about Critical Mass see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass
![]() India is still not convinced about
promoting cycling as a means of urban transport but Amsterdam (Netherlands), New
York, San Francisco, Chicago and Portland (in USA), London (UK) and Paris
(France) boast of a flourishing bicycle culture. There are some Indian cities
like Pondicherry, however, where cyclists form a large part of the traffic on
the roads.
Go Green message on one
participant. Pic: Deepa Mohan. Bangalore's maiden Critical Mass started out on rather a damp note, with the rainy weather making the twilight arrive earlier than usual. When I arrived at Lalbagh West Gate, I found several bikers (as these cyclists like to call themselves) already there. Many of them are young men who commute regularly from home to work and back on their Deepa Mohan 02 Dec 2008 Deepa Mohan is a freelance writer who fell in love with Bangalore when first she moved from Chennai, and has been both enthused and worried over the rapidly changing city. She is also a Bangalore metroblogger. Subscribe to: Posts
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