LEARNING FROM CITIES
The night bazaar at Charminar lights up the streets during the month of Ramzaan. Image Source https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charminar_sumeet_photography_3.JPG
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BE A PEDAL PUSHER
While private transport and wider roads are associated with the development of a city, there is a counter culture on the rise. In the last few years Hyderabad has witnessed a growing circle that has become more sensitive to the urban landscape, and has begun to understand the detrimental effects of ‘development’ on their immediate environment. Thus, cycling is catching on as a much sought after trend today. And to give that extra push of encouragement are the very many local cycling clubs as well. One such organization is the Hyderabad Bicycle Club, a nonprofit organization founded in 2007, in a quest to create awareness
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CITY OBSERVER | June 2016
among the public. Today the club has over 7500 members. They have bike stations to rent out bikes and regularly planned cycling trips to rope in more people. Six in the morning and it is not an uncommon sight to see packs of cyclists in tights pedaling around town. And it is also, not so rare to see cyclists, in the peak hours, pedaling to work. This is a slow yet steady change towards healthier and better urban living. It is not easy to make a complete modal shift associated with cycling, but the effort to embrace cycling as often as one possibly can, needs to be appreciated.