Ride down memory lane

When & Where: On till July 10, Kala Ghoda Café

It’s hard to imagine our city without streets jam-packed with four-wheelers. But rewind back to India of the 1900s, and it was the simple two-wheeler bicycle that dominated the roads.
The bicycle was used by a large number of Indians across various sections of society and though the popularity of the vehicle has dwindled in the last 100-plus years; it still reigns as a popular means of transport with domestic workers, dabbawallas, doodhwallas and newspaper vendors.
Determined to showcase the history of this humble vehicle is photographer Pat who likes to collect and preserve old photos and has currently put together a collection of vintage pictures of bicyclists with the help of Kala Ghoda café owner, Farhad Bomanjee.
“A lot of photography unfortunately is ignored in this country. The bicycle is a simple machine that requires no fuel and is pollution-free. Countries like Amsterdam make full use of this mode of transport and despite its decline it’s still used in India too,” says Pat, who hopes to motivate more people to cycle. The collection of black and white photographs, are mostly from pre-Independence India, while a couple are from the 1970s. Members of the Parsi community are a common feature, while a few pictures are of Maharashtrians. Interestingly, a number of them feature women cyclists, a rarity nowadays. While one photograph highlights the joy and elation of a school child trying out a cycle for the first time, another shows four beautifully dressed women set to go into town. Each of these is centered on Mumbai, Dahanu or other parts of Maharashtra. Pat, who has been a professional photographer for the past 12 years, likes to source old pictures for his personal collection and plans to showcase some on the Jazz Yatra of the ’70s next. Meanwhile, on his agenda is promoting the bicycle as a viable source of transport and he even plans to open a bike rental shop sometime in the future.