• Yog

    Helmet Keeps Us Safe

    Yog has been riding a pink, baby, Disney cycle over the last year. Neither the pink color, nor the Disney Princesses bothered him or his friends, even for a moment. At one point of time, the pink cycle used to proudly carry three young boys on it’s miniature wheels. As Yog enters another year, and the wheels of the cycle start to wear, I finally decided it was time to retire the pink cycle and move to a new one. The new cycle is bigger, bolder and blue in color with shining silver balances on the side. It looked just right for Yog but I was worried that he might hurt…

  • Thoughts and Quotes

    Return of the Cycle

    I was a big time cycling enthusiast during my college years. I continued to cycle to work during my first jobs but had to  give up cycling when we moved to Mumbai after marriage. Kids, jobs, transfers and business managed to keep me away from my favorite sport for about 13 years. For some reason, even after all this time, the dream of cycling did not abandon me. It just sat there patiently in my heart waiting for the time when it could rewind. That day came sooner than I had imagined when a good friend introduced me to Cykul. I was literally jumping up and down with excitement after…

  • Toyna

    Taming the Ladybird

    Like most urban parents, we indulged Toyna, as a child, with all possible toys that our economic condition allowed. She had a walker even before she could stand and a cycle even before she could run. Over time, some toys got passed on to younger cousins and some piled up in our home. She was gifted a new Ladybird cycle by her grandmother for her 10th birthday. With that the count of children’s cycles in our house went upto four. Toynas grandmother and I conspired to skip one stage of cycle in between and ended up buying this last stage cycle for Toyna. I know Toyna would have been comfortable…

  • Thoughts and Quotes,  Toyna

    I Believe I can Fly

    I was born in a small paradise in India. Clean, beautiful, small and self sufficient, it is a city which is the envy of most bustling capitals across the world. Chandigarh – one of the only two planned cities of the world is the capital city of both Haryana and Punjab. But that is not what makes it unique. That is not what I remember when I think of my days in Chandigarh. When I think of Chandigarh, I think of the long cycle tracks, hidden between thick, green, shady trees; running criss cross through the entire city. It is on these tracks that I have spent most of my teen…

  • Thoughts and Quotes

    Love thy neighbor (and yourself)

    When I open my Facebook each day, I am flooded with messages which are focused on self help. Business leaders, spiritual gurus, philosophers are all constantly teaching  us to be proud of who we are, no matter how ugly, weak, powerless we might be. We are taught to love ourselves first, only then we will be able to love others.  We are reminded that we have a right to achieves our dreams and we should fight against all odds to achieve them. All these messages are surely helpful to boost my day. It just happened that, one day, while reading through one such message, I thought, “I just wish I…