The cycle with a big carrier

Charanjit Nohra

IN my childhood memories I never forget my father's bicycle. My father used that bicycle for carrying different burdens or weights of his life. As he was not a full-time employee of any organisation or department, he struggled to make both ends meet. He used this bicycle to sell clothes in nearby villages, for transporting fodder for buffaloes in the evening, for carrying drums of milk to a nearby milk collection centre and also to call on relatives regardless of the distance. When I was a kid, he used the bicycle to give me a 'luxury ride' once in a while. The bicycle had a big carrier which was fabricated by a local workshop mechanic. To tie the big bundle of clothes' on the carrier, he always used an old bicycle tube. Every morning my father had a habit of checking the air pressure by pressing his thumb against the tyres. For us children it was interesting to see the air leak checking in tyres done by putting spittle on the nozzle.

I have many memories associated with the bicycle in those days of the 1980s. Often, my brother and I enjoyed the bicycle ride while sitting together on the big carrier. Sometimes my father used my mother's dupatta to wrap around the rod to make the ride comfortable for us. 

We learnt cycling on that big bicycle with a big carrier without being able to sit on the saddle. Kids would learn cycling in those days by putting one hand on the handle and the other on the support bar and the saddle. There was no tricycle or children's bicycle for us.

The family bicycle was also a symbol of the identity and presence of my father on any social function. If a relative or a neighbour saw that bicycle, he would say, Achha Pritam Singh jee vee ethe hee han (So Pritam Singh is also here).

Once, my father bought clothes on credit from a shopkeeper in a nearby town. The money meant for purchasing clothes was spent on some other household necessity. But father could not return the loan to the shopkeeper as promised. After a few days father went back to buy more clothes from that shop.  He explained to the shopkeeper why he could not return the money. There were some financial problems in the house and he asked for more time to pay back the loan. But the shopkeeper insisted on having his money back and forcibly kept father's bicycle as a security until the debt was cleared. My father returned home empty-handed. He and all family members were very sad. On the second day he sold a buffalo to return the money to the shopkeeper and get his bicycle back. Seeing the 'bicycle with a big carrier' back home, all were very happy.

As long as my father kept cycling to earn a living, he was having sound health. After some time on some relative’s advice he bought a moped to sell clothes. But thereafter his health deteriorated. 

These days expensive bicycles without a carrier are popular among people who do cycling as a hobby or for health reasons. Whenever I see someone on a bicycle with a big carrier, it reminds me of the struggle and the ‘career’ my father had and others like him.