Citizens pedal to commemorate Gandhi’s ideals

It was about 10 weeks ago when filmmaker and an avid cyclist Shanmuga Sundar Lakshmanan decided to pedal to all the landmarks that Mahatma Gandhi had visited in the city, out of fascination to learn more about the non-violent warrior. “I grew very interested in Gandhi after reading his book The Story of My Experiments with Truth. I wanted to know how a man with such little means went on to achieve such great things for our country. Ahead of Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, I began cycling each day for 10 weeks, trying to touch 150 km a week travelling through all the places he had visited in Chennai. After a few weeks, a few fellow cyclists wanted to join me and we began to cycle every day through Gandhi Statue on the Marina,” he recollects.

Sundar, who is part of We are Chennai Cycling Group (WCCG), then pitched to his group the idea of holding a 150-km cycle ride on October 2, the day that marks the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi. The ride will see the coming together of three cycling-related groups — WCCG, Cycling Yogis and Just Buy Cycles. “Around 200 cyclists will be gathering on October 2 at Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya at T Nagar, for which Gandhi had laid a foundation stone in 1946. We will cycle from there till Mamallapuram and then return to Chennai,” adds40-year-old Sundar. 

The founder of Cycling Yogis, Ramanujar Moulana, has lent to the ride his expertise of mapping through cycle trails the places that Gandhi had visited. Through his book Madras by Cycle, Ramanujar, who had taken up several bicycle trips across the sites visited by Gandhi in the city, lists some of the places that still stand. Unity House in Perambur, Sanskrit College in Mylapore, Mahajana Sabha on Mount Road and Hindi Prachara Sabha in T Nagar were some of the other places that the ‘Father of the Nation’ had visited, notes Ramanujar in his book.

Ahead of the bicycle ride, Sundar and Ramanujar also visited freedom fighter and Gandhi’s then personal secretary V Kalyanam. “I grew up admiring Gandhi and was constantly looking for ways to connect with him. I wanted to meet him (Kalyanam) as a way of learning more about Gandhi, with whom he had worked and interacted. It was a moving moment to have met Mr Kalyanam,” adds Sundar.

The cycling groups are not only trying to promote the aspect of being disciplined and health consciousness through the ride, but are also celebrating Gandhi’s ideals, Sundar elaborates. “We have also been hosting a photography contest for the riders to click pictures during their bicycle trips that can depict the 11 vows of Gandhi, including non-violence, truth, self-discipline and fearlessness. The idea is to pass on Gandhi’s philosophies to the current generation,” he stresses.