ID :
12095
Thu, 07/10/2008 - 20:16
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/12095
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Rocketman pedals his way to office for 20 years
N. Muraleedharan Thiruvananthapuram, July 10 (PTI) As a senior technocrat in I.S.R.O., his job is to design rockets. But for Dr V. Adimurthy, Associate Director of Vikaram Sarabhai Space Centre (V.S.S.C.), bicycle has been the mode of transport togo to office and back home for the last two decades.
That was a conscious decision taken by him keeping the advantage of the humble mode of conveyance well before theworld began to slide into a grim fuel crisis.
Eminent Malayalam poet and scholar Prof VishnuNarayanan Namboodiri is another avid cyclist around.
Both are never wanting in extolling the virtues ofbicycle -- economic, environmental, physical and mental.
In fact, Adimurthy and Namboodiri are some of few who never got carried away by fast-paced growth of the automotive sector that brought a variety of high cost vehicles to thecountry.
They have no problem in admitting that cycling through the ups and downs and potholed roads of Thiruvananthapuram haskept them physical fit and mentally alert.
Adimurthy who commute a minimum of 20 km daily on cycle between home and office, said he found several advantages in it with the greatest being physical and mentalrelaxation it offers.
Sharing Adimurthy's views, Namboodiri said, "bicycle is not just the least expensive form of transport but is also totally pollution-free. By cycling one is not just saving a good portion of one's own money spent on costly fuel but also helps the country in a various ways." "My choice of bicycle as the mode of conveyance has also given me much flexibility in my timing in office. I can stay back in office without bothering others who depend on theoffice vehicles to get back to home," Adimurthy said.
"Of course, In my position I can have an office vehicle at my convenience. But, over the years I have felt that the physical and mental agility cycling offers helps me alot to work relaxedly," he told P.T.I.
For Namboodiri, who bought his first cycle by sharing half the cost with a friend in 1965, bicycle is the only mode of driving (or pedalling) he has ever bothered to learn other than rowing which he picked up as a village boy in water-logged Kuttanad.
"When me and my friend pooled some of the money to buy a cycle, our agreement was that I will use it during the day and he at night, as that was the time that he required itmost," Namboodiri said going down the memory lane.
Namboodiri, who has penned several philosophic poems, said he had often felt that the cycle is an extension of humanphysique.
"The handlebar is like hands and wheels like legs," hesaid.
He saw bicycle also as a symbol of intermediate technology suited for a country like India. He recalls having seen a picture of Mahatma Gandhi pedalling his way to ameeting.
And, he had in his album a snap of the great Albert Einstein with his cycle while working in Princeton University(New Jersey).
"I see it as symbolic. If Einstein wanted he could have had a car arranged by the university authorities to drive him from his cottage to the campus. But he preferred thishumble mode of conveyance," the poet said.
According to Adimurthy, bicycles are still a preferred mode of short-distance travel in university campuses andacademic towns in advanced countries.
"While cycling around, you feel near to nature. While travelling by a motor vehicle you miss many things, which you can see or hear while pedalling your way to office or campus,"he said.
Just as cycling, Namboodiri has preserved his passion for oars manship all through his life. Not only had he rowed canoes in rivers and canals in Kerala, but even found time to try his hand on oars while on academic visit to Cambridge andOxford, and, once even rowed across the Thames.
Namboodiri says bicycle keeps him not only physically tuned but mentally alert as well since pedalling often helps to concentrate. Some times, the idea for a poem germinates inhis mind while pedalling his way out of home and back.
Asked if he had ever thought of launching a campaign to popularise bicycle, the poet said he believes in campaignsby setting one's own example.
"Yes, it will do good if somebody think about a campaign to popularise bicycle, especially among the young when the world is passing through a grim fuel crisis," hesaid.
Adimurthy and Namboodiri were among four avid bicyclists honoured by the Kerala Olympic Association on theInternational Olympic Day last week.
That was a conscious decision taken by him keeping the advantage of the humble mode of conveyance well before theworld began to slide into a grim fuel crisis.
Eminent Malayalam poet and scholar Prof VishnuNarayanan Namboodiri is another avid cyclist around.
Both are never wanting in extolling the virtues ofbicycle -- economic, environmental, physical and mental.
In fact, Adimurthy and Namboodiri are some of few who never got carried away by fast-paced growth of the automotive sector that brought a variety of high cost vehicles to thecountry.
They have no problem in admitting that cycling through the ups and downs and potholed roads of Thiruvananthapuram haskept them physical fit and mentally alert.
Adimurthy who commute a minimum of 20 km daily on cycle between home and office, said he found several advantages in it with the greatest being physical and mentalrelaxation it offers.
Sharing Adimurthy's views, Namboodiri said, "bicycle is not just the least expensive form of transport but is also totally pollution-free. By cycling one is not just saving a good portion of one's own money spent on costly fuel but also helps the country in a various ways." "My choice of bicycle as the mode of conveyance has also given me much flexibility in my timing in office. I can stay back in office without bothering others who depend on theoffice vehicles to get back to home," Adimurthy said.
"Of course, In my position I can have an office vehicle at my convenience. But, over the years I have felt that the physical and mental agility cycling offers helps me alot to work relaxedly," he told P.T.I.
For Namboodiri, who bought his first cycle by sharing half the cost with a friend in 1965, bicycle is the only mode of driving (or pedalling) he has ever bothered to learn other than rowing which he picked up as a village boy in water-logged Kuttanad.
"When me and my friend pooled some of the money to buy a cycle, our agreement was that I will use it during the day and he at night, as that was the time that he required itmost," Namboodiri said going down the memory lane.
Namboodiri, who has penned several philosophic poems, said he had often felt that the cycle is an extension of humanphysique.
"The handlebar is like hands and wheels like legs," hesaid.
He saw bicycle also as a symbol of intermediate technology suited for a country like India. He recalls having seen a picture of Mahatma Gandhi pedalling his way to ameeting.
And, he had in his album a snap of the great Albert Einstein with his cycle while working in Princeton University(New Jersey).
"I see it as symbolic. If Einstein wanted he could have had a car arranged by the university authorities to drive him from his cottage to the campus. But he preferred thishumble mode of conveyance," the poet said.
According to Adimurthy, bicycles are still a preferred mode of short-distance travel in university campuses andacademic towns in advanced countries.
"While cycling around, you feel near to nature. While travelling by a motor vehicle you miss many things, which you can see or hear while pedalling your way to office or campus,"he said.
Just as cycling, Namboodiri has preserved his passion for oars manship all through his life. Not only had he rowed canoes in rivers and canals in Kerala, but even found time to try his hand on oars while on academic visit to Cambridge andOxford, and, once even rowed across the Thames.
Namboodiri says bicycle keeps him not only physically tuned but mentally alert as well since pedalling often helps to concentrate. Some times, the idea for a poem germinates inhis mind while pedalling his way out of home and back.
Asked if he had ever thought of launching a campaign to popularise bicycle, the poet said he believes in campaignsby setting one's own example.
"Yes, it will do good if somebody think about a campaign to popularise bicycle, especially among the young when the world is passing through a grim fuel crisis," hesaid.
Adimurthy and Namboodiri were among four avid bicyclists honoured by the Kerala Olympic Association on theInternational Olympic Day last week.
