Ride2Breathe with Calcutta Walks, discovering Heritage of Central Calcutta

Outside Raj Bhawan, Government Place.

In front of the Standard Life Assurance Company Building. If you're ever in front of this place, check out the two statues engraved on either side of the arch, depicting LIFE & DEATH.

Riding past GPO.

That's me in front of the CS Class Steam Locomotive at the Eastern Railways HQ.

The Armenian Church. The entire church is surrounded by gravestones.

Inside the Armenian Church.

The Synagogue at Ezra Street.

Inside the Synagogue.

Inside the market which has encroached the Parsee Church.

The Parsee Church, in a dilapidated state. Roots of trees eating through the walls and pillars. I guess it won't stand for more than a couple of years at most.

A reflection of those occupying this sacred place.

Gautam cuts the Firefox Cake to celebrate his birthday + 1 year of the Firefox Bike Station in Kolkata.

My first outing with Ride2Breathe

I joined a Facebook Group called Ride2Breathe last week and this morning joined like minded bikers on a trip organized by the group.

Destination: Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary in Narendrapur
Starting point: Victoria Memorial
Distance: 22 Kms one way - 44Kms round trip. (Sagar had done a recce on his motorcycle earlier to measure distance and the best possible route)
Start Time: though scheduled for 6:00 am got delayed by about an hour.

I joined the 12 odd riders at Santoshpur after I had been riding around for an hour. The excitement had me up by 5:00 am and out of the house by 6:00 am. Anyway once I saw the dozen riders in the distance approaching me, I knew this was going to be fun.

Once we were there, we were greeted by the legendary Saibal da, who has cycled alone all the way into the mountains of Sikkim. We entered the Sanctuary, parked our bikes and paid the entry fee (Rs. 15 per adult and Rs. 5 per child) and were soon treading through some thick brushwood along a thin meandering path.

I changed the lens on my Canon EOS 1000D from the 18-55 lens to the 55-250 IS lens just before we set off into the undergrowth and immediately was chasing after a bird deeper into the dense forest. I ducked under here jumped over there and eventually did get me some nice shots of a few birds. But the best was waiting on this woodpecker that hopped around from tree to tree till I finally got my sights fixed on him and shot a volley.

After spending over half an hour in there we decided to head back. I rode back till Santoshpur and the rest of the group continued towards Victoria memorial with a planned tea stop at Ruby Hospital Roundabout.

So if you want to join the group on Facebook, just search for Ride2Breathe.

The group strongly recommends wearing helmets and so do I.

My FIREFOX FULL SUS 26" Reloaded 2.1 with the new Helmet and the not so long road ahead.

The Bikers and their Machines.

The Bikers. Gautam wanted one pic without the Bikes. He's clicking me while I'm clicking them.

Walking into the Forest.

Awesome Vines coming down from the trees.

The Ride back home.

Our support Car. One rider decided to ride back in the car.

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Birds I spotted. Oh and some mushrooms growing on some tree stumps. Can someone Identify the other two Birds, I'm not that into the species and names. Just love taking pictures.

The Woody Wood Pecker.

Cycling on Republic Day

[Cycling_26Jan2010_Divya.JPG] Picture removed on request.

Have been Asked to remove the other pic by the boss. How sad!

Another Dream Machine

We still had to get home actually for us to say the Bakkhali trip was over. So after having tea and on our way home, we headed to South City Mall. After much debate and three trips around the huge Spencer’s store we finally decided to buy the Firefox bike I had been eyeing for a while. So kicked about the new purchase was I that when it was finally readied with all the accessories (i.e mud guard, compass bell, lock and water bottle) we paid for it and I rode it out of the mall all the way home. My wife took the car back. It was such a dream to ride that I rode like a bat out of hell and nearly reached home the same time as she did in the car. It didn’t end there. Once home, we lugged up all the luggage and I brought down the other Firefox bike and we both went out riding. We did make quite a spectacle of ourselves, again, as we pulled up to have Puchkas at Hiland Park.

After that we rode around for a while and then headed back home. Now the Firefox Tempest is not alone and has a Firefox Reloaded 2.1 parked beside it in our apartment.

Now our trip to Bakkhali was complete. I rode home for the last 5 odd kms.

About the Bicycle.

FIREFOX FULL SUS 26" Reloaded 2.1

17" Alloy 4-linkage frame
Suspension fork
Shimano 21 speed with EZ fire shifter
Front disc & rear V brakes
Alloy rims and QR Hub
Alloy handlebar, stem & seat post

Color: White/Blue

Cycling, Finally!

I finally went cycling on Sunday at about noon. The sky was overcast and with the sun hidden behind the cloud cover, it was a perfect opportunity to head out and explore the neighbourhood on my cycle. Yes the Firefox Tempest that I had bought a while back and hardly used till date.

So I came out of my colony gate and turned left to the canal that ran behind the complex. I had to ride up a steep levee which also served as a narrow back lane. It ran parallel to the canal similar to the one on the other side of the canal. There were small bridges that connected both sides, some just wide enough for a motorcycle to pass over.

So while I was riding along the canal road, I noticed a large gathering of people and once I reached where they were standing, I noticed that they had all gathered to watch the dredging work that had been on for a while now. There were mounds of clay on either side of the canal and more on our side. So I stopped and got my handy Nokia 6630 out and clicked away at the odd dredging machine in operation. Basically it was an excavator with caterpillar tracks that had been locked in on a square metal barge like platform which was able to float on the canal water. The excavator arm would plunge into the water and sink its teeth into the bottom and pull itself forward, if it needed to move. Once in place, there were two extractable poles on each side which would be driven into the bottom to keep the barge stable and in place for the excavator to go to work, digging out buckets full of silt from the canal bed.

Anyway after watching the operation I headed on and went further down past the back of the Highland Park complex and over a small bridge. I was being adventurous and going deeper into the interiors through the narrow road of what seemed to be more like a little village and lo I came upon railway tracks. I looked back and saw the sign. I had come along side the Baghajatin railway station. This was on of the Suburban Railway lines and I had heard of Baghajatin several times, but never realised that lived so close to this place. I turned back from here and cycled through some more of the village in a different direction and came upon the Main road where the Highland Park Metropolitan Mall was. From there it was a straight ride back home.

I was so kicked with myself that after lunch and a little rest, I headed out again. This time I decided to go in the opposite direction. The little lanes of Santoshpur are a treasure trove of “pukurs” (ponds) and there were people enjoying a swim nearly every pond that I came upon. To tell you the truth I was so tempted to jump in myself. Maybe on a some other day, I’ll go a bit better prepared for a dip in one of them.

My New Toy

FIREFOX ALL TERRAIN 26" - Tempest

18" Alloy ATB frame
Suspension Fork
Shimano 6 speed gears
V-Brakes, Alloy rims & Crank
Color: Red


Need I say any more?