Women push pedal to get to the workplace

She’s perfected the art over time. Bhavna Savle tucking her saree pallu around the midriff, hops astride her bicycle and starts pedalling from her home in Gundavli, Andheri (east), snaking her way through city traffic on her bicycle to the Juhu-Santacruz belt where she works at different houses as a domestic help. “You know, this cycle is a big help,” says the 47-year-old.


Ever since she’s got the hang of cycling, Savle no longer waits endlessly for public transport, and saves on the Rs 40 bus fare she had to shell out daily. Above all, she’s got freedom of mobility, she says. Savle is among the 200-odd women who do domestic chores trained by a city NGO, Smart Commute Foundation, run by the city’s first bicycle mayor Firoza Dadan, to use the humble bicycle as a mode of transport. What started with a couple of women and kids has now metamorphosed into a mission to promote cycling in the city, especially for economically underprivileged women. Some of them had not ever touched the steering handle until they were given free training by the NGO.

“It took me about 10 days to learn to balance myself,” says Savle, making no effort to hide the glee in her voice. “On the bicycle, I get up and move around at my own will.”

Learning to ride on open ground initially was one thing, but getting the knack of meandering amid city traffic quite another. The women say they have been taught the nitty-gritty of bicycle discipline -- keep to the left, keep a watchful eye on vehicles and pedestrians around. Not only were the bicycles donated to them, they were also gifted cycling paraphernalia – helmets, a carrier basket, reflector jackets. The project started with one domestic helper, Asha, from Nehru Nagar slum settlement in Juhu, recalls Dadan. “That lady, Asha, needed a bicycle. I put out an appeal on social media. Got people who donated cycles,” says Dadan. Today, the domestic helper women have formed an umbrella group called ‘Me Cycle Rider’. As part of World Bicycle Day, (June 3) this group will be part of a World Bicycle Day cycle rally that will start near Mumbai University’s Kalina campus. Shalini Paswan, who works at a dosa joint in Vile Parle, learnt cycling right here over a year ago. It took her at least a couple of months to learn cycling, she admits. Today, as a delivery woman for the dosa joint, the Chakala resident moves around on her bicycle for a better part of her work timings. It’s not just saving her time and money, she says, pointing out that the physical exercise keeps her fit – something for which she would never find the time amid the daily humdrum of work. “The cycle has made me totally independent,” she trills.

The women in the ‘Me Cycle Rider’ group are also taught the basics of bicycle mechanics – they are equipped with the basic know-how of adjusting the chain if it slips off, fixing a flat tyre and so on. Every three or four months, the women cyclists go pedalling together to take a break. “We organise a get-together where we take all the girls for coffee, show them places around the city. They have cycled from Juhu up to see Bollywood stars’ bungalows in Bandra – the only criterion is they should all come on cycles,” says Dadan. “Their enthusiasm is worth watching. The giggles, the smiles, the selfies… the cycle rides give these women a nice break from their routines.”

The next plan, says Dadan, is to extend this project for domestic worker women in different civic wards of the city. “For that, we are hoping to get CSR funding,” she says, adding that some of the women have even graduated to riding Yulu bikes for home delivery of various products.

The cyclists admit that snide, sexist comments made by other motorists mid-street put them off. “But we’ve learnt to ignore them... But the good part is when some people in cars give a thumbs up or cheer us on seeing a saree-clad woman cycling amidst the flow of traffic,” says Savle. “These little things add some joy to my cycling activity.”