Kids enjoy zipping down the bicycle path in the park. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Cycling takes me back to my childhood where we would beg for hours with the only child in our building who owned a BSA to let us take a ride. It meant freedom, sheer breeze-rush on hot summer days, the exultation of standing and biking, and taking smaller brats double.

Cycling meant happiness. Yet, until recently, both my kids didn't know (and 'we don't even want to', they claimed) to cycle. So, this Diwali vacation was project let's-learn- to-cycle and now that the task had been mastered, it was the other — more daunting — task of finding a place where kids can cycle freely in Mumbai and in peace.



The Pushpa Narsee Park (PNP) in Juhu, also known as the Cycling Park, is the only dedicated cycling space for children that I know in Mumbai. Most routes and roadways are not cycling-friendly; for children, the options shrink further if you don't count the apartment lobbies or society compounds.