IN DELHI MIGHT BE EASIER: FARHAN

Be it playing for Delhi’s music loving audience or encouraging them to switch to an ecofriendly mode of transportation, filmmakeractor-musician Farhan Akhtar is up to it all. In fact, as you read this article, he would have probably mounted a bicycle to venture out on the streets of the Capital.

Farhan says, “I haven’t cycled in Delhi [before], but I think cycling here would be easier than Mumbai. But, I do wish there was a bit more road etiquette when it comes to cycling. Hopefully, with events like the cyclothon Saksham Pedal Delhi supported by PCRA (Petroleum Conservation Research Association), there will be more awareness about the benefits of cycling, especially, in cities that are congested with cars, buses, rickshaws and everything else.” He adds, “It’s a good thing to encourage people to commute using cycles, at least for short distances.”

Farhan, who is travelling wherever the music takes him, says that he has “rediscovered” the pleasures of cycling in the last six to seven months. Recalling his childhood memories, he says, “I had a group of friends and [our] primary mode of transportation was the cycle. One could cycle and commute to most places.” But, one of the highlights of using the cycle, he says was “that one could make out where one’s friends were or could identify their exact location, by seeing their cycles parked outside somebody’s building or house”.

He adds, “I have been cycling in the morning, and rediscovering Mumbai. There’s a whole other culture that exists in the city.”

Is he, too, enjoying being on the eco-friendly bike and roaming around Mumbai like actor Salman Khan? “I don’t exactly know what he does so can’t compare myself with him. But, I enjoy cycling.”