Join 11-year-old Shibangi on her exciting journey of learning to ride a bicycle, filled with fun, falls, life lessons, and the joy of overcoming fears. A heart-warming tale of determination and family support.
Hi… I’m Shibangi, and I am eleven years old. What I share with you today is an experience from last year. It was when I learnt how to ride a bicycle. But along with riding, I also learnt many more lessons from that experience.
I remember it was my 10th birthday when Mama (my mother’s brother) and Mami (Mama’s wife) gifted me a bicycle. It was pink in colour and, as soon as I saw it, I fell in love with it.
From that very day, my lessons started. It was my father and Apurba Da (my uncle, but I didn’t call him ‘Apurba Uncle’ as my parents also called him ‘Apurba Da’) who started teaching me in the evenings.
At first, I was a bit scared, but Baba (my father) and Apurba Da held me from both sides and I felt secure. We soon realised that my seat was a bit too high for me. My father took the bicycle to a shop and got it adjusted for my convenience.
But one day, I fell off my bicycle and hurt my knee. Thanks to Baba and Apurba Da, who were always by my side and never let me give up, I learnt to be brave. I express my gratitude and thankfulness to them.
Then one sunny day, I decided to start cycling on the street during the daytime. When I asked Baba, he readily agreed and we went together with the bicycle. While cycling, I noticed that Baba was not holding me anymore — I was cycling by myself! I was so happy that I lost my concentration and fell down on the road as my bicycle skidded into a nearby drain. I was injured and got some scratches on my hand. This incident taught me a lesson: becoming overconfident leads to dreadful consequences. Gradually, I gained confidence. I could start the bicycle by myself and ride it for a small distance quite easily.
We live in an apartment. When I used to go cycling, my father stood by the roadside just outside our apartment to check if everything was alright. My normal route was from my bus stand (where my school bus comes, located at Mandar More) to the Torsha Bund (the Torsha river embankments which are built because of the excessive rain in Cooch Behar to stop the overflow of the river during the rainy season). One day while cycling, I suddenly had to stop near the bund as some dogs circled me and started to come towards me. I was scared, but then like a superhero, an uncle from the neighbourhood came and saved me from those dangerous dogs.
It was after a few days that my father asked me, “Aren’t you bored of cycling on this road?”
“Yes, but why do you ask?”
“I was thinking of taking you to the guard’s cy…”
Before he could finish his sentence, I started jumping and said, “Let’s go, let’s go!”
That night, we took all the precautions to start my new adventure in cycling. I turned through the joining alleys which serve as a shortcut between Gol Bagan and Notun Bazaar. But then I jolted over the demotivating bumpers — I call them demotivating because that day while going over them, I mistakenly hit my Baba, which resulted in the end of our jolly good trip, and we had to return home with disappointment. Never mind, failures always come on the way to success and we should learn from them.
Another day dawned when I regained my confidence, overcame my fear, and got a golden opportunity to show my cycling skills in front of my teacher. I remember I had gone to the junior school to attend yoga classes. While going, I walked, but I returned riding my bicycle. Isn’t it strange? Well, actually, it was my father who surprised me. The moment I came out of the school, I saw him standing there with my bicycle, all because he wanted me to enjoy a bumpy ride. When my teacher saw this, they smiled in awe. My dear classmates were amazed as well. They appreciated my cycle and my cycling skills. But on my way home, I bumped into my father again by mistake. He looked at me angrily but didn’t complain much. That’s how fathers are.
One night, my father and I decided to go for a small ride. We decided to go to a place called Notun Bazaar. The road there is a bit hilly. Till then, I didn’t know that while riding downhill we shouldn’t pedal much. I pedalled faster and felt like I was riding a bike. As we reached Notun Bazaar More (a place where four roads meet), we were supposed to turn right, but the speed I was cycling at made me go straight instead. When I saw Baba and me going in different directions, I pressed the brakes and stopped. What I learnt that day was that we should always follow instructions and remember them before doing something.
Nowadays, I don’t cycle much as the rains have started and, moreover, we were having our exams. Yet I can say that I have learnt cycling and I feel proud of myself because by cycling I am helping to reduce air pollution.
How and why, you ask? Well, vehicles like bikes and cars release smoke which mixes with the air and causes air pollution. That’s why cycling is one of the easiest and best methods to reduce air pollution. On the other hand, cycling is an excellent form of exercise. Cycling keeps our body as well as our environment clean and healthy.
