Deepak Sapkota's book-interview with bicycle engineer, storyteller, researcher, and author of the book 'Cycle Beauty', Taralal Shrestha:

It is said that cycling is also a means of living an active lifestyle. How is that?

I have met many people who say, 'If I had not adopted the cycling lifestyle, I would have been buried in the ground.' I have included their true stories in this book 'Beauty of Cycling'. The invaluable asset of life is physical fitness. A nation needs healthy citizens to become strong. An unhealthy leader can also make a country sick. Cycling helps to maintain physical, mental and spiritual health by keeping both the body and mind in a meditative rhythm.

Cycling is a symbol of an active natural lifestyle. No other vehicle can provide the kind of joyful mobility that a bicycle can provide.

Cycling is considered a culture of living a beautiful lifestyle, but why has the same bicycle now become a throwaway item?

The middle class is a little more extravagant. They try to enjoy their own culture. The cycling lifestyle was never and is not a throwaway. Even after more than two centuries of its invention, the use of bicycles has not decreased, but has increased. The invention of bicycles in new forms is increasing, not decreasing. Not just low-level means of transportation, but also cycling. The best brains in the world are choosing a cycling lifestyle. There are too many bicycles on the road. There are too many mechanical means of transportation. Dozens of bicycles can fit in the space occupied by one car. Bicycles can be decorated in every room. Therefore, more than a billion bicycles are circling in every corner of the world.

In Nepal, there are not thousands, but millions of people who ride bicycles from the mythical mountains to the corners of the Terai. There are more bicycles than mechanical means. In my house, the whole family has their own bicycle. If all the members of the family owned a car, it would be ruined. Bicycles can be decorated and kept inside the house like a part of the body. They can be easily ridden on the road. They can be parked anywhere. No other vehicle has been invented in the world so far. Even though our state government always discourages the bicycle culture, the bicycle lifestyle is not dead, and it is not going to die. Keep it in mind, bicycle culture will never be finished, but will grow.

In this era when expensive cars are a symbol of prosperity, who will stop even if they say, 'Ride a bicycle, you must ride it'? Why stop?

Let no one stop. We ride, keep riding, bicycles. Car culture is not becoming a symbol of prosperity. Water, land, and forests are not in the interest of anyone, car culture. There is no alternative to bicycle culture to preserve the essence of heritage cities like Kathmandu. Sustainable transportation in a valley like Batuk is not through private mechanical means. The motor-car crazy lifestyle has proven useless for our overall health. Motorcycles are not suitable here even as metropolitan cities. However, I am not anti-car. I am not anti-development either. I feel sorry for those who carry the burden of a car unnecessarily.

A car is not needed for a few kilometers of travel. Cycling never harms anyone. Ride a bicycle regularly one year, ride a car regularly the next year. And, compare your physical and mental health condition. Look at your own body and ask your inner self what lifestyle has given you, what has not? Why listen to others? Experience it yourself and see. Ask your own inner self. Why would anyone want to leave the life of a kite like a bird and live a burdensome life?

So, why is the bicycle, which should be respected, neglected? Cyclists on the road have to bear the brunt of big vehicles - there is danger, insult and neglect. How can we provide common sense to big vehicle drivers?

First of all, a national bicycle law is needed. Bicycle laws have been made in countries where cycling culture is established. We collected signatures from all over the country and filed a writ in the Supreme Court. We also received a directive order from the Supreme Court. We were waiting for the full text. There was a fire in the Supreme Court too. What will happen to the full text of the judgment now? In any case, bicycle lovers will not decrease. They are not neglected either. There is a problem in some people's thinking. We respect our bicycle friends very much. Riding a car makes one great and riding a bicycle does not make one inferior. An intellectual and practical campaign is necessary to develop the mindset of choosing a bicycle as much as possible, and a mechanical means when it is difficult.

The curriculum should also include a subject that emphasizes the importance of such moral mobility. Bicycle culture should be linked to educational culture. All vehicles exist, and are also necessary. Bicycles should be kept at the center among common vehicles. Because bicycles are also very moral vehicles.

It is said that bicycles not only physically take you to your destination, but that each pedal makes the mind, brain, and heart happy. Let's talk about it in detail.

This is right. Those who ride bicycles are cheerful, lively, and agile. Boredom, insomnia, laziness, and indigestion all go away. Hunger, thirst, and sleepiness occur. A meaningful lifestyle begins to be sought in simplicity. The more new places you reach, the more you want to go further. The courage to ride a bicycle even further tomorrow than today increases. I want to enjoy the world of adventure. For example, we cycle across the Thorangla Pass and even on the Annapurna Circuit. Every year, thousands of cyclists from all over the world come to Nepal to cycle in our mountains.

Last month, we cycled in the Annapurna Circuit Himalayas with famous professors, doctors, and businessmen from different countries of the world. Among them was a professor and doctor from California, America, senior surgeon Amir Matityahu. He used to spend 16 hours a day in the operation theater. After realizing that his life was over, he used to get refreshed by cycling. Such a busy surgeon travels around the world every year to cycle. This year, he cycled in the Annapurna Circuit with us for 10 days and returned home, along with a group of senior professors and doctors. From the next day, he was showing me the regular surgery schedule again, cycling in the mountains. Harmonizing the heart rate, oxygen level, and cycling speed is beneficial for overall health. This is something you can feel while pedaling.

Countless people have died, are dying, and are about to die without realizing the beauty of such a bicycle. Overall happiness, fitness, and active freshness are in the lifestyle. It is obtained from an active lifestyle like regular cycling. It has been proven by research that cycling is the most powerful tool compared to other forms of exercise. Moreover, after forty years, adopting a cycling lifestyle can be the most beautiful decision in life. Those who are overweight have problems with knee bones when walking. An active lifestyle like cycling or swimming also protects against bone bone problems.

Last month, we had a colleague who was 69 years old cycling on the Annapurna Circuit. The youth were amazed by the stamina of the oldest citizen. We also had cycling friends who overcame terminal cancer through regular cycling and crossed the Thorangla Pass. There were those who said that they could have died while cycling. What other thing can have as much therapy and medicine as cycling?

It is also said that ‘Don’t run to the gym, ride a bicycle’. If the bicycle had been the guru of all exercise, neither gyms would have been born in the world, nor would people get sick. How can cycling be an alternative to the gym?

We are not saying that cycling is everything. The gym has its own existence. After adopting a cycling lifestyle, you do not have to constantly go to the gym. There are many cyclists who have stopped going to the gym after choosing a cycling routine. While the gym is an artificially limited space, cycling is a vast natural world. Regular cycling becomes a form of exercise along with work while going to the gym.

Regular cycling works like therapy. Going to the gym feels tiring. Cycling never feels tiring. You feel like pedaling more and more and reaching new places. The body stays in a slim shape. The mind always remains bright and colorful. Regular cycling can be an alternative to the gym. That is why doctors recommend swimming rather than walking and a cycling lifestyle that is more beneficial than swimming.

Cycling does not consume fuel, runs on our energy, does not emit smoke, nor does it make noise. In this case, the bicycle culture must flourish and the city streets must remain quiet and pollution-free. Have we failed to make people understand its importance, or have they not given up on bicycles even after understanding it?

Our society is a society of swag. What will anyone think if our leaders and celebrities become swag? However, those who understand the beauty of bicycles are increasing. If an intellectual and practical campaign can be launched, the dream of a bicycle city can gradually become a nightmare. Kathmandu Valley can become the most beautiful bicycle city in the world. Our professors, doctors, teachers, employees, army, and police are all focused on mechanical means. Doctors are also car crazy, with exceptions. Engineers are sneaky. The rulers are even more swag, pompous, and feudal-style hungry. Therefore, beyond the consultant culture, the role of the intellectual class is essential to establish the beauty of bicycles in the public sphere. We have failed here.

We need to develop a culture that accepts a simple lifestyle in all our curricula, studies, research, and rituals. Till date, the ruling class has not given importance to active mobility. The intellectual class does not support them. Now, even if they do not ride much, there are more and more people who keep bicycles at home and ride bicycles occasionally as a form of entertainment. You can find people who say, “I also have a bicycle.” Gradually, they have the possibility of promoting bicycle riding. If a motivating environment can be created, it is not impossible to foster a bicycle culture. I am optimistic.

Those in the know say that bicycles are not only practical, but also emotional. The speed of a bicycle is in harmony with the rhythm of our breathing and bicycles protect the earth from further pollution. You also say the same thing, but neither the common people are attracted to bicycles, nor do the middle class who ride motorcycles want to use bicycles as a means of transportation. The day they become able to buy motorcycles, even the common people abandon bicycles. Why have such days come?

People are both privileged and selfish creatures. It is not enough to just tell them about the benefits and harms of cycling, we must be able to make them understand. We need to intervene in the curriculum from school to university level in a creative way. Simplicity, health, and a healthy lifestyle should be established as a standard of wealth. When bicycles become the most beautiful means and the standard of being considered an end in themselves, a culture can develop in which people cannot live without cycling. A thoughtful, knowledgeable, and meditative person cannot deny the beauty of bicycles.

As you said, there are many middle class people who ride motorcycles and scooties. Those who own cars are also increasing. Even though there are all means of transportation, some people choose the bicycle lifestyle. If there is an option to live life, let us live the rest of our lives without adopting such a lifestyle so that when we look back on our own history, we will not be ashamed and ashamed tomorrow.

So, what campaigns or plans should be brought to make bicycles an integral part of life or culture?

A collective bicycle movement should be launched along with the national policy. Leaders should develop a culture of adopting a simple lifestyle. One day a week should be declared a bicycle bar and adopted. It is equally necessary to provide bicycle education to mechanical vehicle drivers. The intellectual class should play a leading role in developing a mindset that encourages walking, public transportation, or regular cycling. It doesn't matter if you sweat a little while pedaling, or get dirty. But if you get sick, it makes a big difference in your life.

There is no point in becoming apathetic by carrying the burden of illness. It is necessary to launch a practical, intellectual, and collective campaign to make policymakers aware. Our schools, society, and culture should be made to encourage walking, public transportation, and bicycle-friendly mobility. The goal is not to impose it by force, but to create an environment that motivates the common citizen.

How can it become a daily routine again when, with few exceptions, cycling has been cut off from people's daily lives and has become only a fashion for a few cyclists who are obsessed with it?

Our governance system is to blame for the cycling culture leaving our daily lives. The governance system respected the feudal lifestyle. It did not respect the lifestyle connected to the land. The education system has also taught us the same thing. पपुलर कल्चरले त्यस्तै कुरालाई प्रश्रय दियो। घुमिफिरी मानिस फेरि माटोसँगै नजिक हुनैपर्छ। मानिस माटोसँग नजिक हुँदैछन्। पसिनालाई प्रेम गर्दैछन्। साइकल फेसनसँगै साधारण तथा असाधारण साहसिक जीवनशैली पनि बन्दैछ। साहसिक जीवनशैलीले आत्मबल, आत्मसम्मान र हिम्मत दिन्छ। कतिलाई साइकलले जीवन गुजाराको आधार दिन्छ। कतिलाई पहिचान पनि दिन्छ।

साइकल संस्कृतिलाई बहुआयामिक दृष्टिले हेरिनु आवश्यक छ। कवाडीवालादेखि मनोरञ्जन तथा सुपर साहसिक साइकल प्रयोगकर्ताका कथा विशिष्ट छन्। साइकलबाटै गुजारा गर्ने अनगिन्ती छन्। एकपक्षीय दृष्टिले साइकल संस्कृतिलाई हेर्नु हुँदैन। बहुपक्षीय दृष्टिबाट हेर्दा साइकल संस्कृति सप्तरङ्गी देखिन्छ।

‘साइकल केवल अभियन्ताको फेसन भयो’ भन्दाभन्दै पनि यो तराई–मधेसको रक्तनली वा धमनी नै हो। पहाडचाहिँ साइकलबाट कसरी र किन विरक्तियो?

साइकल पहाडका लागि पनि उत्तिकै उपयोगी साधन हो। अप–हिल र डाउन–हिल दुवै साइकल–सौन्दर्य पहाडमै पाइन्छ। उकालोपछि ओरालो, ओरालोपछि उकालोको मज्जा बेग्लै हुन्छ। हाम्रा मिथकीय ग्रेट हिमालयहरूमा समेत साहसिक साइक्लिङ पर्यटन बढ्दैछ।

अहिले त अझ पेडल–असिस्टेड विद्युतीय साइकल आएको छ। पेडल अलिकता पेल्दा पनि उकालोमा सलल साइकल कुद्छ। मैले पनि काठमाडौंमा दैनिक ४० देखि ५० किलोमिटर सहजै पेडल पेलिरहेको छु। हिमालमा पनि साइकल हाँकिरहेको छु, पहाडको त के कुरा? तराईको आफ्नै आनन्द, पट्यार पनि– निरन्तर पेडल पेल्नुपर्छ। पहाडमा आफ्नै सुखदुःख छ। उकालोको क्षतिपूर्ति ओरालोले भर्छ।