Ahead of the Asian Games, research highlights how an everyday means of transport became a vehicle for political education and anti-colonial expression.
Ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan, research from the University of Glasgow has explored how two pioneering Indian cyclists used extraordinary journeys around the world to challenge colonial perceptions of India almost a century ago.
Bengali cyclists Bimal Mukherjee and Ramnath Biswas undertook extensive cycling journeys across several continents during the 1920s and ’30s, when India remained under British rule.
Their journeys demonstrated remarkable endurance and resourcefulness, challenging colonial stereotypes about Indian identity and physical ability.
Their experiences, recorded in travelogues that have received relatively little scholarly attention, reveal how encounters with different people, cultures and political movements shaped their thinking about Indian independence, socialism and pan-Asian solidarity.
The study, by Souvik Naha, senior lecturer in Imperial and Post-colonial History at the University of Glasgow, argues that cycling brought the men into close contact with many people, allowing them to experience different societies and political systems first-hand.
Mukherjee travelled the world from 1926 to 1937. Along the way, he earned money and passage through jobs including photography, sailing, fishing, dairy farming and teaching, as well as giving talks about his travels.
His travelogue features prominent cultural, political and intellectual figures, including Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Marie Curie, Anna Pavlova, Uday Shankar, Albert Schweitzer and Jean Sibelius.
Before he began the first of three major journeys in 1931, Biswas was working as a clerk at Singapore port, who was associated with the anti-colonial revolutionary movement. He wrote extensively about his experiences, using what he encountered overseas to reflect on imperialism, capitalism, race and struggles for political freedom.
Naha said: “The Asian Games offer an opportunity to reflect on a remarkable, often overlooked chapter in India’s cycling history.
“Almost a century ago, Mukherjee and Biswas used the bicycle not only to test the limits of physical endurance, but also to challenge colonial assumptions about Indian identity and ability.
“Cycling gave them a distinctive way of encountering the world. Unlike travelling by train or car, cycling put the traveller in much more direct contact with the landscape and local people. A cyclist moved relatively slowly, could choose their own route and pace and stop wherever they wished, and notice details that passengers in faster or more elite forms of transport might miss. In this sense, cycling could make travel feel more personal and self-directed.
“They met people and experienced social conditions and political movements that influenced their understanding of colonialism and India’s place in the world. Their writings show how anti-colonial thought could develop beyond established political institutions, through everyday encounters and experiences.”
The research highlights how an everyday means of transport became a vehicle for political education and anti-colonial expression. It offers a historical perspective on India’s cycling heritage ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, taking place from September 19 to October 4.
source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)