Cycle stunts and the “Happy Streets” in Kolkata

Wazid had the most content and satisfied smile on his face, when the rest of us broke into a thunderous applause. He looked at me and I noticed him pant as the sweat dripped down by the side of his eye brows.

These young men on cycles literally aroused us from our drowsy Sunday morning slumber. A class 12 student, Wazid is a proud leader of a group of school students from class 8 onwards, who does cycling stunts in Kolkata. After having made their presence felt in Kolkata and Durgapur, they reportedly won a stunt championship nationally, in Lucknow.

 

 

Surprisingly, cycling stunts have never been recognized as a mainstream sport in India considering the risks involved. “Any sport involves risk. A few recently died playing cricket. It does not matter. We practise a lot although we do not get a proper place to do so. It is our passion.” retaliates Wazid. Having said that, if you are going to try out stunts, please get in touch with the correct people, learn and use helmet while performing stunts. 

Wazid is everything I would like to blog about: Young, friendly, rebel, an able leader, social media addict and from Kolkata!

For a person like me who had never ridden a bicycle, I might only imagine what it takes to practice stunts on it, and so effortlessly. From the by lanes of Moulali, Kolkata to making a national name for themselves, I listened to their story with sheer amazement.

That Sunday morning I woke up to witness a series of events like Zumba, cycling, yoga, boxing, skating, cricket, football and what not! The Times Of India, in association with the Kolkata police, blocked the iconic Park Street and nearby streets and welcomed the citizens to “Happy Street”. Anyone was free to chose between the events and give a fun start to their Sunday morning.

And no, i am not the only mad person to be there at morning 6:30. More than 5000 people flocked the happy streets and the number might just increase in the coming weeks. Posting a few photographs, from my collection and of my friends. I hope you like them.

The kids were performing with enthusiasm and energy. Some fell down while performing sprang back on their feet with renewed energy, sometime getting a little help from their trainers.

.. Frankly speaking, I found this event to be more fun than that of Park Street Festival during Christmas. This was mainly because of the fact, there were so many events and kids were having a ball of a time at a place where they would never think of walking in the middle of the streets, let alone doing any activities like roller skating.

– Amitabha Gupta. (Read his entire blog post by clicking here.)