Let A Girl Overtake Me? No Way!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I was in college I had a bicycle (Yes, back then, college girls didnt zoom around on Kinetic Hondas :)). I loved my cycle. It was my proudest possession. My brother bought it for me soon after he got his first job and from the day it arrived, I was a willing messenger, letter 'poster', money 'withdrawer', shopper.....in general, a great errand girl for my parents. Our family friends, who lived five houses away joked that I took the cycle out even when I had to visit them. I just didnt understand what was so funny about it!
Once I hopped on to the cycle, I hated getting off till I reached the destination. I rode it through traffic, through flocks of sheep, through the rain, and up steep inclines till I got where I wanted.
On the way to college there was a long road that went uphill, became really steep along one stretch, till at some point it levelled out. Most riders, young and old, male and female, got off at that steep incline and pushed their cycles up till they reached the flat road. I was loathe to get off even here.I started pedalling fast a little early so that I gathered a bit of momentum which helped me ride up the hill without any major effort.
Gradually over the days I made a very interesting observation. Whenever I overtook a male rider who was pushing his bike up the incline, I could be sure that within a few seconds, he would be up on the bike and overtake me. The girls didnt seem to care. If they decided to push the cycle rather than ride it, they continued to push it irrespective of who rode past them. This became a game for me. Whenever I saw a male rider ahead of me struggling up the hill, an evil grin would form itself in my head, I would pedal fast, overtake, and start counting. One, two, three, four...... Without fail, hundred percent of the time, before I counted ten he was past me. The younger the poor devil, the earlier he had to hop on to the bike. Such entertainment it provided me, back then!!
Ohhh, the Vanity of Men!!
:)))))))))))))))))
When I was in college I had a bicycle (Yes, back then, college girls didnt zoom around on Kinetic Hondas :)). I loved my cycle. It was my proudest possession. My brother bought it for me soon after he got his first job and from the day it arrived, I was a willing messenger, letter 'poster', money 'withdrawer', shopper.....in general, a great errand girl for my parents. Our family friends, who lived five houses away joked that I took the cycle out even when I had to visit them. I just didnt understand what was so funny about it!
Once I hopped on to the cycle, I hated getting off till I reached the destination. I rode it through traffic, through flocks of sheep, through the rain, and up steep inclines till I got where I wanted.
On the way to college there was a long road that went uphill, became really steep along one stretch, till at some point it levelled out. Most riders, young and old, male and female, got off at that steep incline and pushed their cycles up till they reached the flat road. I was loathe to get off even here.I started pedalling fast a little early so that I gathered a bit of momentum which helped me ride up the hill without any major effort.
Gradually over the days I made a very interesting observation. Whenever I overtook a male rider who was pushing his bike up the incline, I could be sure that within a few seconds, he would be up on the bike and overtake me. The girls didnt seem to care. If they decided to push the cycle rather than ride it, they continued to push it irrespective of who rode past them. This became a game for me. Whenever I saw a male rider ahead of me struggling up the hill, an evil grin would form itself in my head, I would pedal fast, overtake, and start counting. One, two, three, four...... Without fail, hundred percent of the time, before I counted ten he was past me. The younger the poor devil, the earlier he had to hop on to the bike. Such entertainment it provided me, back then!!
Ohhh, the Vanity of Men!!
:)))))))))))))))))
Labels: Nostalgia, Observations
posted by Anu @ 5:48 AM
30 Comments:
At 12:03 PM,
Anonymous said…
You are an old timer.
Reminds of those old Hindi movies of Sixties.:)
Needless to say I am not commenting on men being vain and such.
At 3:33 PM,
Anonymous said…
I could picture everything....Quite fun actually...Also, it reminded me of my "cycling" days...I had a bicycle too when I was in college...Though of course I never had the kind of fun that u seemto have had!!
Great pictures too!!
At 8:58 PM,
Shruthi said…
Heh heh :D The vanity of men indeed!
Confused, did you call Anu an old-timer coz she rode bicycles, or coz of the attitude of the men back then? Coz if it is the latter, it hasn't changed even now. :))
To get to my mom's place from my drop-off point, I have to go up a steep incline. I usually walk up pretty fast. If I overtake a man who is walking up the slope, he speeds up immediately, and makes sure that he overtakes me within 2 secs. Just like Anu, I enjoy that immensely :D
At 9:19 PM,
starry said…
I remember riding my bike to college.and struggling to go uphill.it was a lot of fun.good times.
At 10:13 PM,
rajeev said…
ha ha. Very nicely written. Could actually picture myself huffing and puffing after seeing a girl do it.
At 2:44 AM,
Anu said…
confused, Old timer yes, but why that conclusion now? Neither the cycles nor the vanity of men is defunct, you know....:)) Also please read Shruthi's comment.
I presume you are not commenting on it because there is no dispute there:))
Thanks Rajani, Dont you miss your bike!
starry nights, yess, good old days!
rajeev, First time on my blog! Welcome....and Thankyou...haha.. it is universal isnt it??
At 3:29 AM,
Cyberswami said…
hahaha that's why the saying is 'behind every hurrying man is an annoying woman' and not any other version that you might have heard!
At 3:37 AM,
Suresh said…
Hahaha...!
Behind every successful Man, there is a Woman...
I guess we men take that too seriously and make an 'effort' not to disturb the 'order' :P
Nice post. :)
At 5:14 AM,
Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said…
ur rant literally made me grin,
oh! i do see the vanities of the men all around me all the time!!
but then those cycle ki sawari days r very nostalgic
At 8:55 AM,
PRIDERA said…
ha ha ha ... indeed a nice observations. I started riding bicycle to the school when I was in 5th std ....most definitely it was my priciest possesion at that time and continued to be till I joined Engg.
Could really picture all the details in the post ... in fact my ride to school always had a steep road as well!
At 2:25 PM,
Anu said…
cyberswami, naaa... I think it is "before every hurrying man is a nonchalant woman!:))
Suresh, Yes, indeed! Thanks!
Swathi, Pridera, Thanks...., I am nostalgic too...I think I will buy a cycle one of these days!!!:))
albino_black_sheep, Oooooooh a race car....I can imagine the look in the eyes of the beholder:)
At 2:50 PM,
Anonymous said…
he he...I can so picture it happening!!
I had a scooty when I was in high school and boys would want to always zip past in their bikes...( unles they are following you ofcourse!!)
:D
At 12:53 AM,
Nirwa Mehta said…
Hahahha
True!! So true!! And it still prevails - the moment a girl overtakes men, something prompts them to overtake the girl back in less than 10 seconds! hehehehe
Nice one!
Nirwa
At 2:53 AM,
Anu said…
Chandni, Nirwa, Seems to be every girl's experience!! I thought for once I had written something about which someone (in this case a man ofcourse) will say "noooo". But no, even the men seem to agree !!:)
At 4:38 AM,
Inder said…
Vanity? May be... But, a rather inoffensive one, I presume :-) I do not remember overtaking anybody just because he/she overtook me. Was such a lazy and lousy cyclist, even pedestrians used to overtake me often.
The thought of cycling certainly is nostalgic. Was a lot fitter during my cycling days.
At 5:52 AM,
Anonymous said…
Heh!
Shruti, Anu,
I was not commenting on it because I cannot tolerate anyone overtaking me.
So when I am driving on the highway and see a car overtaking me....:):)
At 1:54 AM,
Anonymous said…
yes, i have seen auto drivers become restless if they see a woman on a two wheeler ahead of them. they somehow squeeqe in between heavy traffic, go very close to her vehicle and THEN overtake her giving a stare, which seems to say `you ! how dare you go ahead of me ?!'
At 9:12 PM,
Sachin said…
Nice one, Anu! I agree, have seen it happen myself!!! Personally, I wouldn't care if ANYONE overtook me as long as I don't have to swerve because of them.
Another point I'd like to bring to light is the stereotyping that abounds between the sexes.
1. Most men are chauvinistic - I happen to disagree.
2. Most women are pathetic drivers - I happen to disagree there as well.
While the first one is a trait and the second is a skill, I think that the presence of both is no where related to the sex. I guess we have evolved enough from the cave men or even the 18th or 19th century days to know that things have changed indeed! Hope I did not digress there! Cheers.
At 9:33 PM,
sathish said…
some men when overtaken by a female takes it as ego hurt...
even i do it, if a girl runs faster than me i try to match her speed but thats only while running...
its the same while cycling but there aint any girl in my age group cycling..!!
if a girl overtakes me while driving a car i allow her to go...
it depends on how much is the damage going to be, in cars it costs you in thousands...
you should always be wise, aint it..
At 12:15 AM,
Anu said…
Inder, An inoffensive one in this case! You have just proved all men are not vain, by admitting that you were a lousy cyclist :))
Thanks for visiting....
confused, :)) Will keep that in mind!
bru, Oh yes.... I have seen that too..can be dangerous!
Sachin, hm..If you did digress, no problem....that is how conversations progress :)
1. I dont believe all men are chauvanistic either
2. In the UK, women need to pay lesser than men for car insurance. That should say something about what kind of drivers women are! :)
Sathish, Yes, ego it is. A lot of men still think vehicles are their domain and perhaps that is the reason....
Seeing you first time here. Thanks for visiting
At 12:53 AM,
Deepak said…
:-)) nice one.
The female cyclist is an extinct species in Bangalore, but if they existed I think I'd be guilty of the vanity you mention as well :-D
Then again, I think most men have the tendency to overtake ANYONE who passes them, male, female or otherwise. When my bike was new and my blood was warm I've had a few ego-matches on the road as well.
At 4:31 AM,
sathish said…
yep, visited for first time thru mridula's travel blog...
for everyman his first love is his vehicle.. that should explain for the ego..
At 5:28 AM,
Anu said…
Deppe, haha thanks! I dont know about men not tolerating anyone overtaking them....There have been other comments saying that. Perhaps it IS true of some...
Sathish, hmmmm.... I thought I was my husband's first love....No? It is that dull grey car??? What taste!!
:))))
At 10:13 AM,
Enigma said…
he he he good one :)
there are some more things tht tick them and provide us entertainment :P
At 5:14 AM,
Scoot said…
hey there!
I was planning on getting a cycle.but am being discouraged by one and all saying that am a girl and should not be cycling around.
and that i will fall and fracture myself.but after reading your post I think I am going to get it for myself
At 7:25 AM,
Anu said…
maya, What?? Who are these people who tell you not to ride a bike because you are a girl?????? Do get one right away and have fun!!
At 1:33 AM,
GuNs said…
Heh heh heh !!
Done myself too many times. Of course, I'm a guy but still its very cool and a lot of sadistic fun to cycle past other people. N.B. Once I overtook such people, I made sure they couldn't overtake me again !! Most fun is when you outrace bikes/cars in some thick traffic !! That sure is a lot of fun! Oh, how I want to get back on my bike this evening. Havent touched it for months now...
-PeAcE
--WiTh
---GuNs
At 8:27 PM,
Anonymous said…
hahaah...
Good one!
But that's not vanity yaar. Girls have always been a motivation for men ;-)as in this case too... haha
Thats a good post!
At 2:32 AM,
Mithun T Mahabaleswara Hebbar said…
I hate it when cars overtake me.. I overtake them as soon as possible... I dont really care whether itz a guy or a gal behind the wheel... but it all depends on my mood.. I've had my mom n sis beggin my dad to take over when once I did a 80kmph on an empty NH.. I was way too slow for them...
As regards to cycling, I still love it .. I used to cycle to school(3 kms away from home).. then sometimes to Pre-University college(7 kms from home)... I still use my cycle in my campus.. well most people do it over here...
At 10:12 PM,
Anonymous said…
I dont overtake ladies if they walk past me...
Why not ?
Read Chandni's post for the clue..
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