Pedals Into Ploughshares In India

Now I'll reveal what a city girl I am:  Until a little while ago, I didn't realize how much farmers the COVID-19 pandemic has affected farmers.  The same things that have caused people in other businesses and professions to lose work and income are causing distress to the growers of our food:  lockdowns, disrupted supply chains and labor shortages. 

It seems that all of those factors have been exacerbated in India.  In contrast to that of nations like the United States where corporate agribusiness dominates, agriculture in India  is still in the hands of family-owned and other small farms. They depend on seasonal migrations of laborers to the countryside. Moreover, many farmers have no Internet access. So they obtain credit, supplies and equipment mainly through face-to-face transactions.

COVID-19 lockdowns disrupted the flow of workers--and closed banks, shops and other businesses. That cut off their credit and their access to all sorts of other necessities.  And,  unlike large farms that own tractors and such, most small farmers in India rent their equipment.  With rental shops closed, Nagaraj and Alex Pandian could not get even basic equipment to till their father's field.

After losing last year's crops, they had no choice but to try again.  "This land is all we have," said Alex.  "We cannot sell it."  They decided to plant Sammangi flowers, used in garlands for temple offerings.  And, to till the fields, Nagaraj appropriated the only piece of machinery in his household:  his 11-year-old son's bicycle.

From the photo, it looks as if the front wheel and fork, cranks and saddle were removed, some sort of device with a blade was attached to the seat post, and the bike was flipped over before a harness was attached to it. 

Dhanacheziyan, who says he "loves to farm," was happy to help.  To help his father, "I hold the press" and his father "pulls the plough." 

I hope that they have a harvest that allows them to make it through this year.  I also wish future prosperity to them--and that Dhanacheziyan can use his bicycle as a bicycle again!

Independence Today!

Happy Fourth!

Today is American Independence Day.  

You might say that on this date last year, I celebrated a kind of  independence:  I took my first ride after the crash that landed me in Westchester Medical Center for a weekend.

Today, I plan to do a somewhat longer ride before meeting friends for a barbecue.

Oh, and it just happens to be my birthday.  I won't reveal my age.  All I'll say is that I'm not about to change the name of this blog.

Enjoy!

Photo by Aimee Ferre

 

A Ride To Modern Art

Say "bicycles" and "modern art," and the first work that comes to most people's minds is Marcel Duchamp's "Bicycle Wheel."  Next might the "bull's head" Pablo Picasso made from a bicycle saddle and handlebars.

Ricardo Brey, "Joy" (2018)

But even when artists aren't creating objects from bike parts or images of bicycles, the forms, motions and technology of two wheels propelled by two pedals have inspired creators for as long as there have been bicycles.  "Almost every one of the Surrealists, Dadaists and Futurists did something with a bike," according to David Platzker.  

Nina Chenel Abney, "Ridin Solo" (2020)

He has curated, in collaboration with Alex Ostroy (of the NYC bicycle clothing line that bears his name) Re: Bicycling, a group exhibition in New York's Susan Inglett Gallery.  Spanning the period from the Industrial Revolution to the present, the show includes more than 20 works and pays homage to, not only the bicycle itself, but its potential for autonomy and freedom.  The artists past and present, according to Platzker, "took it to heart" that the bicycle is "a means of self-powered locomotion."

Ebecho Muslimova, "Fatabe Dirt Unicycle" (2021)

For that reason, he says, "Modernism--and modern art--would never exist without bicycles."

Claes Oldenberg and Coosje Van Bruggen, "Bicycle Ensevelie, Fabrication Model of Pedal and Arm" (1988)