Chennai's tryst with Bicycle History

From early morning hawkers on their daily errands selling Kolam Powder (Rangoli), Keerai (Green Leaves), Flowers (Malli'Pu) and Waste Paper Merchants with their ever familiar voices and tinkling sound of their bicycle bells merging in with the bizarre sounds of the metropolis to the first generation entrepreneurs, aspiring intelligentsia, upcoming artisans or be it with the reminiscence of ester year black and white classics of Tamil cinema portraying the grandeur of cycling notable being the immortal song with the lyrics of Kannadasan in the legendary Sivaji Ganesan starer Pava Mannippu (1961) "Vantha Nal Muthal" (From the day of Arrival) bicycle has evolved and integrated with the daily life of the people in Chennai. Such was the co-relation between both the C's (Chennai & Cycling) that when I was gleaning through The Hindu archives I came across a weekly column of Madras Miscellany dated 16th December 2002 in which S.Muthiah Sir mentions about one S.A.A.Annamalai Chettiar as the pioneer of bicycles in India and how during on of his sojourns to Great Britain for the Wembley Exhibition in 1924 he tied up with a German firm and on his return home started manufacturing the frame with other parts being imported from the collaborators and in 1925 was born the "Swan Bicycle". Thus he started the assembly of Indian Bicycles but unable to compete with the imported ones like Raleigh or Hercules he had to close it down. Another interesting information available in that weekly column of Madras Miscellany is of how the founders of TI Cycles Ltd especially A.M.M. Murugappa Chettiar provided an helping hand to Hero Cycles Ltd during its formative years. On reading these interesting revelations perhaps felt that "Swan Bicycle" could have been the first Indian bicycle but one thing for certain was the role of TI Cycles Ltd in making Chennai the powerhouse of bicycles from 1950's, we can divulge into their history on some other occasion but for now my mind conjures with the silence of the night remembering this great multifaceted personality S.A.A. Annamalai Chettiar and his contribution to cycling, till next week ...

An artistic imagination of Swan Bicyle