If a walk-through is perhaps the best way to get acquainted with a city, you could literally go the extra mile in experiential tourism if you rode a bicycle.
And, Puducherry could not just be ideal to discover over a short pedalling trip, with its Dutch-styled grid layout, narrow lanes and a flat terrain all making the bicycle a sensible choice.
It was precisely these traits of the city that led two enterprising women from France, who have made this city their home, to put together a cycle tour package for tourists.
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Fleur Soumer, a ballet, and bharatanatyam teacher who heads the South India Traditional Arts (SITA) and Fiona Guerra, a Parisian who runs an enterprise that retrofits and snazzes up bicycles have since March been organising the ‘WakeUp Pondy Tour,’ that has hooked the interest of domestic and international tourists.
Ms. Soumer came over to the city from Nancy in North East France after five years of studying medicine in France and Spain and a stint across Asia to learn the nuances of Oriental healing, while Fiona and her spouse Idriss Madir have set up ‘My Vintage Bicyclette’ a small company that retrofits cycles and gives them an aesthetic makeover.
The two hit upon a partnership idea to organise the tour because they found “Puducherry to be a very cyclable city” and also because they shared a conviction that cycling around was a great way to assimilate local culture. And, they also found that much like in France, cycling is a popular culture in this city.
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“Early morning when the traffic is lean and the sun is only warming up is the best time to cycle through the streets. So, there is only one tour a day and we close bookings after the first six clients sign up,” says Ms. Soumer .
The WakeUp Pondy tour starts at 7 a.m. after the preamble which involves the guide providing a few safety tips. Of course, they make sure that the tourist knows how to ride or in the case of foreigners that they learn to yank the bicycle back on to its stand.
The route has been planned to take tourists through vintage locations such as the Sacred Heart of Jesus church, the Muslim area, the beach, the Goubert market, the Manakula Vinayakar temple, the Aurobindo Ashram, heritage spots and the Kuruchikuppam village. That the tour is led by a polyglot guide Manisha helps put tourists at ease.
There are also stops to help tourists explore local culture or “take selfies.”
'The fleet of seven customised bicycles come in combos of bright colours such as green and purple, orange and silver-grey or yellow and blue. The seats are done up with leather to add comfort and the bells sport some creative logos. The idea, as Ms. Guerra reveals, was indeed to design bicycles that make a statement.
“We wanted to address two misnotions about the cycle… that it is out of fashion and that it is a poor man’s transport mode,” Ms. Guerra said.
The entrepreneurs are looking at closer collaboration with the government and the INTACH to popularise cycling. A few months ago, SITA partnered with INTACH for a heritage event when it organised cycle tours to explore street art in the city.
Ms. Soumer and Ms. Guerra are also proposing to introduce another route through equally iconic areas of the city for their cycle tour which winds down in almost family kind of breakfast gathering in the SITA garden over French baguette or South Indian idlis.
(Photos: S.S.Kumar)