Glossary
| Word / Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| far-fetched | unlikely; hard to believe |
| neo-literate | a person who has newly learnt to read and write |
| defiance | open resistance |
| fetters | chains; restrictions |
| mobility | the ability to move freely |
| balwadi / anganwadi | pre-school and child-care centres in villages |
| gramsevikas | women social workers in villages |
| pioneer | one of the first to do something |
| vicious | cruel, spiteful |
| social sanction | approval from society |
| Sunday best | one's best clothes |
| phenomenon | a fact or event in nature or society |
| brainchild | an idea or invention of one person |
| undermining | weakening gradually |
| undercover agent | a secret investigator |
| implications | effects, results |
| nonchalance | calm indifference; ease |
| metaphor | something that stands for an idea |
| postscript | an additional note at the end |
Detailed Explanation
The opening question. "Cycling as a social movement? Sounds far-fetched. Perhaps. But not all that far…" Sainath begins with the reader's doubt and then answers it with facts and figures: 100,000 women, one-fourth of rural women, 70,000 in contests, 1,500 in the rally, a 350 per cent jump in sales. This is typical of reportage.
Why cycling mattered. For rural women, the bicycle broke three kinds of dependence. It freed them from waiting for buses on poorly connected routes. It freed them from needing men to take them anywhere. It freed them from enforced routines, the fixed round of household chores. That is why every neo-cyclist linked cycling with personal independence.
The link with literacy. Sheela Rani Chunkath saw that lack of mobility undermined women's confidence, so she made mobility part of the literacy campaign. The two fed each other: activists cycled to reach women in the interior; neo-literates learnt cycling; trained women came back as master trainers and became even more devoted to Arivoli. In Sainath's words, their experience "enriched the literacy movement".
Facing opposition. Women faced "dirty remarks" and "vicious attacks on their character". Jameela "paid no attention"; Arivoli gave cycling social sanction; songs, rallies and contests made it public and proud. Men's reactions were mixed. Some were hostile, some encouraging, such as Muthu Bhaskaran; the dealer Kannakarajan, cautious as ever, profited.
Humour and irony. Sainath writes with light humour. The "oddly named" master trainers are women. Gents' cycles "would do just as nicely, thank you". The dealer thinks the author may be a sales-tax agent. Fatima gives him "a look that made me feel rather stupid" for thinking cycling was about money.
The bicycle as a metaphor. The "humble vehicle", cheap and ordinary, becomes a metaphor for freedom. Kannammal's "Himalayan achievement, like flying an aeroplane" shows how huge this small change felt to the women themselves.
Vocabulary: Idioms
| Idiom | Meaning |
|---|---|
| to the day | exactly |
| to this day | even now (used in the lesson: "to this day, thousands of women here ride 'gents' cycles") |
| take by storm | capture by sudden attack; win over completely (used: "over 1,500 female cyclists took Pudukkottai by storm") |
| the calm before the storm | a quiet period before trouble or excitement |
| for all one knows | considering how little one knows (used: "For all he knew, I was an undercover agent of the sales tax department") |
| before one knows where one is | very quickly; suddenly |
| at / behind the wheel | in control of the situation |
| put a spoke in somebody's wheel | spoil someone's plans |
| turn out in one's best | be well-dressed (used: "the prospective learners had turned out in their Sunday best") |
| as things turned out | as it actually happened in the end |
Sample sentences: The office was silent; it was the calm before the storm of the results. Before I knew where I was, the bus had left. His jealous colleague tried to put a spoke in his wheel. We feared rain, but as things turned out, it was sunny.
Vocabulary: Phrasal Verbs
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Use in the lesson / sentence |
|---|---|---|
| take to | start doing something as a habit | women "have taken to bicycling" |
| give up | stop doing; abandon | Fatima: "I can never give this up." |
| run into | meet by chance | "you run into Manormani, twenty-two" |
| hit out at | attack strongly | women hitting out at their backwardness |
| sweep across | spread quickly over an area | "Cycling has swept across this district." |
| put up with | tolerate | women "had to put up with vicious attacks on their character" |
[Exam Tip] — Phrasal-verb and idiom questions can come in Part A. Learn the meaning together with the sentence from the lesson.