Our 1^st cycle donation was on 16^th April 2021 i.e. nearer to Labour day or Maharashtra day & indeed I behaved & behaving like a laborer for my tribal ZP school kids.

The idea came to me I guess in the month of Feb end or March. A friend of mine named “Sambhaji Jadhav” called me once & told me that he does have a PC as well as a printer & cycle for tribal ZP school kids. I replied with YES for PC & printer but no for a cycle as mine is a small car & cycle would not fit in the car. Th topic stopped there.

During that time, I was standing in my balcony & saw that there are a few cycles lying down in my building compound & immediately idea came into my mind that why can’t we collect cycles, repair them & transport them to the tribal ZP school kids for their happiness?

My reference point was “we as kids were so obsessed with cycles that we used to take 1 cycle on hire for 5 rs. for 1 hr. That was my motivation for me. Chalo nikla phir e-bhangarwala. Why e-bhangarwala, why e, u wud come to know in upcoming stories.

Started the cycle collection in my own building. Told one of the ppainters(would not take names but bahut jano ki pol kholne wala hoon) there were 2 cycles with him & when I asked him about those, he said “just now sold on OLX” & 6 months down the line, they are still lying there. What a man.

Then the 1^st society was my childhood friends society in which I went with some hard copies of the work with do. Stood there for 15-20 min, met the secretary & told him to pls ask on WhatsApp & do let me know.

I Met Mrs. Sulekha Gatkal in KDMC & told her the motto of collecting cycles & she immediately started forwarding me the name & addresses of the cycle owners bcos she does have a cycling group called “Hirkani” & as of now she does have provided 10-12 cycles from various parts of Dombivli, Thakurli.

Then met Mrs. Pooja Totala, a friend of hers & she too provided a few cycles.

Went to Thakurli once & saw that cycles aren’t that good. Told the owner to pay 500/- for the repair, reply came as “No sir, we don’t have money right now”.

Located one cycle while taking another cycle from the owner to the repair shop. Went to that location the other day & after enquiring with a few shop walas went to that shops whose bicycle was that. He replied saying “Sir, it’s my son’s cycle & he wud use that once the exam is over”. By my experience, it was definitely not in working condition. Anyways leaving it is the better option anytime as beggars don’t have any choices.

While returning empty hand the same day, located 1 more cycle. Am like an eagle who searches for their prey every now & then. Directly enquired the shop adjacent to which the cycle was kept, told him the cause & readily agreed & said “sirji mereko dena ka hi tha, dhoond raha tha aur aap mil gaye”. He washed the cycle too, I was very happy that got a cycle atleast.

Also saw few cycles lying in the same building. Met the secretary too but he was out of town but there wanst much response.

A lady sitting on the bench there told me to visit a tailor wala whose cycle is there lying for so many years. Met him, he took me to the his cycle & saw that it was worst of the worst cycle ever seen & I didn’t took the cycle & came back empty handed.

1 tricycle I got from Dangat family & another from Patil family in my same building.

One interesting kissa which shows how some person are – Got a call from 1 lady staying in MIDC & she told that there are 4 cycles with her. Went their happily as my tribal kids would get 4 cycles today. Saw that 3 of the cycles are worst in worst condition. When told her that “we are giving it for tribal kids happiness, can you pls repair it & give else give me the money, wud repair it. Instantly she replied “Sir there is 1 function which took place just now in the family, also 2 kids fees shud be paid, we don’t have money. If u want u can take it else leave”. My mind went blank with anger & fortunately this wasn’t an answer from a male otherwise wud had said everything to him. Anways beggars don’t have a choice & these guys doesnt know the state of the tribal kids, God bless them.

Another superb family was Mrs.Cholkar from MIDC. Went there in March I guess, spoke to uncle & aunty, told them our groups motto of Smart TV as well as cycles. That uncle have worked with a famous social worker too I guess in his younger days & worked extensively for a village near Rajmachi. They gave their grand daughters cycle for our cause & I came back happily after that.

Recently last month the aunty called & told me to “pls come & take 2^nd cycle”, when I asked how is uncle, she said “he breathed his last 10 days back”, I was taken aback. Life is cruel at times. He was driving his cycle met with a small accident & had brain haemorrhage. Went & brought his 2^nd cycle for my tribal kids & in fact it was the 1^st cycle of the 4^th donation drive. On a different thread, they donated a 2^nd hand TV recently which wud b donated on 1^st Oct 2022.

WE got cycles from Thane too from Karan Thakkar, the person from whom we bought our Brio car.

Went with Tempo Mr. Amol there & brought those 15 cycles. Met the 2 SPOCS over there & they did a simple thing, put a WhatsApp request saying that till so & so date, we would keep all the cycles on 1 designated place. If no one bothered to take their cycles, we would donate it to “Mauli group of Dombivli”. So on that day we took all cycles which were present on that designated place & picked up 15 cycles & tied them in the tempo. Took selfies etc. & as we were about to start the tempo to return from there, one girl came running down & told the SPOCS that her dad has told to take her cycle back. Such are the person staying on the earth you see? We gave back the cycle, came back with 3 iron rods they gave. Asked Magar sir if they want it but he denied so sold them off to a bhangarwala & 1700/- we got from them. Tempo also took exact 1700/- so the ride was free in that sense. Directly gave all the cycles to Raju bhai, the repair shop wala & came back happily ever after.

Another hilarious moment I encountered in Sunil Nagar when me alongwith wifey went to see a rented place for her mom. Immediately my sea hawk eyes spotted few unused cycles. Didn’t took that place but co-ordinated with the agent there & brought 4 cycles from there. These cycles were different from the ones I spotted. So after few days, met him on the way & told him “arrey baba, give me that cycle”. This is my usual hilarious tone with few friendly people. He told “pls don’t take me in between. The cycles which u took, one of them was one of the owners fathers cycle & he was upset that we gave them to you”. I replied back saying “if the cycle was his fathers cycle then why the hell it was lying down & in horrible condition, he shud had kept it at home & in good condition”. Anyways such are the people you see?

Went to Dombivli west in start of the 1^st drive to collect cycles, next to station. Went to 4^th floor & was speaking with the owner & he called his boy who stood besides to me & when I saw him from toes to his face he was all 6.3 ft (bcos he stood immediate next to me while I was sitting) & I kept thinking “how this boy can drive small cycles?” Then got to kno that he was having that dairy wala cycle. Brought that cycle & my dairy wala took it & would give 2 small cycles in exchange. After few days, brought 1 more cycle. When brought the 2^nd cycle, the tyres were jammed a lot & it took lot of efforts bcos it had a lock. During these cycles collections, I always wear my running shorts, always have my napkin right to my shorts, half inside my shorts & a t-shirt & full sweaty. Anyone who sees me would be saying “Bechara bhangarwala, kitna kaam kasrta hain”. Went to one lock wala & told him to cut the lock. He was seeing me in a very suspicious manner as if am a thief & brought this cycle from somewhere & now wants to run away. Asked him the price & he said I guess 100/-. Had a small verbal fight with him & then stopped an auto & carried the cycle way to the Raju repairing wala.

Once went far to Dombivli west & got 2 cycles but 1 was shorted than the other. Otherwise what I do, is to bring 2 cycles in go if they are of same height. But here the case was different so took an Auto.

Once again went to far off in another direction in Dombivli west, that mam came down & handed over their cycle as well as 30+ toothbrushes for tribal kids. Saw many other unused cycles lying down, followed up with them just couple of days back but she said “no one is bothered about others. Just me & my family”

“Jai Mata Di” shop wala once called me & donated 3 small cycles & that was a nice gesture from his end.

Once Dr.Patil d dentist called me to his complex to take 5 or 6 cycles. Here the Bhangwala man went. Saw all of them in horrible condition that cant be repaired. I got one, walked for more than 2 km, the tyre wasn’t moving at all & more the efforts. Went back but was horribly tired because we had a TV donation drive the earlier I guess. Saw all other 5 cycles in the same condition that the tyre aren’t moving. At the same time Dr. told to give one of the cycle to the bhangarwala having his shop outside his building. Bhnagarwala man with that bhangarwala went to his bhangarwala shop with 1 cycle, sold that cycle for 300/-. Saw 1 tempo standing there, asked him about the ride to Raju the repair man & he agreed to 200/-. Brought all the 4/5 cycles to the repair shop with 100/- profit. Ambani ke baad main hi hain aisa lagne laga hain.

We call Bhangar cycles racer cycles on our WhatsApp group. So Bhangar wala along with good cycles have collected 87 kilos of Bhangar which amounted to 2700/- Rs. which were used for repair of the somewhat ok  cycles that were collected. That’s something man. Bhangar baba ki jai ho.