Pudukottai Cycling Movement
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A backgrounder
As in 2024
Muskaan Ahmed, June 19, 2024: The Times of India
A quarter century ago, when the men were away at work, the women of Pudukottai would sit outside their homes washing clothes or making cow dung cakes. That was until the day a group of women came cycling into their village carrying a banner with the words ‘Arivoli’ (enlightenment) and accompanied by the song “Cycle otta kathukkanum, thangachi; Vazhka chakkarathai suthi vidu, thangachi (learn to cycle, my dear sister, and spin the wheel of life)”. With that, life in the village changed.
The anthem launched the Pudukottai Cycling Movement in 1991 as part of the National Literacy Mission, helping more than a lakh women to read, write, and ride bicycles. The brainchild of the then Pudukottai collector Sheela Rani Chunkath, the Cycling Movement aimed to increase women’s literacy rates in the area, where as per the 1991 census, only 38% of them were literate.
Cut to 25 years later, and you find the movement continues to empower women. S Muthulakshmi, a farmer from Thoppupatti village, a beneficiary of the movement, says, “I got married young and never went to school. By the age of 30, I was a mother of four and spent all my time at home. I wouldn’t travel anywhere as I could not read bus routes.”
Arivoli Iyakkam volunteers taught her to read and write. “It changed my life. I could read bus routes, understand the grades on my children’s mark sheets, and even do calculations,” says Muthulakshmi. The 60-year-old now runs a milk and a farming business. “I still cycle around the village to meet milk vendors and get supplies for farming.”
In 1991, the illiteracy rate in India was 52.2%, says Sheela. “The National Literacy Mission was set up by the govt of India to improve those rates. The mission focused on literacy, numeracy (basic calculations for everyday life), functionality (how to send or receive money orders, how to post a letter, how to meet a govt official), and awareness (basic rights),” says Sheela. “As a fifth component to this literacy campaign, we added mobility. I realised that men would travel to work or for leisure on their own, but women had to depend on men for travel — be it for education, work, leisure, or something as simple as fetching water.”
In the 1990s, says Sheela, most of the women in the villages were forced to stay at home, without work or education. “We understood that mobility gives freedom. We had the support of villagers who understood what we were trying to do.”
D Salai Velamma, a govt school teacher at Erukkumanipatti village in Pudukottai, enrolled as a volunteer to educate women. “I would cycle through dusty, dark, unlit roads to different villages to conduct night schools for women. While some men welcomed me whenever I went to their village, a few would deride me for being “an unmar- ried woman cycling at night” by myself. They would blame my parents for my ‘freedom’, but my parents were supportive. Through this movement, I not only helped empower women but myself as well,” says the 54-year-old.
To ensure it was a women-run initiative, Sheela enrolled women from different villages as block leaders and coordinators. “From young girls to old women, you would find them all on the streets learning to cycle. Since the cycles we got then were built for men and had a diamond frame, it was difficult for women to ride in sarees and skirts. But that didn’t stop them,” says N Kannama, one of the district-level coordi- nators. “They would borrow trousers from their husband, father, or brother and ride. Often, we would see husbands helping their wives learn. Once they learned, the women would help train others. Everyone was encouraging. If the women fell, they would laugh it off, pick up their cycles and try again.”
As the movement gained momentum, the collectorate began organising cycling races in every village block, giving out prizes and trophies. The number of cyclists grew in Pudukottai. After a few years, the focus shifted from just cycling. With the help of the traffic police, the collectorate began training women to ride mopeds.
Within three months of the movement, another song was released to celebrate this victory: “Cycle otta kathakittom, annachi (we learned how to ride a cycle, brother)”. “The idea for this song came to me almost instantly while seeing one young woman cycling with her kids in the front carrying cans of water,” says N Muthubaskar, the song’s lyricist and a writer based in Pudukottai.
Though the movement was shelved after a few years due to lack of funding, its impact endures. “You still see women across different villages in Pudukottai riding cycles and mopeds. It helped women earn and lead families,” says Salai.
