Until recently, Vijay Malhotra was busy as a sales planner with a media house in Mumbai. Then a fortnight ago, he took out his bicycle — Firefox Road Runner Pro fitted with 101 uniquely crafted bells with charming designs — and rode through the busy streets of Bandra. As he ‘tring tringed’ his way through traffic grabbing eyeballs, onlookers and passers-by spontaneously gave him a new title, ‘The Bell Man’.
“I think I looked like a character straight out of a storybook and people stopped me to enquire about my interest,” smiles the 41-year-old, who aims to spread the message of road safety with the sight and sounds of the bells.
Though a trip to Paris in 2018 rekindled his romance with cycling, it was only after visiting the Netherlands last June, that he decided to transform his ‘cycling to keep fit’ mission into a creative journey. “Along the canals of Amsterdam, I met the Flower Bike Man and saw the attraction and impact of his flamboyantly decorated bikes that spread cheer and smiles among the people,” says Vijay.
