Have a cycle Keep the doctor away!

"Have an apple and keep the doctor away" is often in jest replaced with this new adage "If the doctor is pretty, keep the apple away" Here is another applied to the cycling world "Have a cycle , keep the doctor away". Well what if the doctor is a cyclist ?

As the senior most in any institution what would you consider as an ultimate perk that could be provided by your management? What is it that becomes a bragging right and that makes everyone known or unknown raise an eyebrow and also one perk that becomes the talking point for the entire organization? Finally, a perk that does make people envious but never jealous and one which makes others  also yearn for that particular perk which could be well within their reach or at least the path  to getting the park.

“For me, parking my cycle right in front the hospital porch is the most valued perk “ gushes one of the most coveted eye-surgeons of Bangalore who is the de facto head of the vast Narayana Hospitals  eye-care division Narayana Nethralaya, Dr Adrian Sandeep Braganza.  In a casual conversation after the author had consulted him, the Good Doctor  was  taken by surprise by the question which we usually  pose to people over 40 years of age.  “Do you cycle or would you want to know why should be opting for cycle at this age” which is the theme message  we want to spread from www.cycletofuture.com 

He promptly   invited me back to my  chair  and said “whatever you want to say please say!  I am all ears!” .  After patiently  hearing a fairly short reprieve about  the health  benefits of cycling   especially for seniors, Dr Adrian  said “I heard you out  and was quite impressed with your logic but you are missing the main point’

On asking further he said  cycling possibly is the best activity  any patient especially can undertake not just for maintaining  health but also  as a practical solution to get around  amidst the urban chaos. “The location of the  Hospital is a disadvantage when it comes to crowding being on the Bangalore  Hosur Highway with heavy traffic jams.  Riding a cycle is the simplest and most efficient way of getting to your workplace beating all the traffic chaos”

picture courtesy www.alamy.com

Cycling of course requires innate passion which  was with him from a very young age.  Cycling from  Hyderabad to Kanyakumari, Bangalore to Goa ….  Such big ticket cycling was  part of his youth and even now is more than willing to undertake such  adventure cycling.

Does he teach or preach about cycling in his own vast Hospital complex that employees more than 3000 people mostly  youth and over 8000 patients and attendants visiting the complex each day? “I don’t have to  as I am doing and showing what it means to be a cyclist” he says.

Seeing him every day in the campus sauntering in  riding one or the other three bikes he has  which includes an electric one  featured in the pages.

As to health care  cycle of course takes top priority  along with it, Lawn Tennis, Table Tennis and Basket ball. “I am pretty fit and flexible and that exactly what  counts” says the celebrated Cataract and Glaucoma  specialist  having done over 30000 surgeries to date.

Why didn’t he join his father Air Vice Marshal  Braganza  at Air force as  Eye specialist?   “ I  did have ambition to join the forces but I failed the National Defence Academy exam and did not join

Defense” is the simple answer. “My mother was the happiest as I don’t to have to shift  places every once a while like  my father did” he joins in jest