Combining his passion for cycling and history, Ramanujar Moulana set out to discover the heritage of Chennai on two wheels.
To join with like-minded people, he started Cycling Yogis in 2012 for people who didn’t perceive cycling just as a hobby but as a sustainable means to explore the hidden stories cradled in the contours of the old Madras.
“For most people, this city is Chennai, but for me, it is old Madras that I fell in love with. Its fading beauty needs to be seen and remembered for the next generations, and Cycling Yogis is an attempt towards immortalising that,” he says.
These rides are planned with painstaking effort by Ramanujar. He uses old maps and books to chart a plan and finds places that are not mentioned online, and can’t be found on Google Maps either!
He wants to preserve fascinating places, integral to the city’s history, that are under threat of being forgotten, through cycling.
On these trails, one can find abandoned single-screen cinema theatres, clock towers, factories and industries, legendary and hole-in-the-wall eateries, memorials and hospitals.
The group also organised a Ponniyin Selvan trail ride in January 2023, visiting important places mentioned in the book — such as Veeranam Lake, Kadambur, Thirupurambiyam, Pazhayarai, Kodiyakarai, and Thanjavur.
To explore the Chola history in Sri Lanka, they planned a ride there in September 2023.
Ramanujar has also documented Chennai’s forgotten history by publishing eight books — including North Chennai Bicycle Trails and Madras By Cycle: Medical Heritage Trails of Chennai.
The books include interesting stories about people who shaped the medical field like Mary Anne Scharlieb — one of the first women to enter the Madras Medical College to pursue a Licentiate in Medicine & Surgery (LM&S).
The books include interesting stories about people who shaped the medical field like Mary Anne Scharlieb — one of the first women to enter the Madras Medical College to pursue a Licentiate in Medicine & Surgery (LM&S).
“I hope that people will see my beloved Madras’ true beauty through these books and cycling trails and fall in love the way I did,” he remarks.