Bikes and brotherhood

This evening, at the corner of 23rd and Fillmore, I saw a woman with close-cropped hair, probably mid-40s, riding her bike on the side of the road. As she passed my car, I realized she was strumming a baby blue ukelele. I'm sure that surprise registered on my face, because she shot me a fairly stern "What are you lookin' at?" glance. But really, a ukelele is worthy of a momentary open-mouthed stare.

Corvallis is known for being bike-friendly. Even before there was a real emphasis on creating bike paths and bike lanes, the mostly flat topography and relatively quiet streets were simply conducive to biking around town. The artist formerly known as my spouse didn't bother getting his license until he was into his 20s and his pregnant wife mentioned that she would prefer not to drive herself to the hospital in labor.

Anyway, Avijit Chakraborty takes biking to a whole new level. This gentleman from Calcutta breezed through Corvallis this week as part of his quest to bike around the world, championing pollution-free transportation and environmental sustainability. He has already logged more than 25,000 miles -- just shy of the Earth's circumference -- in 35 countries in Asia, Europe and North America. Another 10,000 miles will also land him in the Guiness Book of World Records.

Mr. Chakraborty believes in vasudhaiva kutumbakam, a Vedic concept stating that the world is one family. This feeling of connection with the rest of the world is something that is sadly lacking in our self-centric society, where we constantly seek more for ourselves, to hell with the rest. If everyone was just a smidge less selfish, we'd all be better off.