An environment lover and cycling enthusiast, Yougal is striving to spread the culture and practice of cycling among people.

A professional architect and transportation planner, Yougal Tak is also a passionate cyclist.

Yougal was born and brought up in Udaipur. His entire schooling was completed in Udaipur.  He has a degree in architecture from Gujarat. He has worked for a number of Gujarat and Bengaluru-based firms. Later, he returned and settled in his hometown in 2017.

Yougal is also a part of the global Bicycle Mayor network, which is run by the Dutch social enterprise BYCS. In order to speed up Udaipur's transition to cycling, he was also selected as the city's Bicycle Mayor. He established the 'Mhari Cycle' (My Cycle) campaign to raise awareness, and he also introduced and popularised the concept of public bicycle sharing (PBS) in the city through an app and a bike station at Fatehsagar lake.

In addition to his position as Manager-Urban, Built Environment, and Mobility at ICLEI-South Asia, he also takes on a voluntary role where he currently supports the Udaipur Municipal Corporation (UMC) on issues related to sustainable mobility, the urban built environment, climate resilient cities, and other topics.

When asked about his childhood, Yougal recalls spending his summer vacations at his maternal family’s village. He speaks about his favourite childhood experiences, including taking cows, buffalos, and goats for grazing. He says he has a special, close bond with his maternal grandmother because he spent the majority of his time with her.

When asked about his struggles, Yougal says he has seen both sides of the coin because he has lived in both a metropolis and a semi-urban city, such as Bangalore and Udaipur. When he was working in Bangalore, he used to crave for his friends and family back home as well as the culture of his hometown. He says working in a big city has its own disadvantages, such as fewer opportunities for architects to showcase their abilities, lower compensation, hectic and expensive living, and many more. But he thinks that each challenge deepened his enthusiasm and broadened his perspective.

Yougal recalls his COVID experience by adding that even though the pandemic brought many hardships, it also caused the entire country to become concerned about hygiene practices. According to him, the precautions and directions for a healthy lifestyle are already written out in our scriptures, and COVID made us aware of how closely these concepts relate to our daily lives.

When asked whether experience or education is more important, Yougal replies that both are equally necessary. According to him, determining a person's priorities depends on their aspirations and background. Both a person from a business family and a person with no business experience may have various aims and aspirations, including the ability to gain experience. Therefore, according to Yougal, a person's decision to value education or experience more highly is entirely up to them.

Yougal credits his success to his organization, ICLEI Southeast Asia, with whom he has been working for the past few years on sustainable development. He says he follows the same principle as ICLEI, which is to create and support a global movement of local governments for the purpose of achieving real advancements in global sustainability.

As a role model, Yougal considers his former tenant, Rupesh Rajpurohit, whom he used to refer to as "Bhagwan" because of his extensive knowledge of nearly every subject. He was also inspired by two people from his professional life because of their zeal, age-defying workaholism, knowledge base, and friendly attitude.