For years i wanted to purchase a bike , right from my college days.While i have to admit that i do not have the skill to weave through the traffic like they show in the movies or even the people i normally see on the roads, this wish grew with age.I was too afraid to ask for a bike for the reason that my Dad would never buy me one or probably for an internal realisation that it would be my another contribution in breaking my Dad's other wise comfortable finances.(True i am talking about a bike).I used to often pick up one of friends bikes and dash of to Tirupathi ,the near by town to my college ,those 16 kilometers stretch used to be mine,I vividly remember my foolishness when i tried to show of one of my stunts to a new crush of mine,but fell flat on my back (luckily the bike slipped and fell 4 feet away from me allowing me to pen this blog today).I had to shell my three months pocket money to get the bike back in to shape and had to miss the college tour.Those three months i never touched a bike again(though you would know that no one would have perhaps lent me a
bike).
Fast Forward Three Months
My friend was coming back to hostel after his vacation at home ,and he chose a day when the whole of the transport ( four-wheeled ones ) running on the road decided to take a break by crying foul on the Govt.I do not know how much he pondered before making that fateful call to the hostel asking me to come and pick him up at the station.Boy was i not happy that i had not gone on one of my crazy cricket matches or probably to that tent ( a small make-shift arrangement in a near by village which acted as a theatre) to watch kushi for the fourth time.I got his bike keys from his hideout ,sandwiched between his cot and mattress wrapped up in his old hand-kerchief (I swear if not for the bike i would have not touched it even if it was a kilogram of gold in it),zipped my way out to parking lot and drove to railway station.I made the 20 kilometers distance in about 40 minutes,that's how my second stint with the bike started.
Fast Forward Final year
The year i came out from my hostel hide-out and ventured in to the town to set-up a bachelor house hold,I had started dreams of a second hand bike (we used to get them at around 7k ).Every day i would say to myself there comes my pocket money and if i save three months i can get to that ( of course i had to sell at least one part of computer) with my friends help (this guy happened to be a bike fanatic as well).These three months used to pass away like the initial phase of the project and every time the deadline came we pushed the delivery further,three such iterations and i was not required to go to college anymore and I started my south-tamilnadu exploration ( travelling and visiting places is one of my many other ambitions).The bike dreams were still haunting me every night ,only difference was that now the bikes i was setting sight on were new and racy.
Infy First Year
I had some how with God's grace made to Infy three months before and now had a handsome saving of 4k after the initial burst of happiness where I spent Every pie i earned in a koramangala coffee house ,just to look at the girls who happened to be there round the clock (later learnt that ,investment comes from the party who sits beside,I now understand the looks those guys used to give us,Sheer desperate thoughts of ROI's i guess) .It was here i noticed this bike called Pulsar with disc brakes ,two tyres and a handle and what not,more-over the advertisement definitely male was so attractive ( I only learnt later that many of those who rode it have become clearly doubtful of their gender).My dreams for the second hand bike now was replaced with the 'definitely male' version ,only the situation did not change,the 7k had become 55k and 1000 rs pocket money which i got by never doing anything also did not come by.Meanwhile i got transferred to Hyderabad and in no time to Trivandrum.
Infy Fifth Year
Back from UK with enough money in pockets ,I have this time decided to buy that elusive bike ,only to find that i am no more interested in having a bike for the fun of that ride on road,but I need it more as a transport means to office,even that dream is fast draining down the ever moving chain of my thoughts,The sheer thought of driving along with the KSRTC buses makes even a grand prix look a more better version of trying to kill myself .But everyday the inner self gets a calm assurance that it is not only me who has the passion but not the skill to drive ,but every other guy on the road is same,probably i did a favour to someone a son,father,brother,lover by not satisfying ( you never know probably i did a favour to my family) my dream of buying that bike when i was less judicious and would have done the same by chasing things ( i don't know one version of vehicle that follows a normal basic common sense) on road as does the dog which chases a car for no reason.
Foot Note: The author is currently doing a test ride on " The definitely Make Thing" second hand though and is out of his mind.
Inspirations : Foot note idea stolen from TEDKA ,while the contemplation on what could have been otherwise was inspired by "The United Kerala Vehicle Driving (Killer) association"