Cycle Wala Roadie :
Caution:- Lot of mixed emotions are written below which doesn’t
makes sense. You will get confused. If you are afraid of the long article and
it seems cumbersome to read it. I understand. It’s human. But if you somehow go
through it, know that it doesn’t makes sense at all but in the end leaves a smile
on your face, my job is done . Welcome to the club. You are insane like me.
We all get a chance to meet some wonderful people during
course of our life. Few days back on facebook wall of one of my iconoclast
friends we called sharma g I saw this:
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Dear Dhanno
6 years and 60000 kms later, our love has only grown. You have taken me places and shown me the stars on nights in your lap. You have taken me to garages and shown me the stars in broad daylight too. Now, just as you may find it tough to see me held together with knee caps as I kick-start you every morning, I find it tough to see you held together with M-Seal and Fevi Kwik as you ferry me around every weekend. Age we may, part ways we may never. For we were born in an age where when things were broken, people fixed it, not throw it away. So let's grab some clutch plates and knee braces, let's catch some breeze on the open highway, let's take the first road out. Don't you worry, we're going to stay young at heart; never were meant to age gracefully anyway. :)
Ghumakkad
6 years and 60000 kms later, our love has only grown. You have taken me places and shown me the stars on nights in your lap. You have taken me to garages and shown me the stars in broad daylight too. Now, just as you may find it tough to see me held together with knee caps as I kick-start you every morning, I find it tough to see you held together with M-Seal and Fevi Kwik as you ferry me around every weekend. Age we may, part ways we may never. For we were born in an age where when things were broken, people fixed it, not throw it away. So let's grab some clutch plates and knee braces, let's catch some breeze on the open highway, let's take the first road out. Don't you worry, we're going to stay young at heart; never were meant to age gracefully anyway. :)
Ghumakkad
I was thinking to write for a long
time and I needed inspiration. Above description written from the heart
and penned down by fingers on a keyboard at some place not far away from
Chandigarh, was the drug I needed. Before writing further, I must confess that I am not a
die -hard biker but it doesn’t mean I don’t love it. I own a magical 150 CC Pulsar (my cousin
called it sulfur). 6 years and 18000 KM later , day in and day out I have
shined it using Pidilite Moto Max polish and have commuted intercity on it.
Any-day if given a chance , I would prefer it over driving a car. The reason
being very simple. I hate road
traffic and
It’s frustrating to manoeuvre your car among so many other vehicles. I just hate it.
I started long driving on Maruti
800 when I was 18 and my mother gave me permission to drove car on the way from
Chandigarh to Dharamshala with my family. It was 2004. I was young and I had
just failed in my driving license test , fourth time in a row. The logic was
pretty simple. My sister used to drove on the plain roads like Vin Diesel and
when the curvy and steep roads used to show their face, I was told to take the
lead. Pretty strange!! At first, I thought I will never be able to complete the
ride but I just did and reached the place safely. Most of my long hill drivers
are in Himachal and few in Haryana , Punjab, Delhi. I don’t like latter due to
pollution. While driving a car you
always have to focus on the road which is pretty difficult when you have
brilliant hill views. It becomes difficult to stop in a car as it will slide
backward if you stop it on a steep inclination and a stupid truck driver is
about to kiss rear bumper of your car. I always call myself a driver. You feel
like you are sitting in a shell and wind is touching your face but your heart
remains untouched. Feet are busy in juggling between A, B, C accelerator ,
break and clutch but the some-where your legs are closed inside a moving box.
The faster and bigger your engine is the more agile your car will be. A lot of
rash driving happens on highways travelers pay utter disregard to traffic and
road sense.
Last year I got inspired by my
friend Rohit Dogra and bought a cycle. I never thought a new story will begin
and yes it just did. I was riding a bike after 10 years. First time when I
peddled from the shop to my home over a distance of 2.5 KM I was tired. My
heart was pumping as fresh blood roared through it and my thighs felt
collapsed. I felt my muscles breaking. Somewhere I loved the pain as I
remembered the quote Pain is weakness leaving the body. Few days after, I installed a social fitness
app called Strava on my shining android to records and measures speed and time of my
ride. It felt pretty cool.
Driving a cycle is all together a
different from driving a car or motorcycle.
Very first time I seated on saddle and peddle it reminds me of my school
where I used to commute daily. There were no gears, No GPS but my heart was
pure and mind was free of clutter. I used to do Drifts. In local language we
called it Skids and felt like king of the world. In skid you travel a short
distance at a faster pace and then press the rear break, turn the handle so bike
rear Tyre gets drifted leaving mark on the road. Fast and Furious is full of
this technique but they do it on cars. They also do it on motorbike. It’s
pretty cool. I don’t remember the exact word. I am a green horn in motor
biking. So forgive me.
When I ride, I feel light .The
early morning wind brushes through my body, goes through my windpipe and gets
dissolved in your heart. Yes!! , you can feel the moment and believe me it’s
amazing. My read beauty Hero Cycle takes me to places where I wouldn’t have gone
and on the saddle I see things from a different perspective. You will observe
so many minute details on the road which you don’t get a chance to feel on Bike
or on a car. Cycling is a low impact sport when compared to running and I love
it. I am not very good with running and for some strange reason I don’t like to
run much. May be I am douche bag but that’s how things are. Earlier I was
peddling 4 or 5KM but now I can peddle around 20 -25KM easily on one stretch.
Some- thing amazing has happened. Now I create maps in my head that when next
day I will wake up where I want to go , think about the road map over and over again and next morning I do it. So every day I wake up there is some purpose
which doesn’t include career, money and all that bull shit. It’s plain, basic
and raw. I feel wonderful after a ride and get pumped up for the entire day.
On morning you will always found labor on their Atlas gold line Super 1970 model. They have such power in them
that they will overtake you with their spouse sitting behind them and no matter
what speed you have or how many gear your bike has. You can’t audacity of
heart.
During cycling, lots of voices will
go through your mind about ambitions, family, home, Maslow theory (http://humangb.blogspot.in/2012/05/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-vs-my.html) and a moment
will come when everything stops. Your mind
will be clear. Your cycle gains momentum and you will live in the moment. Your
body will be surrounded by a cosmic or natural shell of atmosphere. It’s
something surreal and at that moment rush of happiness flows through in your
veins. It has happened with me. I observed the grass, the sun , the wind and
that is the moment when I felt that I don’t need any fancy money or title to
live. The moment that god has created for you is priceless and I felt very
happy to be born. That is the real joy which no currency in the world can
bought. It’s like a sweet spot in tennis. A mental relief which you will love.
My friends and especially elder
members of my family are happy to see me cycle and some time they take away my
red beauty and take it for a spin. At
that moment I feel they have reinvented the kid or the young men they were 30
/40 years back. So I am peddling
While riding my eyes always look
for a pretty chick in grey lower and pink shirt but till date I haven’t found
one however I have seen Peacocks/Monkeys/Squirrels and fat uncles on cycle.
I wish I keep on peddling for a
long time to come. Cover at least 300 /400 Km on one trip and would like to go
to Leh on cycle if possible. If not let’s make it possible. I am sure there are
lots of new places in the world which are beautiful and heaven for riders so I
would like to go there once.
My time is limited. So I get up,
and do what I like. It’s a realization I came across that cycling may be very
few of the things which I love. Let’s not get separated. Lot of roads are there
which I haven’t touched, Lots of peacocks are there which I haven’t seen and
lots of chicks in Payjamas haven’t shown their serene beauty to me on
cycle. So I am trying hard to make it
count and Live Strong.
I have given my self the title
called Cycle wala roady !! Sounds pretty
cool to me. Now can anyone please get me a new
cycle seat.The one on my cycles hurts my ass oooouch!!
This post is dedicated to my
friends
Stay Young Stay Raw!!
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