Recently I have been getting asked one single question by all my friends, “What do you get on these weekend bike rides?”. Well, that’s a difficult one to give an one shot answer. I kept asking myself, what do I get?  Is it the fun in riding through unknown territories? Or is it the quest for understanding different cultures and tastes? As of now, I don’t have a good answer. I am taking it as another no-answer question like what do you get in smoking or having icecream.

Any way, I am going to log all my rides here. It won’t be a travelogue, but more like a representation of my thoughts on the places I go through.

I am confused whether to leave Trivandrum, my home town or not. Ofcourse I have a choice, and I am weighing up the priorities. Things which made me to stick to this city are weakening by days, but it will be hard to part with it. I am still confused.

Some how, lyrics of this song matches with my situation.. And it’s one of the songs which I have in the playlist ‘my picks’.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge

Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, the city of angels
Lonely as I am, together we cry

I drive on her streets ’cause she’s my companion
I walk through her hills ’cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and she kisses the windy
Well, I never worry, now that is a lie

I don’t ever wanna feel like I did that day
But take me to the place I love, take me all the way
I don’t ever wanna feel like I did that day
But take me to the place I love, take me all the way, yeah, yeah, yeah

It’s hard to believe that there’s nobody out there
It’s hard to believe that I’m all alone
Atleast I have her love, the city, she loves me
Lonely as I am, together we cry

I don’t ever wanna feel like I did that day
But take me to the place I love, take me all the way
I don’t ever wanna feel like I did that day
But take me to the place I love, take me all the way, yeah yeah yeah

Oh, no, no, no, yeah yeah
Love me, I say, yeah yeah

One time

Under the bridge downtown
Is where I drew some blood
Under the bridge downtown
I could not get enough

Under the bridge downtown
Forgot about my love
Under the bridge downtown
I gave my life away

Yeah yeah yeah
Oh, no, no, no, yeah yeah
Where I stay…

Song: Under the bridge / Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Caution: This is going to be a long boring story for the non riders. Please continue at your own will!

Prologue

I checked watch and it was 3 AM in the morning. I have been working since 8.30 AM and already crossed 18 hours in office. But little was I worried or tired. All I knew was I have to push my limits and avoid any chance of working on weekends. Because after 12 hours, I will start my longest ride on the new bike. The xBhp Tri-state meet was on the horrizon with close to 130 bikes confirmed to participate.

Switching of the workstation, I went to the parking lot to take my bike. The blue beast was glittering in the  night lamps and a layer of water drops left after the rain added to the effect.I had spend only 2 weeks with this bike, but the bonding was quick and strong. My mind was going through a zillion thoughts on my ride back to home, and the brightest of it was whether the new engine can withstand the strain it will be put into. Throughout it’s life time of 2 weeks, it crossed 3 digit speeds only for a couple of seconds though it completed 1000+ Kms. I decided to keep a speed limit of 100 Kms for the entire trip. As always in my case, decisions goes opposite to actions

Day 1

Friday 8:30 AM: Sitting in office on the day of such a great ride is something you have to feel and know! The work was piling up and I failed to concentrate. Deep inside my mind I was having a night mare where the project breaking and I getting forced to work on weekend skipping the trip. 3:30 PM: But things went fine and I left office at 3.30 PM. Went straight to Petrol pump and topped up the tank. I still had around 20 minutes to meet Trivandrum gang, and decided to install the mobile charging unit which I bought a few days back. Installation was simple, and right after that I got a call from Lijo enquiring about my location. Lijo and Tintu were already on their way to Ernakulam.

I soon joined the rest of G2G gang along with few Trivandrum xBhp members arrived to give a sent off! The ride started at 4.50 PM with destination for butt break fixed as Kollam which was some 70 Kms away from our starting point. 5 hours of poth hole infected road trip we reached Ernakulam only to meet the Ernakulam members leaving the O-mall after G2G. This part of the stretch was the worst in our close to 1500km ride. Gutters big enough to park an entire bike was spread across the road allowing the poor two wheelers no chance to have a peaceful ride.  Leave the expressways, stop the 45m – 30m fights. Give us some ride-able roads for the sake of a future with back bones!

11:30 PM: The hunt for a place to park our bodies and rides was started and with the help of Anand, rooms were arranged near Ernakulam South for Trivandrum and Kottayam riders. Night was uneventfull with the urge to start the long ride pushing from deep inside. Sleep was alien that night because of the slight fear that I’ll be late to get up and spoil the fun.

Day 2

Saturday 3:00 AM: My fear of waking up late was lame as the super punctual Lijo woke me up right on time! We all rushed through the morning rituals and was ready to leave the room by 3.50 AM. The meeting point was decided as the IPB pump near Edapalli, Ernakulam where the Ernakulam members were waiting for us when we reached there. Riding etiquettes were shared among the riders and tanks were topped up. We were 15 in total with 6 from Trivandrum, 4 from Kottayam and 5 from Ernakulam and I was meeting most of them for the first time. After some casual chats, bike drooling we started the ride. Next stop was fixed to be the first tea shop in sight as the early morning energy drop was having an effect on everyone’s enthu. Tea definitely poured some energy into us and it was proved in the riding style. Roads were narrow, but good and empty with tempting curves.

Few miles before Athirapally I checked my rear view mirror and noticed that no one was behind me. There was some 8 bikes behind me and I slowed down. Soon an yellow Karizma came visible on my mirror and was honking like there was some message to pass. I slowed down and enquired only to know that he was also clueless about what happened. We both then zoomed to notify the riders in front and stopped them after a few honking and flashing lights.  Mean while a bug managed to get into my right eye and crawled it’s way through the tear glands. It was killing me with pain and in those few seconds I realized the need to invest in a clear visor instead of my current tinted one! After a few futile attempts to push the bloody bug out of  my eye, it came out from another tear gland opening close to my nose! It was half dead and with out a second thought I killed it! Sorry bug lovers, but my deed was purely out of uncontrolled frustration! Soon the droppers joined us and the reason for the missing was because we had our first fall when Anand slipped on a bend on sand and crashed his bike. He survived the crash without any injuries, thanks to the slow speed! Hunk broke one of his indicators.

[To be Continued]

If you are following me on twitter, you may very well know the artic-like environment in my office cubicle. Yes, 12 hours of my day, I live in a space where the temperature is near 10 degree celcious. Its known to be the coldest place in our office and matches well with the Bluestar advertisement where unlucky me can be equated to an Eskimo in that ad.

Constant exposure to frozen breeze from the vents made me sick this week. A deep dedication to work (ahem!..Ok! Take it as pressure to save leaves) pushed me to work every day though I was struggling to keep my head straight. In one way, attending office helped me to keep my body temperature in normal levels. This along with my newly caught craze of playing badminton after work took its share of energy from my body and left me breathless at the end of day.

I think my mom doubted me as drunk one night, but in reality it was a not-drunk-but-high-me struggling to frame (meaningful !) sentences while talking to her. She even offered me butter-milk!! Cant complaint my mom as she wanted me to be normal before my dad finds it out!  Thankfully I finally succeeded in convincing her that I am not drunk and its the tiredness making me look like high after a few futile attempts to speak properly. I survived on cough syrups and D-Cold tablets for the rest of the week.

Weekends! It’s my time to balance my sleepless nights. I skipped a movie offer today and slept peacefully until I was forced to go out for a haircut. It was due for a month, but I wished to grow it long and it was ruined by mom’s stern demand to cut it off as she thinks its ‘my hair’ which made me sick! Sad that she doesn’t know about my office climate. After chopping off my hair  and attending a writer’s meet, I went for the now-routine badminton game.

I am not even close to the standards on badminton which I had in past. Not like I was a super pro in it or anything like that , but I was someone whom you can bet on without losing much money. The decision to play, its a shift in my life’s routine – from endless conversations in museum to something sporty like a badminton game. As said in the linked post, the change has NOTHING to do with my fear on cops! The idea was put forward by two fat friends who wanted to shake their ass to shed some weight. Me being some one who maintain a super light frame, needn’t have to worry about the calorie intake-burn ratio. But, the game was something I liked and I agreed to help them by giving a company, or in other words, sharing the expense.

The night was still young for a party. Ignoring my fever and close-to-shivering condition, I went to purple lounge to freak out. A few shots of fire made my throat clear, the dance warmed me up, and the headache was cleared with music.

Ahh! I am lost. This post was actually meant to explain you all how to fight with fever and I lost track in between. Anyway, my point was to tell you, NEVER take rest when you are sick, specifically when you are having common-cold + fever. Take good food, warm up your body, freak out and never ever let the fever to take control on your decisions. We humans are superior to viruses!

Its not that often you want a need to rediscover yourself. I was on such a mood today and was quite disturbed with the recent activities in my life. I was disturbed a lot and wanted to have some refreshment, which made me to be with friends the whole night yesterday. We roamed around the city, often breaking all the limits. I was going back to what I was a few years before. And I was successful in not letting my friends know what I wanted was an escape from my life rather than some quality time with them. Feeling sorry for them.

Back home, everything was routine. Woke up with loud noises from my sisters room where her son was making a revolt against mom for not letting him go out and play with his brother. I used to love watching those fights which I can very well relate to my childhood. But not today. I need some time alone, away from all realities. So I packed my laptop bag, and walked out with bike keys. The day was special for the city as it is reserved for the opposite sex. All roads lead to a single destination where women from all over kerala gather for ‘Ponkala’. I skipped the busy known roads and took a different route. 1 hour ride without any destinations in mind took me to an alternative route to Ponmudi. On any other day I’ll make a U-turn considering the fact that I have been there umpteen times with all of my friends for all kinds of fun.

But today I felt it special. I found it as the ideal place to be where I can disconnect my network with my reality. Roads were pathetic and sun was intense. But higher up it became a heaven for me. Cool breeze and shadows refreshed me. 3 hours of non stop ride took me to the top of the hill. It was almost deserted with a few people roaming with cameras in their hands. Camera, how I missed to take it? Or I avoided taking it?

I parked my bike, and climbed up to a spot where I’ll be sealed from the shouts and howling from the very few people left on hill top. And I slept there. I dont know how long I was there. Woke up all refreshed and burning in sun. The bag which acted as a bed for me had my laptop inside it but nothing happened to it. Thanks for being a light person. I searched for my belongings, and everything was in place except my mobile which was on my chest somehow. I attended 6 calls while I was sleeping, 4 from the single person and 1 from home and 1 from a friend who I was supposed to meet in morning. And there was a long list of unread messages and tweets. I had to answer a few and then moved to a shadow to escape from the extreme sun.

Logged into reality through my laptop expecting some mail. But there wasn’t any. Though I had an strong urge to have some water, I spent almost close to an hour there until my laptop ran out of juice. Meanwhile a few people passed my with suspicious looks on their face. May be they were wondering I was co-ordinating some terror attacks or  a super nerd. Who else will sit with a laptop on the top of a hill with  an out of the bed look and alone? Packed everything back and rode to the KTDC restaurent to have some food. More specifically some water. Only when I was about to order, I found the sad joke that I didnt take my wallet with me. The waiter was still waiting for my order. With a lame excuse that I forgot my mobile on hilltop, I evaded from there after gulping the hot water from the jug on table. The waiter may have got the clue. Anyway, after fullfilling my immediate need – to have some water, I rode back non-stop to home.

Now while writing this, I am thinking why and what I did today. What was the trip for? If it was to be alone, were I really alone today? And why I had to take laptop if all I wanted was loneliness? I am confused. Confused about my mental stability and my life. Or was it a day dream? My dark red tan and google latitude says it wasn’t. I need some professional help.

I believe I live in a city where I am allowed the freedom to meet friends in a public place and have a talk with them peacefully. But what the hell is wrong with police now? They are looking at us like possible murderers and forcing us to disperse from public places. Do they think its us, the youngsters, are behind every possible crimes happening in and around the city? Or are they really concerned about our safety? For the clueless, let me brief my experience.

We, around 10 of us, used to have a gathering near Museum for 8 years. That is right after we got into college. It was a weekly affair and soon turned out into a daily event. So lets say we are meeting daily near Museum for 6 years. All this while, the cops had no problem at all in our meeting even though it was right next to Museum police station. Those were quite productive time for us, as new ideas and thoughts sparked in us, and changed ourselves a bit to more mature and thinking creatures. But our voice never breeched the tolerant level for creating a public nuisance. We NEVER had an issue from the police, and often some of them took part in our conversation.

All of a sudden, for the past one year, the police are on their toes when they see a young gang gathering around. Immediate action from them will be to dole out us as quickly as possible. The question is why? Are they seeing us as a threat to the social security? Ain’t they killing our freedom to be in a public place? I am sure it is perfectly legal to assemble in a public place without disrupting the peace. From next time, I am going to question them. Till now I never got a chance to engage with them. I will sure do it next time. Fed up with how they treat us!