AMATEUR MOTORCYCLIST :-)

[Originally written by me on Friday 8 December 2006]

It was some rainy day on December 4. I don't travel much, whenever I need to travel out of city I prefer bus or car instead of biking out. Bike is good for city commuting. The speed of traffic is increasing day by day. Better machines and better roads mean higher speeds. I keep my speed between 30 to 40 km/h in city and on highway it is anywhere between 50 to 70. Although the speedometer of my bike shows that it can go up to 140 km/h but after 60 it starts behaving differently and makes sounds like an angry woman. Sorry ladies if you don't like you can call it `like an angry man' there is no difference in both when they are angry. Mine is a 100cc machine, gives good mileage and ensures my freedom to move. I have a nephew in states who has 1100 cc bike!! 11 times more powerful than mine and he told me that he drove at a speed of 250 mph!!! that's a cool 402 km/h. These nephews are always more active. He is 1 year older than me so he has to be smarter but the almost 3 year old nephew back at home also tries to kick start my bike and is too much eager to get on the wheel. I fondly call him Babu Ji. In Hindi language Babu means Sir, it is some more respectable than Sir and Ji is added to give even more respect. It also denotes that we admit the superiority and a higher position of the other person. I don't like babu with my name, it makes me feel like a clerk but ji is good. Mahesh ji!! That sounds good :) and I generally add it to other's name when I call them. Of course I never shout at others, If ever I'll shout I think I will shout this way, "Hey Babu Mahesh ji!! Are you mad, what's this nonsense you are doing :-))"

The little 3 year old babu ji is of very haughty nature and can rough up anyone at his own sweet discretion. He is a great giver and never likes to get even a raised eyebrow. Huh! Quite spoilt, getting undue advantage of our love, but too sweet to be forgiven everything. Whenever he goes out with me he sits first before me, then I sit and after me the niece sit. Whenever sis is at our place her son would also sit before me and I drive the bike from behind, holding the 2 little devils before me. I never drive fast with kids, 30 km/h is the top speed with them. Even driving alone 40 to 50 is my ideal speed, but I think 400+ km shall be fantastic. I only need a powerful motorcycle, matching road and you can watch the speedometer breaking :)

 About a year ago I was coming back from Patiala (a nearby city) on scooter. It was almost dark at evening and I was thinking of a canal bridge on the way. There are two bridges on the canal- one higher and one lower. About a month back I was coming in a cab. The cab driver was a retired army tank driver. He drove the cab on the place between two bridges and we were saved toppled down. Hey man, this little cab is not your tank to drive on terrain; this is meant for good road only. I was cautious because of that incident and looking forward to those bridges. The bridges came and I promptly drove the scooter again on the place between :-))), no laughing matter dear, I could had been dead there. I flew from the scooter like a rocket with my face hitting the earth, luckily I did not hit the metal road and there were no vehicles coming along to crush me ;). In a moment I thought Mahesh my dear you are past now. I could not feel my nose and mouth was filled with sand and I could feel very warm feelings around face, I thought it was blood!! Will I die on road? No, I would never like that. I summoned courage, kicked hard 2-3 times the handle of scooter which was stuck on one side, kicked frantically the engine back to life and drove of. I did not care to look at my face or spit the sand from mouth, at a constant speed I reached home after 25 minutes, washed myself and luckily there was no injury, not even a drop of blood, lucky me :). Only a little strain in shoulders which was gone in a week. From that day on I never go out of city on two wheelers at evening time. One thing I remember fondly about this incident that I gained something of a Formula-I driver. I was flying off the vehicles like them and without any injury. So whenever you have to fall, fall carefully :-)))