Two-Wheeler chronicles

Whats that one amazing possession at an age of 19-20 yrs? For kids of these days it those flashy gizmo's, your apple iPhone, iTouch, you touch and what not !!! I know I'm sounding old, just making it sound so ;). Not very long ago for us it used to be graduation from a bicycle to a two wheeler. Looking back at the first time I ever rode on a two wheeler which was a TVS 50 brought by a painter while on work at our house. That day i remember riding like a prince with the air gently caressing my face, with all daughters of my neighborhood aunties overlooking. I must have been 4th or 5th, but that was when I felt the essence of growing up.

Sis started early on the 'Enfield-Explorer'

My dad was a proud owner of a suave looking Enfield explorer since 1985 which he had until 2003, and apart from sitting on it when dad used to ferry all the four of us around and fantasy riding it, naming it 'Sanjuna' hadn't done much with it. This was until 7th standard, when i had this fetish to sit on it sans the key and push the bike around. Thanks to Bangalore's roads, burnt a lot of calories pushing it back up to balance it on the road downwards. Then one day dad forgot the key and that day it happened. I pushed it around like always and then suddenly saw the ignition key. And the rest like you can imagine, i kick started and set the explorer in motion on the first gear, and it remained in first gear that day to be honest. That was the moment which turned the schoolboy into a dreamy youth.


Next three years of our stay in Dandeli gave me some of the amazing memories that I could only dream of in Bangalore. An accessibility to the jungles anytime i wished, a town with no traffic police and fewer main roads, could i ask for anything else?? It was time to zoom. 49.5 cc seemed awesome in those days. Soon, it was time for us to shift back to Bangalore and the city that is made us realize we'd suddenly grown up now to be too big for the explorer that once ferried four of us. What a bike it was! I think for the India then, which was more into Bajaj Chetak, this bike was an affordable option. And then one fine day as i grew older, so did it and just like that, it was gone.


Talking about Bajaj Chetak, during 12th my uncle's scooter came to me because he moved out of the country. Cant recollect the no. of times I've made it lie down on the road when there was no fuel and then that one quick kick start to get it going. "Welcome to college days"", I'd said to myself and before i could realize, the passion of possessing a bike again, proved too much pressure for my dad to withstand. That was when he got me a TVS Victor. Nothing beats the freedom you have with a bike at your disposal. Freedom and all by the way is secondary. More important then were the reasons like the daily trips to the dhaba, national park or the coffee shop around the corner. OK, alright! I agree the most important of all was to impress the girls. Can't remember how many firsts it was with my Victor.


While I am usually not very emotional, somehow the feeling was a little confusing. No feeling of loss though, while signing the handover forms, I was blank. All i could muster asking the new buyer was, "Can i take her for a last ride"?


Thinking about it, isn't it actually like breaking up with somebody for no reason? Only, make sure you have a reason as good as mine.

Royal Enfield!!!

Half-century!!!

Well well well, this is the most unique 50 that I can recollect. The cricket 50 never happened, considering I am a bowler who can bat and of course, I have no intentions of doubling my age and reach the milestone.

Talking about age, i had the shock of my life when I got my BMI ratio checked in the gym. I have always been into some kind of sport whenever I got a chance. But this time there was a surprise waiting for me in the figures that emerged out of the damned machine that outputs this BMI ratio. I need to do a lot more to reduce the percentage of fat content. You know it scares the shit out of you, when you have this figure so close to that of your age.

And of course, the next one you have to look for in these set of figures is something called metabolic age. Looking at the values that emerged, i am a little bemused, but all the more motivated to implement the correction plan I require. I would say definitely read quite a bit into it before it is too late. There may now be some credence to the saying

"You're only as old as you feel."

With hectic work schedules, and complex lifestyles it is only very easy to find a reason not to worry about them all. But then.. think, is it really so unworthy?

That set aside, Coming back to this little milestone of mine, I'm glad I waded through so many uncertain times amidst numerous paragraphs of unsure shaky lines. But then without these, I would'nt have reached this far.

At this juncture, my heartfelt thanks goes out to all my friends, blog-mates and numerous other people whom I might have directly or indirectly contacted to get some feedback on my blog. All your comments have served as the food for my thought. I will strive hard to improve the quality of all my future posts, I'll definitely try.

Anyways, I would love to hear from you...

Cheers

Sanjay