I had a plan to wake up at 4.30 in the morning and reach the reading room by 6. I wanted to spend the whole day studying for my exams which are 2 months away. But I feared if like yesterday, I would be so deeply in sleep that the alarm fails to wake me up.
But today, the alarm managed to wake me up. But, I reluctantly switch it off and sleep again. My eyes open and my cell phone reads 6.20. I quickly have a shower and breakfast, but I'm late. There's no chance I'd be getting a seat in the reading room. But still, I am out of my home by 8. I get down from my 3rd floor apartment and open my garage and take out my 16 year old motorcycle. (It's mine since the last 1 and 1/2 year). It is dirty with dust due to the continuous rains since the past few days. But today, the sky is clear. I kick start my bike and set off to nowhere. I keep riding and suddenly I call up my friend and ask her where she is. She says she's in a cab to her office. I ask her where her cab exactly is. She tells me the location and I quickly race to that place and her cab is moving a few yards ahead of my bike in the morning hour traffic. It gave me a sense of satisfaction, a pride on my timing. I ride along the cab till her office. Just exchanging looks. That’s a kind of pleasure. Her cab turns into the small lane to her office. We part ways and I continue riding.
I ride on and on till I could get out of the city limits and out of the morning traffic. After 40 minutes of riding, the road is a joy to ride on. Minimal traffic and giant trees on both sides of the road. I've been on this road earlier. This road goes from Delhi to Alwar. I keep riding and suddenly I notice small and large cliffs appearing at a distance. My heart said, I should mount those cliffs. I take an unknown lane from the main road. It takes me into a village where people sitting in front of their houses and kids were curiously looking at me. They must be thinking, "What the hell is a man on a big bike doing in this village?"
I continue until I ride through all the villages and reach the foothills of the cliffs. I stop the engine of the bike and notice that there was not a person around. I was happy. This is what I was searching for. Peace and solace. I find that there is a narrow path leading nearer to the cliff. I take it. It is in the true sense, off roading. But I somehow manage to take the bike through all the sand and rocks and then the path ends there. I park the bike. Don't think much. Just start climbing the steep cliff with the helmet in one hand. The cliff is tall. After reaching mid-way, I look down and find that 4 adolescents aged around 13-15 are staring at me from below. I feel disappointed. Humans again!! Humans have not left even a single place on this earth uninvaded. Irony is that I too am a human invading this cliff. But after seeing them, I somehow feel uncomfortable. I just sit there mid-way on the cliff wall. My heart is pounding fast. I don't know if I am tired of climbing or it is due to the discomfort on seeing those boys?
But, I carry on. The boys are still staring at me. I reach the top. I am at a great height. My bike and the boys downhill seem like rats, if not ants. But, my heart is pounding even faster. I quickly free myself by dumping my bag, the helmet and my jacket on a rock. I sit down. Calm down myself. And suddenly, I hear the boys shouting. I look down and they say, your bike's tyre is burst. I knew, they were trying to have fun. I say, it’s Ok. They shout back, what are you doing up there? I shout back, I'm photographing. I take a few pictures on my cell phone of the scenery from that cliff and my phone shows, low battery. I'm not disheartened, as I have already clicked around a 30 snaps.
I look down and I observe that the boys are trying to start my bike. I laugh to myself. I remember that the first day I bought this bike; I had to kick it 170 times to start it before going to office. Because it's a Royal Enfield Bullet and starting it is an art. For those boys' age, starting it, and that too without a key was just impossible.
I lie down on a rock. The boys wait for me and then walk away. Now there's no human in sight. I feel like the King of the world from the cliff. I lie down and try to be at peace. But the heat is building up. It’s burning hot. The sun isn't shining, but it's very humid and the rocks on the cliff are radiating heat. After being here for about half an hour, I don't feel like sitting there. I start descending the cliff. I am halfway down and I hear some voices from the top of the cliff. I look up and see those 4 boys above. They ask me to come up in an authoritative tone. I reply back, I'm getting down and if you want to talk, better you get down. The boys follow me down. I walk towards my bike and one of them asks, what were you doing? I say, I was photographing. He says, you could have done that from below. Why did you climb? I say, I wanted a better view from the top. Other boy says, We dont believe you. I ask why? They say, we are in doubt. I say, what doubt? One of them says, you might have planted a bomb there. I laugh aloud. I reply, yes, I did, go and search for the bomb on the top of the cliff. One of them says, tell us where you have put it and then, we'll search. I say, how does it matter if I plant a bomb on the top of the cliff? No one stays there. the boys murmur something.
As I guessed, the bike's tire wasn't burst. I hop on to my bike and one of the boys says, you said, you've photographed. Then, show the proof. I show a few snaps on my cell phone. I try to snap them but my battery shows low and one of the boy blocks my lens and says, don’t snap us. I ask why? He says, you might use this snap to do any harm to us. I just laugh to myself, kick start my bike and say, if any one of you wants to come with me, I can drop at your place. One of the boys sits on the pillion seat. I ride away. The other boys run behind my bike. I drop the boy outside a training centre where welding and other such technical stuff is taught. I see that there are many boys of their age outside the center. The boy gets off. The other 3 also reach. And as I ride away, one of them shouts and I stop and look back. He signals his hand in an authoritative manner asking me to come back, as if I'm to give him some explanation. I signal back, you come here, and drive away.
After 40 minutes of driving, I reach a big restaurant on the hi-way. I have a North Indian lunch there and a pineapple shake while reading a bike magazine, which was in my bag.
After that, I drive fron an hour to reach this Internet cafe, a few miles away from my home and get registered on mouthshut.com and am writing this post for all of you.
The time now is 8 PM. So, you have been with me since the past 14 hours of my life.
How did you feel? Did you notice the kind of insecurity the boys had? The kind of apprehensions? This is how our society has brought them up. Distrust. This what what they've learnt. Their mind is so negative that whom ever they see, the first impression they draw is of doubt and a possibility of harm to themselves. Selfishness. This is what our parents teach us. First help yourself. Then, help others. And every other being might be a harm to you. So, first become defensive and if needed, offensive.
I feel, the route cause of all this is lack of proper education. Education doesn't mean reading books. I mean moral education. That should start from home. Education means building of character.
What do you feel? I'd love to see your comments on this.
Take care guys and girls.
Love,
D.Vijay Krishna.
