Gone With The Wind

May18th 2007 – the day when we decided to have a trip to Pondicherry. I always had a hidden sense of adventure in my heart which was pushing me for long now, to have a long trip on a bike. So I thought this would be the perfect occasion to quench the thirst. We planned the trip and started for Pondy on 19^th afternoon. We were a total of 7 people, 5 in a car and two on the bike. I was traveling on the bike along with my dear friend Amir. We decided that half the journey Amir would be driving and the other half, I’d be speeding through. Soon we found ourselves speeding away on the ECR (East Coast Road), which connects Pondy and Chennai. The road is a gem of an engineering work. Being as smooth & inviting as Aishwarya’s cheeks, no matter how cautious a driver you are, it sucks you in its sense of adventure and literally forces you to go full throttle.

I’ve been driving bikes & scooters for the past 7 years now, but never in my life I dared to go beyond 80. When I started driving on the busy roads of Delhi after my 12^th exams, my Dad once told me “Son, it’ll never be on busy roads that you’ll meet with an accident. Open & free runways are what lure into danger”. It was not that I always pay heed to all his words, it was only because of the restrictions posed by the mechanical state of the 1990 Suzuki bike that I never speeded beyond 80.

So as it was destined, me and Amir were piercing through the ECR at a speed of 98+ km/h with Amir at the driver’s seat. The wind was hitting hard on our faces and I was taking photographs from his N73. It was hardly an hour and a half when we were half way through and decided to take a pit stop to ease our burning asses. Now it was my turn to drive. I go onto the bike and in a matter of seconds the speedometer was reading “100”. We were cruising towards Pondy, overtaking buses, sumos, cars and other petty looking two wheelers. It was a feeling of abnormal excitement, and an unjustified sense of pride (pride of driving at 100+). It was after almost an hour when that fateful turn came. It was a steep one and somehow ignoring the basics of safe driving, I maneuvered the turn at top speed. The combination of high speed and laterally hitting wind took its toll and the bike was immediately swept off the road. We crashed and skidded at 100 kmph with my body bearing the brunt of the crash. Before I could realize what exactly had happened I felt some pain in my hand and heaviness in my head. Next I heard Amir asking me “Pratosh, r u fine?” I stood up, saw Amir and the bike lying helplessly on the ground and tried to figure out what had happened. But my dizziness didn’t allow me to stand for long and the next moment I was lying down unconscious.

The next thing I remember was a shouting Amir trying to bring me back into my senses. I got up, drank some water brought by a kind stranger and saw my profusely bleeding hand. At that very moment remembered my father’s words, “Open and free runways are what lure you into danger”. I was literally able to see through my flesh and describe precisely how the bone looked. In Amir’s words “D00d, I think you have lost some flesh”. Immediately Amir took out his N73 and made a video, interviewing me about the experience of my first accident. I was subsequently taken to a hospital in Pondy where I had a minor surgery on my right elbow. I recovered from my injuries after 3 days of hospitalization in Chennai and took a week’s off from office.

Now that my wounds have fully healed and I am planning another bike trip to Pondy, I look back at the accident and remember the lessons I have learnt the hard way. As I have repeated many times in front of my friends, it was an “overreaction to excitement”. As a passer by would have thought while seeing us tumbling on the road, we were literally “Gone with the wind”.

What crap !!!

It’s quite difficult to keep yourself patient and composed when you don’t know where you are going to put your next step. When darkness of uncertainty is all you can see lying ahead on your path. They say one is the creator of one’s own destiny, but many times in our lives, as most of us will certainly testify, our fate and destiny is shaped by decisions which others take and we have no other option than to quietly accept it. What are we supposed to do at that time? When all we can do is just waiting for what someone else decides for you.

I get to see contrasting shades in this fantastic fabric of human life. On one hand I can see careless or shall I say carefree souls, wandering about in their own sense of aloofness, in their self created world of joy, least bothered of what’s going to happen next. I call them the “Free souls”. On the other hand I see people completely dedicated, focused and determined to walk on a single path. Though honestly, I have rarely come across such people. Is it because I am bad at spotting them or is their number too less to be noticed? To be absolutely frank, I am equally attracted by either kind, although I don’t really know that to which class I belong.

Staying focused is really a tough ask. But that’s what bears fruits for you. There are times when you feel a sudden rush of adrenaline which pumps up your spirits and you think that nothing is unachievable for you. But it soon fades and you are back to your normal lazy self.

What crap am I writing? Am I thinking too much? Or am only thinking for that matter? I hate this side of mine, the philosophical one. Amir is right in telling me – “Dude, you think too much. Enjoy life as it comes” Or maybe me inner self is right in constantly whispering to me – “Man !!! Its time for you to come out of your thoughts and really do something.”