Today began as a perfectly normal day. I woke up at 9 after much poking by Bubble. Had planned to make breakfast for everyone, but didn’t wake up on time so the opportunity was lost. Anyways maybe next time, had my breakfast, did some office work, had lunch, again did some office work, slept for a while, woke up… “damn this life! have I dedicated my whole life to Motorola…now I am not going to work till 11 (have some deadlines to meet).” So, when I woke up, I decided today is the day I am going to see the sunset at the sunset point, I’ve wanted to see for so long. I took bath, got dressed and ventured out. Here is my experience from end to end of that 2 hr cycling trip.
Me: Mom I am going for cycling, today I’ll go till the round about.
Mom: don’t go there, the traffic is bad, and people will pass comment.
Me: Mom see you in a while… I am going…
So, I finally left home, not knowing that this cycling trip will teach me more about myself and my life that I had ever known.
I put on the I-Pod, listening to music, I ventured out for my trip. I’ve always done my cycling on the service lane. The service lane is always empty with rarely any vehicles coming on it and is lined with flowers all along the way. Then at the end of the service I entered the lane with a little traffic, but it is manageable, I am happy that I am doing something new, something different.
Then came the turn that changed it all. It was the point of no return. In the starting I was happy, listening to music all this while. But, then the traffic started to build up. I was cycling on the mud. Cycling was tough. Stopped in between took out my I-Pod shoved it in my pocket. “Concentrate on one thing,” I said to myself. Buses, trucks, cars, motorcycles all pushing me to the sidelines…"where do I go?? can’t even go back.” I keep moving, “I’ll find a way.” This was a 2 lane road and in that also a car had stopped in between. Now, in my mind I thought, “What the hell! How am I going to go around it?” But, then this Maruti stopped behind me and gave me some way to pass. But, now the problem was of crossing the round about which was a few meters ahead. “In this heavy traffic how the hell am I supposed to cross the road, that also on a cycle,” I said to myself. I went on “ohk, I’ll find a way.”
At the roundabout, “naah! The road is closed I can cross it form here.” I go on near the bus stand. Thinking and smiling to myself, “girl! You are in deep trouble. How are you ever going to reach back home.” I called up mom.
Me: Ma there is so much traffic, what do I do?
Mom: I had told you, not to go there. Now see this happens when you don’t listen to your parents.”
Me: I know, but give a solution.
Mom: Take an auto and come back.
Me: okay, let me see what I can do.
I saw another guy trying to cross the road. I asked him for help. He said, okay cross when I say. I waited for a while, the traffic wasn’t slowing down. I decided, “No point staying here.” I move on, I’ll find a way. I just have to cross the road. About 500mt ahead of where I was, there was a U-turn. But, again the traffic was so fast on this road, I kept think how am I going to get to the right side to the road. Keeping the thoughts aside I cycled on. Finally, I reached the U-turn. Crossed the road, when the traffic was a little light and again came to the left side of the road. “Woo Hoo! I did it!” I knew the tough part was over, I could easily manage the rest of the journey. But, there were just two more points where I had to be careful, one was where the flyover meets the road and the other was where at the round about where the road goes to the airport. “That shouldn’t be tough,” I said to myself. And it was easy, it was just waiting for the right moment to cross.
All this while, I had totally forgotten the reason why I had come so far. “Yeah! The sunset,” I remembered. I reached the point. “Damn why didn’t I bring the cycle keys. Not a problem!” Lifted the cycle on to the footpath and took it to the point. Saw the sun going down. The various shades of yellow and orange, the aircrafts taking off and the vast expanse of land. All so beautiful, the sight a delight to your eyes. It was worthe the effort put in. There were other people there too. A father and a son, a grandmother and a granddaughter, a couple, all enjoying the beautiful sight. After spending some time there, I said to myself “Time to go back.” I took the I-pod out of my pocket put it on and headed back home. First, to the road to a little traffic and then finally, in the safe waters of the service lane.
Thinking back, i feel i should go and make some dinner for everyone. :P
