Thanx girl ... !!

We always try to make friends ... try and find people who will stand by you during your rough times ... celebrate with you when you wanna make merry ... and basically be a mode of support for you throughout ... we venture out and find some of these species ... some find lots of them while some treasure a select few ... but this is with people ...

Throughout your journey in life ... there are some inanimate friends that leave an impeccable mark on you ... unknowingly ... today is the day I bow down to my beloved ... BIKE ... she turns 10 today ... Yes ... I prefer a calling my bike a SHE ... and as they say in bike parlance ... DEFINITELY FEMALE ...



I fondly remember the evening of May 24, 1999. I was watching the World Cup match between the Kiwis and the Windies ... when my Dad called out to me ... I peeped from the window and there she stood ... resplendent in Black (and Gold stripes) ... the match went out of the window (now thats quite apt) ... I ran down and couldnt believe that my Dad got me a new bike ... there was no plan as such to get a bike ... but I was not complaining ... my Mom also came down and we had performed Puja ... I drove down to my friend Aditya's place ... which was around 2 kms from my place ... and he also had a test drive ... :)

Gone were the days that I had to go to college on my sister's Sunny (believe me it was not a great sight driving into Wadias on a limping Sunny ... my Dad was humble enough to give me his Scooter every Saturday and my body language in college was completely different on Saturdays ... :P) ... a Yamaha as I always perceived it ... was ROYAL ... the sound of it ... was like music ...

It came into my life when most of my friends (and me too :P) were going through the usual nuances of puberty ... :P ... the most obvious of this phenomenon was getting attracted to the opposite sex ... :P

By my own admission ... I am (and was) mirror-cracking material (thanx to Orkut for coming up with such a fitting description for people like me) ... so getting attracted was the only thing I could afford :) ... but my friends were much better off ... they not only got attracted but also ... well ... lets leave that for another day ... ;) ... most of my friends, like me, were from a middle to lower middle class family ... having your own bike at the age of 17 was a big deal back then ... and I think it still is (though I am sure things are better now) ... so all my friends relied on my bike to ride their dates ... I mean pillion ... so it was sort of a daily routine to give away my bike to some friend in college ... then come home by bus and then stay awake late in the night for my friend to come back and give my bike back ... magic days ... and this was not limited to guys ... even my female friends took my bike away coz their boy friends didnt have a bike ... just magic ...



I always felt my bike feeling unwanted ... maybe she felt ... "why aren't you taking some one out" ... I wish I could explain to her ... :)

The inspiration to buy a Yamaha came from my Chacha ... he had a RX-100 and then a RX-Z and I always wanted a Yamaha once I drove my Chacha's bikes ... he took care of his bike like his baby ... and I followed ... we both took my bike to a "sticker" man ... one who makes flashy stickers ... and we stuck Red&Black stickers denoting "Yamaha" on my bike ... he also gave me "Bike Wax" which allows you to clean the bike in a ... well ... better way ... I did that religiously for 2-3 years but then gave up ...




I feel quite happy with myself that the first girl who sat on bike (of course when I was driving) was Amruta ...no it wasnt a date ... it was a bit accidental ... we needed to go and meet a friend of mine (happens to be her cousin) ... Nikky ... and it didnt make sense to go on separate bikes ... but it did have me jumping with joy ... my bike also felt a bit prouder than normal ... :)

It was just before the HSC results when I met with a horrible accident at night ... it was hardly 10 days before the results when Chetan and I skid off the road and went bone crashing for around 20 meters ... I was driving ... Chetan didnt have a lot of injuries but I was hurt all over ... elbows, knees, face and belly ... I almost passed out ... Aditya (who was on his bike) and Chetan brought me home ... I recovered in 2 weeks ... fortunately there were no fractures ... but the marks (right knee and left fore-arm) still show ... it was a horrible accident ... my first instinct when I skid was to check if my bike was alright ... apart from a few scratches on the indicators (that still show) and a bent leg guard ... there were no other issues ...



Around the same time ... my bike was witness to a horrendous incident ... I had given my bike to Kiran for a date ... he was going through a rough patch with his girl friend and they hadnt met for months ... and when they finally met ... it was a like a big setup by the girl's brother to sort out Kiran ... I had been witness to a lot of gang fights in Wanorie area during those days ... Kiran was cut at several places by those people ... he had promised me that he will return my bike at around 4 pm. When it was 6 pm, we started to get worried ... Chetan, Aditya, Chinna and I went to almost every place we expected Kiran to go to ... but to no avail ... finally we found him somewhere in Wanorie and his white shirt had become red ... yes it was blood ... and again ... I was curious to know what happened to my bike ... fortunately it only had blood marks ... and nothing else ... the episode that ensued after that deserves a separate post ... one of the darkest nights of my life ... I dont think its a good idea to explain why ....

Throughout its journey with me, it has undergone changes ... mainly replacements ... the speedometer has stopped functioning ... it stands at a reading of 81 K ... one of my most heartfelt desires was to see the reading at 99999 ... but alas ... it is not going to happen since its beyond repair now ... the petrol tank has been replaced once ... so has the chain ... the stickers resemble a RX-100 instead of RX-135 ... the sparking Golden font has eroded with time ... its been blackened ... the indicators dont work as they should ... the horn is a moody creature ... my bike guzzles a lot more oil ... upper and dipper are more or less the same ... driving pillion is avoided since the power has run out ... though that can be repaired ... maybe I will gift that to her on her birthday ... I changed the tyres of my bike in 2007 ...






During this time, I have progressed as a student from Wadias to Fergusson ... my bike would religiously accompany me ... and then I got a job ... it seems like eternity that my bike has been with me ... I somehow find it difficult to fathom that its only been 10 years ... in fact I have been with my bike more than anything else ... it also made a trip to Mumbai for Mood-I once ...



The evolution of the BIKE genre has also been unprecedented. Disc brakes ... single suspensions ... digital speedometers ... fuel filters ... 220-350 cc ... non circular and jazzy indicator lights ... phew. Takes your breath away isnt it? But my bike has remained the same ... its not a pity though ... it still gives me a better than decent average ... breaks down rarely ... and doesnt trouble me during monsoons and winters ... fuel rates have gone up alarmingly. I remember the first time I filled her up (this statement sounds quite weird ... I know :P) ... the rate was Rs. 31 or 33 ... its been one helluva ride ...



Here I am taking my hat off to my companion ... Happy Birthday girl ... we still have miles to go and plenty to catch up on ... Thanx a lot ... and lets go for a ride and spend time together ... and brace ourselves for the next leg of our journey ... Cheers ... !!