It’s after a while that I am leaving this late from the office. There is no one at home; Divya and mom went to home back in Kerala for a couple of weeks. So even if I reach early, there is nothing much to do there. So, better than spending time in front of Jio Hotstar to watch the remaining episodes of Tracker, I thought of staying late at the office. Finally, close to midnight, I decided to go. Hardly there were many people in the parking lot. A couple of cab guys were sitting in their cars; headsets plugged in — might be watching YouTube Shorts. One of the side effects of liberalizing data traffic when Jio was launched was YouTube, Instagram, etc., becoming accessible to everyone. No more buffering. The invention of infinite scroll only made the addiction worse. Well, I am also a victim here!!!
Leaving them behind, my scooter left the office main gate and ventured onto the public road. Hardly any vehicles were there — just a couple of cabs stopped on the sides and water tankers. Water tankers are prominent on most inner roads of Bangalore; many areas of the city depend on the water arriving in these vehicles.
This time, I decided to focus fully on the road and bring my mind to the details around. The mind is like a horse without reins — it goes in whatever direction it wants. This time, I deliberately focused on the road. On the sides, there were a couple of Swiggy and Zomato drivers waiting for their next call. Opposite, a couple of cars came and went, many using high beams. This is one of the problems in driving at night. People, especially the ones driving private vehicles, always use high beams at night regardless of whether someone is coming from the opposite direction. Nowadays, even stock high-beam lights are very powerful. In many cases, they replace them with brighter bulbs and make it very hard for people coming from the opposite direction. Even after they pass, your eyes get blinded for a few seconds. Previously, people driving yellow-board and commercial vehicles were better — they used to dim the lights. Nowadays, even yellow-board cabs are no better.
These roads have a lot of stray dogs. More than anything, these stray dogs are a problem while riding bikes at night. One can't say when they will suddenly jump in front of you. This time, one dog was rolling left and right on the road, probably to scratch an itch on its back. Light from the headlight brightened its eyes.
Soon, I entered a busier road and increased the speed slightly to match the pace of other vehicles. While traveling on roads, it’s better not to go too fast or too slow; as Buddha said, the middle way is better. Going too slow or too fast creates problems for fellow vehicles. Slightly ahead, one biker was drawing sine waves on one side of the road!!! I soon overtook him — it looked like he had put his phone on speaker and was holding it in one hand, controlling the bike with the other.
I was already going slow, and in front of me, there was a bike going much slower. I’ve often noticed that unmarried couples go slower compared to married ones. Probably they are more romantic and have more things to say to each other? Both groups go much slower compared to single guys (or when both rider and pillion are guys)!! This is my observation; it’s possible that your observation is slightly different. Let me know.
One problem while riding bikes on Indian roads with the visor open is the amount of dust. There is so much dust in the air that it kills the enthusiasm. I often prefer to ride after a slight rain, as the dust will settle for a while and Bangalore roads are not submerged in water. Soon, I reached home, and the date on the calendar had changed.
Sajeev
Great
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