Down the road

I was wondering just now about what the perfect ride would be. I was having a smoke and the tv was mute, playing some oddball commercial or the other, and I got ponderous. I was thinking about the vacation I want to take when I get back home, and where I want to ride to when I'm get to it. Goa ofcourse came to my mind instantly, but then I thought of Ooty. I don't know anything about the way there, how to get there, even how far it is from Pune and whether a one day journey is feasible. But the thought stuck, and the dream went deeper. The images started flowing, of beautiful and empty country sides, barren roads, with me (with an open face helmet) and on my trusted bullet.

For a second, something something seemed wrong at that time, and suddenly it was right again, because I zoomed out. The thumping became softer and there sitting behind me was Tum :).

It was leaning towards the picture painted on the back cover of "Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance":

"You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness." - Robert M. Pirsig

It's a beautiful vision. I don't want to spoil it. But I can feel it coming. The grownupness... the details... the what ifs... ticking off the inventory in my mind as I'm riding... It is difficult to explain, but dreaming requires a "lesser mind, or rather a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection" :). And the dream starts drying up before my eyes. Its like watching time delayed photography of autumn. How the leaves fall off and everything becomes barren... How long does the reddishness last? That's exactly how I feel.

For some time.

I don't know when I'll have this dream again, but I hope it lasts longer. I remember the time, very long ago (before I graduated), my one ambition was to tour India on a Bullet. I'd figured I'd be able to do it by the time I'm 26. I'm almost 29 now. What I have is just as good, maybe better, but that splinter stays in my side... a constant reminder of the promise I made to myself, and my need to achieve it.

I will achieve it.