Escape!

It’s been quite a while since I have gone on a meaningful ride. It’s the daily drag to the office and back in Chennai’s stupid choking traffic. I was supposed to leave for home last night by bus, but I decided to ride home like in the old days in college.

When I travel on work, preparing for the trip is brusquer and to the point. You take the bare essentials. You need no back up. Trains don’t breakdown generally! If a bus breaks down, you get onto another bus and head onwards. You take your shaving kit, your chargers, your underwear and anything else can be found wherever you go. It takes 15 minutes, maximum.

When you are going to ride to someplace, or even drive down in a car, things are certainly different. You have to get the tools, fit the luggage boxes, pack things in such a way that they fit in to the carriers. Pack your laptop so that it won’t break. Find a good rope, and fasten your stuff so that the duffel bag doesn’t fall off, and the rope doesn’t get into the wheels. You work out the route, grab a good map and memorize the distances and landmarks. Your favorite pair of jeans has to be washed and ready. Your glove must be findable. Your windcheater must not smell of moths. Your bandana must not be lost from the last trip. Your gloves must be searched. The spare bulbs, cables and oils have to be remembered and packed suitably. It gets hectic the previous evening.

It feels like preparing for an important event. Like you are going to an interview and want to make sure you turn up in your best clothes and charms. It’s almost similar to such an event. Only this time, you turn off your mobile, sit on your saddle and do some real riding. You are not making an impression on anybody, not pleasing anybody to get something. Your machine is the only thing that will listen to you, and it will decide your fate and you it’s. Then it is the open highway, racing and fun and some peace. Escape!