Shatter-Proof

It is said, that once just once you see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes you cross it .....sometimes you don’t, but the realization of the fragility of life, hits you hard............ pretty hard........... at that instant.

Yesterday night, it was pretty late. I had spend the whole day filling one detailed vendor registration form( a  9 page document), for a global OEM.Their representative had come in , and my boss and him were at it the whole day, I had filled something and he had to review it and bosses................. never have time.............. but they have deadlines :)

 

White skinned people believe in light lunches, ( a grilled sandwich, alas!) , and I am not a huge fan of these kind of lunches so hunger was predominant .On top if it the realization that if I delay by some more minutes all I would have was leftovers.

Hence the need for speed and one obliging machine at hand,(और ..........बजरंज बली का स्मरण!!) .

I reached outer ring road in about 3 minutes…(yep I timed it).This place is my favorite, cause there is one long stretch of nice tar and all............ want to race! 

Cab drivers cannot accept the fact that someone can be madder than them. So one guy was honking all the way trying to catch up with me.He managed it too, however, I always squeezed in between some gaps not good enough for 4 wheels.

 I caught his eyes and they were determined to get ahead. 

Madness is like gravity, it just needs a little push. So I flicked the throttle and revved to 100kmph easily, zip zap and zoom, and one swerve after another.

Coming close to ISRO, there is a turn. One Volvo bus (500D) roared for a quick U turn. 

It was, it seems to me a bit late to break, from my end, nevertheless I braked hard. Rear and front, the punched and holey disc brakes screeched.

Linear momentum plus coefficient of kinetic friction began a tussle and in the midst of it my machine was unsure whether to stop or move on.

I struggled to gain control. Narrowly missing the bus, I skidded on the last part of the mad dance of physics.

The burnt rubber………….the still rolling wheels…………. and the honks all around and milling of some curious on lookers.

I was dazed.

I patted myself………no scratch…not even one………

It hit me hard then.........the fragility of life........

Why the hell was I rushing about? For one meal of two rotis and some gravy…is that what this all is about?

Why are we all rushing around?

It wasn’t the first time I had an accident miss but it was certainly the first time I had thought about life. I had always lived in moments, and each moment had been transient. I had reveled in the transience and mocked my life, jeered at others who tried to capture on to these moments without any success.

Maybe, they are right.

Maybe life is about housing loans, infrastructure bonds, EMIs, fancy cars, trophy wives and status befitting club memeberships. 

For with them at least when you die you have a reason better than 2 rotis and some gravy.

A smile flickered on my face.I stood up and surveyed the bike, there wasn’t a scratch on it either, so I guess the disc brakes really work and I had just fallen due to the sudden stop.

Revving the engine I moved on.

PS – I had fried rice that night, somehow did not like the idea of rotis : )