A policeman’s wish on the eve of deepavali

It happened two days before deepavali. It was 8’o clock in the evening. I was in a gym to get my bmi checked. The front desk executive was busy with another appointment (he was talking to one of our college faculty who was getting enrolled for weight loss program). Sitting next to me I the lounge was a traffic police. I don’t know for what reason but I just felt like that I should talk to him. I gave a smile and asked how festival preparation is going on. The reply what I got was not the usual one. Like everyone would say,” not so grand and all. Just a usual festival celebration”.

He said,” We can have a peaceful festival if only the people around us be careful and obey the traffic rules”. I was surprised to hear such a reply. He continued,” how heart breaking it is to hear about some accidents caused because of the impatience of the drivers when we are celebrating festival with our family. Today people cannot even wait for meager 120 sec on the traffic signal. When they are caught evading a red signal they say they are too busy with some urgent work and they could not wait for so long for the signal to turn green. What they don’t realize is the agony which they have to go through if something unfortunate happens. Not just them but their entire family suffers because of a wrong judgment. Same goes with these teenagers for who evading traffic rules is a show of guts”. He went on to tell me about two boys who rode and had banged car earlier that day,” what festival will it be for their parents who would have bought the bike for their sons comfort but ended up crippling them. And it is such a bad fate of ours that we have to see all these things through our naked eyes. That’s why I told if only people behave a little more responsibly; it will be a great deepavali for us too”.

Many of us feel that police are so harsh and rude. I guess they are made like that because of the things that they see or have to go through.

After listening to all this I rode back home at a safe 40 km/hour.

ಮೈಸೂರು ದಸರಾ ಎಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಸುಂದರ......

 Ten days of grandeur. These ten days the mysore is at its peak of every activity. The entire city gets make over. Anywhere you look there are glittering buildings with lights all over. I was too mesmerized and regretted a little for the fact that after three years of my stay in mysore I have come. I didn’t brood too much about how much I have lost by not attending last two years of dasara celebration. The feeling would have been suicidal. The palace looked like dulhan and iam sure there is no match for this scenery. Years of grandeur and pomp coming alive in front of your eyes. You will feel that you are lost in a sea of faces. Palace- the majestic edifice standing with all authority telling stories of struggle, victory, celebration, gratitude and pomp of the past.

 

People from all different walks of life from all across the country come to witness this ten days of eye catching celebration. It brings about all the relatives spread apart together at his season of this year.

One can see DD urs road, 100 feet road, suburb bus stand road, Irwin road and all the major roads drenched in the golden yellow lights given out by the serial lightings. These lightings looks as though an enormous roof whose ceiling is full of lights. No one can miss the makeover and the repair work happening on almost curb and the pavements around the city centre. There is so much happening around in these ten days, one will definitely feel a need of a time teaser(for novice who don’t know what it is, it’s an abstract hypothetical electronic machine which can freeze time at ones will and wish)

                              

    

 If you ever lose your friend in the crowd and if both of you don’t have cellphones then I must say God help you!!!

You wont just find a family but can spot an entire family tree from the grand parents to their grand children, kith and kin.

It’s a saga which comes year after year with its news spreading far and wider than the previous year.

I cannot recall any other instance where I have spotted so many people in one place.

The one word which comes to your mind when you hear dasara is GRAND.

You can see parents having lifted their restrictions on their expenditure and buying theirs kids everything their little fingers and greedy innocent eyes point at. The men become the king of the family proudly making way and guarding the family at his back. Women showing off their their new collection of jewellery and best of the sarees in their collection and at the same time keeping a close watch on her kids. Boys trying to spot the most pretty girl I the crowd to comment on. The girls apparently looking bugged, irritated by th piercing glances of the bystanders and enjoying the company of their entourage.

One can see almost every traffic rule evaded. Especially the rule: a two wheeler should carry only two passengers. During dasara there will be minimum three. I spotted a family of four on a splendor piercing its way through the traffic.

I guess its during dasara the police and the NCC gets exercised the most, more the rest of the year put together. A local mysorian can see barricades and road dividers to have appeared from nowhere.

I thank those police and the NCC cadets for the arduous task they carry out.

Iam sure almost every hotelier and businessmen in the city everyday will smile his way to the bank. Reason-  swelled up pockets.

The entire city lives as though it lived the rest of the year just to witness these ten days.

Life at 100Kmph

The battery was gone. I had to kick start the engine. The engine came to life. Raised the throttle. Engine revving the gun silencer of the bike made an enormous hissing sound. Sound made the kids around me move away from their game of cricket on the road and fix their eyes on the beast with two wheels.

In a very thoughtful movement my left leg pushed the gear lever down and in that moment my body was armed with a power of 225cc engine. Even though the bike was two year old, the bike showed off remarkable robustness. With all the skill mastered by years of riding experience, I released the clutch simultaneously increasing the throttle. The bike galloped for about 2 meters and involuntarily my left foot made an upward move. With a split second precision the clutch engaged, throttle lowered, gear shifted, clutch released, throttle raised. And as if there was no time to waste, as soon as the needle pointed 6x1000 rpm the gear shifted. The bike transformed itself to a lightning bolt hissing all its way. In less than 6 seconds the bike was zooming at 80kmph. Soon as I reached the straight stretch of road right in front of my college the bike was ripping at 100kmph. At this speed all the convulsions, confusions in the mind seemed to vanish. The mind became pellucid as if it never were, as though I was born few seconds before. There is no room for dilemma in the mind.

At this breakneck speed mind thought faster and deeper than it ever did. Every doubt getting thrashed in side the walls of the mind, the dark grey clouds of the distress getting cleared and giving a view of a pellucid conscience. Every thought rejuvenating, mind rejoicing. The hawk eye turned, relaying the optical signals to brain at its most efficient speed, on a lookout for any possible obstruction. The palm suddenly became sweaty. The wind cheated and I was wearing, flapping against the wind. Eyes did not dare even for a nano second blink, gauging the entire of stretch of road ahead in a flash. The face pretended to maintain the reserve and poise. Every nerve, every muscle was on red alert to dodge any obstacle. One could feel the rise in the mercury inside the helmet coz of the increased pumping of the blood. The ear pinnate grew red, scalp sweat. Nose tip grew cold. Every bone clamped to each other maintaining a posture to pierce through the wind. Entire body was warm with hot blood gushing in its veins. Heart thumped faster with every little movement in the speedometer needle rightwards, the heart beats resonated with the silencer sound. In no time, as if you have apparated from the start to the end of the road, you find yourself gazing at the end of the road. Without even a conscious effort the left hands engaged with the clutch while the right hands deployed the disc break, the left leg worked the gear lever, the right leg stamped the rear break pedal. And suddenly you find that its not the end of the road, its just a bend in the road. The body swaying itself to bend the vehicle to the required angle to keep myself from falling, straightening up I see one more stretch of road. And I went again gears shifting throttle raising. The life at its best, the life at 100kmph.