It was July 5, 2002. I got up at around 11 AM after a wonderful night’s sleep. It was a bright sunny day. My mom had already boiled hot water for my bath, and the breakfast was waiting there to be eaten. Wow!! Life can’t be better. How I wished I had a vacation for 365 days.

After a mini Elton John concert and my bath, I sat to eat those little idlies that my mom had prepared. Their surface had dried up slightly, but not to blame my mom coz she had made them fresh for the 6 O’clock ‘rise and shine boy’. I went over the newspaper….’Some More ministers to be shuffled…’. I think the bookies can actively get involved here. After some paper reading, I surfed through the TV channels a couple of time. I have 140 channels. Looks like these programs are designed for non-earthly creatures. That doesn’t imply ‘Heavenly’, but everything else.

Since young, I have had this craze for long bike rides. I took my, Hero Honda CD100 SS 1995 not serviced for a year and with a wobbling back wheel, bike and set forth for one more ride. I sure wouldn’t forget my helmet.  It was 2 in the afternoon. The sun was hitting me, and I hit the road.

Here I am, like the Agni missile without the FORTRAN program – fully fueled and charged but don’t know where I am heading. I drove for around 15 Kms. I dropped into my friend’s office to inquire if he would be interested to accompany me to the ‘Destination Unknown’. Lucky him! He was away from his seat.

Then I kept riding for another 20Km. And then I remembered a friend who works around there. I wish I had his job. He rides a 50 Km trip every day of the year. Well, how about checking if he wants to be my pillion. So I did. But, he was getting ready for a much bigger one. He has got his US visa. He is flying to Chicago next week. And like all the other IT guys, he too works for 16 hours a day. They call it a 24X24 work cycle for the US economy. When are we going to talk about a 24X24 for the Indian economy? Looks like in 2424 AD! Or maybe worse in 2424 BD, whatever that means! So it was me alone!!

Mama always says ‘Have a sheer desire to get ahead’. So I did… ‘started to drive again. By this time I had landed onto the Mysore road. The destination became obvious. Here I am... ‘cruising at 80 KMPH to MYSORE. The Bangalore-Mysore road is a wonderful stretch. One of the few roads that you can afford to forget your mobile on your back seat, and still find it in the same place at your destination. Did I exaggerate?

I have this amazing feeling every time I hit the highway. I can feel the freedom in my nerves. It is a unique feeling, hard to describe. Cruising past the struggling trucks at 80 Kmph, you can feel the wind gushing into your helmet and pleading you to cut through it harder. The heat on the rubber tyres wanting to turn the roads even darker... And the whole stretch of road bows humbly in front of you accepting defeat. Every pothole is hit hard for what it is, and when the bike is in the air, the whole world is only a ball of dust afraid you would hit back hard on it again. The engine roars as if there are no points for the second best. And on the back of my mind I have this Top Gun soundtrack – Danger Zone playing at 3000 Watts surround sound –

“Revvin' up your engine
Listen to her howlin' roar
Metal under tension
Beggin' you to touch and go
Highway to the Danger Zone
Ride into the Danger Zone

Headin' into twilight
Spreadin' out her wings tonight
She got you jumpin' off the track
And shovin' into overdrive

Highway to the Danger Zone
I'll take you
Right into the Danger Zone”

It really doesn’t matter much where this road is taking me to, as long as I can keep this feeling running. I rode continuously for two hours. I rode and rode. As I zoom past, I can see the dust and smoke (a part of which is bad emission) in my rear mirror, as if the king has left his footmark claiming his territory. It’s like a video game. It is you against the whole world. Nobody else knows they are a part of this game. But they are being played like puppets. And when their role is over, they are nobody…

After sometime, I decided to give the hot wheels some rest. I pulled over to a roadside restaurant. As I walked into the restaurant with the helmet under my arms, I felt like Neil Armstrong returning from a space exploration. After a small snack, Mysore was the next stop.

It was 7 PM when I reached Mysore. This is my third trip to Mysore. I don’t remember much about my previous visits as it has been a long time. I strolled in my bike through the streets for about half-an-hour. I decided to pull into another hotel for coffee. As I was drinking coffee I was also trying to plan the next steps. The end result, I had only one bullet point – ‘Ride back to Bangalore’. Well, then I need to start immediately. I need 4 hours to reach home as I live in an interior part in Bangalore.

I was on my foot. I got directions to head back and took to the road again. As I was riding back I drove in front of the amazing Mysore Palace. It was a breath taking moment. Krishna Raja Wodeyar IV had rebuilt this palace in 1911 after it was destroyed in a fire accident.

I took to the Bangalore highway. Now the story was different. The roads were pitch dark, and every time a truck passed in the opposite direction it was only ‘Guess driving’, a guess that the road might be beneath the wheels. It was a real scary ride. The music had stopped. The roar had ended. All I wanted was reach back home alive. Most of the time, I tagged on to the slow moving trucks or vans, whom I called ‘Big brothers’. They guide you slowly through this unknown land, and they exactly know when to slow and when to speed. I modestly followed these big brothers footprints as if they were my guiding angels. Well, they did a good job. They reached me safely in Bangalore. Once inside Bangalore, I was the king again… And there it went...boom...3000 watts music…the roar. What Big brothers?? Who??

Since noon, I rode continuously for 8 hours. My coccyx is no more a vestigial organ. I think the tail has started to grow. My hands have rough blisters. My eyes are blood red. And I am soaked up in dust.

But will I do it again? YES.

When I returned home my mom asked me where I had been for so long.

“To visit my old friend’s home” I said. My mom shot back suspiciously – “Where?”.

I said “Mysore”, and she said “Where?”, and then in a suppressed voice I said “road”. “Mysore Road”. That seemed convincing.

 “Which friend?” my mom enquired

 I said “Krishna Raju - Old Yaar”.

“Does he work with you” she continued…

“No he is a good old friend of mine. My…uh…my….history lecturer’s…uhh..FRIEND”.

As I sat in my room with the lights turned off, I was thinking to myself, why did I do all this? What was I thinking? Why was I riding like crazy? Knock Knock, no response. The mind has gone into a suspend mode. The only emotion I had was a naughty smile in my face…

Maybe I did this for ‘World Peace’. Wow, that sounds good. Yeah! Yeah! That was for world peace!! Adventure in Reality!!!

                             - By Lokesh R