A Motorcycle Diary...

The Cast:
KK, Thari, Me & a Hero Honda Passion bike

Location:
Different parts of Calicut...

I am not sure who had this idea first. Was it Thari or was it me?

What about kk? Oh... all his ideas would be of this sort...

Anyway the idea of going somewhere in the bike early in the morning after the 4:00 am food had gripped us so much that we weren't caring anything at all. Not even the sleep we had been missing for the previous two nights.

The hill near the city was the destination. We wanted to see the sunrise from there.... with a 360 degree view of Calicut. I had never been there before, Thari a couple of times. KK discovered this place long way back... in his school days. i'm sure he has made many a friend of his a fan of this quiet hill and the panoramic view it offers.

We started by 5:40 AM. Mission One: To get some petrol for the bike. It was as dry as anything u can think of. The 100 ml of fuel we had with us in a bottle hardly made us get to the corps. We were actually praying for the shop to be open. The first light of the day was yet to come and the place was all lonely but for one person. He guided us to a small chicken shop that i had never seen there before. We got a litre of petrol...probably more than that.

The bike which had finished its last drop of fuel by that time breathed a new life. We too.

It was cold. The characteristic coldness of NITC mornings (hmm... as though i've seen many ;). I really enjoy the feelng of early morning breeze rushing past my face. Be it on the train or bus on the journeys home and back, be it on a bike - like today. The view of the mist hanging over the grounds in the cool moonlight was the first breathtaking view. The lonely street made me forget the concern that the bike had no horn. We doing a pretty good speed.

Mission Two: Reach the hill before sunrise. Halfway through, signs of the morning came. then we knew: impossible. But the morning view of some beautiful place i had seen only in pics (kk again..) was still tempting. People and vehicles began to appear. The medicos was as busy as ever. Another reason why i didn't want to be a doctor ;). KK rode thru some unknown paths, climbed up some steep curves and lo !! we were there.

Calicut, with a beautiful mist hanging over it was all ours. Hills , with a few small buildings peeping out of the greenery on one side, the city buildings on the other. A school on top of the hill. We were excited. Sleep on one side. The freshness of the morning on the other. How i wanted to lie down there and spend a night there!

Thariq pointed out the overlapping of hills - as though there is a zig-zag way along their valleys that go to some distant land.

Time was short. We had to be in college by 7 o' clock. When we were walking down to the bike, i knew one thing.... that i would be back.... back to this enchanting place. Thari spoke of Thusharagiri.. another of my this_semester_destinations list.

I have been in Calicut for three years. But i had never been inside the medicos campus. So when kk suggested that we could go inside, i was all for it. It was different inside. The crowd in front of the gate thins away in the sheer size of the campus. Its beautiful - i have to admit.

I took over the bike from kk from there. Another one of my dreams. To ride a motorcycle on the city - college road. I enjoyed it. The curvy path with almost zero traffic and the picturesque 'hillscape' had always tempted the driver in me.

It was a nice ride. We had to stop a couple of times for refuelling though. Thari sandwitched between kk and me, all of us thinking loudly of places and things that we love, fond memories we cherish, moving through curves and past other vehicles, breathing the cold morning air.......

We were back by quarter past seven. The college was still sleeping. Lazy in a cold sunday morning. Little did anyone else know of the small escapade we had.

Within a few minutes i slept. Slept till 2:30 in the afternoon.

So much for a motorcycle adventure.