MY FIRST BIKE - 29-DECEMBER-2006

I was doing my internship in L&T, Ahmednagar (Nagar as it is known). My stipend was a whopping 4000/-. Five of us were staying in a 1BHK flat, 3-4km away from the company. We generally take a short cut by walk, covering almost 3km to office. Of which around 1km on the way was through an isolated land. To add to our woes we had shifts. First shift was manageable. But second shift used to end at 11:30pm. Four of us used to be in the same shift, so we used to talk and walk.

Later two among us started picking up lifts from senior workers. Dilip and myself stuck to walking. Not to keep ourselves physically fit. We were so thin and lean those days.(It had nothing to do with our poverty;) However we had set our eyes on bigger gains by that walk, and that was a new bike. Those days I used to call up Mom after 11:30. Explaining her about my struggles and convince her the requirement of  a bike. Sometimes even making her listen to the barking dogs. Also used to remind her of the promise she had made.

A small flashback. It was the one month study leave before 10th Board exams. As a student who never scored distinction marks after say 5th Std, she was looking for some offer to motivate me. The offer finally came in the form of a bike. Conditions applied

* Score distinction in board exam.

** Take a driving license.

As is the case with any offer.

That offer did wonders,I must confess. To every one's surprise I managed a distinction. Now I had to wait till I get a license. But have actually forgotten about the offer, until I was in Nagar and was struggling to commute. Another reason I never bothered about the offer must be my 12th marks.

Finally she agreed to buy me a bike. Now I had to meet the second condition. We went to a license agent. He charged us 500/- I guess. It was a huge amount for us. Mom didn't sponsor the license though, may be expecting me to drop the plan. We managed the amount. Could not afford driving classes nor did I know riding. Another roommate had a Pulsar, it was a huge bike for my size to learn riding. But took a risk and had couple of sessions of practice.

Riding it to follow shape of 8 was very difficult with such a heavy bike. Hence on the day of test I asked the agent to provide a smaller bike. He asked of an additional 50/- for using his bike, a TVS Victor. My friend Arun had test before me. It was a cake walk for him, who used to riding since childhood. When my name was called I started the bike. Exactly in front of the Inspector I put my leg on the ground. Disappointed I looked at the inspector. Realizing he had just finished his documentation for Arun, 'Shall I start?' I asked. Luckily there was no more hiccups. I cleared my licence test.

Following weekend (used to be Thursday for us, due to load shedding) we went to the Bajaj and Hero Honda showrooms. Discover and Unicorn were short-listed.  I was so low on confidence that I made Dilip take the test ride. He was very impressed with the Unicorn. Approximate price of Unicorn were 50000/- and 54000/- for without and with disc brakes respectively. For Discover it was 47000/- and 50000/- without and with self start respectively. Maximum allotted budget was 50000/-. So the choice were clear cut. Unicorn being a taller bike was finally ruled out. Following Wednesday money was in my account. Maximum withdrawal limit was 15000 or 20000, which we never new. In fact we never had such huge amounts in our accounts. So had to postpone our plans to Friday 29 - December - 2006

Friday - 29-December-2006

It was month end and most of us had empty pockets by then. Still we didn't want to postpone the buying as we were tired of walking to work. More over we had big new year plans. (If it was today I would have surely waited for new year, just for having a model year difference) On the big day after the first shift we borrowed Pulsar from our friend and directly went to Bajaj showroom. I had almost exact amount for the bike Dilip had sponsored the petrol for the first ride. Once the bill came I was shocked to see an increase of little less than 500/- on the bill from what sales person had explained us on the test drive day. When asked they told its office charges for registration. We had a quarrel and told that we would cancel the buying all together in that case.(actual reason was we dint have that money with us) Finally the salesman talked to them and convinced to make it 200/-. Dilip had exactly 200/- and my dream has come true.

I dint want to ride the new bike through jam packed Nagar traffic. But Dilip insisted me and he promised to pilot me in Pulsar. Exactly in a thick traffic area my brand new bike had come to a halt. Dilip went little further and not seeing me through his rear view mirror had returned. After few attempts to start we realized we have ran out of petrol. After parking both the bikes by the roadside Dilip went in search of a bottle. We drained petrol from Pulsar in to new Discover. Both had just enough petrol to reach home. On reaching home we borrowed some money from Kaku. (Aunt running a mess at her house, from where we had our food and paid on monthly basis). Hence we could manage to pick our friends after the second shift.

Saturday - 30-December-2006

Few of our friends were in Pune, they had weekend on Saturday. They came to Nagar to celebrate the new year as we had work on Saturday. They were in Nagar for the first time. Seeing the desert that Nagar was (hope the condition has improved by now) we revised our celebration plans. After the morning shift we started our journey to Pune. We were 10 on 5 bikes. I could not participate in the race as a maximum speed of 50km till the first service was advised by the dealer. I rode pillion to Dilip on my bike. As we neared Pune we saw our friends waiting for us. We were happy that our friends were concerned about us.

Only once we reached them we realized that Nideesh was bleeding his nose and Bijupal had two front teeth broken. When inquired they told they had a small skid. We resumed our journey. In a few minutes our good friends disappeared. A few more minutes later 2 cops on a Pulsar stopped us asking for the documents. We had everything except RC book. The vehicle was not even registered. We tried to explain him with the bill. They went on and on in Marathi. Suddenly one of them pulled out the key and asked me to get behind the other Police man. When Dilip explained he was riding my bike, he was asked to pillion the Police in the Pulsar. I was pillion to the other police on my bike.

It was around 11 pm. Before we realizing what was happening they both rode on exactly opposite directions. It is not so often in life that you come across such incidents. He stopped the bike in an isolated area and asked me for money. Here we were being looted by the people who were paid to protect us. There was nothing much we could do. I was very scared, anything could happen. He was asking me not to worry and promised to drop me back at the same place along with Dilip. He took away what ever amount I had (which was remaining of the borrowed amount from Kaku) and Dilip too had similar plight. Luckily we were dropped back and safe. But our big new year celebrations had already been hit by short funds.

Sunday - 31-December-2006

Our Pune friends however arranged a low budget party at their friend's place. It was an isolated two floor house. By the time we reached their place the party had begun and loud music was playing. Loud talks and laughs could be heard outside. When we knocked the door one guy came running to invite us inside. As soon as he saw us there was a noticeable change in his face expression. However he invited all of us inside and asked us to join the fun. Strangely the most active two among us (Nideesh and Bijupal) were sitting in a corner. They seemed like attending a funeral. Total ambiance and atmosphere took a hit too. We were waiting for 12am, which seemed like a long wait.

Monday - 01-January-2007

We had to join work in second shift. We left Pune at around 1am. Through out the journey I was wondering what was the reason behind the silence. We reached home safe and slept. That day after dinner from the company we sat down for the usual discussions. Finally Bijupal explained what happened that night and why they were so sad the moment they entered the party.

They were all racing lead by Nideesh. They used to take big lead and then waited for others to reach them. Again they would race ahead and repeat the same. Once rest of them reached them they were bleeding. Each time they raced away they were overtaking a car without noticing that. The car overtook, blocked them got down and BANG!!! (TAMAAR PATAAR)

"How do you feel when those same guys invite you for a new year party at their place?"

Disclaimer: All characters in this story except me are just imaginary! ;)