First date with the beast..

musta been one of the most prettiest afternoons, admist one of the infamous Delhi summers on a boiling day, in the month of June'03.

i was unusually restless and excited for a hot dry afternoon. i had a date!!

a hot date at that! a date with the she- devil 'herself'.! the world, to as far as the eye could see around, was drooped in an envelope of drugged slumber.

But i had Plans.! :D

plans to raise the ambient temperature around. plans to disrupt the calm! coz like i said.. i had a Date!!

a date with the Beast.!

i stared at the watch and saw the seconds hand, more or less tick each second on the dial until it was 9am. i was waiting. Waiting for the dude who was to ride in the beast.

i tried but failed to keep myself at home. I went outside and sat in the appartment's garage and peeped at the gate through trees and clotheslines, imagining what she would look like coming in from there. what she would sound like, before she would actually come into sight..
i sat and peeped at the gate, for a good three hours, before the tall dark mallu dude, made his 'running-late' presence 'Heard' from a distance.

nobody but me, was prepared for what was due for the arriving. The first 'casualty' was the appartment gatekeeper, who gawked in an obviously uninformed stare at the gleaming blur of chrome on metal floating in wickedly fast against a backdrop of visible mirage shimmers on the tarmac.

the 'noise disturbance' grew increasingly louder and grumpier, as i sat there, my gaze fixed at the appt's gate expecting to see a hunk of streneous gleaming metal, move into view anytime now.

Prakash, the 'devil's advocate' rode in to the summer slumber on the 'Chrome-on-Royal Blue' 185 kilo beast, with a sonic boom in tail, to qualify for a mini- 'Boeing 747'!!

the deep throated twin cylinder twin exhaust gargle had a highly menacing tinge to it. the sound a mix of 'go Fuck yourself' with bits of 'whatever!!' and 'whatcha starin at?.. punk?!'..!

even from a distance it looked menacingly mean and 'down-to-business'. a sort of machine that makes it weight in kilos weigh on your heart and give you an ache from a distance. All of 185 Kilos! makin it the heaviest bike in india. a dense lump o hunk that dont wanna even let air pass by.

the loud holler settled into a 'civilised-beast' burble, as prakash pulled into the parking lot, complete with
half face helmet and dark shades to effect. he jerked the bike over the main stand with one clean 'educated' tug, and the 185 kilos of twisted metal and chrome slumped into a serene composure as he turned the handle away and turned the handle lock.

11:40 on the gate watch, as i walked up to the resting beast, my gaze fixed and unfazed through glares of sun shining off the oodles of crome that lace the bike.

i walked over and settled into a handshake with the big man, as he took off his riding gloves and acknowledged my over-excitement with a amused Smile.! my eyes still set at the resting beast, i think i saw it lift an eyelid, look me in the eye and say..." what?!! .. yu wanna say somethin' kid?!", and i looked back and towards the man of the hour, Prakash!

"Hey Prakash! how are ya?", i said.

"Im Good Man.. yu say.!?.. all excited, eh?!.." he replied.

'You sure know how to keep a dude waiting, when you so shouldnt Prakash!!".. i complained as i turned and glanced at the beast once more. Prakash dissolved into a hearty laughter, as he put his hand across my shoulder and started to walk towards something that looked like a place to sit.!

"i know whatcha mean.. HahHahaha.. " he went.. as i walked along smiling, though hardly amused!

we spent the next hour sitting and exchaning notes! Yamaha-Man to Yamaha-Man. i told him all about my Yamaha RX135 [the RD350's lil sister] and how i had gone about modifying it into a senseless wheelie-poppin-drag racing monster!

then we moved to the 'Induction' part. i had had no qualms in admitting to prakash, that i was a novice vis-a-vis the 350! i had done so, so that he'd lay the whole deal on me nice and easy. coz i needed that.

we walked around the corner and onto the road where the beast was still restin, its face the other way, like as to say it didnt give no fuck for nobody. like it couldnt care less two 'humans' were approaching too near for comfort. we both walked down the road to the 350, silently with no words for each other. I walked down staring at the beast, like a rookie at the barn gate of a Rodeo Ring, trying to imagine the nuances of the 'Huge Responsibility' that i was soon going to accept. While prakash walked along side, trying to steal one last glance at the bike that he had held closer to his heart, than anything else in life, and nurtured and cared for, like a father to son. Like a doting lover to his sweetheart. The bike he had ridden for 10 years!

Near the end of the road our eyes met as we smiled at each other. Smiles, trying real hard to hide the deep emotions in turmoil inside. Me probably too embarassed to acknowledge i was nervous about this, and he too averse to admit how hurt he was to give it away.

but he was glad it was being sold to someone with an equal if not greater passion for bikes. he knew she'd be cared for and loved. Pampered like she always was. just all the same. It was like looking for the unreasonable solace a lost lover looks into losing his/her love of life to someone else.

we stood next to the bike as he handed me the rusted weathered small key to the beast. Ironic little key to the big powerful beast. No plastic, No Rubber, no fancy prints! just a washed out faded grey small key.

'Take a ride! see how it is.." said Prakash, as he leant forward and turned some switches on and off and turned a few cockscrews to 'Activate' the bike or something, coz it sure looked like cockpit consoles to an airplane at that time to me.!

i swung a leg over as i tried to saddle the wide seat of the low-slung hunk-a-tunk Yamaha RD350, and reached for the handlebars and took a firm grip. i calmed the adrenalin rush and flicked the kick and took a firm heave down.! VhRoooOOom..burble.burble.burble.burble ..! Damn !Bang! went the silent slumber again, as the mighty 350 kicked back to like, and the twin smokers started to spit blue-white smoke along with angry sputtering blurbs that