A tale of a coconut, a sublime high and quizzes...Part I

“ A feeling like this comes but once in a lifetime. A feel that you know is your last. The last light of life being snuffed out like a candle in the wind. Somehow, things that mattered a lot to me a few minutes back didn’t seem so significant anymore. All my troubles were now behind me. I must admit, I never thought dying would be so calming. As I prepared for my journey beyond, thoughts of what I was leaving behind came to my head. My loved ones came first, Mum I sympathised with her cause I was sure she would be devastated by the news......, Sanju, who would never let me end a single telephone conversation without a formal goodbye.... and then came MANAC naah thats not a loved one, not even close, Management Accounting the most dreaded subject in helL... I could never clear it now. I also thought of the child I was never going to have and the pretty girls I would never see.........I slowly started to regain my sight”.

Aah the feel of being able to write a blog again is not too far from Wills Menthol burning my lungs after a long hiatus. I am sorry if I have been sounding suicidal. The truth is far from it. I love my life too much to try and get away from it.

ITS NOW OR NEVER – Apache 150, my first motorbike. Bright Red, looks like smouldering coal in the evening sun. My reward for a great show in college. I drove the 36km to college in under 40min every day. The feel when the speedometer borders 115km/hr on an empty highway with the helmet pressed closed to my face and the air muscles filling my shirt is something that I have gotten used to. I am sure every guy would nod along when I claim that there is a certain feel whizzing along the roads with a pretty girl at the back with her arms around your neck, you are the envy of street, the Dude and at the risk of sounding cliché ‘The king of the world’.... and speed breakers, now thats a separate joy in itself.

“I don’t give surprise quizzes but my quizzes will surprise you” – Prof. S.C.Bansal

There aren’t too many pretty girls in helL and even if one of them agreed to get on my bike, it would be tantamount to signing my own death certificate. The walls have ears!! I was too used to my bike and decided to get it to helL. On the 17th of August 2007, a surprise quiz was announced in MANAC. It went surprisingly well and I was sure of making a 8.5 on 10. It was also time for me to collect my phone from the service centre and my new pair of spectacles from the store. Dabbas told me in the morning that he had to get his specs fixed too but unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight. It looked like it was going to rain, so I packed my jacket in my backpack. Why take a chance?. With a song in my heart and something resembling it flowing through my lips I set out to get the stuff. No hassles there.

The road that leads back to helL was unusually desolate. The multitude of trucks that whiz past with the sobriety of their drivers in serious doubt were not there to litter my path. I eased the bike into fifth. The needle touched 70. Looks like MANAC is not that bad after all. I might just clear it.... 80. Not too much work to do today, I should get to sleep by 12 maybe even catch a movie.... 100. A bus ahead of me refuses to make room to overtake... damn I thought I could touch 110 for the first time in lucknow. The bus eased ahead and I noticed an object on the road..... A damn coconut. There was no was to avoid it, I was too close to manoeuvre around it. I jammed the breaks. Disc breaks are great. They give you amazing feels when there is a chick at the back but they couldn’t save me. I went over the coconut, skidded, smashed my helmet against the road and after what seemed an eternity, came to a halt some thirty feet away from where my beautiful bike lay sprawled on the road. Getting up was easy enough, I did not feel a thing, I managed to get to the corner of the road away from potential trucks. I hate to think of all the scratches on smooth steel. I started to lose my vision.