the beginning

i can still remember the moment when i did my first bike ride. it was my father’s bike. and my father was holding it from the back to make sure i don't have to worry about balancing it.

i was so happy to be able to pedal the bike as my father held it from behind.

i'm sure that's the way a kid feels when he is able to walk for the first time. and as any kid would do i turned towards my father to see his face at this moment of pride. he wasn't there, he was not holding the bike anymore, he was standing almost a hundred meters away next to my mother watching there son's maiden ride. it didn't take me a second to fall on ground, not just that i fell on the soft ground, but that very moment i fell in love with the bike. for around next 12 years i rode my fathers avon slr. the very same bike, which taught me the lesson to trust yourself than depending on others to achieve your goals. that was when i was eight years old. and since then i had a lot to learn from my bike(s). the avon was followed by an atlas concorde and an atlas rebel. but all of them had something to teach me.

life moves on, along with it people move on to a more complicated life and lifestyle so did i. then came the scooters and the cars and my concorde rested somewhere in our backyard getting rusted. it still did not lose the blue metallic sheen. still an object of delight. though it became like a piece of furniture lying in a corner. till one day i see my neighbours son riding a blue bike. my mom just gave it away, without even asking me. had a cold war with her for the next few days. tried forgetting but failed. all i could manage was to suppress my emotions. days went by and years since my last bike ride. but my bright blue bike always stayed in my heart. the bike which had been my best friend for years. i remember how girls used to turn to have a look at my bright blue bike (and often i thought i am the head turner). how can i forget the scorching summer afternoons, even the dogs couldn't be seen on the roads, but there i was with my bright blue bike. the word wanderlust came into my dictionary much later, but surely i grew in me with those days when i used to wander all alone on the roads in faridabad, i had seen more of the town than most of my friends they where too busy with cricket and football. i got branded as a loner, i guess nobody ever noticed my companion "my bright blue bike"