The Roar of a highway monster. By N Anandbabu

If it's true that everyone is born with a talent I am sure this is my place. This incident truly happened in my life and I am giving it, as it is. When I am a small kid I use to wonder what would be the end of the road which goes to my school every day. I never had the chance to explore the very place I am born in. Ever since I was grown up biking has been one of my passion sorry I can't remember whether I have any other passion so it's my only passion I remember I ever had. This one thing which I wanted to share happened two years before, exactly the same summer season of 2012 when I had to vacate Hyderabad and move to my city Trichirapalli shortly called as Trichy. It's 1100 km from Hyderabad. I had sold all my belongings there and only left was few items and my newly bought 4 valve combustion bike Pulsur 135. Initially thought I can put it in parcel service’s but then I got a really crazy idea of how about driving it across states. I actually was in a state of confusion whether to do it or drop it as I really didn't have any idea on what I am going to do. I have done some long journey of about 300 plus km but this one is really big deal compared to what I have done earlier. Then I decided that I am going to do it, as I thought after all, this could be my only possibility where I could do this. I googled to find the route and then I calculated the distance and the time it's going to take and then I decided that I am going to start the dream ride the same evening. I was so excited with my pulse throttling each and every minute. I decided to pack myself enough with basic accessories and bought a nice helmet and a jacket. The very evening when I was about to start it started drizzling slightly. Thought that the mother Hyderabad which was taking care of me till then is biding good bye to me. As I am coming out of the city border what was waiting for me is what going to make this journey very interesting. As I came out of the city border I can still run the scenes from my mind as the clouds are getting darker and the sky was preparing for a fall. It gradually started raining and it increased to a very high intensity to such a level I could not see anything clearly on the road which is away by ten meters. But still the accessories I had made me feel I am still under a complete shelter. My journey continued for the first 300 km completely in rain and that is where I reached Karnool toll center where I was stopped by some cops who where at routine check. They saw that my registration plate which said I am from Hyderabad and asked where I am headed and I explained them about my trip and they got stunned. Then one cop advised me not to ride in this rain and gave me the address of a motel which is on the highway. I thought it's better in some way and I went there to take a night rest. I reached there at 12:00 midnight and asked the reception guys to give me a wake-up call at 5 though I got up at 4.45 early morning and got ready by 5 to start again with my journey. To my bad luck still the rain hasn't stopped and I have to keep riding on the same condition. The road is still dark as the sky was covered with dark clouds. I kept my speed under 60 as the roads were wet and slippery. I continued for a while and to my luck the situation was gradually improving. Slowly the rain stopped and then the roads were dry after some distance and gradually I could sense the sun coming out of the dark clouds which I took as a blessing from God himself and I started continuing my ride with optimum highway speed covering a good distance and then I reached Ananthapur. There I meet a truck driver changing his trucks stepney. I asked him for the shortest route to reach Trichy and he told that there is route but generally trucks or heavy vehicles don't take that as its little hilly ride. I got excited and asked him about the route and he gave me the map orally and I noted in down in a piece of paper. Then I went out from the national highway and took a single way road from Ananthapur. It was very nice drive from there, though I could not go to high speeds as it was a single road but maintained an average speed of 80. I was driving on and on where I was giving lift to so many school kids on my way. The time changed so fast, as I started picking up kids from school and dropped them in their village on the way. Finally I got the highway when I reached Salem after which I got good speed and nice road and exactly at around 6 P.m. in the evening I reached Trichy. The journey which started the earlier day exactly at 6 P.M. finally came to an end after 24 hours of riding. The most beautiful part in this ride is though I have done a lot of traveling none had feed my soul like this before. A journey with a reason is about reaching somewhere but when you ride with no reason is where you see the journey of your life to reach a place, where your soul feels not tired in taking all these roads but asks when you are going to do that again. By N.Anandbabu (AB)