The solo ride

Exactly four weeks back, i had to go to Tirunelveli in Tamilnadu. The period of stay there was initially not intimated to me. If i was going to stay there for long, i better take my bike for mobility. For all the experience i had last time i visited that place, i just couldnt think of returning back to stone age for mobility.

In the defence services, you can be uprooted from one place to another within no time. And the reaction time available could be bare minimum too. I was given just a day to move. Taking my bike was of prime importance. I quickly packed my bags taking everything that i could think of. Bought some packing wire to bind the bags to my bike. I couldnt steal some time even to get my bike serviced. The bike was in pretty bad shape.

Post lunch, i rushed through some quick prayers in my mind even as i was getting saddled onto my bike. I started my bike and thefirst stop was at a petrol bunk. I filled just half the tank, because the distance involved was only 120kms. Once i resumed the ride i didnt stop anywhere. The roads were narrow but pretty ok, except for the traffic during the day which limits your speed to just 60km to 70kms. I didnt have to worry since my peak speed wouldnt cross 70kms even if i wanted. I sticked to 40-50kmph on the meter and kept going.

After a few kilometres into tamilnadu there was a strange difference in the sound of my bike. There was something wrong with the silencer. I pondered for a reason for the sudden change in sound. I could recollect that a month back just before i was to go on one month leave, my bike was hit by a scooter on the silencer. This happened entirely due to my mistake, while trying to train a rookie how to ride. I hadnt bothered to get it repaired as my leave would begin in just 2 days or so.

Though now, i knew the reason of the deteriorating sound, i didnt want to stop my bike. I carried on with the thundering sound but couldnt locate a mechanic in the way. When i was just 20 kms short of my destination, i stopped my bike to have a look. But before that, i had to take a leak badly. When finished with the bodily call, i looked at the silencer and its cap at the end was dangling on one screw. I took a stone found neaby and hit the silencer cap to fit inside tightly and resumed my journey without any incidents.

Just last week i returned back to Trivandrum, but this time i loaded the bike in our Air Force vehicle and had a journey sans anxiety.