When It Rains - A Monsoon Tale

When It Rains.

I have seen it. I have felt it. And, tonight, I would like to tell you all about it.

"When it rains, his grins widen, while his heart's ache swiftly lighten.
When it rains, he finds an escape.. as his memories tend to reshape.
When it rains, felt is the painful aptness, for he sees true beauty in the sadness."

Boy! Did you see that! I think I am more skilled than Master K.. Look at that little poem. "And when it rai..." Uh, what?! Why are you confused?

No, mister reader, this is not your obedient narrator writing here. Instead, it is someone who knows him very dearly for almost 2 years now. Well, to be precise it's been 1 year, 10 months, 24 Days and 3 hours.. But who's counting, eh? Who am I, you ask?!

Ahem, ahem.. Well, uh, I am my master's, your loving narrator's, KTM RC 390 writing. :)
I know, I know. What can I say. Master K is a very lazy bum and he can be very forgetful of his promises. As much as I love to take Master K on those really long rides, I also enjoy his writing.. More so, if it's about me. But, for quite some time now, he has not been to 'this-side-of-his-world', forgetting his promise to keep this blog alive. Heck! He had even promised me that he would write two (yes, not one but two!) blog-posts about me - One of them being a dedicated post or thread on his ownership experience, thus far. You know, I had been reminding him of this task for quite some time now. But, nothing materialized. Instead, the 'Ownership thread' soon turned into a 'Long-term Ownership thread', at first (I blame that White Ghost, their Honda City, for his change of mind. Grrrr...!!!). Later, the 'Long-term Ownership thread' slowly turned into a distant dream.

He has got many blog posts sitting there incomplete. And even after repeated reminders, I barely got him to hold a pen leave alone a key board. Every time he holds the keyboard, he gets lost in his world of constant phone calls, texts, TV series and movies, when he is not distracted by his work, friends or family, i.e.,. And that is the reason why I have taken it up to myself to write a new blog post... and in the process show Master K that we don't need him to keep this blog alive.

Aha, mister reader! Gotcha! Don't think for a second there that I did not notice the way you frowned when I called Master K, "Master" K. Ah, nah! I don't do that out of some kind of obligation. No, no, no. I know, he bought me. But that does not mean he treats me like he owns me. I don't call him Master because he has control or authority over me. I call him Master for a different reason. And that is exactly the reason what brought me here. My Master is like a little kid (lately, he has become this spoilt brat because of too much pampering.. Uff! but that's a topic for another post). Ever curious, never practical. And I love him for that trait of his. And do you know when he is at his naughtiest best? When it rains. Because when it rains... the child within him wakes up. And this child rode me into those mystical Western Ghats a little while ago, aimlessly... and I am here to talk all about that ride of ours. But before proceeding, I would like to start off with something that describes that ride of ours aptly.

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." - Lao Tzu

Master K lived one of his dreams that day. Well, to an extent, at least, as this ride definitely showed him a glimpse of what he has always been longing for.. an unprepared, aimless road trip into the horizon, on a wild & crazy day (The rain that day ensured the 'wild and crazy' part was checked). There was no schedule, no destination, no route maps, no weather forecast checks... no plan, whatsoever. He had nothing. He...He just had me, uh, and this new rain wear that he bought a little earlier, a backpack which essentially had nothing in it (except for his gloves and my documents)... and oh, he had his tiny, little, illogical brain too. And with that clueless brain and a charming smile on his face (Have got to use such nice words for him, only then would he allow me to write another post here. So, please pardon me the look when you read that word), we left. On a very breezy, rainy day, we had left into the unknown lands of the Western Ghats!

Now, one of the many important things that I have learnt from his life is that Human memory is fallible, more so when it comes to Men. And being aware of his memory, Master K has always been very eager to share his travel experiences right after returning from his trips but then again, he's also always been too preoccupied to do that. Read that lazy.

To be continued...

The Closure

25th Sep, 2016

The digital console of my RC 390 clocked 13700 kms just then. The roads were bad, just as I expected, with little to no traffic on this particular stretch. As cloudy as it was that noon, there were, clearly, no signs of rain yet. My RC390 was making all kinds of weird noises... It only got louder every time I rode it in the lower revs. And the chain clunking noise only added to the irritation caused by the weird panel sounds. So, I simply rode it at higher revs. (Brilliant move, K.. Just brilliant! Stress the bike more now and when left without it, regret your mistakes. Classic K!). It looks more like a dirt bike now rather than a sports bike and it isn't making its usual grunt sound anymore too. It seemed like it was breathing heavily while I was merrily twisting the throttle (turning a blind eye to all its pain) to the tune I was singing - "I'm a barbie girl", by Aqua.

"I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world. Life in plastic, it's fantastic! You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere..." - There I was, singing these lyrics out very loud, some parts of it in a funny tone, under my helmet with the visor down.. trying to out do the noises my bike was making. What? Oh, come on! That's a catchy tune! How is a guy on a sports bike with a leather jacket singing... Ohkay, uh, wait a minute... I see it now... May be, it seems a little inappropriate and funny when I say it out loud like that now. But it wasn't anything like that then. In any case, let's forget this ever happened.

So, most of my Sunday noon had passed on singing this song and trying to have my 'on-the-death-bed' Metzeler tires stay put. On an uneven surface, due to the tire tread wear that compromises my steering response, it has become near impossible to pass at low speeds these days. I have been wanting to see Tahmini Ghat for a long time now. I was very close to seeing it once in the past but somehow it did not happen.. And, finally, there I was. I wasn't sure what I was looking for there. May be I wanted to see what the fuss is all about.. Or may be, just like on any other trip of mine, all I wanted was to feel better... alive, free, after my return from it. Possibly, be left with a smile on my face. That's all I ever want these trips to end up like. And guess what...? I felt just like that.. Wanna know the reason behind it? The sight of this lovely couple made that possible.

Okay, time for a little back story now.  

Soon, I would be sharing another post with you, gentle reader, about how I ended up on an accidental ride in the month of July 2016. That day, I was actually looking to go to Tamhini ghat. I had taken the google suggested route displayed below which is through Lonavala. I blindly followed google maps. I went to Lonavala and there my network gave up on me. Upon enquiring people around, none of them could help me navigate to Tamhini ghat from there. Some laughed off while others said "aap galath rastha aagaye... woh toh dusri taraf hai" which when loosely translated by me means "You are nowhere close to it, dumbo.. Your day is wasted!" Well, uh, my day wasn't wasted but that's a story for another day. But I sure as hell did not see Tamhini ghat in the monsoon that day.  

Ever since, I have been looking for closure.. Go to that place, sit on a green mountain top and calmly stare into its valleys in rain.. and may be listen hard and see if the mountains had anything to say. But what I did different this time was take a new route.

So, this time I took the below route - Hinjewadi Phase 3 -> TCS Campus -> Kolwan to Paud Road -> Then Mulshi Lake -> Followed by Tamhini Ghat. This one works like a charm. Has bad roads and takes more time but you will reach Tamhini ghat. I wonder what that other Tamhini ghat is all about after Lonavala shown in the above map. Should explore it on some weekend.
 

So, naturally, after so much struggle finally being at this place was overwhelming for me. And at my very first pit-stop near the Mulshi lake, look what I found. Incredible, isn't it?

I desperately wanted it to rain that day but it did not. While it always seemed very close to raining, it never did that day. This spot below was just awesome. Just as what I had heard about Tamhini. It certainly lived upto its expectation. But, uh, I sure was missing the rain even then.

I thought rain will make my moment at Tamhini memorable.. 'Perfect' is the word, actually. But if there is something that I've learnt from life then it's that life's unfair. And just as a child with one candy in hand and twenty in the refrigerator, I wasn't content either and kept riding and riding and riding... unless I reached this point shown in the picture below.

This is exactly where I saw that couple. I took a seat a little further behind them on a rock. They were both in  their fifties. Their car parked at the side of the road facing my bike. They looked like they were so much in love with each other. They smiled, talked and then after a while, just calmly gazed at this valley.. There's actually a mesmerizing water fall right in between those two mountain passes. The fog could make it impossible to see it in the picture. I sat there looking at it too. Though, I did try my best not to let them realize that I was also there, initially, the man after few minutes noticed me. I smiled at him and he did too. They were both very cute and I just did not want to spoil their lovely moment. So, uh, there I was sitting just like the rock I was on, motionless. After envying the old man and his beautiful partner.. I sat there dreaming about mine while endlessly staring into the space. Not long after that another car stopped and more than half a dozen guys came close to "our" point and started with their usual selfies and group photographs. They ruined "our" moment by laughing hysterically at bad jokes and talking loudly about their office colleagues who did not make it to their trip and how selfies shared on Facebook would make their colleagues jealous and stuff.. Huh! People. I then realized that it was time for me to leave. The moment is gone. It is ruined. For the three of us. And before leaving I made sure I took a snap of the couple who brought a smile on my face and made my Tamhini trip worth it. I realized that I did not need rain to make this trip memorable.. I needed something else.. Like an old couple in love who would shake me back to what I'm and keep me motivated. You know, gentle reader, few weeks ago, I started to give up on this whole idea. I wasn't as optimistic as I am always, lately.. But this couple, they taught me to keep looking. And it is just too early to give in now. I don't need rain to make it perfect.. Heck! why be perfect at all? It's okay to not be perfect.

Like my all time favorite character, Dexter, once said - "It's okay. Life doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be... lived."

Too many feelings for a guy who sings "I'm a barbie girl" riding a bike, eh?! Well, I am all done here.. Before I leave you gentle reader, here are some of the pictures I think are worth your time.

 

See you on the other side,
K