I want to write about a
significant transformation from recent past, but life’s so intertwined that it
becomes difficult to cut a long story short! So, as usual, let’s start from the
start.
My laziness; this is one endless topic, but
the only reason that it finds a mention here is that some four months back I
started reading a book, which I am yet to finish. In the opening chapter, the
author wrote ‘In a car you’re always in a compartment, you’re a passive
observer and everything moves boringly in a frame’. He was trying to emphasize
upon the connection with one’s immediate surroundings that can be enjoyed better
while riding than driving. Though I thoroughly agree with the sentiment, yet of
late I have discovered a different
connect in this regard; one that is formed through the windshield and depends
more on the choice of seat than anything else.
It took me all of four years to
gather just enough confidence to climb into the driving seat all by myself. And
whoa! A whole new world was waiting for me right outside the window. Everything
remained the same, yet felt so different. Same old routes were now heading in a
different direction. Same old landscapes had new spectacles to exhibit. Even
the honking cars and huge trucks seemed atypical. The fact remained that none
of them had changed, just my viewpoint had.
The view through my windscreen was magnificent,
not because I was driving through the best of terrains, but because ‘I’ was
driving. Independence tastes so awesome and the flavour was enhanced further by
the fact that I had achieved what I was beginning to think of as ‘impossible’. This
tiny step had opened up new forums for my ever-thinking mind. The floods of
thoughts that ensued were overwhelming enough to set the practical half
worrying. Even a hundred meter of lonely stretch on the road was sufficient to
get my mind (and eventually the car) drifting in all possible directions. In
recent past, this had been by far one of the most sought after experience that
I was struggling for. Once on the road, I saw the fellow cars as the senior
more experienced lot, found the SUVs to be intimidating, thought about the
bikers as the free birds and realized that trucks & trailers were the most
courteous travelling companions.
Of course, in due course of time
many of these generalizations have been replaced by more generic classifications,
but the most persistent feeling has been that of enthrallment. These twenty
minutes of driving in the morning are so refreshing that despite all the
honking and chaos on the road, they instill in me just enough joy to start the
day on a high note. And for the records, I even found ‘my first’ traffic jam
quite delectable!
Though driving has become more of
a routine now and sometimes complacency tries to seep in, however, there is a
particular view which has retained its exclusivity till date. Most of the roads
that I pass through are flanked by high voltage transmission towers. There is a
particular left turn, where due to the discordant traffic it becomes obligatory
to look into the rear view mirror before turning the steering wheel
counter-clockwise. The timing in this activity is normally such that I end up
looking at a giant power supply tower intersected right in the middle by a
mirror reflecting everything I have left behind.
This tower speaks a million
words to me and every day I hear a newer version of its tale. Some days it’d talk
about my childhood. Sometimes it’ll be about the present life. On other
occasions it’d set me thinking about the different mindsets and our secret
monologues shall carry on. Every day that I bid adieu to this tower, I find
myself making a different excuse for not clicking it yet and yet another
promise of taking a snap soon enough. Somewhere deep inside there remains a
fear that our tete-e-tete might lose its magic if I tried to capture it any
more than is appropriate, like a soap bubble perhaps.
Another mesmerizing moment that I enjoy truly
and which I’m afraid might become the root cause of a future accident, is the
deep blue sky littered with fragments of white clouds. Even though it seldom
rains here, yet the kaleidoscopic clouds are always at their best and this
beauty gets magnified tenfold when watched from the driver’s seat. After
zigzagging through the city traffic towards the highways surrounded by
wilderness, littered with trucks and reaching out towards the horizon where
only ships and cranes can demarcate the boundaries between sea, land and sky,
the sudden change of view is a pleasant surprise.
A typical journey would start
from jostling amidst the vegetable market right outside the colony and is followed
by a sprint between Auto’s, few more trucks, a decent amount of traffic trying
to move in or out of the railway station and myself. After this sprint, most of
us find ourselves suitably placed upon the road and moving with the uniformity
of a conveyor belt. The view during this mechanized part of the journey
comprises of concrete buildings on one side and an under-construction flyover
on the other. However, by the time we are nearing this factory’s exit, the
world’s perspective begins to change.
Similar to a child in her formative years, we
are gradually introduced to wonders of this planet. The amount of concrete
surrounding us decreases sufficiently to be just stroking the wheels and the
sky thrusts upon us its entire enormity. Interestingly, despite its vastness, the
sky never seems intimidating. The beautiful hues of blue almost always make me
want to hit the brakes right in the middle of the road. Fortunately, the
howling compatriots save the day for me.
The sad part about driving is
that it needs me to tame the wandering mind. As a result, I no longer observe
the transformation bridge; instead I am on a lookout for the speed breakers.
More aware about the obstacles than the end results, my wheeled vision keeps me
grounded as well. Striking a balance of course remains to be the prime concern,
but independence is definitely worthy of this all, and more.
