How I burnt my first cheque

“What the hell will you do with disc brakes?” asked Ranjeet.

“Brake of course,” I replied casually and Neil burst out laughing.

“Disc brakes… crazy…,” Ranjeet dug his head back into his thick book, muttering all the while. He was preparing for his civils examination.

“Honestly GJ, why do you need disc brakes? How fast do you think you can go?” asked Neil.

“I want to zoom through the traffic and stop on the spot when I have to” I replied.

“You can do that putting your legs down!” shouted Ranjeet slamming his book shut.

“I am not buying a tri-cycle” I retorted.

“Forget it! Do whatever you want to. Let’s go have some tea” said Ranjeet getting up.

Sapna Book House, Bangalore has paid me my first cheque and I was deciding how to spend it. Mom wanted me to save it. “Put it in fixed deposit” she said but I had other plans, a cycle with disc brakes. The Viper from Firefox costs a little more than Rs16000 and it is the cheapest bike accoutered with disc brakes instead of the regular V-brakes. But Rs16000 is too high and buying that bike would mean sacrificing on a lot of other things like taking an ordinary bus instead of a Volvo, reducing the frequency of having good food, no more long rides with friends for which Bangalore is famous for and a lot of other everyday comforts. I have to think, is the bike worth the sacrifices?

A week later, I was still bikeless, still searching. The Firefox Viper has metal frame, not aluminium alloy and so is very heavy, but sturdy since it is designed for all terrain. I can jump off a cliff with a viper, ending up with a few fractured bones and yet the bike screaming ‘lets do it again’. But somehow, I just could not buy it. Twice I visited the Firefox store opposite Forum above Orion motors but I could not take out my card to swipe away Rs16000. “This is not what you want,” my heart was saying.

Then suddenly I saw it. It was under the Road Fox section of the Firefox website. F/R disc brakes, Shimano 18+ gears with EZ fire shifter, the features I was longing for just vaporized. It had none of these. Traditional V-brakes, 6 Speed gears with a simple Revo shift and an aluminium alloy frame, the Firefox Road Runner. The price was Rs8900, half of the Viper. It was 8am in the morning and I had a class at 9am, I might even miss the 2pm class which might slaughter my grades but it did not matter, I had to go get it; signs that I found the right bike, signs that I fell in love.

I believe in quick transactions and by 10:45 I was out on the road with the Road Runner, a helmet and a hand pump, all together worth Rs11,100. I might have saved a few bucks if I had bargained a little more but as I said I believe in quick transactions and also in the saying live and let live.  I put on the head phones, plugged in my ipod and took a deep breath, ready to roll!

“Are you crazy! Do you think you can go back to Electronics City now?” asked Ranjeet when I flopped down on his bed at 7pm, dead tired.

The Road Runner runs! I read somewhere that if the engine of a train going at its average speed is switched off, it can continue moving on the near frictionless tracks for about 8Km. The Road Runner with its light aluminium alloy frame, thin tires and smooth ride proved the point. On a plane road, there is no need to pedel.

“Well I can, just 35 minutes” I replied still panting .

“Its 35 minutes on bike, not a cycle,” he scorned.

“Nah, when you break a few rules, it’s almost the same time,” I replied closing my eyes.

The obvious disadvantages of a bicycle are negated when you are prepared to break a few rules like jumping signals with the cop staring at you helplessly, riding on the wrong side of the road past a police patrol jeep with a speed gun, zooming on pavements scaring couples holding hands, swooshing through one ways in the wrong direction and taking unconventional shortcuts. Throughout the day, I have done everything except the last since I am yet to change my view of the city, forget the boring bus routes and make my own map full of shortcuts.

“I am proud of you GJ, 50Km today. Keep it up,” Ranjeet said patting me on my back.

“It was fun going all the way to…” I felt consciousness slipping away and dozed off.