Riding the Scooter

The cool air caressing my face and running down my hair, the tingling of motor below me and the essence of having a higher speed, to luxuriously sit and enjoy the ride.

That’s how I expected my first scooter ride to turn out but all these thoughts were just great expectations.

On my first day for scooter lessons, I exited the house with full confidence and strolled towards my black scooter like a king’s knight mounting a horse but my father stopped me.

He exclaimed, “You can’t drive in the sleepers! Go and wear your shoes.” I muttered at all this extra fuss.

“Also wear your sunglasses.”, he called out.

 After five minutes, feeling like a bike racer I got down on my scooter. I was going to zoom on when I remembered that I had forgotten the key inside.

As I was new at learning scooter, I tend to forget the integral part required to start it.

With the key in, I finally inaugurated my ride with a jerk. Then I pressed the brake and the scooter stopped with a screech. The whole journey went this way with fits of brakes. In a way my driving very well resembled a camel ride.

When we finally reached home, I realized that my legs and arms were aching so badly. The scooter didn’t feel that comfortable anymore.

The next day I knew what to expect. Jerks. Even though my father patiently taught me how to start without a jerk but ninety-percent of my starts were as bumpy as ever. If I really had a wonderful start the balance of my scooter used to falter and I had to use the brake again.

I then learned how to use the indicators and blow the sharp horn on blind turns. Blowing horns during these blind turns was simple but making the turn in itself was very difficult. With centripetal force pulling you inwards and centrifugal force acting outwards maintaining my and my father’s center of mass was very difficult. At such times, I used to keep my physics calculation aside and find shelter in prayers to help me make a turn without slipping.

Anyways, now I have understood the art to make turns. Just keep your one foot down while making them. I finally realized the value of shoes on my feet. My poor sleepers would have stood no chance in front of these dangerous turns.

Driving the scooter even in my colony was a challenge. It felt as if I was once again a second grader learning a cycle.  The difference was that now the cycle had no pedals but a motor which made it heavier and more difficult to balance.

While on a cycle, I used to envy the ones on scooter. I used to believe that they can rush past so easily around me. I fancied their fast vehicles.

But now I realized with more speed you need to be more cautious. While driving, I had to take care of pedestrians and cyclists as to not end up banging into them.

The most challenging obstacle on road was not the buses, cars, cyclists or pedestrians but the cows. Cows are pure and simple animals they don’t realize the importance of moving aside when a speeding vehicle comes. They need to be told by multiple horns that one is trying to move on.

 

The significance of sunglasses is being felt during this season when insects of all types have multiplied, and their favorite place to land is a human eye. Thanks for the goggles else I would have been driving blind.

 

‘With great power comes great responsibility.’

With a scooter you have the responsibility to bring bread, curd, cheese, butter, notebooks, snacks and treats from the bakery. The scooter made me the house delivery man.

On the scooter my areas of travel expanded. On the cycle I only went about my colony but now I had extended my limits. Scooter has leveled me up on my independence chart. It felt just a video game, I unlocked new areas to explore.  

My father has built up many new challenging tracks for me. He believes that if I go across difficult roads, easy roads would be a piece of cake.

My younger brother is usually made to sit behind me. At those times I miss my father cause even though my brother is lighter and easy to balance but his non - stop chatter end up burdening my mind.

‘When the situation is unavoidable sit back and enjoy it.’ I have started to find solace in his chatter as that helps me anchor to my surroundings and focus on the road. Especially on the main road my brother chatter appears to be motivational talks that push me forward and calmly cross the heavy traffic.

I have now learned that not every horn on the road is for me, and there is no need to panic. I learned not to continuously check the mirror for traffic behind me, to only use them while making a turn. I have learned to avoid sand as it will definitely make the scooter skid, to cross over gravel carefully as it is tricky. I have learned to be vary of rain water filled streets as they may hide big holes.

In a way my road sense is far better than I was on cycle. The cycle seems like a child’s play now but a scooter is still ‘the scooter’.

One more new event with the scooter is the night time trips. The glitch here is no googles. Mosquitoes and their fellow insects are very active at night. I have to drive with only opening my eyes a tiny bit and bending down to avoid them entering my eyes.

 

It has been so many days since I started riding the scooter. I am proud to say that I have indeed leveled up.

I have started to remember to carry the keys and not start with a jerk. (Though, sometimes I start with a jerk deliberately to hear my father’s anguish filled exclamations).

The wind has finally started to play across my face and through my hairs and I have started to relax on my scooter seats. Turns out my earlier expectations were not that far-fetched.

Even though the physical workout is 0% in a scooter yet the mental exercise to move it about with precision tires me out. Driving on your own around so many people on the road, makes me nervous. But with daily practice I am getting better. It is like I am building some kind of a bond with my scooter. A bond of trust that I will guide it the right way and the scooter in turn will not throw me off.

Most importantly the scooter taught me that life is fast at times, it is tiring and problematic but it is nice when the wind plays across your face and you zoom on an empty road at 50 km/hour at that time you find that life is not curved all the time.