"Screw you therapy, I ride a motorcycle"

Disclaimer: My first attempt at fiction. Read and Review! Also, share if you think it's good enough ;)
Thanks to all my Beta Readers for your feedback! Really appreciate it! :) :) 

" I hate him! I hate her! I hate everybody! How inconsiderate can people be! How thoughtless! It's as if I am nothing but a pawn in their game!"

Seething with anger, she took off from the living room ignoring the shouts of her family asking her to come back. Her younger brother,Rahul, who was always the one to know what cheers her up, threw the bullet keys at her. Without second thoughts she reached for her leather jacket and helmet, two amongst her most prized possessions and walked out; away from all the drama.

In the cellar, still extremely upset, the sight of her long-time companion, a Royal Enfield Electra, brought an unwilling smile to her lips. Rhea walked towards it and reached for the handle bars, feeling the calmness sweep through her already. Seating herself on it, she adeptly took the beast off its centre stand with surprising strength for her tall but lean frame. Minutes later she was off, the sound of the 350cc Engine keeping her mind off disturbing thoughts and the hassle of festive traffic keeping her focus on the road and vehicles around.

It always amazed her how a motorcycle ride calmed her mind like nothing else. She has been riding her very own Royal Enfield Electra Twinspark for almost 4 years now, and 4 years later, she claims it is still one of the best things that happened to her. "There is something", she says, "in shifting the gears and accelerating through the winding roads", that thrills her even to-date. As she manoeuvred her way through the traffic at low speed, managing the heavy machine, trying to figure out if the bars are going to fit between the slow moving Tata Nano and a Auto Rickshaw, she grew impatient to reach her favourite stretch of road in the city. She dragged the back brake a little and came to a stop at the long traffic signal shifting the gear to neutral and released the clutch, feeling her mood lighten with each movement. Turning to her left, she saw a fellow motorcyclist give her thumbs up and she returned the gesture thinking, you meet the nicest people in motorcyclists. As the lights turned green, she held her clutch lever close, shifted the gear and revved the machine. Turning right, she diligently climbed up the gears to ride on her favourite road.

With trees on both sides of the road, she could feel the cool smell of the greenery, and see the yellow flowers -bright and cheerful, through her much loved LS2 Helmet. Cruising ahead, her thoughts drifted to the first day she was here on her bullet. It was the same day she got the bike as a gift from her Parents and elder brother. 21st July 2012, it was her 20^th Birthday. While she showed off her adept riding skills to her dad sitting as pillion, he lectured her about responsible riding, traffic sense and how not to misuse the freedom given to her (Dads! Take the fun out of everything!).

It came as a surprise to her that she actually had the bullet delivered, even though she knew her parents and brother never said no to her. Asking for a Royal Enfield was farfetched even for her. A quick upload of a picture on FB revealed how envious all her friends were of her Birthday gift! Their comments, "Congratulations! What an amazing family!", "Wow! I wish my dad got me an Activa at least!", "Oh! Do introduce me to your brother! (Ya Right!)", tripled her happiness.

That was Rhea, just into her twenties, but still a teenager. Four years, a couple of breakups and thousands of miles on her RE later, she believed she was a matured, independent woman, who made her decisions by herself. Often perceived as stubborn by her family, she was a thoughtful and considerate woman. Rhea loved her family immensely but as with all families, they frustrate her equally.
Honk Honk Honk! The familiar honking tone brought her thoughts back and she glanced at her rear view to see a file of motorcycles move towards her. There you go, she thought, can't a person even ride in peace! The file of motorcycles belongs to her Biking Fraternity. As they filed behind her, she had no choice but to take the Lead position. Quickly switching on her headlights, she honked in response to notify that she is taking the lead.
20 kms later, Rhea made a gesture of closed fingers to her mouth, indicating a stop for refreshments as the group pulled over at a roadside Dhaba. 

To be continued...

Courtesy:chiefmotorcycleforum.com

RIDING in Hyderabad

Being someone who loves riding, who loves to have the wind in her hair, i must say, riding for a girl in Hyderabad can get really dirty (not necessarily for her). 
I am lucky to have parents who let me ride a motorcycle. Parents, Who actually bought me a motorcycle. I do not know, what the fuss is about a girl riding a bike. Honestly! It is easier than riding a car! And people have accepted gals riding cars haven't they? I do not know. But my dad definitely does. He did, when i first rode an ENFIELD, with him as my pillion. He did, when people turned their heads gawking at me like am someone that just landed from MARS. He did, when cars stopped and windows rolled down just to get a look at me. And am sure that is when he decided to sell the bullet , almost breaking my heart. Almost. Only months later, after a couple of tantrums and lots of sulking , my dad surprises me with a BIKE. Yamaha Fazer! My very own BIKE! My Love! Yes! He can cheer me up like no other! He gets me more than my share of attention! He is someone i can rely on! Gals, trust me, a bike can be your perfect boyfriend ;) ( the drama is done :p ) . 
It took some time to sink in. For me. For my friends. And family. But, to the people on the road, it never seems to get old. I had people following me, pointing to me saying, "arey potti chalari yaar" and trying to race. There were also people giving me the thumbs up or an appreciative word. Initially all this attention bothered me. My exact thoughts were, "its just a bike! And its so easy to ride! Get used to it already!" Over time, i got used to it. Now am almost immune to all the attention. But, I should talk about these incidents: 

1. In the very first week, i rode to Chilkur (around 20 kilometers from my place).Adorned with only a half helmet. On the way back, college guys on 2 bikes, one of them doing a 'tricky', noticing I am a gal tried to race me. Since, I had already told myself a hundred times not to let my ego do silly things, i ignored. Once. Twice. Well, the third time I guess I just wanted to show them. So it started, 50 60 80 kmph (I was not supposed to rip my Fazer fellow by then). And then suddenly a van appears I slow down, the other fool (yea one was me) does not. He rams straight into it. One of his pillions falls off. I brake. Look. No major injuries to them. Actually, luckily , No injuries to them at all! About their bike i cant say the same. His friends on the other bike come up behind and help. A lesson learnt. I bought a full helmet the very next day. It makes it harder for people to recognize am a gal. or that is what I told myself. 
There were several incidents following this, when guys, egos hurt, tried to race, but I have learnt to keep cool for their safety  :P. 

2. . After the previous incident , I made it a point to put on a helmet and a jacket EVERYtime. Until then. That was ONE time I dint. It was early summer morning and it was a cool weather. I just did not want to miss the breeze and there were not many people on the road anyway, so I took the helmet off. We rode on the Necklace Road for sometime and headed back. It was past 8 in the morning. We had to stop at a Red Signal. There was the minimum morning traffic. People noticed. Stared. We were too busy gossiping to give them much thought. As the signal turns green, and I shift my bike into Gear, I am surrounded. Like proper ‘ Celebrity-security’ surrounded. I hear cat-calls and my friend freaks out a little. Like I said, I learned to keep my head cool. So, I asked her to enjoy the Escort service for a while. I looked for an opening. I found one. Of course, I can describe the whole dodging them more elaborately and in a more filmy style ( I did feel like a star after I escaped them :P), but that is not the point I am trying to make here. I accelerated and NO, they could not catch up. I remember, some 5 years ago, a couple of my friends, on an Activa were surrounded too and ended up on the road, bloody, bone dislocated. I escaped scratch-less. That could just be my luck. Or a cool head.

But WHY, WHY does a girl riding a motorcycle invite all these?? Why cant Boys ( not MEN) digest the fact that girls ride?

Well , that did not stop me. It just made me ride more and ride better. Head held higher, ‘cause I am doing what I love.