The schoolbell rang, signalling the end of the day for the only school in their village. She was overjoyed to be let out. She hoped Bittu was waiting outside for her for the walk back home. And surely, he was. He ran upto her , quite breathless and smiling.
"Guess what..?" , he said, still grinning. "What...?", she shot back. Bittu could be excited over the smallest things, like a new cricket bat, which she she found completely uninteresting. "Well...your uncle is here!! For a few days atleast!!" , Bittu couldnt control his joy while telling this to her. She stopped in her tracks. Her Uncle! From the neighbouring big town. She knew why he was so excited now. She was now too! They both loved it when her uncle came to their little village. Not because he always brought little gifts for her, but because he always rode down on a motorcycle.
The Motorcycle. The shiny blue wonder. Their small village did not have too many vehicles. Infact, the only other person who owned a personal vehicle was the stationary shop owner, who owned a run down moped. The blue motorcycle, gleaming many a times under the hot sun, seemed to be the highlight of the village to her and Bittu. Her uncle came over 2 or 3 times a month, to attend to some business, and sometimes stayed over too.
She and Bittu adored it. Whenever he was in town, they spent hours admiring it. They sat on it, fiddled with it, and asked endless questions to her uncle about it. She hurried down to her place and there she was.. parked in their small courtyard. She went speechless everytime she saw it, and she was sure Bittu was too. Infact, he was already by its side, adjusting his hair in the mirror. She walked over and ran a hand over the fine blue fuel tank, her hand feeling up the shapely metal, which had 'Pulsar' written over it. She felt herself absent mindedly smiling as an idea was forming in her mind. She grabbed Bittu by the hand , "Meet me here after lunch.." , she instructed him and walked off into her home. She didnt wait for him to react. She didnt need to. He always did what she instructed him to...he would be there, she needed him there, for her plan to take effect.
She went home and cleaned up. Put up a fresh green but dull green salwar kameez and helped her mother in serving her uncle and father, and then quickly had her own lunch. Everyone had then proceeded to have their afternoon seista , while she pretended to read one of her textbooks. Pretended because, she was really excited, and couldnt really concentrate on anything else.
She heard a low, soft whistle outside. Bittu was here. She hurried outside to meet him. "Why did you call me at this hour?" , he was asking. She put a finger to his lips "Ssshh.." , she signalled. She produced a small object from the folds of her white dupatta. It was a key. The Key. For the blue wonder. The Motorcycle.
"but...how did you... " , he began, but was silenced with another look from her. "Help me", she whispered to him. The tiptoed inside and she put the key in its slot. Bittu looked unsure of all things, like he was stealing something. Chinni confidently pushed the bike off its stand, and immediately regretted doing it. But that was only for a moment. The bike was heavier than expected. Much heaver infact, to her. Thank god Bittu was holding on to it too. She pushed it out of the courtyard onto their narrow lane. The hot afternoon sun was beating down upon them. There wasnt a soul in sight. All of them had retired to their homes to escape the hot sun. She was pushing it further away from the lane, her loyal friend in tow. Soon they reached an open area , which were in abundance around their village. But both of them were breathless. It was not an easy task. Especially for her. She wiped beads of sweat from her forehead with her dupatta. She wiped bittu's sweat off too, now that he was holding the bike all by himself, unsure of what to do next. She fanned him and herself for a while again, then got down to business.
Before Bittu could realise it, she had swung a leg over and seated herself on the bike. She had turned the key on. Bittu sized the scene up. The girls two feet barely reached the ground, but she appeared very confident. For a while, she just sat there, admiring the feeling of having the nice machine between her legs. She had ridden pillion with her uncle many times before, but this was the first time she was actually sitting on it when it was off its stand. All by herself. Slowly, she lifted a leg and put it on the kick lever. She tried to gently push it down, but nothing happened. It didnt start. Bittu now looked very nervous. Bikes were not something meant for 15 year olds, he was thinking. That too when they knew nothing about them. Well...almost nothing. Yet he was seeing his friend persevering with the kicking, and trying to get the thing started.
Chinni was confused, she paid very close attention to how her uncle road, and this is how he kicked it. She took a deep breath and then it one hard kick with all her might. The machine instantly growled to life. Too loudly infact. She then realised the she was holding the throttle open wide. She quickly released it, and the engine settled into a steady thrum. Bittu now appeared positively scared. She gave him a triumphant smile and beckoned him. He was afraid to approach. "Come on yaar... sit", she was telling him. To terrified to do anything else, he sat behind her. She engaged the clutch, and put the bike in gear, as she had seen her uncle doing many times before. All it remained for her was to release it and when she did.... the whole bike lurched. It seemed to jumped over in the air... Bittu gave out a loud yelp. The engine had killed itself off.
Bittu was now terrified. He clutched to her waist as if his life depended on it, and buried his head in her mass of hair. Chinni felt a strange sense of elation in this...
She was determined to give it one more go. One more swift kick and the bike throbbed back to life. She realised that her hands and palms were sweaty as well. Gingerly...she engaged gears and very slowly this time, released the clutch. The bike lurched... but the engine stayed put..! She gave it more throttle, and the bike accelerated.. They were moving!!! The boy gave out a slight moan as they moved along...
Lurching and accelerating, they even managed to complete a full circle of the field! Chinni felt elated! At the top of the world. Back at the original point, the engine felt overworked and decided to kill itself off.
Bittu had jumped off the stationary bike... He was trembling. "Would you like to try it now ? ", she asked him with a grin. "NO!!", came the reply, without a seconds thought. Her friend had enough 'thrills' for the day, she could see.
Just the way they came, they slowly pushed the bike back to her house, and put it on the stand, before anyone came to know.
(To be continued...)
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