I went to suryapet last weekend... I have a friend named Srinath.He lives next door . We both are really good friends , he is a IV standard boy.We had a good rapport and he shares everything with me and i do likewise. He is trying to learn bicycle and his father already promised him a new latest model. I keenly started observing while he was learning....... . As he was cycling, the chain suddenly slipped from the gear-wheel spockets. He was trying to place it back. His hands were smeared with oil and was cursing for that situation...and it took me to my own memories at school.
I think I was in V class that time .I came back home from my nanamma's village after holidays. I immediately rushed to radha(radha krishna) for the updates . I was expecting the updates regarding the cricket matches which i missed and the kind of enjoyment he had in the season. He said he would show something and took me to the jr college ground which is next to our home. He pointed me to someone riding cycle .... oops it is dv srikanth... I wondered how come he learnt the cycling...We went to Dv and we felt he was throwing some attitude.... I didnt know cycling then... at that point....I vowed to myself : "come what may..I have to learn cycling in a very short span."
Radhagaadu always keeps me informed about many things. He didnt miss even that time - he told me that a small cycle (cycle for kids) could be brought for rent from cycle shop. I went with him and brought one small cycle and began THE GREATEST VOYAGE..
My thathaiah had a cycle those days, a big Atlas... He is an RMP doctor. When he comes for lunch i used to take that to the college ground and learn...initially it was really hard to make a start as it was a big cycle, "Hold the handle,put your right leg on the pedal through the frame, hold the seat with the other hand and with the other leg move the cycle... once it picks up speed keep the leg on the other pedal and start pedalling.thats it..." This was the lesson..no no..its like preaching which was given by every tom dick and harry who came to help us in learning. They used to vent their frustration on us when we could not succeed...why couldnt these guys understand that its vey difficult initially...may be they even forgot that they too had faced that..some used to say " nenu 2 days lo nerchukunnanu" and some may even said " neeku telusaraa?nenu sonthangaa okkadine nercukunnanu" ani. Anyways....when we recall that .....its so warming....
I caught every chance I got in learning cycling. Sometimes ,When friends of my mamaiah come to our house on cycles.... I used to stare at the cycles with lot of zeal to ride and equal amount of hesitation in mind: "whether to ask or not" . As they knew me from my childhood they used to throw the keys at me and I ,with a smile on lips and a song in heart , used to zoom into the open airs....
Whenever Radha and I saw people walk holding their cycles...we could not understand why these guys were missing the beautiful opportunity of riding which God bestowed ...we thought .. if only we had a cycle.....we never do that and we would roam all the town( as if we were to conquer the world with a cycle).
It is never be uncommon to fall down from cycle...and i am no exception to that. Many many wounds ,whose marks formed on our body serve as remainders to those days.
One special incident among many falling-from-cycle episodes is: I brought a small cycle for rent and was cycling in the college ground, as i did always...those were the initial days of me trying to do cycling sitting on the seat. I was cycling with full of joy as I always enjoyed . Suddenly my joy got vanished and I started feeling puzzled. Anxious. The thing is: I wanted to get down and I forgot how to get down from cycle. Yeah i really forgot how to get down.I kept on thinking about the way to get down.I was so small and short then that I could not touch the ground with my feet. So ,not knowing what to do..I was doing rounds around the college building in frustration,anxiety and of course,with a genuine fear :-) ...After some time.i gave up i decelerated ,held the both brakes tightly and closed my eyes. ...................And the result...guys you know ....blood,blood and only blood.... on my right hand, right leg. God knows why we got hit on our knees and elbows only whenever we fell from cycle. It pains a lot in those places. May be He made so... so that we can remeber the attempts and actions attached to them for the lifetime. :-)
I still remeber one sunday evening in the college ground. Radha and I were standing near the ladder of the water tank(beside well) watching a cricket match. we were looking at the bicycles parked there ." Arey!! devudu pratyakshamithey emi korukuntaavura" I asked him. He said one beautiful sleek cycle" and he enquired me. I thought a while. There is no doubt that I longed for a cycle too.. but i dont want to waste the varam(boon) for only one cycle.. Then I said " nenithey... nenu eppudu adigithe appudu devudu pratyakshamayye varam ichhevidamgaa korukuntaanu" . I will ask for cycle..that would be my first interest. Then he also agreed with me and said " sare raa maniddaram... anthey korukundaamu raa " anukuntuu we left the place.
whenever we both longed for something we used to ask ourselves the same question " devudu pratyakshamithey emi korukundaamuraa" ani.
I used to go to school in rickshaw . Its quite far from our house. I hated to go by rickshaw. And the reason is : I MISSED MY CRICKET. If only I had a cycle I would have never missed one.When the final bell rings at school in the evening at 4.15 pm ... our friends used to plan to go ground and play cricket. But my rickshaw man waits for me at gate like a crouching tiger and catches his prey,obviously me.And as if he was celebrating his successful catch he used to throw me a smile. I do respond with a smile but I hated my situation. I wanted to be at ground not here in rickshaw and going home.... I used to come out of school everyday with only one wish in my heart " hope i dont see the predator(him) today" but he comes there and i pull /force myself into the ricksahw . If only I had a cycle of my own..i would be like a bird in the sky all pervading. Only a person who loves to play cricket can only empathize with me...:-)
After a few years... Atlast...my dream to have a cycle got fulfilled .The first thought that went in my mind was : "Now i can go anywhere to play cricket". It was a baeautiful maroon coloured BSA SLR .It was a rage to have it those days.Everything was different in its style when compared to the already available ones in the market.. it had a crash guard at back, it had a front wheel lock and a mellifluously sounding bell.And the most striking feature is its handle. it can be changed into many styles. My mamaiah was instrumental in getting me that kind of cycle. He always know what my interests are and what I want to have .I treasured MY self-possession with love and care.I had a good-looking key-chain.I collected a variety of key-chains before it arrived at my house. I used to dust it twice and even thrice a day in the begining. My mother used to laugh at me and said" chooddaam enni rojulu alaa neatgaa vunchukuntaavo" . i used to come back at her with a quick retort " nenu eppudina naa cycleni ilaage choosukuntaanu" ani.. Yaar..i should not have said that dialogue..i repented many times later in my life whenver my mother and father looking at my dirty cycle( i never used to dust or wash it for months ) used to say " entraa idi..kothhalo entha neatgaa vundedi..eppatiki alaage maintain chesthaanannavukada..antha vutti matalenaa" ani.. and I used to feel like a volcano going to erupt inside.
Sunday afternoon. radha was riding and i was the pillion rider. We were on the road infront of the college ground.He was riding very fast. We didnt know what was going to happen in the next few minutes. And all of a sudden..in a split second everything happened. Better to say it was destined to happen:-) . WiIth all the speed radha hit a woman carrying vegetables in a basket on her head. I was shocked... She was growling at us..I cant disclose the NICE language she used in yelling us. you can expect how our hero Radha might have felt. I am quite lucky to see some of his expressions which we generally do not get a chance to see. One more incident with Radha was he took our Santhosh's cycle and returned to him with an ameoba structured(????) wheel instead of a round front wheel. Later he was made to pay for repair..
One day Amarnath brought a new red and black coloured Hero Ranger cycle . The word to describe it was: AWESOME. large tyres.,straight handle.. great cycle..
I went home and looked at my cycle..it had lost its charismatic and enchanting look. Scratches were clearly visible .I felt sad about that and i decided to give it a new look. That day, with all the gloominess i neatly water washed my cycle and mopped with a clean cloth. I dropped lubricant in the wheel . Then I searched all my house for BILL BOARD stickers ,LOVE INDIA stickers. My aunt sent me those stickers when i bought my cycle. But i didnt stick them then as I thought too much stickering wont be fine. I had a need of them then to make it look stylish but I could not find. One thing is sure..the stickers used to be very nice and they were costly too.
News which made me get rid of my despair and pangs of frustration : One fine morning. it was not the same morning .. it brought me the HOPE the HAPPINESS and everything. My thathaiah used to come to my house every morning by 5 o clock having his morning walk. I was still sleeping..half-sleep you can say....as i got disturbed by his door knock. He came in and sat beside me .His fingers were pampering my hair. Then he said something to my mother and father which was very mellifluous to my ears."Ninna rathri inti daggara dongalu paddaru..kranthi gaadi cycle poyindi....."he said. Whats that???? somebody was pouring honey in my ears? whats that? is somebody playing my favourite music?.... How can i express that... After a little while..when my excitement got subsided..i woke up and they told me that again. With a sad face which was a 100% fake , i reciprocated " avunaa?" . I got a promise from my thathaiah that he would buy a new cycle for me... what more was needed:-)... Later I got a new one.
One breezy morning in summer holidays..time was around 6 am....radha and I were in the college ground as always. As only a wall separates our home from the ground we used to be in the college-ground most of the time. we were sitting on the dais in the college. A girl was learning cycle and someone was holding the cycle helping her. I was looking at her and I suddenly noticed that it was Rajani our class mate.And that person was her brother.They were far to us.I told Radha about that.Radhagaaadu got embarrassed and felt shy. The reason... :-) he was in sleveless T-shirt and a nicker which his father bought for him from Hyderabad. " I will go ..change my dress and come back raa" he said. I told him "it was okay in this shirt and moreover there is nothing like u have to feel shy." He was adamant ..he went and came back with another dress. Rajani did see us later. She gave a sharp look..no smile and kept herself busy in learning.... :-)
Most of our classmates had cycles of their own. Radhika had a BSA, Rajani,Manju vani,Karunya,Roja,T Sridevi had hero cycles. Among boys Madhukar,Santhosh,Rajesh, Kishore ,Dv ,Amarnath,Jani,Hari, And myself had it. Kishore always used to tell me "kranthi, I can dismantle and re-assemble my cyce and I do it very often". I used to think" wow ..very great,Kishore knows many things" . One thing I could not understand was that Radhika had a nice BSA ladies cycle but instead of an elegant side- stand she had centre stand which was usually used for the big cycles. It killed its style..I felt. :-)
Nobody can forget those days of bicycle-learning.We rose,we fell, we rose we fell..and we enjoyed it...We felt elated as we passed each stage in the process.We even felt proud when we rode with doubles for the first time....
How can we forget those days when we come forward voluntarily and take initiative in bringing groceries from bazar when there is a cycle parked infront of the house. Usually we never liked to do any such act :-). The difference was brought by "cycle".
Many feelings...Many experiences....
How can we forget our anger we showed when our friend took our cycle and didnt return in time...
and how our reaction was when they came with a punctured tyre..
How would we have felt when somtimes our friends said " naa cycle meeda nuvvu voddu" " naa dantlo gali ledu,no doubles "..
How can we forget the love showered among our friends.." naa cycle meeda ekkuraaa" ani okadu.." ledu naa cycle meeda raa" ani okadu...akkadunna moodovaadu nannu evaroo adagatledu ani feel avadalu...and in another minute ...forgetting everything...andaroo kalisipovadam..
How can we forget the long rides to Durajpally,Loyola college,pillalamarri temples..........
How can we forget the cycle-racing in heavy rains while going to sreenu sir tution.
How can we forget the things like: riding the cycle at full speed and suddenly applying the brakes so that the cycle skids and turns 90 degrees and even almost 180 giving us a smile of pride and achievement on our lips before our friends.
How can we forget the days when we used to look in awe looking at the people lifting their front-wheels while cycling. Not to mention..we tried and got succeeded and even failed .
how can we forget the days trying to ride the cycle without holding the handle,keeping the hands free and how can we forget falling down in some of those attempts.
Look at your kness and elbows... you stilll can find some scars and marks left which reminds us of those fun filled days of cycle-learning.....
Remeber our cycle passing through the junior college, main road, gandhi park,poola center,alankar road.,navodaya shop..venkateshwara swami temple......bodrai bazar, library,masjid,...our school....
many many moments.......where should i start and where should i end.....
The only sad part :-) .... is that Radha, who accompanied in all my dreams in the entire start-cycle-learning to possessing-cycle-of-own episode never had a cycle of his own. The reason is :-) : His father used to say" kranthi vaalla illu dooram kaabatti kranthiki avasram..neekendukuraa 10 minutes dooramlo nee school "ani...what raa Radha? what say?
