My First Giant Ride~

It was the summer of 1990… I was in class 8th and my elder sister was in class 10th. I must tell here that I love my elder sister and I used to hero worship her a lot and I can never think of a moment where I wanted to compete with her. This was the summer Babajaan (that’s wat I now call my darling father) bought his new Enfield 350 cc bike… commonly known as the Bullet.

The guys in our family are quite dare devil. So, my cousin brothers who are of the same age as me and my elder sis wanted to ride the Bullet. Not to mention, how encouraging my father is to anyone for any new thing. So, he happily gave his new new proud possession to them and they had a good ride. I was watching all this from a distant.. from the balcony.. no courage even to think of trying my hands on such a heavy bike. My sister, the dare devil (just the opposite of me) was insisting babajaan to teach her how to ride the bike. And, that very moment our darling father did the most unbelievable thing. To tease my elder sister, he pointed his finger at me and told her… U cannot ride this bike but SHE can.

Did I hear it right???? Baba thinks I can ride this heavy Bike???? He must be out of his mind. How can he even think I would like to ride, when I am not even interested to participate as a pillion rider???? When I realized am not dreaming and He actually pointed a finger towards me and he did say the same words that I thought I might have dreamt.

Four pairs of eyes are on me and did I see few faces laughing… coz Baba thought…rather believed I could ride the bike… the Bullet??? I don’t know how long I was standing there… but all I remembered was I cant let my hero…my babajaan feel let down. He showed his confidence on me (even though it was just to tease my elder sis) and I have to do it.. have to ride that heavy bike just to impress him. Yeah, even now I can go to any extent to impress him :-)

Scared and nervous like hell from inside yet keeping the *Oh yes I can do it* face from outside… I took the bike.. baba asked my cousin the one who is an experienced rider to sit behind me and all he told me was… Its nothing.. its same as riding your scooter so go and enjoy the ride.

Brrrruuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm…. I went with a nervous and scary look on my face and back with a contended and proud smile on my face!! Its all coz of my father and his confidence in me and his support I rode the bullet for the first time 16 years back and till date enjoy maneuvering it. :-)