A ride on the two wheeler scooter after a long time!

A ride on the two wheeler scooter after a long time!

The ride was to accompany a friend to hospital in Kelambakam.  The village we are in is called Kazhipattur from where it is easy to reach in fifteen minutes by car.  But as my friend thought it wise to ride his scooter I had but no option but to accompany him behind.  I had been riding a scooter a long time but had discontinued to do so minding my age after sixties and the increase in traffic in South Chennai and else where in south of India.  All of a sudden the increase in traffic could have gone to cars and four wheelers, but the of and  on increase in fuel prices keep the young and young at hear to the two wheelers., either scooter or motor cycles of which umpteen number are available in the market.

Always, when a ride on a two wheeler is undertaken the main thought is it is to a near by place.  That is right.  But the places one will pass through in a ride is uninteresting from time to time.  The OMR road which we have to cover, even for a short distance, is not very safe considering the huge vehicles and plethora of four wheelers and the ubiquitous water tankers coupled with huge cement mixers and other kinds of vehicles on the road.  Most of the vehicles, including the transport buses ply at a good speed and one has to be doubly careful in manoeuvring the roads here. We started off from the little housing complex jumping the usual humps and little bye-lane which has its own muddy areas due the people on the side of the road houses, pouring used water on to the road as a matter of custom.  I have seen this in many other places too, where people instead of finding a way of using the used up water in the households throw it on the roads.  By this the road is not only wet but also collet puddles of dirty water in places where the road is broken.

Once on the main OMR we have to take a left and again a U-turn to be on the route to the Chettinadu Hospital complex.  Taking a U-turn on a busy OMR road on the peak hours are a delicate matter for any one but when you are on  two wheeler you are covered only on the head and the rest of the body does not have any defence to any vehicle.  The cars, trucks and mini buses whiz past us when we wait for the U-turn as the vehicles passing on the right side has to subside for us to cross over into that lane.  Once that done, now is the time to be prayerful, as the vehicles behind us have to pass by us, especially cars and others who are all in a great hurry.  My friend being good at the riding, I was comparably safe, but can’t see his rear view mirror and I did not dare to look back for fear of losing balance or making my friend lose his balance.  I delicately hung on to him and kept saying my prayers.  At times he over took one vehicle or two as they were slowing down, and many on our right side over took us and went past.  In a matter of ten-twelve minutes we were at the entry gate of the Chettinadu Hospital Complex where again we have to wait to cross over to our right side to go into the Hospital Compled road.  Here we drive on the left of the road and for any buildings or institutions, have to cross over the opposite side of the road which is used by drivers on the opposite direction.  For this we waited for a time the road became a bit free and did it with our usual elan and went past the gate to the Complex.  By this time, I was getting really scooter born and my fear of the road started lessening.  The Hospital had put up a number of road block boards on the road on the left and right intermittently, so that we had to drive in a zig-zag fashion.  This was new in the Hospital as earlier it was very straight and had no hindrance. 

Once that test was over, we took a left turn and arrived at the parking lot where scooters and two wheelers had a huge parking along with cars.  We parked the Scooter, kept one helmet in the dicky of the scooter and held one in my hand as the scooter can take only one helmet in its dicky at a time.   Since the helmets are made compulsory in Chennai, Tamil Nadu we cannot lose it either.  Chennai Chettinadu Hospital is a great place to be in and we got in and got our required medical help in time for my friend and were back on the Scooter in half an hour. 

We rode back and now I was getting used to the road and was getting off my ride-fear.  I thought, a ride is after all a nice thing.  I remembered my thing of old when I used to drive my Priya scooter o the road of Delhi where the Haryanvi drivers used to be very considerate of the two wheeler road users.  Those were good times, when every driver was generally good to each other with concern for life and limb.   The evening air after the rains passed through the helmet visers with a boo-boo sound and we were fast back to our bye-lane and into our housing complex.  That was an afternoon ride in Chennai on a two wheeler scooter in mid-July!