A weekend morning…

Ah, it's Saturday morning in early December! What do you expect? Sleep? ...Alas! I had to go to the lab for an 8-hour shift that starts at 8 a.m!

Bicycling three miles is not something I saw as an issue... if only it didn't snow all night! I knew I would have this experience in this Winter, but I didn’t expect it so soon, given that the first hint of snow was only the 1st of December; today is just the 4th. The experience started as an "Oh my, awesome!" one when I saw the heap of snow on the seat of my bicycle and the handlebar. Within a mile... I was like "Oh my God, awful!" ...Of course, anyone should say that - at least after slipping, falling, and sliding on the road "very smoothly" without even a forewarning... all in less than a second! What's more? I repeat the act after 100 meters or so, this time even more gracefully... so neatly that I can't even realize why my cycle chain came off its wheel! And, even that, I notice only after going for a “take #2” on the same act immediately after I get up - my shoes developed a new sole of ice and were sort of shaking hands with the road, thanking it for the makeover!

And, oh yes, the chain came off, and there’s no thinking of trying to set it back. After all, I had done that earlier on this same bicycle in the cold of a night, and it took me about 20 minutes to get it all done, not to mention the amount of grease I covered myself with! I saw a car coming towards me, and thankfully, it was a lab security officer going on rounds to find people like me (or that’s what he said)! Without him, it’d have taken me a long time to reach my lab, due to the slippery walk dragging along a bicycle, and did I mention the backpack with a laptop in it? (Oh, yes, I fell down all the three times with the backpack still on me!)

Before I tell out the moral of the story, I cite a little piece from Sreemat-bhaagavatam: Lord Krishna fights with Jambavan(tha) for a long 28 days and takes out all the energy out of the bear-warrior. (28 days of duel, man!, I am always amazed when I realize that! After all, even the Great Battle at Kurukshetra, with all those lakhs of soldiers, lasted only 18 days!) And, when Jambavantha expresses his inability to fight and pleads the Lord, Lord Krishna transforms himself to the previous incarnation of Lord Rama and explains why he had to fight. After killing Ravana of Lanka, Lord Rama asks the great warrior Jambavantha to seek a wish that he can grant, and Jambavantha wishes that he wants to fight one-on-one with Lord Rama after having seen how great a warrior the latter is. Lord Rama smiles and only says that his wish shall be fulfilled in due course of time, in the next yuga/eon. Reminding Jambavantha of this episode, (Can we use “reminding” to talk about a previous yuga? I guess we can, if we can talk about a bear-warrior talking in a human voice and living through eons!) Lord Krishna says that the wish had just been granted! ...So why I did I cite this story before telling the moral I learnt? Yes, like you might have guessed, I wished that I’d ride a bicycle in snow and see how it’d feel! Ah, what a foolish wish to seek and how nightmarish when such a wish comes true! (No, my wish wouldn’t last 28 days, but I am sure that I’d have to “carefully” ride my bicycle so many times in snow nevertheless this Winter.)

Oh, yeah, I loved the experience. No, really! Only, I’d have to drop by the roadside where I locked the bicycle to a “Stop” sign, and drag it along from there. I may even get a chance to fix the chain and ride it – again in snow – if it’s not snowing right then! Who knows how crazy I am! I don’t...