WAY TO GO...
(Part II)
With such cycling backgrounds, I started cycling on Bangalore roads, including
the famous Airport Road. As expected, the short cycle trips from home to office
and office to the tennis courts were full of adventure and 'put the heart in the
mouth' misses. (That is, I could barely manage to miss the busses and trucks!!)
The first 'accident' occurred within a month. I was racing down Airport Road on
my not-meant-to-be-a-racing bicycle, and I was totally overcome by the feeling of
air blowing thru' your hair (the actual effect happens only in bikes, but you
can get a trailor on your bicycle as well!), and being in a state of ecstasy, I
didn't see the traffic light up front turn red, and the bus ahead of me stop.
Now Bangalore busses are a mean lot. They are not so plentiful as Calcutta
busses, or Delhi busses, but whatever they lack in number, they make up in their
meanness. In this case however, the bus driver didnt do anything wrong. He just
pulled up short as soon as the light turned red. Now, I am always a little slow
with the brakes - I don't like pressing brakes while cycling, its a simple waste
of all the energy that you put into speeding up - and I banged into the bus
square on.

OK, when I say banged INTO, I should probably elaborate. The rear end of the bus
was just as high as my front wheel. The cycle hit the bus straight and the front
wheel got stuck under the bus!!! I tried heaving it out, but to no avail. To
make matters worse, a bike pulled up beside me. A girl was sitting behind the
helmet-ed, leather jacket-ed guy. She looked at me with a bored expression and
the what-a-silly-guy-trying-to-pull-the-cycle-out-when-he-can-just-tilt-it-to-
free-it look on her face. She was chewing a bubble gum or something, and kept
staring at my clumsy efforts to pull my cycle free! I became conscious of the
gaze, and started tugging harder, with no results. Ultimately, the traffic light
came to my rescue, and the bus pulled off, leaving my cycle behind, with me
sitting on it, unscarred!