Of dark night and slow ride

Month ends are bad. There is no money left. All the money that you get in your first week of the month gets spent by the end of the month. If at all you have anything saved in your account, you can afford to think of using the ATM card. But I am not talking about the monetary part of the month. My month end was bad because it was monthly closing time. Late nights in office had started.
I had to sit in the office till late the other night. And when I say late night, I mean it. It was about 3 in the night. I had come to office with a friend and didn't have my bike. My friend had some work to take care of and so I had to leave on my own. Now that I didn't have any other option, I took up the R15 that was standing in the office parking. Usually, I take the shortest or the quickest route back home from office. Shortest or quickest depends on the time of day at which I am commuting. If its traffic time, I take little longer but quicker route. If its not such a traffic time then I prefer the shorter route. With the R15 with me and the hands in my wrist watch showing 3 o'clock at night, I decided to do something different. I decided to take a longer route home.
I turned the key to on in the key slot. The fuel pump made a slight buzz in the silent night. The FI check was done and I ignited the bike. I came to the road and started off for home. Today I was in the mood of going slow. I hardly touched 50 km/h in my complete commute from office to home. A little away from my office is long fly-over. I decided to take it. When I reached the top, I halted for a photo. The night was peaceful and no one on the road to bother me. I started taking some shots in the darkness under the street lights. A man approached me. He was walking and wanted a lift till the next bus stop. I packed up my camera and and went ahead to help him. A little ahead I dropped him off and started hunting for a loction for getting a nice shot of the bike. All the tapris (small road side shops) were closed. I parked my bike next to coupe of such tapris and started taking some shots. To my surprise, this man, whom I had dropped sometime back again came to me walking all the way from the bus stop. I guess he wanted to go somewhere further. But this time he didn't ask me for a lift. He just smiled at me, asked me if it was new bike and walked off. I still wonder where he went and why he didn't ask for a lift again. Somethings are really weird.
I took some shots there and moved ahead. I realised that the roads were becoming a bit wet as I was moving towards my home. Maybe it had rained in that section. As I moved ahead, it started drizzling. I just zipped up my jacket and readied myself to get wet if rains. Everything was so quite around. It was just the engine of my R15 which was buzzing at 4000rpm. I was changing my route with every turn. I just didn't want to end that ride. The R15 has so much of a racing gene and character to it. But I what I was exploring was the other side of the bike. At that time I realised that going fast is not the ultimate ecstasy. You can enjoy the ride on a slow go as well. It was the comfort of the bike's seat which was asking me to ride the bike more and more. The digital console of the bike, as everyone knows, is beautiful. But in that night it felt even better. That white backlit LCD was brilliant in the dark night.
I was going on a bridge which runs over a river. I stopped there and killed the engine. The flowing water of river was the only source of the sound. I enjoyed that location for almost 15 min before I left. As I approached my area, the drizzles went on to become rains. I was loving it. Riding the R15 in rains wasn't any difficult. And it immediately reminded me of all the posers. These posers have been cribbing about the slim tyres which were lending great grip even in the wet conditions.
There have been so many things about this bike that have impressed me. And with every ride, there is something new to the bike that I get to appreciate. After a long time, I have got to ride a bike which is made in India and which has so much in it which deserves and appreciation. Anyways, the night was all about slow riding and taking photos in the street lights. The photos will find space on this blog soon....