Last evening, I was playing Dragon Age: Origins, testing out the different characters and their stories even though I have finished playing that game once long back. Although I did keep track of time, I was too absorbed in it that I didn’t realize how fast time passed by and before I realized it was almost 7:30 pm. I had planned to go to the nearby Sprouts ( nearby means at-least 1.7 miles from my place single trip) by my usual mode of transport, bike.
The Sun seems to go down earlier than it used to; obviously since Summer is coming to an end. The moment I went out, it started to get dark. Thankfully, I had my new bike light which seems to be ‘super-bright’ for its size and price! (I so love electronics Made in Taiwan ! They are always the BEST!) As I made my way to the store blazing down the steep mountain road with my road bike, I realized that coming back up is going to be tough; knowing the place not many cars are going to come up compared to going down. I parked my bike at the usual place and went inside the store and was surprised to see a ‘Chandrika’ soap (That is made in India as an Ayurvedic soap!) for 1.5$; the same available in India for around 1/3rd the price! ‘Oh well, I’ll give it a try’ is what I thought and picked it up. I got the usual grocery for the weekend and went to the counter.
I was surprised to see that the white mushrooms changed price from 1.69$/pound for the past 4-5 weeks to almost 3$/pound! Man, that was a shocker only to find it at the counter and the lady there only saying cheesy stuff like ‘You gotta see when you buy stuff. Most of the times, they go up rather than come down!’ followed by another guy saying some other similar stuff. I left the store with the usual, almost 20 pound bag on my back, started my flashing lights, put the bike gear in a comfortable position and pushed with all my might! 😛
The street lights were dim, or rather non-existent with only the traffic signals having one near them. On a mountain road, where you know some wild animals exist, it feels a bit creepy to ride a bike with flashing lights and the complete silence of the woods surrounding you with the intermittent rustling of bushes behind you or to your side! once in a while, a car might pass on the opposite lane briefly lighting the patch behind you and prove utterly useless for your need! Some passers-by with huge pets travel at this time of the night which, I find amusing for some reason and once in a while you see two small eyes light up on the side-walk briefly as the light flashes, rabbits obviously (I hope so!) only to spook you further. Some people seem to have a fetish for reflective walking shoes which reflect back your light and make you creep out with the sound of footsteps and reflections as long as you don’t go near them to see that it is actually a real person walking by!
Climbing back was as tough as it could be with the amount of steepness my place has! I tried my best to keep my handle bar steady but some wobbling is meant to occur with an extremely lightweight bike, I guess. The people on the opposite side must have been creeped out with the light going in all directions and me, having my Indian skin color and wearing a black fleece long-sleeved t-shirt, white tracks and orange shoes with a dark blue helmet to make it even more spooked in the night; guess I would’ve looked like some headless/body-less drunk bicyclist wobbling up the hill, almost on the verge of passing out! 😛
Even in this dire situation, the best thing that could happen is having a full moon come up and shine brightly on the dark roads lighting your way. I’ve always been mesmerized by the bright white moon whenever I saw one but yesterday was somehow more special. The calm whispering wind, the mild rustling of bushes (with the horrible sound of electrical boxes on the road side and my panting!) and the mild sound of Crickets, they all seemed to be magical with the moon’s brightness. (^_^)
And so, I reached home with the beautiful full moon by my side to remind me of how beautiful Nature is and my sweaty shirt to remind me to air my bike tires!
dheerstory 