I must confess, my latest longing has been for the sea. And 4 times in the 2 months that have passed this year have i found myself parked on a beach lost in the mesmerizing, almost hypnotic motion of the waves. It must be a similar sway that the moon has on the sea, that causes her to rise and fall at its movements.
I digress, and must steer quickly to the point. Another and more important longing i fail to supress is ofcourse the longing to ride. But something is different, something has changed. It isn't the familiar almost irritable excitement that usually takes over before a long ride, it isn't the craving for the dizzying exhiliration of pulling a tight corner, nor is it the sheer thrill of gunning down an open highway. These more familiar sways have been replaced by a longing to move. Move more than just physically, if i may call it so, a longing to be moved. A quest almost, for serenity. A desire to go go and keep going irrespective of distance, time or speed, and not stop until everything within me is calm. This longing has been so indescribable and baffling to me, that i have taken up the good part of almost a week to come up with the lines i have so far and am still not sure i got it quite right.
Maybe it is what old riders call the spirit of the motorcycling. That the bike moves you more than just physically. Inexplicable yet constantly active, this sway draws me to search for the first opportunity to get on my bike and not look back, ride and not race, steadily constantly conquer miles and miles of highway, and most drastically different from before- be completely indifferent to all data and calculations of milestones to reach, time and speed such as what commonly plagues a long distance rider, and just ride with your heart and soul lost - in thought or in scenery, in philosophy or on the map, but lost to good effect- moved.
Consequent to what i have endeavored to expound, most of my rides now start at night, and last almost all night, with very few short breaks and long stretches of continous cruising till i reach a peaceful beach far away. There is something extremely synchronous between riding and the sea. Which bears out best when you hit a highway parallel to the sea with its waves crashing on its beach. Maybe the sea symbolizes everything a motorcycle is, calm and steady inside but raging and rearing to go on the outside. Maybe it symbolizes life itself. Beautiful yet deadly, silent yet strong.
Now i may have finally been able to give you a glimpse of what i mean by the changed frame of mind and the kind of thoughts that run through it.
I rode to Ramapuram beach, Chirala, last weekend. Rode out on Friday night after work and reached the beach by 3am. Keeping warm with a small bonfire on the beach. The sunrise, warm expresso and subsequent relaxed weekend was worth the wait. I remembered to take my camera gear for a change. So the result i will let u scrutinize below.
I don't know much about how long the current swaying for philosophy and the ocean will last, but i do know this, when some old biker wrote "two wheels move the soul", he couldn't have put it better.
To view a rider's eye perspective of the ride by the beach, check out: https://youtu.be/EuHqyZmnfwc
