Half a Dream !!!

...and the alarm goes off. He was only half asleep thru out the night, it was very much similar to the days when he used to go to Rajkot to meet her in an unreserved coach from Mumbai. He couldnt stretch the legs more than a feet. People sitting besides almost falling down on you in sleep. "It is still the same", he thought. It was 5 am. Rahul was fast asleep. He wanted to wake Rahul up, and say bye to him. but then gave up the idea as both of them had come back from office at 1230 the earlier day. "He must be tired."

Most of the luggage was in the saddlebag. He had got the bike serviced two days back. Although, he still felt that the clutch wire might give some trouble. He again checked the list. Bike papers and the RC Book were in the right side of the saddlebag. He hadnt found the torch which, he thought, might be in Rahul's room. He put the geyser on and started brushing. Still thinking about the dream, the dream which once was a reality. It was the same train, same people trying to get more space even in their sleep, and ofcourse the same time, 5am, when she used to call. Her voice was so soft and even softer when she called early mornings trying to speak as low as possible so that nobody knows about it. It was enough to take away the strain off him. And they talked about the things they were supposed to do in whatever time they had to be with eachother.

He came out after taking the shower and looked at the room which was as messy as it could be being his room. The maid had not come for two days. He put a note for Rahul to clean the room whenever the maid comes. He put all the toiletries in the bag and packed it. The torch was in Rahul's room. "Why do you always have to forget the water bottle ?", "So that you can scold me" and he remembered hugging her. He took the water bottle and put in in the side pocket.

It was still dark. He decided to start at 6 am. Still had 15 minutes with him. He checked the toolkit and the other things he had bought when he got the bike serviced. The clutch wire, throttle wire, chain link, the head lamp, everything was in. She was so scared when he had decided to buy the Enfield Thunderbird. It had taken him a month to persuade her. "but... why this bike" she kept asking. "so that I can whisk you away some day... other bikes wont be useful when we are going for a longer distance... " he joked and started exlaining her the technicalities of the bike, the 350cc engine, the disk brakes which he was sure that she wouldnt understand.

He locked the house, came out and mounted the saddlebag on the bike. He had the maps and distance sheet in his pocket. Also made a note of places he would stop. It was a list they both had prepared for their first trip on the bike. The first was the scenic riverside, 180 kms, it was quiet and immensely beautiful site and so different from the crowded city. They had decided to spend the entire morning there on the Dhaba, which was on the banks of the river. Then there was the temple they were to visit. The horsley hills was 250 kms further where they would have stayed. He still remembered the dream they had both had. Just the thought of spending the entire day with eachother without anything else to think about, to worry about, thrilled them both.

He thought about their dream for a second and took the bike off the stand. Gave the choke and started the bike after a couple of tries... and he set off to the dream he had with her... and he set off to half the dream they both had.

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