Adventures of the MaMu - 2: Kick Start

After MaMu's 1st tryst with Namma Bengaluru's traffic, she had decided that she would never ever step out into the traffic on any kind of 2-wheeler again. But it's an unwritten rule in MaMu's book of life that whatever she says she won't ever do in her life again, she has to do the very same thing almost immediately. Accordingly, that fateful night till date, she has had to commute to and fro on her maroon Lady Bird.

Cycling on the steep slopes of the Bangalore roads is no mean feat. One has to wade through innumerable potholes that lie eveywhere on every single road and by-lane. Finding that thin strip of asphalt that authorities claim to be the road, especially on a day it rains cats and dogs, is, well, simply put, impossible. Also, the physical exersion of a cycle ride on such a road is unthinkable - hit the breaks everytime a pothole or speed breaker makes itself visible; or a huge BMTC bus decides it needs the entire stretch of road to make a turn, or when an extremely excited 2-wheeler driver thinks its his right to take a left when his 2-wheeler indicates it was a right he was originally planning to take; or when equally excited mongrels and stray cats run amok on the road - MaMu's hands ache more than her feet! That's why she finds it quite a task to cycle 4 kms daily. Never-the-less, she persists in her efforts.

And therefore, it was with no little joy that MaMu accepted her dearest friend Bastet's offer to teach her to ride the Scooty (I still fail to understand what made Bastet volunteer her very dear Scooty ES to be the sacrificial goat). One fine afternoon, Bastet took MaMu to a lonely stretch of road on the IISc campus for her 1st scooty lesson. (Personally I think, that was for the sole purpose of hiding her identity as MaMu's scooty teacher than any damage MaMu was liable to cause the IISc life(?) and property :P) Well anyway, there they were. Bastet showed MaMu how to turn the ignition key to the 'on', 'off' n 'lock' modes and how to use the self-starter switch. MaMu, sincere student that she is, turned the key as told, held down the choke, pressed both the breaks and then pressed hard on the self-starter. Voila! The self-starter switch took a huge leap and fell out of it's socket! The rest of Lesson#1 was spent in trying to figure out which way to put it back in, and having failed, on taking a nice little joy ride to a Malleswaram scooter repair shop, and having failed there too, to the TVS Scooty garage where it was put forth to them in very lucid terms that the entire scooty 'head' would have to be dismantled and dissected to put that teeny-weeny switch back in again! And all this while, Bastet had had to kick start her dear injured scooty at every signal, with a series of kicks and a whole lot of irate vehicles honking behind her :(

Even after enduring so much, Bastet has promised to resume MaMu's scooty classes from the day after! Way to go! Oh what dedication! What commitment! What sheer guts! And not to forget, what a wonderful 'kick start' to MaMu's scooty classes! :D

Love ya Bastet! :)