It’s been an eventful month. So much has happened that I seemed to have lived about three lives through it. Now, capping it all off, I’m down with a virulent eye infection and have been bedridden and quarantined. The last thing I ought to be doing is making blog entries. Using computers, in addition to television and books, is verboten…. strictly. Still, utter boredom has sent me scurrying to the keyboard.
For starters, I participated in the inaugural MRF FMSCI Road Challenge, a motorcycle racing competition at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore a month ago. Though there were only a handful of participants in the RD350 category, I did manage a respectable third in both races. Got me name in the papers, I did!
Check these links out: From the Hindu, dated 26th August and From the Hindu, dated 27th August. Look under results, RD350 category.
Next, I got back from the race and promptly left for the mountains, with my bicycle in tow. I proceeded to then ride the bike from Manali to Leh, over a period of eight days. I had a fantastic time and enjoyed myself immensely. It’s a shame that I’d done both my prior trips on a motorcycle. The bicycle is certainly the best way to enjoy the mountains. I’ve got a huge number of photographs and I’ll post up a trip log soon after I’ve organised them.
I must mention the excellent book I took along with me on the ride, Umberto Eco’s "Foucault’s Pendulum". I have rarely been as enthralled by a book. Eco’s subtle and magnificent style is unmatched, and throughout the trip, my nose was buried in its pages. It’s a book that is simultaneously about everything, and about nothing. It’s humour, mystery, occult, scientific and literary all at the same time, straddling the widest array of genres a single book possibly can.
I got back a couple of weeks ago, and found the boys all heading to the race track again, this time to Sriperumbudur. I’ll be damned if I was going to miss the event, so I tagged along. The weekend turned out to be completely disastrous for all the Bangalore boys. Christy had a bad crash and broke his hand, Sanju’s bike acted up yet again, I had a relatively minor crash (sprained thumb) and Abhi’s bike practically didn’t move at all.
Throw in a brief cycling trip last Sunday morning to Varathur lake in Whitefield, and that’ll bring us to now, and I’m sitting bleary eyed in bed, doing the one thing I oughtn’t be doing… staring at a laptop screen.