Episode 44 : RM '06 - Jan 22

Even though I slept for only 5 hours, I woke up feeling refreshed. But of course, lack of sleep will only show in the middle of the week!

All bikes were drenched in the morning dew. Mist was exceptionally thick for Madras with visibility not exceeding 5 metres. It took me an hour to reach home with visibility improving every 15 minutes.

After seeing the prices, I hit upon the idea of smuggling booze in. Bought two quarter-bottles of rum. While Pepsi was also exorbitantly priced, I did not want the smuggling to be too obvious.

I entered the resort to find a huge crowd admiring the bikes on display. And the print and electronic media were covering it.

Strangely, I had forgotten about the day and what it was supposed to mean to me. Except for those times when I found messages wishing me a happy birthday. I suppose I got what I wanted. A private birthday.

After noon, it was time for the big ECR ride. All bikes revved and rode out to the main road with media persons following them on cars and some of our bikes. I went hunting for my helmet and found only my jacket at the place I left it. I must have turned the place upside down before I decided to ride bare-headed.

As I rode out of the resort, I saw my helmet on the head of another biker! And he had a female from the press as pillion. When I looked around, all female press persons were riding pillion on someone's bike. Now why do I never have luck like this?

All I got was a cameraman asking me if I could help him get some footage of moving bikes. Bare-headed, no helmet and with a camera-lugging man as my pillion, I rode.

Behind other bikes, along side other bikes, honking madly as I overtook bike after bike so that the cameraman could get the shots he wanted. The result was wind-swept hair. A completely different hairstyle. Neat!

Lunch was a satisfying biryani with chicken fry, an egg and fried fish. Burp!

As afternoon turned to evening, people bathed in the sun or in the waves. Or got dumped into the water. I was mighty glad at having kept quiet about the birthday. Getting birthday bumps is bad, getting it in water is worse!

I quietly brought out the rum and mixed it in the Pepsi and also helped myself to a single shot of Seagram's Imperial Blue. I had almost put myself off whisky after trying Royal Challenge twice. The only saving grace was the single occasion when I had a glass of Chivas.

After a little booze had gotten into me, I was in the mood to play harmless pranks. Preet is a teetotaller. When he refused a shot of the whisky, I quietly offered him my bottle of Pepsi. He took a large swig only to spit it immediately! In my defence, I did not tell him it was neat Pepsi.

The DJ started off with rock, but not many were interested to jive to heavy metal. He soon switched to party numbers and the crowd began to swell.

I needed no prompting this time. I had already finished the earlier 2-litre bottle of "remixed" Pepsi and was on a half-litre bottle that was a higher concentration of rum. Hours passed and the music went on.

Soon most of us were tired and took a break to mingle with the other club members. SilentMan and I discussed the crash I had and he offered advice on biking philosophy. All this time, people told me the technicalities- how to avoid animals, how to brake suddenly and things like that. SM told me what I should do on the road. In between, we allowed ourselves to be photographed in our sloshed states.

It was almost midnight. The alcohol had messed up the communication in my brain. It made me show Ramath one of the birthday messages I got earlier in the day. He stared at the message and then at me.

'22nd or 23rd?' he asked.

'22nd.'

'I got to tell this to Selvi.'

Uh-oh.

'You sure?'

'Yeah, she likes you man!'

That's my story. Girls love to like me, and their boyfriends (if there are any) don't mind! I am the Dilton Doiley of Riverdale High!

As I reached the dance floor, Selvi rushed over to pump my hand. And then the music stopped. I looked up to see Ramath standing to make an announcement. My NO could have been heard by everybody out there.

'TODAY IS HYDE'S BIRTHDAY!' he yelled. Not into the mike, thankfully.

There were hugs from people all around and suddenly I was lifted and then found myself lying on the ground.

Birthday bumps, I heard Solo say.

"My camera, my camera" I pleaded and handed it to Jos for safekeeping.

With a collective heave, they put me over their heads and carried me around the dance floor. Am glad they didn't drop me!

Jos later gave me my camera and told me he took photos of the crowd carrying me around!

After dinner, the rest of us who were still awake crowded around the moderator of Wonderlust, listening to him sing and play the guitar. At around 2 in the morning, we called it a night.

RM '06 was wonderful. RM'07 is going to be hosted by Wonderlust at Nagpur.

I want to be there.