Yesterday we ended with a promise about the tales about wheels and business. Young boys are fascinated by cars and bikes. Older boys too! Being young lets you dream about a lot of stuff uninhibited. You can dream about the cars you are going to get, boast about without getting the "huh" stares.
Anyways back to our tale. I used to live near a slum. (Near would be an understatement since the distance was like 3 meters!) Temple pond (a large one at that!) converted into a slum over a period of several years. Without any doubt, I was forbidden from playing with the slum kids. I was still fascinated by their games. One of them was wheeling. I don't know the exact term for it, but it involves running along with a tyre, guiding it with a stick and making "beep beep" noises. Couple of kids with whom I used to play, were also fascinated by this. So, without getting close to the "bad" kids, I also got to play the game.
We started of with cycle tyres as we could get them pretty easily. Cycle tyre riding was a not an easy task, given its flimsy nature. Somehow I obtained a scooter tyre. It was far easier and faster. I got myself a sturdy stick and I was good to go. Won several races! To be frank it was real fun beating on a tyre and running with it. One day, I rummaged through some old junk and discovered an old tyre from my dad's ancient Jawa bike. It was bloody cool. Big and Strong. Jawa became my primary tyre from then on.
In the meanwile, the slum kids discovered a new wheel. Small, rubber rings guided using a steel wire. They were zippy and moved beautifully. They were like the F1 cars of the tyre riders. Finally, I discovered that the rubber rings where the ones used inside a pressure cooker! Stole a ring from the kitchen and I had my own F1!
Don't exactly remember when I stopped tyre riding. I can still feel the joy of the careless tyre riders running around beating tyres, screaming "beep beep". Don't see them anymore. Or is it that I don't notice them?
Rockus is too tired to continue about "Business", so we will see that next time around.
P.S: Eventhough I was forbidden from befriending the slum kids, I was cordial to them. My folks where afraid that I would learn the swear words from them. I didn't. I learnt them from the top school in the city! :-D
Anyways back to our tale. I used to live near a slum. (Near would be an understatement since the distance was like 3 meters!) Temple pond (a large one at that!) converted into a slum over a period of several years. Without any doubt, I was forbidden from playing with the slum kids. I was still fascinated by their games. One of them was wheeling. I don't know the exact term for it, but it involves running along with a tyre, guiding it with a stick and making "beep beep" noises. Couple of kids with whom I used to play, were also fascinated by this. So, without getting close to the "bad" kids, I also got to play the game.
We started of with cycle tyres as we could get them pretty easily. Cycle tyre riding was a not an easy task, given its flimsy nature. Somehow I obtained a scooter tyre. It was far easier and faster. I got myself a sturdy stick and I was good to go. Won several races! To be frank it was real fun beating on a tyre and running with it. One day, I rummaged through some old junk and discovered an old tyre from my dad's ancient Jawa bike. It was bloody cool. Big and Strong. Jawa became my primary tyre from then on.
In the meanwile, the slum kids discovered a new wheel. Small, rubber rings guided using a steel wire. They were zippy and moved beautifully. They were like the F1 cars of the tyre riders. Finally, I discovered that the rubber rings where the ones used inside a pressure cooker! Stole a ring from the kitchen and I had my own F1!
Don't exactly remember when I stopped tyre riding. I can still feel the joy of the careless tyre riders running around beating tyres, screaming "beep beep". Don't see them anymore. Or is it that I don't notice them?
Rockus is too tired to continue about "Business", so we will see that next time around.
P.S: Eventhough I was forbidden from befriending the slum kids, I was cordial to them. My folks where afraid that I would learn the swear words from them. I didn't. I learnt them from the top school in the city! :-D
This post reminded me of my "tyre riding" days too 8-> I used to take pride in the fact that i could make the tyre do a 180 deg turn in my small lane :D :D
ReplyDelete*envy* couldn't do that! :-(
ReplyDeleteIts nice to know that I am not alone here! :-D