Learning to ride a bike

I have been trying to learn riding a bike from the last 3 years and every summer holidays it is on the top of my priority list. I reserve the summers for this activity because I don’t want to go to school limping all the way. My Dad’s old bicycle is reserved for the purpose and I am careful in padding my knees with my mother’s old saree for the purpose. My elder brother has his own bike and he is allowed to go anywhere he wants on that. My sister is 4 years younger than me, but she also rides a bike and is a contender of getting a new one before the summer vacations end.

I am the only one who cannot get a hang of it, even after trying it numerous times. This one time, I was so close to riding it on my own. Dad gave me a push and I thought I had finally broken the code. But as soon as the momentum died down and I gave it a single paddle to make it go on, I was going out of the road. I could see Dad running towards me, out of the corner of my eyes, but I knew he won’t be able to reach me on time. So I thought of taking it towards an electric pole, on which I could hang on and let the bike go, wherever it wanted to. I threw my arms in the air to get hold of the pole, but instead of my arms, my nose got in contact with the pole.This one other time, a complete one year after the pole incident, I was pushed again and I went a full kilometre unassisted. But then 2 pedestrians came into my sight and I can swear that the bike aimed itself on their feet and brought all of us to the ground.

Today I got the bike out and asked Dad to give me a push and added that if I don’t ride back on this thing back to the house, he can very well disown me. Lalu was there to see it and he knew about the pedestrian incident last summer. So, he was naturally excited to see the end result of this new found courage of mine. The whole pack was running around me, when I turned the corner. I could feel the bike trying to hit one of the puppies at all times and at one time it started to go after Lalu also, but I controlled it at the last moment. I went the full circle and was finally home before it could hurt anybody and I think I have finally mastered it. I am confident because, first of all I did not allow it to hit any of the dogs and last of all because I was unfazed by the constant barking.

Lalu came in the evening, well after the time, I bring rotis out to feed the dogs. He was the only one absent from the pack. I was busy with putting ice-cubes into the shirts of unsuspecting boys, sitting on the kerb in front of our garden, when I saw Lalu from a distance. He came directly into the garden instead of rounding up the whole pack, which he usually does every evening. He looked tired, so I just fed him and let him be.