42
The Motorcycle
[I as an avatar will end the age of Kali and will kill all the wicked and, thus, destroys the bad condition of the world. I as an avatar will gather all of the good and honest people. I will learn all the ways of life.]
Training continued after the incident. Daxa is brave enough to start the practice the very next day of the gathering.
At the end of the month, I’ve fought with Tarun and Teena.
That night I dream that I hung from the creepers to the wall, my fingers are aching by gripping the creepers and it’s hard to go up or down. I’m just hanging there, as long as I can.
Tarun, Teena and other my friends are also hanging like me, but more steady than me. Just my hands are slippery. I’m almost lost the grip then the Tarun clutches my right-hand helps me hanging.
I try to go up but Tarun’s grip on my hand loses and I fall to the ground.
I wake up before I hit the stone blocks.
Shaking and sweating from my dream I walk to the JALKUND and take bath.
I don’t want to miss a day of training, my head is heavy but I go to the practice ground.
I stare at my friends waiting to see me fight with two Nirbhaya. Though Tarun and Teena are too kind to call Nirbhaya, I feel nervousness.
I walk to the circle of arena made by dry lime line. Even my teacher has come to see me fight. My heart is pounding so hard I can feel it’s beating in my ears. I know how to fight. I’ve learned it for last one month but the feeling of fighting with two Nirbhaya made me nervous.
My opponents are two Nirbhaya. I think.
Why should it make me nervous? I have knocked three of them. I assure myself and wipe my palms on my trouser’s cotton to remove sweat.
“Are you ready, Samrat?” Tarun asks.
“Yes.” I nod.
Tarun lifts his hand up to cover his face and next to him is Teena ready to block any blow.
For a while we circle each other and then I get my first chance, to kick Tarun in the side. I kick him – no, I would have kicked him in the side, if Teena hadn’t blocked my kick in mid-air. I feel the heat rushing in my left ribcage before my leg stuck to the ground.
The Moment Teena blocks my kick, Tarun had kicked me in the side, and it knocked me off balance. My right side smacks into the ground and I scramble to my feet.
The next thing I see is a punch coming from Tarun but before it could hit me in the jaw I duck; unaware that it is just to divert my attention. The same moment Teena leap on me and we both lend to the ground, I’m down and she is up to me, punching my face at both jaws.
I throw her away with the pressure of my both legs and pull myself up on my hands but before I could get on my feet Tarun kicks me in the head.
Pain stabs my head and spreads across my skull, my face, making my vision go black at the edges and I hear nothing but loud beep sound in my ears.
The second kick of Teena catches me in the stomach. Her foot forces the air from my lungs and I can’t breathe.
“Let him get on his feet,” I hear Teena’s voice and rain of kicks stop from Tarun.
I push myself up and get on my feet, still, my vision blurs. Colour starts to play tricks in my eyes and my vision is in different colours, blue, black, green, yellow and red. My face is wet with my own blood, the effect of Teena’s punches. A bloody nose is also her kindness.
“What happened, Samrat?” Tarun asks.
“I’m unable to fight you both,” I say, getting my vision back.
“My father has told me that you have knocked three Nirbhaya at beyond the wall.”
“Yes,” I wipe the blood from my face with my shirt sleeve, “perhaps it was due to anger.”
“Aren’t you angry on us when we are beating you?”
“No, this is just training,” I answer.
Tarun looks at Teena and she says him something – it’s a short word but I can’t understand it. Perhaps it’s their special language – the vernacular language of Nirbhaya.
“Do you think if it wasn’t training then you have overpowered us?” Teena asks, her face taunting.
“Why not?” I say, smiling.
“You are a Sunya,” Tarun says, “you can cry when someone beat you. Aren’t you feeling like crying?”
I look at Teena, surprised why he is saying this.
But the kind look disappears from her face. Her arms twitches and she clenches her fists, “come on, Sunya,” she says, “is this your all?”
“Are you going to fight devatas with it?” Tarun adds, “They will tear you apart in a second and then your people will suffer for years for the rebellion.”
“They will rape girls from in the wall and all your kids will be killed by Nirbhaya troop as punishment of your rebellion.” It’s Teena.
“Stop this,” I shout, “I don’t want to hear.”
“You have to.” Tarun says, “You are a Sunya and okay with slavery.”
“I’m not.” The blood rushes to my brain, “now not a single word against my people.”
“Once a Sunya is always a Sunya.” as Tarun says I punch a nearby tree. It shakes a little.
“Stop this or I’ll kill you.”
“Sunya can’t kill anyone.” Teena yells back and I again punch on the tree stream, “stop this,” I punch it again and again, yelling, “stop making me angry,” the next punch shatters the tree bark and the tree shakes violently, “you can’t bear my punch after I’m angry,” and with the next punch I feel the roots of the tree coming out from the ground under my feet, “this is risky for you.”
I collapse to the ground, my knuckles swollen and blood dripping from them.
Teena opens her mouth to say something but Tarun interrupts her, “Enough,” he says, “he isn’t Samrat now.”
“What am I?” I ask.
“When you are angry you are Kalki,” he says, “the ager changes you.”
“Your training is over.” Tarun adds, “I can’t risk my life anymore.” He smiles.
I get to my feet, my hands shaking and my head throbbing, “really?” I ask.
“Yes, we are done,” Teena says, stepping towards me, “there is nothing more to teach you except one thing that doesn’t risk our lives.”
“What?” I ask.
“How to ride a bike,” Tarun says, “when we came back in train my father has managed to send a bike in the wall.”
“What’s bike?”
“Oh! In your language, it’s a motorcycle.” Teena says.
“You mean that machine,” I say, surprised, “I have to learn how to use it.”
“Yes,” Tarun says, “beyond the wall you need to know how to ride a bike and how to drive a car.”
“But we can’t hide the car in the train so you have to learn it when we at beyond the wall.” Teena says, “But the motorcycle is necessary to escape from anywhere.”
That afternoon, Tarun gets me a helmet designed for motorcycle riders, a jacket, motorcycle boots, gloves, and other gears. He teaches me how to wear all these stuff and why to wear them.
Every gear was to protect my body while riding. They have managed to get all these things beyond the wall in the train. Tarun’s father is Nirbhaya leader so it isn’t hard for him. he has sent bows, arrow, and swords along with some gears to climb the wall when we are ready to go beyond it.
Then Teena brings a motorcycle in the clearing, she is riding it.
“First thing is to learn the controls,” Tarun explains, “the hand clutch lever is located on the left handlebar and is used to disengage the power from the rear wheel when shifting gears,” he shows me what he says after starting the bike.
“The gear shifting is located by your left foot and used to shift one gear up or down while you are pulling the clutch lever.” He says, showing me how to change gear.”
“Now see this,” he adds as I nod, “this is the throttle. It’s used to accelerate,” he shows me the throttle located on the right handlebar and then explains about brakes to the front wheel is the lever on the same handlebar.
“Remember the left side of the motorcycle controls gears and the right side controls acceleration and breaking.”
Then he kills the engine and gets off the bike.
“You, sit on it.” He says, handing me handlebar.
I sit on it and go over the functions of the control as he has explained to me.
I kick and the engine starts to throb. I get a feel of it. Grip the handlebar, clutch lever, and brake lever.
My feet are planted on the ground and now I’m feeling the weight of the bike underneath me.
The hardest thing is getting a feel for the clutch. It takes half an hour to learn how to clutch and when to release the clutch slowly after shifting the gear.
Every time I try and the engine stops to throb with a jerk, it makes me nervous but there isn’t a way but learning it.
“It’s time to go,” Tarun says and shows me the kill switch located at the right handlebar for any emergency. It’s a small red switch.
I start with my feet in front of me and on the ground, slowly letting the clutch out until the bike starts to pull itself forward but like it, I try to pull my feet off the ground as Tarun has shown me I fall to the ground with the bike.
It needs half an hour to pull my feet off the ground and balance the bike, not falling to the ground with it.
Then I make the bike moving and accelerate slightly and pull my feet up onto the pegs. First I ride it straight and then by instinct my hands know how to change the direction. I get a complete feel of the handlebar and it seems me easy to ride the machine.
I ride it for fifteen minutes, practicing shifting gears and when I come back to training ground I am ready to stop. I pull in the clutch lever and slowly apply the front and rear brakes simultaneously as Teena has shown me while she stopped it.
I use my left foot to steady the bike at the stop same as Tarun had and then I put my right foot on the ground as the motorcycle stops.
Tarun and Teena are surprised to see how fast I learn to ride the machine.
Now I know how to ride a motorcycle, how to fight and I’m ready to go beyond the wall as my friend finish to learn how to ride this machine.
***
to be continue...
