MY SOLO RIDE TO DANTEWADA, CHHATTISGARH
A STORY OF VINOD RAWAT | NARRATED BY RAHUL MEHTA
SUMMER OF 2016, MUMBAI, it was a April heat, I was riding on my old 1980 model Royal Enfield, was
listening the radio through ear phone in my helmet, I knew something had happened in the country, the almost
eastern part of India, in Chhattisgarh, some kind of Naxel attack occurred on CRPF jawans, may be 40 jawans
was died during the ambush, I saw this in the news yesterday night, but I am far away from that, as the attitude
in the city goes, we just hear it, see it, talk about it.. but we don't care because we think that's not our life and we
are least affected by it, so it was very normal, all the news papers have covered this story in today's print,
everywhere it was the same topic on debate.
I approached a signal, and I stopped my bike.. was waiting the counter to get over on the signal to reach to my
work at KEM hospital, usually I reach on time, sharp at 10:00 am but today I was running 15 mins late, but that's
normal with Mumbai's lifestyle, we spend our lot of time in traffic and commuting than a work hour.
I heard a Radio Jockey was repeating some facts on the radio about yesterday's incident, but I ignored and
changed the channel, and my favourite song played..
chu kar mere mann ko kiya tune kya ishaara
badla yeh mausam.. lage pyaara jag saara..
I was in my mood, but somewhere down the line in my heart I was feeling sad about the incident, but I chose to
ignore it, anyways with that thought I reached KEM hospital where I work.. I started my usual routine of work..
but my eyes were getting the attention of the picture of Naxels and and dead bodies of CRPF jawans which
were there in the newspaper today which was lying on my desk, and for one time I thought to pick that paper
and read it but I removed the newspaper from there, and I shifted my focus back to the work.
It was a Monday morning and the work pressure was tremendous but due to being a specially abled employee I
had some exemptions in my job but I really didn't care about those exemptions and I work like any normal able
employee. That week was in a way special for me because on coming saturday we were about to plan for a
short ride to Malshet Ghat in Maharashtra. I run a motorcycle club which is "CONVOY CONTROL CLUB" and I
am a founder member of Mumbai chapter. Every 15 days on weekend we plan a one or two day short trip to
nearby place to rejuvenate ourselves and the best thing about this club is that we all are specially abled
members and we love riding, our club is been a talk of the town since quite a long time now due to our specially
abled motorcycle riding trips.. and we are quite famous for our philanthropic rides for the society and some
cause.