It started as a normal Sunday. I woke up and got ready to go to church. But as the events of the day started to unfold I knew that its not going to be just another day! It has been a long time since I posted my Mind Voice. For the first time after I had come to the US am doing it today from the junction of Alvernon and Broadway. After biking for almost an hour to this place (A bus shelter) from the campus am trying to recollect the path that led me here. Well maybe the same fate that brought me to Tucson had plotted to bring me to this shelter as well! I don’t know. I called up all my friends in the morning to see if anybody was free to spend time with! but I learnt that only an idiot would be awake at 10 am in a Sunday morning.
Boredom makes people try new things, probably boredom might be one of the reasons why a group of stone age people left out of Africa to populate the entire world! I initially decided to go to Wall mart to get a replacement for my bike lamp that got stolen yesterday. But suddenly an Idea struck. Instead of biking to a place which I already know, why not go to a complete new place! The idea seemed interesting and here I am. I knew from my earlier experience that Tucson has certain roads specially dedicated for bikes. I wanted to explore them and started to ride east on university blvd towards 3rd street.The scorching sun was always on my head. There were a lot of houses on either side of the road but I could not see a single human being out on the road or outside the house. It was a creepy feeling to not see any human being in almost 20 minutes of biking.
When the creepy feeling was taking over my excitement I got a call. It was my friend asking me a doubt on the assignment which I had not even started. Probably had I started with the assignment I might not have felt bored! while talking over the phone I realised that I was no more on my intended path. I cut the call and started to estimate where I was currently. Tucson has a unique identity, it is a planned city surrounded by mountains the north is clearly marked by the Catalina hills. Though I was now on unknown roads I was very sure that I was travelling towards east. The unknown roads did not terrify me as there were many parks and one or two people in them. Without any idea as to where my destination was I kept on pedalling I drove till the 29th street. At this moment I had to decide to go either north or south, there was no more east left on that road. I decided to go south. The road was a four lane highway like road! a strange feeling started to creep into me am I lost but at last I just followed the road on its course to the current location where I am right now.
The moment I reached here I saw a flying ad for Geico and some time later a group of cop vehicles rushing for some emergency. The rushing cop vehicles reminded me of the times watching the J7 cop practising to drive at the 100ft road in Velachery back in India. It was a contrasting scene. Having had enough rest I decided to start from the bus shelter. By now I was pretty much lost though the sense of direction was intact I was not confident. I decided to go north whatever be the outcome. Just by following the road on Alvernon I came across 3rd street again I knew I was travelling north but seeing 3rd street again made me think if I was going in circles! I decided not to deviate from the plan of going north. finally, I came to a familiar road speedway. Now I exactly knew where I was but the sun had drained all the energy from my body. I decided to have an Ice Cream at Coldstone.
I ordered a caramel mixed ice cream the girl in the counter offered me water by looking at my appearance. When I was gulping my ice cream I saw two cute little girls enter the store along with their Mother. The two girls ordered their ice cream and sat next to the table I was in. the youngest girl asked me what my name was? I replied to her and asked her name, she politely told her name and told her elder sister's name as well. Then with a cute smile she asked me what topping I had on my ice cream. I said caramel, These two girls where the only two people with whom I had talked to in the whole 3 hour trip and I don't know why those few words with them gave me an immense satisfaction. But I just realised that as long as there is one more human being alive no human is alone. The stone age man who left Africa might have got different names and cultures but we all are one and we all are same.
I ordered a caramel mixed ice cream the girl in the counter offered me water by looking at my appearance. When I was gulping my ice cream I saw two cute little girls enter the store along with their Mother. The two girls ordered their ice cream and sat next to the table I was in. the youngest girl asked me what my name was? I replied to her and asked her name, she politely told her name and told her elder sister's name as well. Then with a cute smile she asked me what topping I had on my ice cream. I said caramel, These two girls where the only two people with whom I had talked to in the whole 3 hour trip and I don't know why those few words with them gave me an immense satisfaction. But I just realised that as long as there is one more human being alive no human is alone. The stone age man who left Africa might have got different names and cultures but we all are one and we all are same.
(Now looking into google map I realise I was lost way back. I had started going south when I entered Columbus! :P
Total Distance Covered : 10.4 miles)
