the east coast road spanning around 150 km between madras(where i live & work currently) and pondicherry(where home is!) is very special to me. i must’ve ridden up and down quite a few times. in fact, it might even be more than that. for it is quite an ordinary affair these days, to ride up and down, over the weekend.
like i did last night. i was, like always, bumming around in the evening, talking to a friend and just whiling away the time. we’ve been working quite hard off late, and i did not want to work on sunday and intended spending it by catching up with a lot of sleep and generally resting (read lazing around).
i am driven by impulse. at around 9 in the night, i had this sudden urge to meet mother over the weekend. since my friend is also from pondicherry, she tagged along, and we hit the road past 9 in the night. sometimes i find it hard to believe myself. we stopped for dinner en route, just when we reached the outskirts of the city. i ate so much, that coupled with the tiresomness of the week, i had an impulsive urge, just then, to crash right there, or just go back to my room in the city 🙂
but we did ride on, and it was, like always, a beautiful. i particularly like this road for a few reasons. there usually isn’t much traffic, except near madras, where the weekenders get away to nearby beaches, their cars making life pretty miserable for anyone who lives around there. then there is also the sea breeze blowing all along. like i mentioned, i’ve seen different ‘faces’ of this road – ridden early morning, early evening, late night, midnight, hot afternoons, rainy days – the ECR looks familar nowadays. and yet, each ride is a new one, and this was had its own charm, under the bright moonlight.
so when home finally arrived, it was past one in the night. and there was mother, surprised as always, for i never tell them before riding – just to save the old folks of the trouble of worrying. there was this warm, innocent smile on mother’s face, even after being worken up at the most unearthly hour of the night.
as i was woken up late this morning, by the same warmth and affection, that loving voice of mother’s, gently persuading me to get out of bed and have my scrumptious breakfast, i couldn’t help feeling glad for having acted upon impulse, atleast this once.
bum bum bhole 
ahh sounds fun… i wish i could take off on impulse somewhere..
ECR!!!!!!!nothing like it.Nice blog you’ve got here:-)Keep writing.
my home is at Blue Beach Road, ECR… just that I don’t live there… my extended family of 2 attais live there… ah!! those quick get aways to Mamallapuram and Pondy… miss them!!!
btw,are you a ginnsberg enthusiast??:-)i like his poetry.
LOVEd the title of your post. And as always didn’t ever want it to end :)I always wanted to ride late evenings. In fact a friend promised we’d do that between bangalore and home someday; not to mention, i was sooo looking forward to it! *Sigh* but it never happed :(About mum’s.; mine at least, shes always happy when i surprise her 🙂 As much as she complains about not letting her know in advance (which like u said, allows her to worry all the more), she still loves it when i come home unannounced (or otherwise :-D)!
Wow, impulses rock! :)And that one was really good. I’m curious about that road now, wish there were pictures!
No place like home..and no food like home food!:D
Funny title :)All the weariness vanishes away once you embrace ur loved ones and Ammi’s are lovely..aren’t they? I want to know the menu of scrumptious breakfast your Ammi cooked so I’ll plan accordingly ;)Happy Holi 🙂 Btw do u guys celebrate in South? I thought you DON’T hain na?Stay Beautiful…!
a nice breakfast can be very satisfying.
u love ur mum alot…that means u know how to treat any woman with love n respect 🙂 Good on ya!Keshu.
Sometimes its good to act on impulses! Nice post…
There’s nothing like going back home! 🙂
Dharma, Some impulses are 100% worth acting on.Priya.
ADITI,get ready, gimme a buzz, and me wil be there, ok? ;o)VASU,thanks! i hope to keep writing til i get bored – and bored i eventually seem to get, of pretty much everything :(welcome to this space – ur comments are treasured, so do keep coming by.CM,2 attais sound like nice company. wil i get a sunday noon meal? ;o)
VASU,nope, actually. fact, i don’t read any poetry – i find it all too complicated :)MISS I,i was very tired when i wrote it, probably why it ended up before i really wanted it to.the title – as always, was a very impulsive one.the bangalore madras drive/ride is simply superb, especially if u do it via chittoor (old madras road)…have done it half a dozen times and loved it each time :)DEVIL,sorry abt the pics. they’ll probably come one day…meanwhile, why don’t u think of a trip down here, so we can show u the road? :)JUGGER,u said it! *backpats*SUGAR,traditionally, we don’t really celebrate it in the south, coz we don’t really have any such thing as the ‘spring’ :(but what with all the globalization, we do see small packets of celebrations here and there. and then u know the marwaris – they’re in just about every corner of the world. so go to their localities and u can find celebrations even in the south!
FRANK,welcome aboard. very satisfying, yes! especially a smoke after it :)KESHI,doesn’t everybody? about the latter – i am not sure. ask some of my girlfriends and i am sure they will disagree 😦
ASH,i’m with u on that!SUPERNOVA,nothing like it, as long as its no too often ;o)PRIYAMVADA,long time…yeah, they sur eare. only, i can’t figure which ones they are :))
Kerouac wrote Dharma Bums. I am sorry .. somehow confused him w/ Ginsberg.I actually meant to ask if you were a Kerouac fan..You mean poetry complicates a lot of things and plain prose is better?
sounds like a plan.. my road trip tomorrow had to be cancelled last minute so am kinda bummed…
awww…thats too bad for u :(don’t worry, some other time maybe.i never plan – just hit the road. even if i do – i inform the others only after the little planning – so they can choose to join, or well, they needn’t really ;o)
What a tender joyful post Dharma:)it combines fresh adventure andthe warmth of a mothers love!Are you near madras?I have to peek at a map…hugs:)
oii dun tell me ur bad now.Keshi.
I wish i had it in me to be that spontaneous.. well actually if i were back in chicago i could be.. nah who am i kidding.. its not in me..hehehmm aghora is that abt the aghori of benaras?
SOPHIE,i am, as a matter of fact IN madras. i work here, though i belong to the little town called pondicherry. when u’re looking at the map, look for chennai (thats what madras is now called) – down south.KESHI,yep – i sure can get mighty nasty at times :(ADITI,thats an honest admission!yes, it is about the aghori cult – people who take up extreme paths in tantra. i have been curious for a long time, and finally laid my hands on themthe ones in benares though – are mostly just fakes 🙂
VASU,i sure am a fan of kerouac’s. dharmabums is the only one i read, and it is one of those life changing books. am waiting to get hold of ‘on the road’ next. u like him too?i don’t mean anything about poetry itself. i only mean i lack the subtelty to appreciate poetry. i s’pose it coz by nature, i’m just too…blunt?!?
who wants to be a fake and still eat human flesh.. sorry the ignorant me only knows that much about the aghoris…
we all do..Im a super bitch sometimes. a nice bitch tho. LOL!Keshi.
ADITI,since u’ve accepted ur ignorance, i’ll let it pass :)KESHI,i acutally like bitches a lot – i mean the literal usage of the word. they are very loving, and more faithful than their male counterparts, in my experience 🙂
oh i know i am ignorant, which is y i brought up the topic in the first place hoping to learn something. Sorry I will stop using your comment box as a chatterbox
umm ok.. u encouraged..see the extreme-ness of it is what i am afraid of specially since i am clueless as to what it involves..I will keep it in mind..
Moms are the best ! I’v done this few times too, and it’s the same. It’s bliss to see mom’s face, it’s such a comfort, to go crash only to be cutely woken up by mom, with coffee and breakfast, and the sit, laze around, chit chat, eat, watch tv, get mom to oil your hair, get a nice long shikakai bath, then sit for lunch, just laze around, do nothing, spend time with mom. hmmmmmphhhhh…I totally love that 🙂
used to like that shikakai bath a lot more as a child, but now – have grown too lazy for it.but yes, like u say – every bit of doing nothing is absolute bliss.