We were on the road from Mysore to Ooty in India. It is a beautiful road, with picturesque lodges along the road, and it passes through Karnataka's richest wildlife sanctuary. For miles, you can just see green trees, densely populating either side of the road. Deer, jackals, gaur (wild bison), peacocks, elephants, and sometimes even tigers can be seen on the road. It is a sure bet to raise a spirit of adventure in anyone travelling the road.
Our bike was a powerful Roadking 250 cc motorbike. This is still the best bike in India for long distance motoring, notwithstanding claims by other rival bike manufacturers. At a cool 70 kmph, we passed mile after mile of road with ease and comfort. My girlfriend was hugging me tighter as we negotiated the curves on the road. The bike gripped the road on the bends, and was performing like a dream. We passed a few forest department buildings on either side. Most of them were deserted. It was early evening, and the weather was just right for the journey.
I raised the throttle, hoping to get out of the forest much before the 6 o'clock deadline imposed by the forest department for vehicular movement. There were many instances of travelers who defied this curfew, and regretted it for the rest of their lives due to encounters with elephants or wild bison or leopards who did not take too kindly to engines revving after dark. Ahead of us, I could see some water pond by the side of the road. I was happy, since waterholes are the best places to come upon varied wildlife. Both of us were wildlife enthusiasts. She too saw the waterhole ahead and grinned into the rearview mirror of the bike.
As we neared the waterhole, I saw them - a herd of wild elephants who had just risen from their midday frolic in the water. There were a couple of young baby elephants, who were very playful. I slowed down as they were crossing the road. They took their own time, and I slowed to a standstill. I kept the engine on, in case I needed to make a fast getaway. Three huge matriarchs stood on the road, and refused to move. We waited for them to move on, but they seemed to be testing our patience. Time wore on, and I looked at my watch - it was quarter past five. We should move on quickly now, before dark.
But the three elephants in front of us were far more determined not to let us move on. Running out of patience, I honked. One of the elephants' ears flapped wildly. I should have read the warning signs, but impatience made me honk again, louder and longer this time. This angered the females, and the one whose ears flapped charged at us. I raised the engine, and turned the bike around much faster then I thought possible, and moved straight ahead. The elephant followed for some distance, and stopped after we turned around a bend. Relieved, I stopped.
I parked the bike on the curb, and we both got off to stretch our muscles. I shook out a cigarette from my dwindling pack, and lit it. We both shared the cigarette. When she returned the fag after taking a deep puff, I saw the mark of her lipstick on the filter. The smell of the lipstick, and her perfume overrode the stink of the tobacco. She was my steady girlfriend, who stood by me in everything I did. She shared all my passions and it was natural of me to reciprocate.
We finished the cigarette, and very carefully put it out. We climbed back onto the bike, and I started up again. We went back up the road to the waterhole. It was getting dark now, and I wanted to move on as fast as possible. As I turned around the bend to the waterhole, I saw the elephants again. I stopped well away from them, but the sound of the bike seemed to irritate them and one of them charged down the road towards us.
Back we went down the road. It was past seven in the evening, and I was scared of being caught by the forest department with a girl behind me, and that too after the curfew of 6 p.m. We decided to stop by at one of the department's buildings that we had earlier seen beside the road. After about 15 minutes, I stopped at one building. It was deserted. We both went to the door, and opened the flimsy latch on it. Inside, the building was just one large hall with a rudimentary toilet in one corner, and two windows on each wall. The toilet did not even have a wall around it. No furniture or anything else.