A drive of Freedom

When he was 4 all he would do was to sit at the window side and gaze at the number of trucks standing in line outside his home. He would sit there for hours looking through his childish gaze at the different shades and models of the giant vehicles that were waiting to get the gunny bags unloaded and transferred to the huge storage building right opposite his house. 

By 6 his parents were amazed that he remembered so many models and vehicles registration numbers by heart. He would recognize an acquaintance has just passed by them by looking at a number plate of a moving vehicle.

 By 10, he started learning a two wheeler secretly and would drive in his neighborhood in the sunny afternoons in summers when everybody would be inside cursing June and fixing their old coolers. 

By 14, he was already learning which gear to use when as he would accompany his father who was taking driving lessons for their new car.

For him driving was what a prose is for a writer. He just understood it naturally. It would make him feel alive. He grew up to challenge new machines and work on them. His passion gave way to success and soon money, fame and love kissed his feet. Somewhere taming the wheel took a backseat as time became of utmost importance and chauffeurs became an intrinsic part of his life.

Yet at 36, when his dreams shattered, when the love of his life betrayed his trust, when during the beautiful sunset at the beach where they had met for the first time, she declared she cannot stay with him anymore, that she needed more - more wealth, more fame, more freedom from his love, more distance from his presence, he just knew one thing - he wanted to drive. He asked keys from his driver and let him go. The next moment, he was sitting behind the wheel stone-faced. As he started the engine, he felt a pain running down his limbs and before he could feel any numbness, his hands reflexively changed the gear as his feet danced between the clutch and accelerator and soon he was on the road. The next he stopped was only to get his tank full.

Img Courtesy here

And all that the sky knew for that night, was that he drove all through it. Into the dark avenues, alleys, hitting highways, into the sleeping cities, with no destination in his mind, he just drove. Till the first ray of the sun broke into the dawn and till he felt the numbness going away, he kept powering the wheels. And when finally, he applied brakes, the sun was shining bright red and the birds celebrating their freedom in the sky that looked like as if it was welcoming everyone. He got out and as he stretched his arms and legs, he could feel his lips too stretching to form a faint smile and he realized it was a smile of real happiness that he is experiencing in a long time since she came into his life. He looked above and closed his eyes and breathed deeply to settle in his own new found freedom.

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This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.