It was late in the evening. Amidst those huge mountains Suru sat alone…alone with his three-wheeler modified motorbike, with his thoughts and with His Self. The setting sun, the soothing breeze and the vast Vindhyavali mountains appeared to say something…something deep and profound. This strange feeling started to overpower him after he heard Uday’s voice on the phone.

Uday left his job and disappeared. Uday was his best friend. Since childhood they both loved motor biking. They loved those metallic beasts, their raw power, their beauty, and their elegance. He fondly recollects how in college, they missed all classes for a week to watch the cross country racing events, he remembers still how they gave up Uday’s birthday bash for watching the mud track racing in the nearby town. He still remembers how different Uday looked that day. As he met him on the riverside Uday remained silent for long and then he spoke. “Are these champions, the real champions? he asked. It seemed then stupid, but now utterly profound. Valentino Rossi, Michael Doohan, Max Biaggi…. news papers called them the racing czars; thousands stand in awe and watch them streak away on the tracks….but are their records not relative, are their championships not challengeable?. The real champion can never be surpassed. There must be a real champion somewhere. I am going to meet”…. and then he walked away.

That was two years ago. Many things have changed now….Rumours went around that he had become a mendicant, though none would stand for their authenticity, but every one seemed to believe them…even Suru .

Suru looked down at his legs. He hated those dangling rubber structures, he hated his inability to walk, he hated to believe that he lost his legs and that people call him handicapped. Year ago he heard that a yogi appearing like his long lost friend was moving around in the vindhyavalli hills. He raced with all excitement to meet his alter ego. But fate was cruel, his bike crashed on a speeding truck and he lost both his legs.

Why did he want me to come alone to the hills? Did Uday get the answers, did he meet the real champion…thoughts raced in Suru’s mind. He was restless, confused and it was then…. he heard his friend’s voice. He did not know from where a resplendent form appeared. The being was clothed in spotless white. An innate beauty seemed to flow through the form that resembled his search. Every limb, his every gesture, his every word seemed to radiate truth and knowledge. Though he seemed the same, there is a strange difference.

Looking deep into Suru’s eyes he said, “I met the real champion.” He seemed to ignore Suru’s artificial limbs. His voice was soft and soothing. “How does he look…where is he?” Suru was excited. Uday smiled. His smile was magnificent. “The real champions are faster than the noble steed, the magnificent cheetah, the speeding hawk, the destructive tornadoes. They are faster than light…they travel even beyond the speed of thought. They do not move and yet they travel. Suru was confused, how could they not move and yet travel? His scientific mind hesitated to accept.

“Real Speed is absolute stillness. It is immaculate perfection of existence. It is the cosmic song of harmony. In its realm, perception transcends understanding. It becomes pure awareness. You become aware of your innate strength; of your innate power…beyond the muscles, beyond the thoughts, much beyond emotions, the lurking Real YOU awakens to this song.”

Suru felt strange. He is witnessing his own awakening. Uday continued pointing towards Suru’s motorbike, “These motorbikes are not mere metallic compositions. Harmony is its language. Speed is its soul. They are the marvels through which the universe sings this song of perfection.”

Uday walked towards Suru and offered his hand helping Suru to raise. As Suru touched his hand, something strange happened. There was a distinct feeling and in an instant the old Suru withered away. The real Suru is much beyond the discomfort of his handicapped legs, much beyond his confused thoughts, much beyond the frailties of flesh and the evanescence of emotions. He knew the universe, its strength and its purpose. Now he knew what absolute speed is.

He looked at his bike. It was no more a transformed two-wheeler helping handicapped. It seemed to radiate an innate perfection. Through its engineering the universe exhibited its own beauty. The aluminum frame, the telescopic forks, the speed transmission, the cylinders, the disc brakes everything was emitting the notes of irresistible beauty. It is not a mere mode of travel, it is the channel through which universe speaks the language of speed and dissolves the individual entity into the cosmic personality.

Suru sat on the bike and Uday as the pillion. As he touched the ignition button, the engine roared. In its roar was the hum of eternity, was the primodial sound of creation and the roar of cosmic being…….

Years together people rumoured about two monks who could travel through anything and anywhere. Some newspapers sighted even a flying bike and few news channels reported mysterious tracks on mountain ranges but yet none confirmed their authenticity and the self christened intellectuals called them ‘baseless facts…. imaginations…rumours’.

A friend of mine had written this short-story for our company newsletter, thought it would be nice to share the same.