Cycle Diaries….

The corona virus sure has brought everything to a standstill. There are no cars on the road, people
are locked up at home, no peak traffic hours, in a nutshell, no movement. As for me, I’m in the desert, having completed a two- month training exercise, halted here till I get my orders to move back to base. But hey I’m not complaining. I’m quite happy being still and spending time with myself.
Like today I went cycling in the evening. I put on my head phones, opened my playlist on youtube
music, and started peddling. The first song that played was ‘Beautiful Day’ by U2. I start cycling through the up and down road with sand dunes on both sides. There is not a soul in sight except for the odd dog who looks curiously at my wheeled beast but decides after seeing me smiling at him
that I’m trustworthy. He continues his all -important job of laying in the sand which is a shimmering gold with the sunlight reflecting off it. I’m now completely in rhythm with my feet peddling in a continuous smooth motion, in sync with Bono whose beautiful day makes me look around and realize that it is indeed a beautiful day or evening rather. I look at the horizon to see the setting sun
in all it’s majesty, turning everything around it to gold. Nothing like a sunset or for that matter a
sunrise in the desert, I think to myself. Just then I’m drawn to the tinkling sounds of the bells placed
on the necks of a herd of sheep and goat that are crossing the road, returning from their grazing
ground. They are full of energy, running helter skelter across the road totally unaware of corona or any other human crap. They are one with their surroundings, and in that moment, so am I. I think to myself, this is life, not the chaotic crap the world has created. Corona is just what the world needs to get back to living. We need to stop and think, and tweak our way of living a little. I don’t mean we give up everything. I for one love a lot of things about the urban life but the problem is that we have gone to an extreme. And since we did not restore the balance, nature is doing it for us. Switch to electric cars, use public transport, cycle a little, walk a little, may be work from home. These are just some of the changes we can make. Trump says ‘lets make America great again’ where as I say lets
make the world beautiful again.
As I ponder over these thoughts I suddenly realize that the sun has almost set and its time to head
back. By now Bono has gone from a Beautiful Day to ‘with or without you, where the streets have no name and I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’, followed by some usual love songs that the Zack Efron in me loves. As I’m peddling back, my eyes wandering every now and then at the horizon admiring the orange and crimson colors of dusk, I can’t help but think that it is the human race that’s needs saving because nature, as it has always done, will prevail.