THE STORY OF 28th DECEMBER

- March 10, 2021

“ROYAL ENFIELD THEORY OF LIFE”

Dust clouds hugged us as we pulled the cover off that old Royal Enfield. Some of its parts succumbing to the wrath of time and some others to the nefarious human tendencies. Undoubtedly it had ruled an epoch roaring and soaring through the roads. Ah! A bike, so potent to rule again, so capable of roaring again yet now ailing. Dents, damages, flat tires, broken breaks, rusted body, and of course an engine with a whole lot of problems. Yeah! These are the gifts time, people, and ignorance has given it. All this Enfield had was a body and problems… all we had was a tool kit and the determination to make it breathe. I took off my jacket and hung it on a nail beside the calendar, you too put on the gloves. 28th December, the date, the point we started from, having issues to deal with, having repairs to be done, having a plan to be implemented, and most importantly having each others’ back. Yes, it was tough, repairing the old beast and tackling its issues one by one. Tougher was the fight to keep ourselves working on it. Toughest were the times when you fell, when I fell, when you wanted to quit, when I wanted to quit, toughest were the moments when you stayed by me and taught me to fight against myself, toughest was the moment when I was picking you up and making you fight. Toughest were the times when we dealt with ourselves.

Did we know that the engine would ever start again? No, we had no idea about it. All you knew was that I can do it, all I knew was that you can do it. Surprisingly the old dying Enfield too believed that WE can do it. It took us days to repair the dent, it took us weeks to paint it, it took us nights to illuminate the headlight, and now it’s nearly a month of us feeling, fighting, and healing it. Almost all of the old scars of our Enfield have been erased. Most of the issues have been tackled. Did you hear that? Yes!! The first roar of the engine! Yeah! We did it! WE made it breathe again! What are you waiting for then? Jump on the seat. Let’s get our Royal Enfield on the roads it had mastered once. Let us just scream, accelerate and let the gush of wind kiss the wounds of our skins. Let us now get our tangled hair now designed as an elflock in the massive downpour of life-liquid which you term as the rain, I don’t know it can be a serein too.

“But what if the machine gets some more issues, some new dents? What if the Enfield again experiences problems?” Ahem! I knew you would ask this question. Well, I never said that we won’t ever get new dents, I never said that the bike won’t ever face any new issue. It will, it will face the problems again, it will get scratches on its metal body again, it will again break, it will again need repairs. It will and it has. And once it does, then we will again work on it, give it attention, care for it, heal it, feel it, resurrect it, paint it… we will do this again and again and again. I would have to fight for you, for myself, for the Royal Enfield, yet again, for sure. You would have to fight for me, for yourself, for the Enfield, yet again, for sure. And that’s completely fine. That’s solely needed. If roads are there, if the destinations are there, if the humps are there, then accidents, problems, stoppages, breaks would also make their way into existence. That doesn’t mean we should stop, that doesn't mean I would stop having your back, that doesn’t mean you would stop having my back.

The fear you have now is truly justified but the fear you have or even I have is not enough to keep our Enfield from breathing. Any fear is never potent or strong enough to keep us from living. We must and we have to believe in ourselves, in the universe, in the signs, in the stars, in the Royal Enfield.

EVEN IF WE FALL, ANY DAY, ANYTIME, WE MUST NOT FORGET THAT 28TH DECEMBER IS NOT A DATE TO COME ONCE A YEAR, IT CAN BE ANY DAY WE DECIDE FOR OURSELVES, 28TH DECEMBER IS ANY DAY WE STOP STOPPING.

EVERY MOMENT, EVERY DAY WHEN WE CHOOSE TO FIGHT, IS 28TH DECEMBER.

IF LIFE IS THE QUESTION THEN LIVING IT IS THE ANSWER. AND MY FRIEND “YOU NEVER LIVE UNTIL THE TIME YOU UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THAT LIVING MEANS FIGHTING”

H&F