Me and Captain Lee

Originally posted on: Mar 15, 2007

Life, like Rhyme said, can be a verb. ACT TO MAKE IT YOURS. Captain Lee believed in the same. For him, life was action and inaction was sleep. It was 6 in the morning and I was slogging my way out of the bed. Because that morning, I had to, at any cost, take a break from my normal, joy-shrunken, happiness gaunt, pissed off routine of going to college, trying to live-it-out, have fun and spread Harsha-awareness. And if you were me, an adventure-seeking soul, the perfect break would come in the form of a trek to the nearest rocks. I climbed down the stairs with leather gloves, shoes and my fav pair of rugged jeans. Captain Lee didn’t take notice. He never did. He always gave me company, wherever I went without a grumble. That was him. Then, Me and Captain Lee rode our way into the rocks.

Time was ripe. I was feeling a bit low in general. I was cribbing within myself. It was that time of my life when I realized that I was feeling bad about my personality as a whole. I was seeking sympathy from friends. I felt ignored, left out and sad. Life seemed weary (adj.). I felt that the work that I did was not well appreciated. A few of my close friends liked everything that I did. A certain Rogue, who was suffering a modern age chronic relationship breakdown, got me out through a lot of crap. Others sent me relatively huge hugs and expressed their emotions in the form of Yahoo Emoticons. Excepting them, neither the faculty, nor the students of my class (non-locals as well as locals-who-behaved-non-local alike) felt that the work I did was considerable in anyway. In fact, some of them even accused me of scamming money while a few others stole the acclaim for my works. Damn these poster boys! But there was no use feeling bad now. People have the right to steal until you are dumb enough to let them steal. I forgave them (like I had a choice) and a bad bump on the road brought me back.


As the cold wind blew into my hair and frolicked with it, I tried concentrating on the drive. We went deep down into the Nanakramguda area where vegetation, on the name of development, was being ripped off. Behind the corporate edifices of the developing city, lied the little known best stretch of rocks. Captain Lee was here for the first time. I could feel him groan as he saw the badly laid path to the rocks. I thought it was better if he stayed back, I already troubled him enough. I made him rest near the foothills and I started my rock-walk. I slowly jogged my way to the loftiest mountain (rock) of the quarry.


When I reached uphill, I looked down at the foothills and saw Captain Lee look at me wearily. His body language was so afro-type, relaxed and chilled. Rap star. Unlike me. I loved him and so did my brother. My bro had a very bad hangover before he left to the U.S. Captain Lee was of a great concern to him. He told me a 1000 times to take care of him. Though I reminded him about Harsha and told him, “I have Harsha to concentrate on. His dumbness is a threat to the society”. My brother replied, “Roger that”.
As these thoughts rumbled my head, I put my hand into the first cleavage (the one in the rock dude!). I climbed up slowly. Had the MI-2 music playing in the background on my phone and felt a familiar chill run down my spine. The one I always had when my soul ate junk food and when I balled babes who thought they were hot. “YEAH !!”, I shouted. Slowly, as the first rays of the sun were hitting the top edge of the rock and as the dawn was fading into a bright morning, I reached the summit. I took a deep breath and a broad smile of accomplishment flashed across my lips and I raised both my hands into the air and stared at the crimson-yellow combination of the sky. I stepped back and felt something stick to my shoes. I looked down, my hands still in the air.
“Oh no. Not again! Damn you peacocks. What are the MCH paid toilets for? ” I shouted. I had stepped on peacock fasces. I reinstated, “DO IT LIKE A KING, NOT LIKE A LOOSER !!”.


I looked at Captain Lee. I guess it was for the first time. He grinned. I smiled back but my shoes were spoiled. I slowly climbed down in enthusiasm. My soul was re-energized as I thought it would be. I didn’t need company to enjoy the things I wanted. Captain Lee nodded in agreement as he sometimes read my mind. Man! Guess he was a mind reader in his previous life, because though he never spoke, he always understood my feelings and my urge to drive and rip off the road. He always knew that he gave me a sudden rush of adrenaline and his favorite line, when he saw me get ready to ride was, “Where to, Young gun?” and I replied “I need to get a life”. I reached the foothill and he shunned me for the thing on my shoes. I said casually, “Balls, take lite mama” and he gave in.

We went back home. Nirvana ’07, my college’s annual cultural fest was on. The night before, an awesome sufi-based Hindi rock band called REVE had performed. Awesome vocals that frontman had. The crescendos and minuendos' took me on a high and my college mates thought I was drunk. I laughed at myself when even Captain Lee told me the same thing. “when was the last time when people understood me correctly? I give a damn anyway” and he replied “Please, I am not into solving personality disorders. Leave me alone on that”.

I got ready and we again drove back to college. Things were very different that day. College was looking very colorful, thanks to a set of us, the insti was building up an image. Attendance got screwed, lab practical’s were missed, impression with the profs got messed up but the fun factor remained. Friends give you a “Hi-fi” and shout “Yo Pydi!” and life seems to rock again. The very next moment, a feeling of someone ignoring you, takes over and you get all gloomy and dull faced. Then you remember, that “Damnation leads to salvation”. Life seems ‘oh-so-beautiful ! ’again. Nirvana ’07 rocked. BIG TIME.

BTW, I almost forgot. Captain Lee is my beloved, 4yr old bike. A rugged looking CBZ. Its synonymous with my life and is my only soul-mate. I trust it with my life (cause it may kill me too !).




P.S: This one is for you Rogue :)