It was a chilly night. Well, not exactly chilly, I was kind of shaking~ shivering from cold. It was extremely cold, what else was I expecting in the month of December in around Delhi. I had a lot of clothes on though, a lot. I had a woolen inner wear to begin with followed by a shirt and I had myself wrapped warmly in a hoodie which was further covered by another jacket. A pair of gloves, a muffler around my neck and mouth, a bandanna on my head and I was wearing a helmet. Yes, I was on a bike all by myself a few kilometers away from the pink city of India, Jaipur!
Not able to withstand the cold, I took a break from the journey to reach Jaipur in a roadside restaurant (Dhaba) - a highway restaurant sort of thing which is open 24/7 but is not exactly a 24/7.
Shivering and shaking, my teeth clenching, I got down from the bike and dragged myself to the bonfire sort of thing that the dhaba waalas normally have, to keep themselves warm. People had surrounded the fire warming themselves up, I reached up and stood alongside them so as not to disturb them but still receive the heat from the fire. I couldn't help but stand shaking and my jaws moving involuntarily due to cold. One of the guys, the truck driver looked up at me and smiled- in return I smiled and he looked towards my ride. Well, I smiled further knowing whats coming next. A little nod with a smile and he made a gap to accommodate me in the circle around the fire. Still shaking I calmly tried to sit down but my legs didn't allow that, they were kind of freezing, so my legs refused any movement.
"Bring a chair for him!" said the random guy who had smiled earlier and also gave me the prized possession of being in the inner circle of fire although they already had quite a number of people tightly forming the circle, a few sitting on the chairs.
A guy from the circle stood up, quietly and quickly fetched a chair, all the while I watched. He was a guy, of what I could sense - he was in his early 20s and a waiter/helper at the dhaba. I smiled at him and sat on the chair still not able to utter a word and nodded my head which was responded warmly by a smile. It's beautiful that smiles speak a thousand words, expresses a lot of feelings. Expressions are the silent mode of communication and that is something I utterly love. Warming up myself, I slowly removed my gloves, one hand after the other and heated up in the fire rubbing the palms against each other. I looked around the circle, saw the men around but, I don't remember the exact number of people around. I was so cold.
"Alone! On a bike?" said a men amongst them. I looked up and around, located the man who spoke and I nodded smiling "Yeah! Going to Jaipur! How far is it yet?"
"Umm.." He looked around the other guys, and said "Around 40Kms" Nodding I pushed my sleeves a bit up and looked at my watch, "Its 11:30 PM" mumbling to myself. "About an hour, I guess!" said the man. I let out a chuckle and looked at him, "If I can ride that far, in this cold!" I said shivering.
He smiled along "So, where are you headed to?" was my query to him.
"Jaipur!" was what he mumbled. A slight nod and further small talks which revealed that he drives truck carrying goods to and fro from Jaipur.
The people around, saw my horrible condition of shivering not getting under control in-spite of being around the fire for -I don't know how long! Then one of the other guys amongst them spoke up. "If you're to take my advice, you should stay the night around somewhere and head for the remaining journey the next day!" A guy appeared with few paper cups filled with tea and gave to the men and I quickly picked up one smiling at them hoping that'd not be a problem as I was so cold. The first sip of the tea, I could feel the warmth of it from my tongue passing on slowly to my throat and to the stomach as I gulped it down. Enjoying the feel, I closed my eyes and took another sip breathing calmly, feeling better. As I opened my eyes, I looked around and said "I don't know about staying, I feel like I should get back to Jaipur as soon as possible"
The guy didn't say anything for a few moments, sipped his tea calmly, a few of the drivers pulled out their bidis and lit them blowing the smoke. Smiling, I reached for my pockets and pulled out a cigarette myself, putting my hand forward for the matchbox, I took another sip of the tea. The cup of tea was half almost already, I've had been taking longer sips is what I realized then. I lit my cigarette and blew the smoke facing up and feeling the warmth. As time went on warming myself up, I could feel my legs were still cold. Rubbing my hands on my legs after finishing tea and cigarette, I pushed my legs further closer to the fire where accidentally, my shoes went too close to the fire which later I realized was burnt a little from around the sole.
After warming myself for I don't know how long, I stood up and went to pay for the tea and I could actually feel the cold again. Quietly, scurrying back to the fire I took a seat on the chair again.
Taking the seat back around the fire, I saw a few people had left too for their journeys. I couldn't bear the cold, So I kept myself glued to that chair. The guy who advised me to stay back came and took his seat, third chair on the right.
"So, where's the hotel or a guest house nearby? I can't sleep in this open dhaba!" I turned to face him and calmly made my statement before I reached into my pockets to grab a cigarette.
"You can sleep here, if you want! This place isn't mine, but I can arrange that! It'll not be cold!" He said assuring me of the fact, that the arrangements will be satisfactory. But I wasn't so sure about doing that, So I kind of focused more on finding a room to keep myself warm and sleep comfortably.
"Around 10kms from here, you'll find a hotel with rooms. That's a good place to have a roof on this freezing night" came the reply, which made me realise that this guy was well informed of around the place and isn't exactly a driver, So he must be working around somewhere nearby. That was my conclusion of him. A few more minutes of small random talks, blowing away the last drag of the cigarette, I stood up and shook hands with him ~ walked to my ride, my bike, stretching my arms and legs a little, to keep myself warm.
Unbuckling my bag from the back, I pulled out a trouser, wore it above my jeans to avoid the cold air to pass through my legs. Carefully and quickly, after tugging the bag back and getting ready for the journey ahead, I wrapped myself tightly in the mufler, wore my bandana and gloves with the helmet on top and started my bike.
Slowly and gradually, I moved a bit forward and bid farewell to the guys around. I hit the road with a slower speed as I felt the cold breeze pass along. Eyes on the road ~ I started shifting the gears as the speed increased and after an unknown time period of being on the road, freezing again!
