‘If you ain’t livin’ on the edge, you be wastin’ space, baby.’
Today, I suffered a brain fart 30m ago in the Tavsal Ghat in Dabhol where, at 120kmph and leaning left and right into the twisties, I looked down at my instrument panel momentarily (why? Search me) and got hypnotised or something to a degree where I forgot to look back up, even as my mind floated away to an unknown place.
It was thus that I approached a very sharp, very steep downhill left without leaning or even attempting to turn, physically forcing myself to look up just in time to brake hard, with tyres screeching and leaving a 20-meter-long black rubber burn mark so straight that you could’ve drawn it with a scale, as I went into the bush and stopped literally inches away from the barrier which was hidden in the tall grass.
If I had not managed to bring the bike to a complete and clean halt, the chances that the machine’s forward motion would have been arrested by the metal bars, but I would have gone hurtling into the void over the edge of the hill were almost certain.
Somehow, I controlled the motorcycle but was stuck in the thicket and quite helpless when Prasad Mohod and Yashovardhan Jibhkate arrived (they were trailing me by a few seconds) and helped me pull back.
Once out, I hit the starter, the bike roared back to life, and I continued my journey down the ghat without any reduction in speed, as if nothing had happened, leave alone a near-death experience.
That’s over half an hour ago now. However, that incident is still playing on my mind. What exactly happened? Why was I so completely helpless to control my own mind and body? Even when I knew I should have done something, why did I not, or could I not? And how could I avoid it from happening again? I still haven’t figured out what really transpired. Any ideas?
P.S.: I am now on the ferry crossing the creek to Jaigarh port, and I can’t help but wonder why I am not feeling shaken up or scared, but simply disturbed at what happened. In fact, as I stood with my motorcycle in the tall grass, just having managed to save my life by a whisker, all I could think of was how silly I looked. And I was laughing like a maniac.
![Mr Baba: 'Would you like to take off the backpack now that you've been downstairs for like 30 minutes?'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'I like it like this. You should try it. It's very comfortable.'
Mr Baba: [Pulling on his backpack] 'Hmmm, you're right. That's rather snug.'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'Twinning! Yay!'
#LuckiestManAlive #BearFamily](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416920031_3373151642830342_6696851954454537274_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=ZMLmjPdSAEUAX8nnJex&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfB0olvUVmnenPKd2wCllMDehg5gzDgAbc4BDsGLqIm6pA&oe=65BA4561)
![Kym: 'Mr Baba, can I tell you something wierd? You can actually get tired from doing nothing!!'
Me: 'It is called boredom.'
Kym: 'Noooo. I mean, like physically tired.'
Me: 'One can get tired and sleepy due to boredom. I remember reading about it somewhere. Let's find out.'
[Some Googling later]
Me: 'It says here that "A new paper published in the journal Nature Communications finds that a part of the brain that is associated with motivation and pleasure - the nucleus accumbens - also can produce sleep. The new findings may explain why we have the tendency to fall asleep in the absence of motivating stimuli, i.e., when bored." Isnt it interesting?'
Kym: 'I already knew that. Why do you need to research things we already know?'
Me: [Finding a subject worth talking about now]: ' Ah well, that's what we'll talk of tomorrow on your morning run. It's very interesting the way science is done and our understanding of the universe is expanded.'
Kym: 'Can we talk of unicorns instead?'
Me: 'Sure. How do you know they exist? That's an interesting question too that you can use the scientific method to answer.'
Kym: 'Do they have to exist for us to talk about them? We can just pretend they do for an hour and have fun.'
Me: [Laughing] 'Yes, sure. We can do that too.'
#BabaBabyConversations #BearFamily #KymAndI](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416410840_383105434396466_2267910263456009774_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=LIozs445JFcAX_48wGC&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfDQ2qbb0yO_wUmLj_L0ZxF61eDdwlIN-vyrd8GZe_pBMQ&oe=65BAFA57)
