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The biker , our hero, woke up early . Its 7 AM . No time to do the daily ablutions. Will have to start the journey now, or else will miss the wedding. Its Moonie's sister's marriage and our hero has to reach the bride's home before the party leave for the wedding. Hero puts on a lot of cologne to make up for otherwise essential bath ; dresses up formally ; puts on his biker jacket , gloves and helmet . The first destination is bride's home , in Kayamkulam. Its one and hours ride . The ride was pleasant and fast . Our hero, was feeling a lot better once the cold morning wind that came through the open helmet visor , caressed his face. He said in his mind , " Wooooooooh , this is the way to be...".
After almost 1:15 hrs of ride , hero felt it for the first time that day . Something grumbling inside him. Hero stops his bike and gets down . Took few puffs from his cigarette. Everything is pretty normal now. Perhaps , it was only a "something". Hero calls up Moonie and confirms that the bride's party has not yet started from home . So , its just another 15 minutes of ride and he would be with Moonie and family. The Bride's party was about to start when our hero reached. Moonie, asked whether hero wants to come in the car or would like to continue the journey on bike . "I've to get back into 3 pm shift, so no time to come back in car and ride back. I'll leave to Ekm after the wedding", hero said. So , that's the decision . Another 1 hour ride , to the church in Pathanamthitta. Not a big deal , for our hero , who does more than 10 hours ride on a single day. Lets go. Hero on his red Karizma bike , was leading the group of cars. After about 15 minutes , he felt "it" again. Not wanting to take any chances , hero slowed down and let all cars overtake him. 5 more minutes later , "it" made its presence felt again. Hero stops his bike and gets down once again. The rumbling inside him, is unmistakable. He took out a cigarette again , but each puff he took only aggravated the already crumbling situation. He started sweating profusely and vision is blurring. "No !!!, this can't happen to me . All I had in the morning was a cup of tea.", grieved our hero. By now, the rumbling inside his stomach grew to grumblings. In total despair, our hero looks around for a Hotel or Lodge or even a Restaurant with a toilet . To his dismay, there were none in the visibility. All that he could see are a few houses. Hero is between devil and the sea now . Either he should go to any of the houses around and ask if they would let him use the toilet , or make a move from this god forsaken place. "What will others think , when they find out that I was going around begging for using bathroom?". His dilemma got resolved , when he felt his stomach thundering inside him. Swallowing all his pride , hero walked to the nearest house. As he opens the gate , few kids popped their head through the window. Perhaps the sight of a robot ( yeah , that's how our hero looks like , in a jacket ) , startled the kids . They ran in and prompt came a female face . She asked , "Entha ? " ( What ? ) "I'm on my way to a friend's marriage in Pathanamthitta", our hero said, " but I'm not feeling good inside my stomach. Can I use your toilet by any chance ?". In malayalam, the words were not soo simple and easy to say fluently , but our hero braved the first hurdle. "I'm sorry , there are no men in house." , replied the sweet lady. "Thats okay , you would be having a toilet outside your house". Well , our hero can still think. "Nope , there are none here.", the lady conveyed with regret. She should be genuinely sorry, felt our hero. He put on a mock smile on his face , thanked the lady and walked back to the gate. On reaching his bike, he realized that time is running out . Every second spent , means his body is turning weaker and weaker . Without wasting much time , he crossed the road and went to the next house. Hero again repeated the situation he is in. The lady in the second house was really nice to him. She not only conveyed her sympathy, but also showed him a house few feets across that has a bathroom outside their house. Only that, our hero wanted something more than sympathy at this hour. Fifteen important minutes have passed since he stopped his bike . The cars of the bride's party might be many a kilometers away now. By the time , our hero would be able to meet them again , the marriage would have started . "Uh, Attending the marriage is a distant dream", hero mused, "Reality is what's happening now and it is hard to control anymore". With already crumbled pride and grumbling belly , hero crossed the road once again that fine morning. Each step he took meant ,a lot of energy wasted which otherwise could be used to control his stomach. The sight of a less used toilet outside the third house elated his hopes and he walked on. On knocking , an old lady opened the door . For the third time, hero repeated the story of his horrible state. "There are no men at house, my son has gone out to city", said the lady with a stern face. "Can I use the toilet which is outside?", asked our hero which sounded more like pleading. "Dont you understand , there are no men at house and I can't let you in", she was a little more louder this time. "Its an emergency , ma'm . Please do understand", tears were already rolling up inside our hero's eyes. "NO!!!, now clear off from here fast", she shouted. Few drops dripped off his palm as he wiped his eyes while turning back. He wanted to turn back and shout at that lady, but his weary legs just didn't let him. Slowly , with great effort he dragged himself back to where his bike was kept. Did he cry ? Nobody knows. Hero's condition has deteriorated to unimaginable level, partially because of the weak body and rest because of the battered pride. He is not going to let anyone else do that to him again. Gathering whatever energy is left in his body, he straddled his red karizma and moved on. He made sure that , there is only very less vibrations from the bike as there was very little energy left inside him for controlling. Few kilometers later , which felt like hours for our hero , a petrol pump came to his sight. '24 hours service', announced its hoarding. Hero almost passed the pump, when a thought struck his mind . " To provide 24 hours service , they should be having a toilet for staffs". Hope resurrected, as hero took a U turn to get back to the pump. He stopped to ask the staff where the toilet is. The staff directed our hero to a door in a corner. Hero removed the jacket , helmet and gloves and literally ran to the door. Once inside , he didn't waste any time. His jelly belly volleyed and thundered for 5 minutes. And then , peace was restored. Slowly hero's mind came back to reality . He is in a tiny 4 square feet room. It was full of grease and oil and even the tithered mug was covered in black oily stuff. It should have been used only by the staff to clean hands and legs after the day's work. Its too small , that hero had to stoop a little to prevent head from hitting the black bulb. Seeing all these things , a smile came across our hero's face. "If there is a heaven on earth , its right here !!! " —-—————- Epilogue Hero stopped again to get some medicines , to prevent further surprises, and moved on. Moonie , was almost scared , that his friend might have had some accident. Our hero finally managed to reach the church just before the wedding got over . The story of 4 sqr feet of heaven , had the entire bride's party rolling on the floor laughing. Its funny that one man's tragedy is other's comedy. Hero didn't mind the laughs as he was feeling more relieved . All he knew was that , the entire happenings of that January morning would always be there in his mind till death. Someday , he would surely tell his kids , how their dad swallowed his pride, let others trample his ego and still fought bravely to uphold his self-esteem and yes, about that 4 square feet of heaven on earth . :-)
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