A drive on boduthakurufaanu magu.

It’s a good day for a drive , I think to myself as I pull my cycle out of the parking area in front of SHE building.
The worn out yet well maintained black Honda 125 S comes to life among sputters and chokes and I slide off onto the road with a practiced ease.

I timely shift into second gear (I’m one of those guys that find the need to park their cycle in neutral) as I make the turn towards Ameenee magu in the afternoon heat that would make any logical person want to run home and spend the day in with their cooling systems on full blast. Letting Apocalyptica’s cover of Nothing Else Matters (Metallica) set the mood for a slow drive I ease into a slow pace a couple of blocks down Ameeneemagu and make a turn near MIRA towards the Aasaharaa onwards towards Villa and then turn right for a drive down Bodu Thakurufaanu magu towards home.

The smell of salt mixed with oil, rust and the heat of the open and deserted road hit me at point blank and I’m instantly taken off into a separate realm within the confines of my own mind. As I cruise along the road with the laid bricks worn away by the ages, each crack and crevice being felt all too well for comfort due to worn out suspension that makes driving bearable yet not so troublesome that you jump up and down at every pothole.

Here I am on the open road of Male in the sunny afternoon heat on a Monday, what am I doing here? I don’t quite know. All I can say is I enjoy occasionally taking that slow ride with my mood dictated by the rhythmic sounds and words blasting in my ears, beautiful noise cancellation bringing me as close as I ever will to having my own background music. ‘ Life is ours, we live it our way ‘ I quietly sing in my head, keeping up the beautifully lazy pace. I am no longer driving in the open heat of the largest road in Male’, no longer within the ambience of old boats, smell of petrol and rust mixed with that of dust. I’m within the open waters of my thoughts wandering on uncharted territory. Where I am going I know not, but I will know when I get there.

Musings and memories laying down new roads as I move forward, this is what a drive means to me. Few things can compare to mindlessly wandering off into such a beautiful trance and you completely forget everything else for a while.

Stealing little moments of peace from the never ending labyrinth, this is where I find nirvana, where I find soothing enlightenment. And amid all the chaos of life, in that instant, nothing else matters.