Bronzed Light Lit the Trees

Bronzed light lit up the magnificent twisting, sprawling, trees which lined the road as we neared the border with Bangladesh.

“Are you feeling nostalgic?” Divyansh asked.

“No, not really, I’m excited for the next country.”

But it had been a special afternoon, and I was sorry to say goodbye to Divyansh, on our first and last day together. Divyansh had brought his own personality to the day; he suggested we sing some songs and I lamely suggested musicals. Instead, Divyansh broke out into One Republic’s Counting Stars, pitch perfect.

“I don’t listen to bollywood music, I prefer American.” Cue several hours of Maroon 5, Avacii (admittedly not American) and Taylor Swift.

“Su-gar! Yes please!” We sang as green rice paddles and square lakes flashed by. I still have it in my head now.

Our magnificent guards of honour.

Diyvansh was keen that I tried some special Bengali sweet dishes, including mishti doi, a cross between yoghurt and condensed milk, and sandesh, a sweet made from cottage cheese. That was more than enough to power us on to the border.

Mishti, a delicious riding snack.

Despite that sweetness, a slight bitterness crept into Divyansh’s voice.

“India is a very difficult country to live in,” he said.

Tell me about it, I thought. From what I had seen there was still widespread poverty and few opportunities outside the cities.

“To be honest Luke, cycling saved my life.”

“Yes?”

“The last couple of years have been so tough, with the pandemic. My family got ill, I had relationship problems and business plummeted.”

“That sounds super tough mate.”

“But cycling saved me from depression. I started cycling 8 months ago and now I’ve cycled 300 kilometres in one go.”

I was smiling to myself on the inside. What a guy, picking himself up like that.

“When I heard your story, I could relate to it. That’s why I wanted to join.”

We passed several goats munching by the side of the road and overtook an electric tuktuk ambling along.

Soon we would reach the border with Bangladesh and Divyansh would get the train back to Kolkata.

Divyansh had one more questions.

“Why did you choose to ride on a tandem?”

“To ride with people like you.”

Saying goodbye at the border.