la vie extraordinaire d'un homme ordinaire

My trusted Steed - Pulsar 180 DTSi Version 1 (??)

2009-02-24T16:29:00.006+05:30

This is ME at Harrison Folly with Lightning AKA Chotu my latest motorcycle. A Bajaj Pulsar 180 DTSi V1. Warm Silver. Absolute Stallion. A Bad Boy to the Core.

It makes an aggressive mount no doubt because of its SOLID MUSCULAR STYLE...

Its a beast and a sweet chap..all mixed into one !

A Biker's Faith !!

2008-10-13T11:02:00.012+05:30

Its often said that Man is the BEST creation of God and..God is the BEST Imagination of Man. So is God just a figment of our imagination, is it just a nameless entity whom we can blame for things going wrong or thank for things going right in our lives. Is it an entity which exists and flourishes under all circumstances or is it something which survives as long as we want it to?

Lots of questions which lead us to think and try to decipher the concept called Faith. Its not defined by the small plastic image of Mother Mary that a bulleteer with tattoos all over his biceps, body piercings and a ponytail displays on the speedometer of his Thunderbird.

Each year scores of people visit the Mount Mary shrine at Mumbai to pray for her blessings. For each of their wishes they offer a representative candle. people who want a home often offer a small wax bungalow, people also offer hands, hearts, legs etc for ailments. couples offer a candle shaped like a wedding couple for marital bliss.

There are cars, airplanes, and what not. How can God ignore the wishes of a Biker then?

Yes i did offer a BIKE. prayed for an accident free journey in life. prayed for a fuel injected hassle free motorcycle. Prayed for the motorcycling spirit inside me and prayed that it remained intact all the time.

So that day i returned home, relieved, happy and feeling blessed. So what if every time i take my bike out i do focus on safety, wear a helmet, change oil but somewhere the BIKE candle i offered and the assurance that "mamma Mary" gave me is enough for me to venture forth and ride to the edge of the horizon !

Happy Independence Day !!

2008-08-18T18:48:00.003+05:30

As i took off from Pune towards Mumbai, on the 15th of august i reflected upon how much did this day really matter to me and to us.

Did any of the people around react any differently to the whole 60 years of independence?

1. As I rolled into a petrol bunk, I stood in the queue to fill up. I was the 3rd one in line and I saw a localite, sporting a tricolour on his rear view mirror, zooming in from nowhere and as usual breaking the queue and standing next to the fuel pump attendant. - Smiling at him - saying in rural Marathi dialect - FILL ER UP!! - I couldn't help open my mouth and said - BOSS..kam se kam 15th August ko to aisa matt karo. Baki sab din to hum Indians har cheez ko lightly lete hain. Kam se kam aaj ke din ka to khayal karo. Needless to say, the attendant asked the guy to move his bike away. Feels nice to see that even in today's consumerism driven society, where people don't care for fellow human beings but we still have some amount of respect for our nation and its integrity so what if it’s only on 2 specific days. The attendant smiled at me and then handed me a small tricolour and a packet of laddoos - Happy Independence Day Sir! - Loud patriotic music blaring in the background at the fuel bunk I was happy to be an Indian. Really happy and proud.

2. Hardly did I move a 100 meters I saw a tricolour, obviously fallen off a reckless biker's rear view mirror stub, rolling across the road. I screeched to a halt and stopped broadside on the HIGHWAY to bend over and pick up the flag from the road. The speeding cars behind me saw the indicators flashing on my bike, and noticed what i was doing. Not even a single one blew his horn but couple of them just smiled at me. Surprising? Not at all. Deep in our heart we still ARE human beings and respect our country and people who respect the Nation and its flag. Had it been my cap or my bag, people would have run over it, or sworn choicest of words for being so careless and foolish as to stop broadside on the damn highway ....Faith instilled i moved off towards Mumbai

3. As i took a short break in Mumbai i read in one of the leading periodicals about the College Festival being held at one of Mumbai's famous colleges. I couldn't believe it when i saw that the FASHION SHOW had been replaced by a MOTORCYCLE SHOW. A 20 Yr old Ex-Collegiate had actually put up a show of modified bikes and had captured the hearts, minds and attention of the cool dudes and babes who were all on a clicking frenzy with their mobile cameras. No prejudice to the cat walking nymphets but is this a sign of the coming ages? Are we really focusing on different things from now onwards? Is India changing after this independence?

Thankfully to my relief before i could see tears brimming on the edge of my eyelids with emotion. i entered Mumbai and experienced REALITY. The beautifully laid FRESH potholes placed so nicely on the road that one had to be a swift snake going amazingly zig zag at 20 KMPH to avoid them. I managed to dodge a few but then overall had to go bouncy bouncy till my speedometer assembly started rattling loose.

Thank god i got the irritating vibrations noises back on my bike. Finally i again have a valid reason to visit my mechanic today. Tighten up all screws.

You know sometimes its good when such things bring you back to Mother Earth, it may leave you with despair but it definitely leaves you with HOPE..

Saala ek na ek din yahaan pe bhi ROAD ho jayega!

I am sure there are better times to come...Well!! I certainly do feel so! Have never had a happier independence day.

Here's wishing you all my biking brothers and sisters A Very Happy Happy Independence Day.

Wishing Independence from all Professional n Personal problems...from Motorcycle Troubles (Bikes really don’t bother us ...They are just moody...)... all Traffic Snarls...potholes...All highway Road Rash...

Vande Mataram - Bharat Mata ki Jay!!

Cheers - Praveen P Sathaye

P.S - Statutory Warning : - Please forgive the OVERKILL!!

Classic Weekend

2008-03-10T19:22:00.011+05:30

Sunday Morning - Time to take out my polishing cloth and get metal and chrome to shine its best...

It was time to ride with the YJOCI..The Yezdi & Jawa Owners Club of India..on the Classic and Restored machines..the 250 cc Czech beauties. These machines have become a living legend with a alot of unique features and character.

Who would be accompanying me? Well...The older generaton belonging to yesteryears on yesteryears bikes. Its not that only oldies ride the 250 cc Jawa & Yezdi machines, but in Pune, most of the active riders are people who have reached the fag end.

Do i feel out of place with the ritered gentlemen. NAAAAH !! Bikers dont grow old..They just develop the habit of kickstarting their bikes with one additional kick..

When i met all of them, after a real long time, it was one helluva a reunion. The last time i rode with this gang was during the Jawa Day Celebrations in July.

We started off from Rajaram bridge on Sunday morning creating a sort of bluish greayish misty cloud everywhere..
..courtesy 2T oil from our twin exhausts. The first leg of the ride ended at Khadagwaasla where the group again stopped for refreshments. Goodies were dished out by liberal souls who made sure the riders were also well fed.

From Khadagwasla, the route was towards Panshet. The magnificient view at Panshet was worth the effort. It definitely is a good place for watersports and allied activities.

I also bumped into a group of neo bikers..coincidentally one of them happened to be my protege during my IT days..

A couple of FTII Pune students were with us trying to capture every bit of the terrain and the bikes, as they were trying to visualize the documentry they wanted to make on Bikers and their Lifestyle. I also took a alot of photographs and pot shots of most of the bikes assembled there. Never ever can i get so many WORKING classics under one roof...

A quick Brunch at Panshet and we were back on our own..riding back to Pune city.

Click HERE to view the pictures..

Until then Keep Riding !!

The Italians are here !!!!

2008-02-29T17:47:00.013+05:30

Santo Christ. Gli italiani sono qui.

Yes i was swearing in chaste ITALIAN last week when i went to Hotel Taj Blue Diamond on monday the 25th of feb, 2008 to catch a glimpse of the Italians...This was the magic India Discovery drive around the country in a set of 5 Italians Brutes... or Babes...

As i stood patiently at the Hotel premises waiting for the beasts to roll in i noticed the huge swanky RED cavalcade rolling in across the Road..a set of gleaming machines..followed by an Petrol tanker...GOSH..are they such big FUEL guzzlers??...Luckily it was just the cars and the support vehicles which turned insode the hotel driveway and the juggernaut lumbered forward.

The first ITALIAN to enter was the mighty Truck like SUV, the IVECO MLV or something. This is basically a Hummer replacement for European markets..Exclusively manufactured for the military, i dont think its easy to spot the civilan versions on roads. This beast had a ground clearence of nearly 2 Feet..Dats SOME ground clearence. It roled in and got itself parked in a special reserved place.

Following the brute were two specially painted Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, named after the famous Ferrari coachbuilder Sergio Scaglietti.These ferraris have an all alluminium bodywork and can accomodate 4 people in relative comfort, perhaps one of the few ferraris to do that.This brutish baby had one LOUD throaty grunt.....

Just after the Ferrari was the cute tiny Fiat 500, the baby FIAT as its called. It was being driven by a blue eyed chubby italian gent by the name Bruno..or something...Maan..whatta cute car it was and immediately attracted all the womenfolk around who flocked and started comparing it to the 1 lakh wonder car from Tata. This car can set one back by about 16 lakhs and is by no means a mass Mobilizer...i would call it the Class Mobilizer. A legend in itself, this Car has actually made a big impact in the automobile industry.

Close on the Hells of the 500 was the Fiat Brava, some people would prefer to call it Bravo, though. Dunno what is the exact name.This 1.9 Litre diesel beast is capable of astounding speeds, developing some 150 od horses under its hood. I am sure 200 KMPH wud have been child's play in this one. This was piloted by manoj, my pal, whom we call MV for short. Thats how i got to see these Italians...This Hot-Hatch is soon coming to India as a premium hatback..Wonder how many people would want to buy cars like this. Chevy Aveo UVA was not that big a success story....

Support vehicles were in the form of Tata Safaris, Tatamobile's and Tata Winger's. Overall looked one helluva adventure plan...Serioulsy some amount of miles these guys are gonna chomp....

Until then ..Keep Riding !!!

See Pictures here

Watch the Ferraris roll here:

Ride 2 Guhagar N Back !!

2008-02-11T19:20:00.000+05:30

The weekend plans were made. My ‘Bikers’ group’ was riding to Guhagar, a silent coastal hamlet on the western coast of Maharashtra. Incidentally I also had some of my ancestoral roots pointing to this village and had my family deity, lord Vyadeshwar’s temple over there. Work and some emergency made me miss out on the start of the ride early morning on Saturday the 2nd of February, but somewhere around afternoon I finished off whatever was to be done and took off. Passing through Mulshi and Tamhini was an effortless task especially since afternoon was the time when all the tourists and weekend picnickers had already gone home and the roads were quite desolate. While passing through Mulshi I came across a couple of huge boards warning people not to climb into the lake as there were dangerous reptiles there. Reptiles!!?? Dino’s, Primeval, Super-Croc?? MAN !!. Looks like Pune is soon to get its taste of Jurassic Park.

A short break at Tamhini top after covering approximately 60 Kms, and fuelling up with Chai was sufficient to look forward to the next stretch of the road. Tamhini otherwise is a great site but the afternoon sun coupled with the tons of dust that some trucks had blown all over and the desolate landscape had just stripped the place of its beauty.

The descent downhill from Tamhini was bad as the curves and twisties were amazing but the road surface had deteriorated and hence scraping foot pegs on uneven surfaces was a potential risk. By the time I reached Velha, a lot of bones seemed to have been re-arranged inside. Onwards to Mangaon was an absolute dream with freshly tempered roads. The tarmac had smoothened out and there was hardly anyone else on the road barring the occasional villager or another tourist vehicle. Good speeds on the smooth and long curves made the ride a breeze. The whole forest alongside was lit with the blazing Flame of the Forest – The Palash tree signifying the arrival of spring and the passing of winter.

Mangaon onwards civilization brought its problems, TRAFFIC and POLLUTION. I hit the NH 17 and that was the end of it. It was quite difficult to maintain good speeds yet avoid recklessly driven vehicles who all seemed to be in a mad rush for GOLD!!..And out to have your blood.

After reaching Mahad, I decided to drop off the highway and take the lesser traveled road. After asking a few villagers I decided to take a smaller but still smooth enough road to Dapoli and then onwards to Dabhol. From Dabhol I had heard there would be a ferry which could take me across the creek to Guhagar. This was quite a tempting plan and I decided to take the detour towards a village called Latvan. After traveling from Mahad to Latvan I realized that on these desolate village roads with no fuelling station in sight it would be quite difficult to maintain speed as petrol was precious.

Its quite amazing how on all kinds of roads the fuel consumption figure difference due to changing riding styles can be astonishing. These roads although well constructed were designed just for plain connectivity and not taken into consideration high speed or high volume traffic. There were trucks ahead of my blowing massive coulds of dust and tempos racing amongst themselces each 16 seater carrying at least what 40 odd villagers; each having a bewildered look on their face, with the daredevil driver deep in thought and concentration as if he was on a critical NASA mission.

Once I reached Dapoli, I took a breather and fuelled up again. Dapoli also marked the evening/afternoon snack time and I gobbled down some stuff to prepare me for the last mile run to Guhagar. From Dapoli it was a short run of about 30 odd kms to Dabhol Harbour. What accompanied me all the way from Dapoli to Dabhol was the Natural Gas pipeline, work on which had caused tons of dust gravel and mud to accumulate on the roads thus making each twisty more tricky. It was fun to see the sides of my tyre go all red with the mud which the Konkan coast so much boasts of and is the trademark of that region.

The first sight of the Dabhol creek was immediately at the end of the small ghat section through a clearing in the trees. I saw the wide creek shining under the sunlight. I stopped for a breather. This was the first sight of the good ol sea which i was so hastingly headed towards. The shimmering waters, reaching out into the horizon indicated the vastness of this magnificnet water body we all call the Arabian Sea.

As i descended into Dabhol, the smell of the fisherman's cove greeted me and i knew i was in Konkan Heartland. I saw small fishing boats slowly rolling into the harbour. I saw Huge barges carrying tons of iron Ore and other heavy stuff. I head the oh so omnipresent clang clang of workers hammerring away at metal hulls crafting the marine vessels.

Once I reached Dabhol i was greeted by the sight of a Fort like structure. This i presume must have been one of the major ports during the maratha regime and must have controlled the seafront. I moved around the small fishing village as the ferry had some time for departing.

Fisherwomen were selling their wares, screaming at the top of their voices. Children were playing on the streetd. Dogs sat lazily blowing flies off their noses. Cats waited patiently next to the fisherwomen eyeing the scraps. I also noticed that the ferry which operated between Dabhol and Dhopave no the other side had a systematic rate card for ferrying stuff. There were separate rates for Bicycle, Motorcycle (Rider goes free with Motorcycle), Hens, dogs, fishes and even BULLS – (Not the Metal Monsters, the REAL ones!!).

I loaded my bike onto the ferry, actually rode on and then reached the other side. As i stood on the deck and watched the waters move as currents and splashing on the shores, the sight of the village with its antique tiled houses, the tall coconut trees and the simple lifetyle really gave me a refreshing feeling. This was so pleasant despite the presence of so many people around. Cmoparing the same to an overpacked mall in a acity the experiance would have been maddenning.

Ths sun was slowly setting and created a unique feeling all over. Light bounced off the waves scattering into golden sunbeams creating giving this place an El-Dorado look. I also noticed hige chimneys of the erstwhile Dabhol Power Corp, ENRON as many would know it. The same company which came to India to promise dreams to be fulfilled and then hastily beat a retreat without even letting us know what went wrong. Or is it so?

By the time I crossed it was already dark and the sun was going down. I climbed into Dhopave and moved towards Guhagar. Enroute i saw the sun playing hide and seek with me over the edge of the hills in the distance.

I sped up FAAAST to make sure I reached the Beach before the sun actually slipped down the horizon but then as luck would have had it. I couldn’t be there in time but still managed to get some real good snaps of the fading twilight. The sun had already gone below the horizon but the whole sky was still blazing with the residual light.

I had put in some good 250 plus Kms on the odo still it was a slightly shorter route than the conventional highway run. After spending some time on the beach, unwinding and breathing in the fresh air I realized I had stayed over too long for the fatigue to kick in and I had to call it a day. I was slightly saddened to realize that somewhere I had blown out a pilot lamp and that was also quite depressing. (YES I am that freaky idiot who gets worried if things like tail lamp, speedo lamp, brake light etc don’t work. I am also very fussy about alignment of rear view mirrors. LOL).

I decided to check in at a relative’s place to stay over. Obviously I would have to eat elsewhere and perhaps shell put some moolah for the room and hot water too but then staying at someone’s house was anytime better than a hotel. I called up my other friends who had by that time already proceeded to Velneshwar and had camped there for the night. I decided to pay them a visit and rushed off to meet them. The talk sessions at the BN meet were obviously charged up with NOS, and high spirits. A lot of plans and future rides were discussed and basically was one helluva good time. I stayed over for some time but as fatigue had started kicking in I returned back to Guhagar, had a light dinner and slept off.

Next day morning I got up and moved straight to the Beach. The morning breeze coupled with a walk on the soft fresh sands made my day. The beach a huge vast expanse of over 7 Kms of soft golden sands was absolutely PRIVATE. A Sunday, and a Beach so pristine and so vacant. I couldn't have had better treatment for me anywhere else.

A brisk walk down the beach leading to the main chowk of the village, had me charged up for the day. The subsequent breakfast of missal pav and kande pohe made my day. One thing unique about Guhagar is that perhaps it is one of the few villages on the Konkan coast which is not a fishing village. Next door Dabhol is a big fishing village, while there is some fishing carried out at Hedavi also which is the next village down the coast, guess somewhere because of the extensive sandy shore and the reverence attached to the deity, the people of Guhagar rather preferred to use the sea as a means of recreation rather than a source of livelihood.

After breakfast and a visit to the temple, I called up my fellow bikers, only to come to know that they would be delayed and might as well stop for breakfast at Velneshwar and meet me at Guhagar just to start off for Pune – Mumbai. The temple is centuries old and still retains the architecture and peace and calm. Some enthusiastic trustee had however painted the stones with a good quality sad looking GREY emulsion thus spoiling it nevertheless.

I proceeded to meet me fellow bikers at a junction called Modka Agaar. Since i was the closest to this place, i reached first and waited till they started trickling one by one, the 220 and Arpan in lead followed by adventurer Hrishi on his Red devil, these two guys you could say were the master minds behind this trip.

We assembled one by one at this junction, each one riding over and then arranged ourselves for quick photo session. Some more pleasantries were exchanged and after tanking up we took off towards Dabhol. A short group wanted to ride the long way round..3 sprinters took off towards Satara…while the 2 dudes form Mumbai also went off on NH 17. I stuck with the group which decided to take the winding road through interiors of the Konkan area. So off we were; the SPRINT group to Pune with Vibhu on ZMA, Nalin on CBZ and Nav on RTR. The CRUISE group to Mumbai with Arpan on the 220 and Hrishi on the 180, while the EXPLORE group took off towards the Ferry at Dabhol, Me on 180, Sayan on 150, Chinmaya on 220, Nehal on RX100, MV on ZMA, Kunal on FX and Sravanth on Avenger.

We moved out of Guhagar and reached Enron’s dead site and form there took a wrong turn and got lost somewhere. Luckily after 3 – 4 Kms we realized the correct road and then descended down into Dhopave for the Ferry. It was here that I came across a FOX trotting across the road. I even wanted to stop and give chase on foot but time constraints permitted me only with a zoomed in picture. I had seen a similar creature last night also while riding from Velneshwar. Looked like Foxes were at the top of the food chain in the wilderness in these areas.

We reached the Ferry jetty and assembled the Bikes.The sight of all the bikes rolling slowly into the Ferry was one helluva one and everyone was way too curious to see such a large group of Bikers wanting to traverse the countryside.

We relaxed and shared some more jokes on the short Ferry ride about the way each one of us had enjoyed the ride to Guhagar and the stay on the
beach.

Video of the Bikers getting on and getting off :

The other people on the ferry just gathered around our Bikes and kept murmuring something about our adventure. What was seemingly so mundane for we BikeNomads definitely sounded like one helluva crazy thing for most of the gentry there.

Once off the Ferry we stopped to get a couple of things fixed, Sravanth’s helmet strap, and Kunal’s Crocodile mouth boots. Etc etc. Dabhol to Dapoli was one helluva ride with each of us taking the dirt track with grace. Lazily we reached Dapoli and decided to take a Lunch break. After a lavish lunch and some lazing around we decided to move off and discovered that MV had a flat tyre. We spent some time in getting that fixed, tried out each other’s bikes at Dapoli. I demonstrated to Nehal how to ride an RX 100, the RX 100 way. I too had the RX about 4 years back and loved every moment spent on the peppy “2-stroker”. Finally we moved off from Dapoli towards Mandangarh, and Ambet. I tried my hand at taking a Biker’s video on this stretch and got some decent results.

Video of the Riders on the Road !!

It was here that the heavy lunch had started showing us the colours. Taking curves was getting slightly difficult as our speeds dropped and some of us started getting off course. Somehow we decided to let the slow riders move ahead in a smaller group and the others stopped for a tea break. After the tea break and a frenzied discussion on how to get rid of the chicken stripes that appear on the tyres of most of our bikes we zoomed off towards Goregaon.

Just before the Ghats towards Goregaon, we took a right turn towards Toll village, then across the bridge on the river Kal to Toll Phata and came out on NH 17 at Veer. After Veer it was a crazy mad rush again towards Mangaon on the NH 17.

We managed to reach Mangaon just as the sun was nearing the horizon and after the usual "find me - I am lost" confusion and teaming up we decided to move via Tamhini ghats back to Pune. We had to make good speed as light was fast fading and it was very difficult to concentrate on the road. We bid Bye to MV who moved off towards Mumbai and we took the detour to Tamhini via Velha. By this time our top speed had gone down to about 60 Kmph and there were some crucial turns where even maintaining a decent 45 Kmph for some of us was getting difficult.

Fatigue coupled with dropping visibility and conventional headlights made life miserable. Finally by the time we reached Tamhini top, it was PITCH DARK. We again started riding slowly negotiating the now bad patches of un-laid roads, rolling over stones and gravel with utmost care, our legs and arms shivering in the mountain cold winds, fatigue creeping and making us worn out. A feeling throbbing up the jugular. I looked down at my speedo..The digits never cross 18 KMPH. Gosh! What was happening to us??

We stopped for a chai break and I changed horses with Sravanth. I sat on the Avvy and he took over the Pulsar. The Avenger is definitely a relaxed cruiser and has brilliant lights but I have always used my shoulders to control my turning and here it was getting difficult as the arms were completely relaxed and pressure was building up on the back. Although slower to response than the Pulsar, the Avenger is one mean machine and did gulp the Paud ghats with ease. Finally we managed to reach Mulshi and after than had decent speeds all the way till we reached the legendary Shell petrol Pump at Paud. After tanking up we moved off towards Chandni chowk and from there after the good byes dispersed towards home. We had been riding a good 11 hours plus and this was one helluva time taken to cover a measly distance of under 300 kms giving us an average speed of just 28Kmph..WHAT !!!!!!!! Were we WALKING !!!!..I covered the same damn distance a day earlier in under 5 hours.

@%$@#@&*&^%@$#$! (Choicest of words!!)

Anyways. All said and done it was definitely an amazing ride; enjoyable and thrilling.

Until next time...Keep Riding:

To see the entire pics of the ride click here

Other Bikes @ Auto Expo

2008-02-07T16:53:00.000+05:30

Despite being present with a lot of fanfare and a lavish set exclusively designed by Nitin Desai the famous Bollywood art director who created the magic for the blockbuster "Sawariya", Hero Honda dissappointed the "technocrats" with their products. Yes !! A lot of AAM JUNTA must have been impressed by the presence of a design studio corner equipped with a couple of IIT Brains who designed revolutionary and custoer oriented next generation STICKERING (WTF!!!!!!) for the new bikes HH would be launching. The Star of the show was a column in the center on which they had mounted (hung) two Bikes. A Honda XR motocrosser and the Legendary Paris Dakar fame Honda Africa Twin.

The second biggest attraction was abviously the HUNK which had almost 5 - 6 colours displayed all over, some which were not even in production. All around was a hanging walkway on which models catwalked to groovy numbers and showed off their charms while riding on HH bikes. Infact one of the staff members actually mentioned that it was actually the new age Splendour plus which was attracting most attention. Splendour plus !! You Gotta be kidding!. These guys definitely do have the largest numbers in terms of Sales but then, what about fundaas? Exactly on the lines of Honda, HH too had a rider training corner with a simulated splendour showing you how to ride on the motorcycle. Their was a huge line of kids there all wanting to try out this new Video Game, which deterred me from even trying it out. So that was all at the HH stall. I am sure i must have missed out some stuff, but then i guess it wasn't all so worth reporting.

Click here to see more Pictures from the Hero Honda Stand:

KTM was there with a vast range of motorcycles starting off with the small 250 cc enduro and ending up with the large 990 cc Adventure Fuel Injected machine.KTM is now coming to India through their tie up with bajaj and the first model expected would perhaps be the Super Duke 990 and the Duke 690 which would be perhaps more acceptable to the Indian Superbiking scenario. There was the radically stylized Supermoto 690 with wierd silencers, thus making the display a fantastic collection of 5 great machines. Sad fact is that although KTM is famous worldwide for their Enduro Motorcycles by the time Enduro motorcycling becomes fashionable in India a lot of time would have passed.

Incidentally KTM also had on display a lot of accessories starting from the oh so essential Body suit to coffee mugs, key chains and other daily usage items. Everything needless to say was ORANGE !!

One thing which was quite shocking was the BAD state in which the Bikes were hurriedly put together. One headlight actually had BIRDSHIT on it and no one had bothered to clean it at all. At the same expo we had bouncers shaking people off a HYUNDAI stall and here the legendary KTM had pigeons crapping all over them. Kahan gayi woh respect for legendary machines? Kahan gaya woh motorcycling spirit? Anyways, there wasnt even any person next to the bikes to even explain what each of the bikes meant or did. Somehow it would have been great had there been at least some small name tags or boards describing the specifications of the bike. Felt quite bad to see these brutes so neglected and disrespected. Anyways, having ridden with a couple of KTM Riders sometime back i knew once the bikes came out on the roads they would definitely get their share of fame and TLC.

For more pictures of the Katooms click here:

Kawasaki has been trying to enter into India for a long long time and looks like finally their time has arrived. They tried getting into India with their buddy Bajaj in the form of the KB100, then 4s and then the Eliminator, but couldn’t create BRAND awareness. The Wind also couldn’t do any magic for the Kwacker. Finally looks like the long due project, the Ninja 250 is set to see the light of day. We are getting the baby ninja, albeit a decade late. LOL !!. But at least we are getting it. On display were a couple of cool looking Kawasaki machines starting with the fat tyred VN Cruiser and the flagship model the ZX NINJA in pristine Black. In the center of the stage was the baby they intend to launch in India the Ninja 250 in Kawasaki Green and next to it were the Kawasaki Z 1000, naked muscleman in green and the ER6n, made in Thailand / Malaysia Street bike. A Bajaj official was strolling inside the fenced area and trying to answer as many questions as were possible. Looks like Kawasaki is all set to finally set Indian roads ablaze.

Let the good times roll !!

For more Kwacker Pictures click here:

The THUNDERGOD, Royal Enfield somehow was prominent despite putting a rather plain jane looking display. I mean..the Bikes are definitely thundersome..I am a self confessed Bullet fan..not a fanatic though...and I like the metal gods but then 2 tents and 2 bikes..not a very impressive display. Maybe it could have been better !!

Also met Bawa, the dude from Delhi who heads the WILDBEASTS and comes across as a true blue Bullet brether. The brotherhood of the Bullet clan is something which has remained a mystery for a lot of people. You cant avoid it. Either you love it or you hate it, but you can’t ignore it. Guess the machine has today reached a stage where it’s a living legend, or perhaps a living fossil. Its definitely here to stay and stay a long long time.

The other mentionable names were the electric bikes; namely the YO, and the Hero Ultra. Yo bikes even had a next generation innovative model named the ELEKTRON. There were a couple of attractive girls standing at the stands trying to explain to everyone how Electric Battery powered bikes not only saved money but also saved the environment. Somehow I wonder what about the electricity that is needed to charge the batteries. In India how much coal do we burn to produce the electricity to charge the battery? I am sure the pollution created by NTPC would be more than what perhaps a couple of rickety old polluting jalopies would be creating. Hero Ultra on the other hand were all gung ho about their new age electric bikes with a lot of on the spot games and competitions and an EmCee creating a fun-filled atmosphere. Lastly there was the atrociously modified Bullet, the “Sardar Chop” Chopper at the Overdrive stands which did catch my attention. Besides this there were many other mentionables who had some real good looking bikes displayed, namely Bike India, Triumph etc etc.

The Vintage Motorcycle collection put together by the Heritage Motor club of India was quite impressive with a Vintage Army Harley and a red colored Indian Chief. I am absolutely floored by the oodles of style which just kinda trickles out from this SKIRTED beauty, so much so that my Classic yezdi has also been re-modeled on the CHIEF. There was a a lot of British muscle too in the form of Nortons, Triumphs, and Velocette. There was a small exclusive corner for the Vespa’s and Lamberetta’s and the Viller’s 75 cc Paratrooper’s Bike too.

For pictures of all the other bikes click here:

So that’s what sums up the experience at the Auto Expo when it comes to motorcycles. Looks like a great year is around the corner which might just revolutionize the way India moves on 2 wheels as such.

Until then keep riding !!

Suzuki @ Auto Expo 2008

2008-01-29T18:01:00.000+05:30

Suzuki was a brightly lit WHITE background stall and was distinctly divided into 2 segments comprising the MIGHTY GODS and the smaller lords..(LOL). Yes the right side - for spectators - pavilion contained the massive machines while the left side contained the India based production machines on display.

First to start with the Heavy ones. There was the Suzuki HAYABUSA, the fastest production bike in the world in the new brilliant RED attractive striping. This bike despite has achieved the status of being a legend and still is carved deep in the psyche of the Indian Biker. The Hayabusa incidentally is a well bred Fighting Bird of Prey which has swooped and made easy meat of all its adversaries.

Next to the Hayabusa were some of the smaller machines lined up. Starting with the Dual Purpose Suzuki DRZ 400 SM dressed in immaculate white. This could be one of the bikes Suzuki might just plan to get into India although rumours are that the Indian variant shall be the RMZ 450 DR or something. Next to the MX machine was the Dhoom machine. The Bandit 1250S in Black. This was one touring machine which could make some sense when brought into India.

The new Gixxer, the GSX 1000 R was also there in silver-white combination. The new Gixxers are one of the most competitive 1 litre bikes all over the world. The new avatar of the bike was revolutionary and significantly different from the Gixxers of the past years. Next to the Gixxer was the massive Scooter the Bergmann.The Luxury limousine of Scooting world this was definitely an eye catcher in all senses.

Beyond the 3 possible contestants for the Suzuki import bike for India was the mean looking street fighter the Suzuki BKing. The King of Bikes this awesome naked bike was just standing and simply stinking off oodles of sheer muscular grunt and torque. This was something which could go screaming past you on one wheel while you would just run for cover.

The Indian products pavilion had the Heat and Zeus in different variant forms with tall models accompanying them. Somehow there was also a Master of Ceremonies trying to conduct an awesome introduction of these awesome machines along with some music and other background effects. The new scooter from Suzuki the Accesss 125 was also there. Although it did have a touch of freshness it reeked of Honda Activa likeness. But then isn't that how most scoots look now a days.

The STAR attraction of the Suzuki stall was obviously the SUZUKI BIPLANE concept. Perhaps the same engine as the gixxer, the biplane concept was perhaps straight out of a sci-fi movie. Painted in a stylish futuristic golden glow, it had a brutish front with large twin disc brakes and an aggressive LED headlamp assembly. The handlebars were also on a different pivot like arrangement which made turning a different concept altogether.The small racing seat was also attached to the monoshock which sprung the rear wheel. Turn indicators were built into the handlebars themselves. Inspired by the classic biplane first introduced by the Wright Brothers, this was first disclosed at the Tokyo Motorshow, but somehow i couldn't understand the PLANE part in this design concept.

We also met the Pretty lady in charge of Marketing the Suzuki Motorcycles and wondered what Suzuki had in store for Bike fanatics in the coming year. We are watching Ms Anamika - And Yes that's her ACTUAL name - Although she didn't have clear cut plans for us immediately she definitely promised us that time would be worth the wait.

Overall an awesome experience..Keep it up SUZUKI.

Click here to see all the Suzuki Pics:

Honda @ Auto Expo 2008

2008-01-29T12:36:00.000+05:30

You meet the nicest people on a Honda they say and perhaps that was exactly what i did experience at the Honda pavilion. The sales people at the stands were really very kind to lead me to the senior most official there Mr Gupta who actually was heading the design department. A lot of companies were actually putting a lot of emphasis on design aspect in the field of motorcycling trying to put the message across that it takes a lot to make any motorcycle look like what the rider wants or feels it to look like. The basic shape may perhaps be the same but the versatility of accessories and graphics play an important role, more so on the mind of the Indian rider whose knowledge of ergonomics is pretty poor and whose body can actually somehow mould itself to any shape the contraption that vehicle takes over. From personal experience i can say that i would rather endure the "once in a blue moon" pain in the shoulder than notice that my handle is slightly bent by a few degrees and opt for a perfectly straight handle.

The STAR of the show however was the newly launched AVIATOR scooter, a poor excuse for a revolutionary design, it just looked like a Karolbagh version of the activa. There were definitely some advancements but somehow not very evident to my visually observant but technically ignorant Indian mind. It did have unique headlamp assembly, perhaps a brighter bulb. Indicators had moved form the handlebars to the side aprons and a dual tone colour scheme created a classique appeal. It had a different front suspension set up and a front disc brake along with a stylish integrated grab rail at the rear as innovations but over all had the same Scooter like look and feel.

As soon as we entered the Honda stall, we noticed the Honda Rider Trainer, a computer simulated riding platform which helped increase rider response on roads by understanding how random traffic moved and predicting the moves accordingly. basically a unique device to teach plain riding. I would love to see the complex algorithm which would go into creation of such a simulation for the average Indian traffic situation. Millions and millions of complex mathematical permutations and combinations which i doubt the processor shall ever be able to comprehend and accordingly re-produce.

The most obvious ATTRACTION of the show however pretty much down played was the RC 212V, the MOTO GP legend. IT featured an 800 cc liquid cooled DOHC engine. The model for 2008 had the all new chassis built with mass centralization thus improving race dynamics to a large extent. This bike was in the livery of Ace Rider No1 Nicky Hayden.

The other 2 beauties from the the CBRrrrrrrrrr Family were the 1000 RR and the 600 RR. The 1 litre power plant as well as some other structural parts were basically race derived and added to the overall enhancements featured for the 2008 model. It was also done up in a fine wine red - black and beige livery. Looked real classy. It looked more Julia Roberts than Britney spears..Guys..those who cant relate to the comparison..please forgive. The 600 CC beauty was in classic BLACK. somehow Black is the only colour which is EVERGREEN. The Yamaha had a black bike, Suzuki's had a black bike, TVS too and now Honda also.

The only Bike which actually was a sight from a Touring and motorcycling perspective was the Hornet CB 600F Hornet. Shining in Gold livery this lean mean machine seemed poised for newer conquests. Its however a sad truth that most of the naked bikes somehow are never considered as Superbikes despite them delivering quite impressive performance figures.

Besides these there were two concepts based on the Honda Shine. The first one was a repsol Honda coloured CBF Sports concept which looked quite close to a Karizma and had conventional twin shocks at the rear. This was a true blue 2 seater with an integrated headlamp assembly.

The other Shine derivative was the CBF racing concept painted in Honda racing red colours and striking graphics this had disc brakes both front and rear and was a single seater. The CBF sports concept could be a sporty upgrade and with Yamaha also coming into the 150 segment seriously, this could already have a lucrative competitive market to launch itself.

Besides this the standard Unicorn, Shine and the new graphically jazzed up Dio dlx were there along with the veterans Activa and Eterno.

At the extreme end of the pavilion was the Honda Design Corner where in people could interact with the Honda designers and conjure up the dream bike of their choice by providing inputs while the designers would immediately just add small touches to the concept as it took shape. Kudos to Honda for this. We would now like to see this translate into the actual bikes that are expected from Honda in the coming months.

Click here to see More pics of the Honda Pavilion:

Bajaj @ Auto Expo 2008

2008-01-25T13:29:00.000+05:30

The Bajaj pavilion somehow was completely away from the rest of the two wheelers. Although spread over the largest area amongst all the Bikes this time the pavilion theme was distinctly divided into three different colour zones itself. Bajaj itself was the cool and comfortable blue while KTM took over the bright orange strikingly attractive section and Kawasaki was occupying a smallish semi circular podium with just one guy watching over the Bikes. In the center of the pavilion was a revolving turntable like enclosure which housed the Bajaj small car.

As soon as we entered the Bajaj pavilion the core Bajaj bikes displayed were against a blue background and all of them were in striking blue graphics. Being biased towards blue as its my favourite colour, i obviously enjoyed the huge display. The only 'available' bike was the Bajaj Avenger 200 DTSi. Which now i believe makes one listen to the music of the Gods..Next to it were three new concepts from Bajaj, the XCD Sprint a revamped XCD with better styling, tail lamps and a slightly different exhaust system.The instrument console was also revamped with a differently designed digital speedo. This motorcycle could perhaps be the power version of the XCD making it move an inch closer to Discover territory.

The Discover however itself had moved up to 150 cc and striking looks. Devoid of all snazzy graphics, the Disco put up at the stall looked a mean machine with not much decals at all. The most attractive feature of the Disco besides its upgraded engine was the manner in which the front indicators were integrated into a tank mounted scoop thus blending into the bodywork itself.

The Pulsar however was prominent because of its complete absence from the Expo. As we had earlier been tipped by BAL officials during our Chakan plant visit that the entire Pulsar range would now be completely re-defined we were expecting some more upgrades perhaps a 300 cc mill or maybe even larger but then even the customary Pulsar Dtsi's were absent so was the new 200. The Pulsar 220 DTSFi there was done up completely in chrome and made a huge impact on most people. I remember having seen a similar bike from another manufacturer some time back but then don't understand why a revolutionary manufacturer like Bajaj would need to ape a concept like this. I guess it had a reason as was visible by the presence of 2 jammin rockstars next to the all shiny and chrome 220. The music they churned out was really awesome and just short of psychedelic.

Somehow i have a feeling that there is a sudden big big surprise expected from Bajaj when it comes to the tried and tested Pulsar family of motorcycles. They have been around for quite some time and have become a big brand in themselves so perhaps its time for the Brand to sustain itself on its heritage. BAL guys !! - Any scoops for us ?

The most aggressive looking of all Bajaj Products on display was the BLADE DTSi scooter. A big leap from the Kristal, this scooter is easily the best looking in the market today, perhaps we may have split opinions between this one and the Italjet designed one from Kinetic. But here lies a sure shot winner from Bajaj. Only if this now lives up to its reputation of coming frmo a family of scooter manufacturers, and revolutionising the manner in which India commutes, rather "POWER-COMMUTES" on Scooters.

At the center was the biggest surprise of all - The Bajaj small Car. Dont tell me... this is what the Pulsar has grown into??? Well although not much hyped like the similar project from another giant Indian auto manufacturer, this Car literally stole my heart mainly because of its chunky build quality feel and the fact that it looked similar to a lot many cars already on the road thus making it feel part of the current lot. Didn't look outlandish or something way beyond its league.

Click here for Pics from the Bajaj Pavilion.

Until then KEEP RIDING !!!!

TVS @ Auto Expo 2008

2008-01-24T15:07:00.001+05:30

The TVS pavilion was perhaps the second most attractive pavilion and was also quite crowded with the official launch of their new and controversial 125 cc machine the FLAME. Yes the presenter herself was finding it slightly difficult to keep track of the exact alphabets which made up the technological marvel called CCVVTI or something the same concept which perhaps Bajaj had claimed of having patented hence it was a copyright violation to use it again. Overall it did look like the centre stage was captured by the Flame. Besides an auto rickshaw which looked like straight out of the future one new vehicle caught my attention which was the TVS Scooty Teenz – Electric variant. This was now no longer powered by an ICE but instead was run on electric motors powered by a Battery pack.

There were two concept bikes on the TVS stalls this year and none of them were either placed at a strategic location or hyped enough to create a major fervour. The X-Fossil was perhaps and electric or hybrid vehicle. Despite the radical design there wasn’t much appeal in the bike which claimed a top speed in excess of 140 KMPH. The other concept vehicle was a small scooter, again hybrid the TVS Qube.

TVS Indonesia also displayed the TVS Neo, a revolutionary step through that had been developed primarily for that market. I don’t think TVS would plan to launch the same vehicle here as Indian riders aren’t much open to the concept of a step through qualifying as a complete motorcycle. Save the ubiquitous M-80 from Bajaj all the other Step-through’s have simply disappeared within months of their launch. The concept vehicle based on the Neo was also on display. Aptly called Raptor this beast had massive disc brakes and a dual purpose suspension. An under-seat exhaust neatly tucked in indicated an end can tuned for performance.

The most popular rather prominent bike albeit was the TVS Flame. This bike has been in the hype for a long long time but then controversy had always been bugging the same down. Displayed alongside with 2 accompanying models who were rather busy chatting amongst themselves rather than seeing the reaction of the people on the Bike? I am somehow still not convinced the purpose of the models accompanying the bikes if they don’t sit on the bike nor do they speak about the bike.

Perhaps the crown jewel of this pavilion and perhaps least hyped about were the Apache bikes. This family of motorcycles was developed straight after the Fiero’s and is now considered as the flagship of the TVS stable. The bikes on display were again in striking colours. Although not much hyped there was the revolutionary Fuel Injected version of the Apache RTR. The cutting edge technology having made emission cleaner as well as engine and over all bike response better in all respect as compared to older conventional fuel system bikes. The Apache RTR Fi also had a unique distinguishing scoop attached to the tank presumably to cool the engine or perhaps direct airflow to the fuel pump/air intake.

The sexiest (pardon the language) of all the Bikes in the TVS podium was the Race Specification “conventional” Carburetted Apache RTR 160. This magnificent beast in pure gunmetal colour was distinguished visually only by the slightly different silencer and surprisingly was not splattered with wild and race specification decals. This was perhaps a secretly developed contraption and could be configured by taking the stock Apache 160RTR and approximately 10K into a TVS showroom and riding off after modifications on a screaming beastly machine. This was perhaps the fastest current Indian motorcycle. Although there had been talks in the racing circuit of TVS having secretly developed a lot of add-ons for the Apache RTR to make it the scorcher it ought to be, this was quite a surprise as we did not expect it to be such a simple bolt on screw on kind of a job. Perhaps we can now have a single machine which could beat the shit out of everyone during track days on weekends and then also zip through commuter traffic on the way to office during the rest of the week.

It was here that we had the opportunity to interact with the masterminds behind the creation of these super performance machines with the racing heritage and the “need for speed” attitude. It was during these talks that we came to know what immense amount of quality work goes behind getting the TVS bikes on the road and then subsequently the race track. Probably despite privateers racing on a lot of other bikes its TVS which has significantly contributed to the world of road racing by concentrating on the factors which affect racing performance of the motorcycle and using technology developed on the chicanes and straights to suit every day motorcycles give thrill to the average commuter who perhaps looks at squeezing performance out of the measly sub 200 cc mills available in Indian market today. Kudos to those stalwarts Siddarth and Jagrit who carefully want to develop a line of performance machines catered to understanding speed dynamics and quick handling on the race track and subsequently come up with our own definition of India bred “mini-superbikes” as we may call them.

More Pics from the TVS pavilion:

Yamaha @ Auto Expo 2008

2008-01-21T19:34:00.000+05:30

Perhaps the most attractive Stand in the Motorcycle World at the Auto Expo 2008 was YAMAHA.

Yes I confess I am a true blue Yamaha Aficionado and I guess I spent maximum time out there at the Yamaha stall, so much that I actually wished if I could just LIVE at the stand for the 2 days I was in Delhi, much to the amusement of some of the Yamaha staff there. The press release officially announced the launch of some HIGH DECIBEL bikes from the Yamaha stables, High decibels indeed.... not only from the end cans but also from the voices of excited onlookers.

The Biggest and best attraction of this stand was obviously the Yamaha R 15, looking like the younger sibling of the beautiful & powerful Yamaha R1. Incidentally both the bikes were placed side by side, in same livery which drew a clear cut comparison between the both.

Entering into the Yamaha stall brought back a certain part of history alive as we had an appropriately (Bright Red Shirt, Smart Short Skirt, Knee Length black boots, straight out of modern 1980’s) dressed lady accompanying an RX 100 Gleaming Black and a RD 350 Lustrous Red; All Stock n Shiny Chromy Silencers reminding everyone of the wonder years.

More Pics of the Classic Beauties:

Next to them was the massive R1, in dual shades of menacing Black. This motorcycle was recently launched in India officially and today comes equipped with the standard road worth accessories – yes – saree guard etc etc – despite its racy form. I wonder how a saree clad damsel would ever reach the pillion seat and manage to sit sideways on the same. If anyone spots one like this please click a snap and send it across. It could be a sight worth seeing.

Rossi's M1 was also displayed alongside the Blue R1.

More Pics of the R1’s & M1:

There were 3 samples of the freshly developed R 15, one in exact same livery as the R1, Two Tone Menacing Black, and 2 in the Yamaha Blue livery. One Blue R 15 was displayed along with a set of accompanying accessories while the 2nd Blue babe adorned the centrestage along with a red outfitted Glam Brigade rider.

The unique 4 Valve engine with its forged aluminium piston, developed for this motorcycle and the Delta Box frame which formed the skeleton for the bike were displayed as independent show stoppers. The engine displayed had a cutaway section through which the technology behind the massive power generation was visible. It was also liquid cooled, unlike the engine oil which was cooled in some of the newly launched oil cooled bikes. Equipped with twin disc brakes front and rear, the R 15 is a thoroughbred race horse rather a wild mustang with well defined rearset foot pegs and a stance which could bring out the Moto Gp enthusiast even from within the most lethargic people. This was a shape which could entice, enthral and certainly blow one’s mind. We were lucky to meet up with the gentleman who was the brain behind this brainchild. Mr Tripathi - HATS OFF TO YOU SIR..!!! You have managed to conjure up a machine which as of date promises impressive figures on paper and now in Metal and GFP. Now its time to get this baby on to the tarmac and let us know what kind of decibels you would want to generate.

Add to it a couple of other strikingly good looking forms of the fairer gender and VOILA you have a deadly concoction.

Video of the R 15

More Pics of the R15:

The Gladiator was also present there, again in concept forms but perhaps now about to be launched into production. These upgraded versions were called the Gladiator SS in dual tone silver with either yellow gold or red trim while the RS was the true Yamaha Blue with striking graphics. Specs were quite same rather looked identical to the earlier Gladiator (Yes!! I too owned one at a time – the only 125 cc mills churning out double digit power ratings) but perhaps the trim and other smaller details had been changed.

More Gladiator Pics :

Beyond the Gladiator concepts was another Blue R1 alongside Rossi’s mean machine the M1. It was rumoured that Rossi might just drop down to grace the occasion with his presence but I guess I had to be satisfied with just my picture alongside the M1.

The Naked bikes section was right next to the main announcement booth and had great music playing continuously. There were 3 bikes adorning the stands there namely the (Brand New) FZ, the FZ-1 and the Torque Sports MT01. The FZ seemed to be a design marvel in its own category and sported practically possible specifications which could be mass produced in India thus making it perhaps a more financially viable motorcycle. It sported a very mean ‘street fighter’ like looks but had the standard 2 valve engine 150 cc in capacity perhaps churning out close to 16 – 18 horses.

Video of the FZ 150

Pics of the FZ Muscle Bike

Yamaha also made its presence felt through its riding gear displayed which actually complemented the awesome motorcycles present there.

Incidentally Yamaha was also the official Bike of the event as was visible by the numerous Gladiators, and Alba bikes running all over the venue ferrying people and light goods from one end to another.

As per Yamaha, most motorcycle owners ride, corner and brake almost unconsciously, however these 3 aspects form the core of motorcycling and when these are achieved with precision and control, the Man-Machine interaction is at its best and the rider experience is a far greater enjoyment.

This, as per Yamaha is the essence of their Motorcycle technology. Their technology has its roots in the highly competitive arena of racing, and they promise to bring the same benefit to people now through their recently to be launched beasts.

The cherry on the top of the cake perhaps was Rossi's Machine. ALthough it was rumuored that Rossi might just drop in to grace the pavillion, i guess i did the needful instead.

Overall Yamaha sounded very promising with 2 very impressive models being released just in time to cater to the ever increasing demand of powerful yet affordable motorcycle technology in India

More Pics

Look out for Yamaha in 2008!!!!!

Until then Keep Riding !!

My Delhi Trip

2008-01-21T12:06:00.000+05:30

The Bike Nomads went to their first official Auto Expo visit. Official as they carried an identity of a Bike-Nomad to interact with the industry and evaluate the Motorcycles exhibited at the event.

This epic journey was actually planned during the month long sabbatical that Navendu and i had taken from our respective slavery's (jobs) and had decided to let our passion overtake our sensibility and give us a chance to interact with the best of the two wheeler industry.

We started off form Pune on the 13Th afternoon and reached Mumbai Central station to catch the Rajghani express. As we stood in the door of the fast moving train watching the sunset, we wondered what kind of a trip we had embarked upon and what kind of surprises awaited us at Delhi.

Delhi was reached just as dawn broke the still cold blue of the skies. After reaching Delhi we immediately spend some time in rush hour traffic trying to park the car and change in time to reach the auto expo within business hours.

Since we concentrated only on the Bikes there we moved straight to the Hall 7 which had most of the Bikes while Bajaj had moved out into Hall 3 exclusively as a strategic move or perhaps just a matter of convenience.

Detailed reports on each stall to follow soon. Watch this blog for more.

Post Auto expo i spent some real quality time with fellow Biker dudes there in Delhi, namely Akshay, Arunesh and Chetan who have been part of the Yezdi Gang and Sumeet Popli, Kam and our good ol Tao - Hitanshu who have been a Bike Nomad with me.

Spent some time at the Indian Air Force museum and then caught a flight back to Mumbai as the one to Pune was at odd times plus was WAY too expensive. After all Money for this trip was being routed from a lot of resources. So had to cut corners.

Went completely shutter crazy even during the flight experimenting with the camera settings of my Sony phone.

Finally landed back in Mumbai. Caught up with a local taxi to Dadar, and then a Bus back to Pune. Many Thanks to fellow biker Praveen Shirali to pick me up from the Bus stop and take me home...

Watch pics here..

Meeting the Shutterbugs - Bumping into the Adventurers

2008-01-08T13:32:00.000+05:30

As i lazily woke up and stretched my arms in a wiiiddde yawn...and glanced at the clock. SHITT..nearly 9:00 A.M. I had a Photographers @ Pune photo shoot and that too early in the morninig and as usual i was late. This would have been the 4th photo shoot i would have backed out from and i wudnt have risked this for anything in the world. So i called up Harshad only to know that the troop was still on their way to Kudje and i could catch them anytime..WHATTA relief..

I finally moved out of my bed and got ready quickly and zoomed off towards the nearest fuel pump..being oh so forgetful i was practically running on Petrol Vapour. Tanking up at Shell Pirangut, i zoomed across the Mutha Ghats and came to the Mutha village. A villager offered to give me directions to Kudje and all i had to do was drop him near an intermediate village called Bahuli. So off i went, this dhoti clad 70 something gent sitting pillion wielding a lathi in one hand and a potli in the other. Enroute he gave me the recent agricultural updates in this region of the state. How the sugarcane rate fell from 1200 bucks (a quintal?)..to 500 bucks and hence everyone in the village is now dependent on their sons in Pune who are working and sending money home. He mentioned how he waits 5 hours to catch a abus to swargate every weekend to visit his relatives and practically spends the whole damn day in this travel. Somehow the BIkeNomad inside me failed to relate to his idea of travelling just about 60 - 70 odd kms over an entire day !!! Man i do Pune - Panvel in an Hour and a Half. (Not to mention.. Laxmi Road - Deccan in an Hour and a half too !!!). After dropping him off i zoomed crazily towards Kudje and finally found the group spread all over the contryside taking pictures. I turned off the road and started ridindg my bike straight towards the lake. After i reached a spot from where there was no other way but dwon i stopped got off and started walking down.

Met Srijith, Vipin, Sridhar etc at the Lake and then after some shots followed the group to the river bridge on Neelkantheshwar road. It was here that i also got introduced to some more shutterbugs..and came to know everyone had a unique name and id which kinda depicted their individuality..Hmm Time to get mine too...

We stopped there for some pics and then left in some time. It was here that i met the FAIRER GANG..(Sorry gals!!) of the Shutterbugs. Architect Pooja..Legendary Gangu..DR..etc etc..Pleasure meeting u all. Also the legendary OW. Nothing Ordinalry bout his world though.

Took directions from Captn about next stop and waited for some more snaps.

As i was moving towards Mutha i happened to give a lift to yet another Village elder. He was carrying a sugarcane and after dropping him he simply offered me the cane. I refused, citing space constraint as my reason so he gave me half of it, breaking it into 2 parts. WOW. He insisted i take it as he said - "We only get one life to repay all our favours and i would want to repay you right now, so please take it." Man !! What philospphy!!. Was it his years of toil and hardwork, was it his simplicity, those wrinkles on his forehead .....or just because he wasnt exposed to urban intelligent lifestyle... did he sound so clear about what he had to do in life.

Wish i had half his sensibility. I could have been a much better man today !!

After i dropped him at his village i again zoomed off towards Captain's suggested point and after reaching there realised..There are always TWO ends of a ghat section. So i didnt know "which" end of Mutha ghat were the P @ P guys were waiting. So i did a aquick recce of the entire Mutha ghats and didnt find them so decided to move further into Lavassa side. Luckily a few kms down the road i saw them and managed to reach the group JUST IN TIME to be there for the group photograph. HA HA HA....

As we were dispersing after the group photo, i noticed two streaking shapes in saffron zooming across the road with one lumbering black silhoutted figiurine in between. I paused for a while. Right turn - Follow the Shutterbug group..to Pune..Left Turn..follow those shapes towards Lavassa. I wasnt sure if i wud be able to catch up with them or if they would entertain my presence but then i had to take a split second decisison. I took a gamble. Left Turn it was !! I zoomed off towards Lavassa. As i neared them i noticed it was a group of 3 riders. Led by a lady on an Orange KTM 640 Adventure Dual Purpose Bike, A Dude on a Black Bullet Electra in between and trailed by another gentleman on a similar Orange KTM. I followed them closely as we took turns after turns and i noticed the awesome grace with which The KTM riders were taking curves, without any fear or concern of the high ground clearence. The bikes maintained a good pace even over the numerous speedbreakers along the route as the shock had nearly 4 - 5 inches of smooth travel without disturbing the saddle. So they weren't slowing down on the bumps, simply raising themselves on the foot pegs and moving on. As we started going up Lavassa i couldnt resist the temtation to open the throttle and zoomed up. Waited for some time for them and saw them slowly lumber to the top. It was here that i came to know they wanted to get inside Lavassa city for a alook around and the Bullet Rider, Gundeep did try to convince the Security to allow the group inside. FInally as a astroke of luck, the European gentleman managed to call someone on the inside and got us through. We rode down taking twisties in our stride and reached EKAANT the restaurent set deep inside over a cliff.

Once we parked the bikes a small introduction round followed and i came to know that the two KTM Riders were Dietmar and Regena from germany and on the Bullet was Ex Army Captn Gundeep Sandhu. after the introductions and some BIKE Talk we decided to walk up to the restaurent where we were cordially escorted to a table reserved for us, courtesy Dietmar's call.

The Full Glass walled restaurent was awsome and the height it commanded owing to its position on the mountain made the view even more exotic. I came to know here that Dietmer was working with Daimler Benz in Pune and dealt with the Commercial Vehicles, mainly the Large actros trucks. Regena and Gundeep were Investment Banking specialists form Bangalore and were there for a holiday.WHOA. And they had come there to just spend a weekend ridindg. Over the conversation we discussed how living in Pune had ade Dietmer an expert in traffic cutting and he did that with the ease of a RX 100 ider, alebeit on a KTM 640..Now Thats what i call riding...!! After a fresh lime water drink..and a toast to the Elegent fraulin, the rider gent from the land of oktoBEERfest and the now corporate commando Gundeep i decided to move back to Pune.

Bidding goodbye i walked out and took some more shots in and around the region. Finally it was time for me to get back to civilization and i started my bike and zoomed back towards Pune.

A quick hot shower refreshed me and then i just relaxed the rest of the day reflecting over the absolutely amazing time i had spent in the day...I wish i get another oppourtunity to ride with the KTM's again !!!

Until then..Keep Riding.

More Pics Here:

Attempted Saddle Sore - Got Heartburn - Still ENJOYED...

2008-01-08T13:00:00.000+05:30

Started off from Home at 6:30 AM, Trip meter set at 0.00 Kms. This was my first ride with Cramster saddlebags and I was rather sceptical about the stability of the same. OTOT, my bags were just about 60% filled up to their capacity, hence I expected some amount of wallowing. First stop at the Pune RTO Petrol Pump for tanking up. Rode non stop out of Pune city, and couldn’t make good speed mainly because of getting caught in morning city traffic. Once outside the city limits the dual carriageway all the way till the outskirts of Ahmednagar was a good start for the day.

Saw the sunrise ahead of me as I rode eastwards and stopped at "Smile-stone" a nice and warm food joint just before Ahmednagar. I noticed that I had dropped my pen Enroute and the first loss of the ride had happened. Paused a while to think could this be jinxed, but then decided to carry on. Distance covered 105 Kms. Riding time 1 Hour 19 Minutes. After having a light breakfast I moved off into Ahmednagar city, as there was no by-pass available for the highway traffic to get diverted away. Managed to get out of Ahmednagar through absolutely rash and hap hazard traffic, obviously had a few “PASSION-ate” guys give chase seeing the bike loaded with Cramsters and me fully kitted.

Next stop was outside Jalna where I stopped to get on to the Jalna bypass and then on the highway towards Nagpur. Here I fuelled up at Essar petrol Pump, with their branded premium petrol called PUNCH. After that I was off towards a village called Vaghrul on the older Nagpur highway.

Here I dropped my cell phone somewhere. Completely my carelessness but then what had to happen had to happen. Villagers at Vaghrul tried helping me out by suggesting where to look for the same and all but it didn’t quite help. One kind hearted guy even gave me his pen so that I may now write down all the numbers. A few quick calls and I had the card blocked. I was in a dilemma whether to continue the ride or proceed home, but a “You had prepared for this and ...you should do it” statement from home made me continue. I had lost a lot of precious time here and hence was sure this ride could not qualify at all as a Saddle Sore 1000 but still decided to make it happen. Left Vaghrul at 2ish and moved towards Mehkar. Route was suggested by Harshad and it was an awesome road.

Stopped at Parivar Hotel for a quick bite. This hotel is between Mehkar and Malegaon and serves decent vegetarian food. Ambience of the hotel is also pretty cool. I had covered 438 kms by now and time was nearing 3:45 PM. The sun was pretty low on the horizon and fatigue had slowly started creeping in. After fuelling up for the 3rd time at Malegaon I moved towards Amravati on the newly constructed toll road. Rode like crazy and made it to Karanja around 5:30ish covering a total distance of approximately 540 Kms.

Had a steaming cup of tea at the friendly Chaiwala at Karanja and then took the road less travelled towards Nagpur, via Pulgaon and Wardha. This was definitely longer but then as advised by the Chai guy; it was way too smoother ride. I got lost a couple of times before reaching Wardha around 8ish. The temperature was now dropping and it was getting more and more difficult to ride fast. Finally I made it home safe and sound around 9:10 in the night after having travelled 751 Kms.

The icing on the cake was the surprised, shocked but extremely happy look on my Mom’s face as she saw me inside the house. Guess the ride was worth it.

The next day saw me getting up early morning and moving out around 7:30ish. I had a refreshing cup of tea; courtesy Mom, and then zoomed off towards Amravati. 1st stop was at a Reliance petrol bunk for filling up and checking the tyre pressure etc. Post which I kept zigzagging on the national highway at each diversion as the massive road is currently under construction and was paved in certain sections and had moon surfaces at certain sections. Finally after negotiating a lot of varied surfaces I managed to reach Amravati and by god’s grace or should I say some minister’s grace there was a by-pass road circumnavigating the city and leading towards Karanja. I took the bypass and rode like crazy. It was here that I managed to maintain a constant 100 kmph for well over 10 odd minutes.

In no time I was already out of the city limits on the other side and managed to identify a much less travelled rural road running straight out of Amravati and towards Karanja. I took that one and negotiated village after village experiencing rustic Indian life at its best and seeing the core of the country before hitting the highway once again. I saw vegetable gardens huge and vast, after a along time. India still thrives on agronomy and its but here where perhaps maximum productivity is. Industrialization is all but HOT AIR i believe. I havent seen much creativity andtangible visible changes in development of machines, material and even software code.

This Rural route was definitely faster, one being shorter and secondly as it did not have any traffic at all except the occasional bullock cart, tractor or cyclist. Of course I had to keep my eyes peeled for the huge herds of cattle and livestock who did not realise the difference between road and fields and walked on both in a similar manner. I was around 210 Kms down by now and the sun had already started climbing up.

I took a break at the same Chai guy and after refreshing myself set off towards Malegaon and Mehkar to make good time. The newly laid road was again a dream to ride on as I was still fresh after the morning ride. I was again at the same old Lunch point – Hotel Parivar – at Mehkar around 12:40 in the afternoon after travelling close to 311 kms. This stretch has fabulous tarred surfaces and I managed to make a good average speed of well over 80 KMPH. This was great as I had left late from home and I had to make good time towards Pune.

From Mehkar it was again a nice combination of rural twists and turns towards Jalna, passing Lonar Enroute, the place where we have India’s monumental lake caused by the impact of a huge meteorite. I crossed Sindked Raja village and reached Jalna around 3ish in the afternoon. Parts of the road in between were undergoing massive renovation and that was reason enough for the infrastructure machinery to create more diversions and obstacles in the otherwise seemingly perfect surface.

I had covered over 400 kms by now and fatigue was starting to get to me. I managed to reach Aurangabad just before sun down but passing through the damn city was a big pain not only to the butt but also to the wrist and fingers as negotiating traffic after a leisurely cruise on the highway wasn’t my idea of fun. I managed to squeeze through the hap hazard city traffic and stopped at Waluj for a snack break. Stuffing myself with some egg pakora and another good cup of tea I managed to coax my butt into the remaining 200 plus kms that remained of my epic journey.

Finally I managed to reach Smilestone, the eating joint between Ahmednagar and Pune by about 7:05 in the evening. Darkness had already enveloped the roads and the skies and I took a lavish 50 minute break here, relishing on the cool environment and doing some small experiments with my shutter happy heart. Finally it was time to do the last mile run and I zoomed off towards home.

I entered Pune around 9ish and immediately encountered hap hazard traffic and youngsters zipping in and out of traffic on their commuter bikes. At occasions I felt like telling them the tale of my journey and ask them to first check their endurance before demonstrating their enthusiasm. But, fatigue had already got the better of me and I decided to play safe and reach home, where the warm bed and home food was just inviting me. I managed to reach around 9:30sish and after freshening up just crashed off. A Well executed ride followed by a well deserved slumber episode. What a way to re-discover life. On the road the bike nomad way!!

I noted down my odometer reading and found out that the way back was shorter and came up to just around 711 kms, taking the total distance up to 1471 kms; which was definitely short by a huge distance for any saddle sore record. Anyways, looks like a little more planning and a different direction needs to be chosen.

Until then keep riding!!

More Pics Here

Border Run

2007-12-04T21:27:00.000+05:30

Border Run: - A short travelogue of a ride from Pune to the Karnataka Border and back!

Way back in the early 70’s when a lot of criminals in the USA wanted to escape the hand of law, they often made what was termed was a run southbound towards the border, to get into Mexico. I too wanted to escape the humdrum of busy urban life, frantically striking at the keys on my laptop to churn out e-mails and endless project reports detailing performances of others and hardly reflecting the fact that it was me who was being pushed into performing all that while. A couple of friends had gone to Hampi a day before on the same road and were returning back that day, so this ride also served as an excuse to meet up with them and ride back. So on a Sunday after a good cuppa tea and some munchies to start the day I headed off on the NH 4 from Pune city towards Bangalore

The road also called as Satara road by most puneites is a stretch which starts off at Pune and goes around the outskirts of the city straight towards the town of Satara. Riding astride my Pulsar 180 DTSi, a motorcycle which has been around for quite some time and perhaps is today one of the most popular steeds used for touring around the countryside.

Snaking outside the city via a rather famous rendezvous point called Chandni Chowk (Not the legendary one at Old Delhi), the National Highway No 4, splits into two and the bypass takes it via a long and magnificent tunnel towards Satara.

Once outside the Tunnel, one stares down a dual carriage way spread out like a giant asphalt snake over the horizon. Gunning for speed down this road I passed a lot of small hamlets and villages. One good thing which was certainly a big relief during high speed runs on such good roads was the absence of traffic. Luckily being Sunday the traffic was pretty much at its minimum and the roads actually had flyovers at all busy junctions especially when passing through villages. But we being the ever so adventurous Indians I saw people actually cross the dam road walking, rather jaywalking across the flyover. How can anyone drill some sense into their heads telling them that the small passage under the road is for them to walk through not for dogs to crawl in and doze off! Somehow despite some freaky daredevils wanting to do quarter mile runs across the highway on “foot”, carrying a huge load on their head and a child tucked under the arm, I still managed to cover the first century of kilometres absolutely incident free. Enroute was the amazing ‘one-way’ Khambatki ghats which was an effortless climb. Zigzagging through slow Trucks lumbering uphill and crazily driven Indica’s blowing their horn and trying to squeeze through every other gap, the ascent up the ghats was one helluva ride. This section of the ghats is undoubtedly one of the best roads to test the curve hugging skills of the rider and road holding and flickability of the bike. Once down the ghats, it was again a straight run towards Satara. It was here that I passed through the legendary town of Satara, the Ajinkyatara fort actually overlooking the highway creating a majestic silhouette against the clear blue winter sky. Maharashtra is a land of quite a number of heritage forts and practically every city somehow boasts of its place in the Maratha heritage.

A short break just after Satara served as a fuelling stop for the bike as well as for me as I chewed on the standard snack – vada pav – available all over this area and a hot steaming cup of cutting chai. One astonishing fact is that despite inflation and other economic ups and downs, the breakfast today in most parts of the country can easily be done in just under a tenner! Post Satara, it was a mad rush towards Kolhapur as the roads widened or at least seemed so. Cruising comfortable around 8000 rpm a rather good speed was maintained on the road as I passed through the SUGAR countryside. This region perhaps makes most of the sugar produced in India. The air was filled with the pungent smell of molasses and the typical sugar mill smell. There were umpteen bullock carts carrying tons and tons of sugarcane towards the mills for processing. For better facilitation of traffic I noticed a pair of service roads on both sides of the highway where slower moving vehicles separated out from the mad rush of the highway.

After Kolhapur the NH4 became more or less monotonous with even the curves up the next ghats being 6 lanes and a very slow and gradual curve. That was way too tempting to resist as I swung the bike into a knee scraping curve and into a blind turn only to come face to face with about 50 odd sheep running helter skelter all over the road and one sheepish shepherd trying to gather them together wielding on nimble stick. GOSH! This could be one helluva traffic hazard as most of us have faced on highways; Animals ranging from small cats and dogs to even the occasional buffalo, who just decides to stroll across the road with absolutely no knowledge of the traffic or any concern for their own lives.

It was here that I noticed high speed cross winds as there was complete barren land on both sides. Someone had come up with the bright idea of harnessing this immense wind power and had installed huge windmills to generate electricity from that.

I had already put more then 300 kms behind me and it looked like I was nearing the Karnataka border. The road signs in English started sounding more like translations from original vernacular statements. Most of the signs now were in Kannada and since I had already left Nipani behind, which perhaps is the last town from Maharashtra I could sense I was probably in Karnataka. The road was now becoming more and more boring as it was late in the afternoon and most of the people were off the tarmac, perhaps enjoying a nice siesta. The road too was concrete at most places, absolutely smooth as if picked up straight from an airfield. The vast desolate expanse stretching for miles looked like a blank canvas adorned with small specks of greenery and occasional colourful houses displaying huge billboards of oil, battery, cement and other automotive products. Right through the centre of the landscape ran the highway like a midriff of a leaf rising up and down like a sinusoidal wave. The road was so clear and smooth that it enticed me to twist my wrist a little more.

One thing I would advise all here is that before you actually open the throttle and look forward seeing the horizon rush towards you at infinite speed, also keep and eye on the rear view mirror as there are some high speed cars and Innovas which are silent enough to actually come up close and ambush you. I got startled by one such crazy bugger who decided to overtake me without the mandatory 'honk-honk day flash' manoeuvre. And when some of these smart a** wanna be Schumacher’s goof up, what we notice on the road are long black skid marks, and sometimes a vehicle turned turtle.

By this time I had already crossed Belgaum and the air was filled with raw tobacco smell. I spotted the Mangalore beedi manufacturing factory and another huge factory at Sankeshwar billowing out black smoke. Being close to the National highway which is the lifeline for most transport systems, these factories must be benefiting a lot in terms of getting their products on the move.

Post Belgaum it was another stretch of real smooth roads towards Dharwad and I just carried on. Finally it was time to attend to the mice in my tummy, as they call it and I settled down for a delicious scrumptious meal at a place called Gokul Hotel beside the highway. Keeping with the traditional Udupi style, this hotel served good meals the only problem being everything tasted like sambar. As I was halfway through the meal I noticed a cavalcade of motorcycles moving towards Belgaum on the other side of the highway. I couldn’t help but notice them as they were looking grand. Once the juggernaut has rolled past I realise these were my friends with whom I was supposed to catch up and I had missed them. GOSH! I simply downed whatever remained of the food and took off in search of a ‘U’ turn as I now had to get to the other side. Finally I managed to find of the many subways which allow smaller vehicles to go under the highway and come out on the other side. So there was I gunning for the group which had already started moving off towards Pune. Adrenalin mixed with fuel did the trick and despite having put a good 10 kms between us I managed to catch up with them just between Belgaum and Kolhapur.

On the return journey I spotted the border check post between Karnataka and Maharashtra at a place called Kagal. Surprisingly nothing changed as I transitioned from one state to another. I have moved between states earlier also and have noticed drastic changes in the landscape, road surface texture as administration and culture changes across the borders. Here surprisingly there was a certain uniformity and it worked to my advantage as I could hold good speeds, the wind brushing against my visor, gloves and jacket shoulder pads creating almost a streak like effect found in comic books.

A quick break between Kolhapur and Karad for a cup of tea and some sandwiches was enough to refresh the senses. Darkness had already started setting in and since we had a couple of bikes equipped with HID headlights we were sure of at least having a well illuminated way back home. The return journey was devoid of any exceptional action besides some group manoeuvring through traffic as the group of motorcyclists stuck together while riding. With the sunlight faded away even the sights and sounds of the surroundings were gone. All that remained was the strong glare of truck headlights staring us right in the face and numerous tail-lamps glowing in a single line as slow traffic crawled towards Pune.

Finally I landed back into the city around 10 at the night having covered well over 700 kilometres in my mad dash for freedom, for my Mexico...in my BORDER RUN and back!

Was it essential ..Guess somewhere it was as its but a small measure of peace that all of us seek and only the lucky few get...

Catch Pics Here:

Dussera Celebrations

2007-10-29T11:38:00.000+05:30

Dussera Celebrations

Dussera: Globally known better as the festival of Godess Durga, the mother godddess in Hinduism, Dussera, or Vijay Dashami has immense significance in India.

In Maharashtra we have a certain significance of Dussera, (or Dashera, spell it in whatever manner; has same significance) towards EQUIPMENT especially MARTIAL EQUIPMENT. In older times it also signified worship of WAR EQUIPMENT, just before entering into battle. Traditionally Maratha Warriors used to undertake simollanghan – Crossing the Border – to ransack the enemy territory. Hence before such an exercise or adventure it’s always better to worship and prepare the equipment. Basically carry out a servicing, oil change, tyre inflation check, slime deployment and Tanking up. Buses, trucks and huge machines in factories are all decorated and worshipped.

I too started off my day with actually getting up and cleaning up my three brutes or should I call them babies! After a good wipe down, I decorated each of them with garlands and flowers. Worshipped them in my own small way. Cranked each engine into life and switched on the lights, horn etc to carry out the routine pre-flight checks.

Once all the bikes were done I kept them back nicely tucked away in their respective places in the Parking lot and then proceeded to go and inspect the next one which was to come and join the family the next day. Watch this space for more on the mystery addition.

After the pooja, the rest of the day was spent well shopping and frolicking around with my niece. I introduced her to pillion riding and she has suddenly developed a craze for the same. I am actually wondering if she does grow up to be a BN or a BN crazy fan!. She also managed to coax it out form me that once she turns 18 I need to buy her a moto scooter. Well Well. Lets see..was all that I said but I could see the budding Biker in her trying to unfold her wings.

That evening I got my Dusserra gift, Thanks to my better half for taking the initiative. I added a few scale models to my ever growing collection and also ended up getting the Ultimate history of FAST Bikes – a book by Roland Brown

Catch More Pics of the Festivities HERE

Miniature World !!!

2007-10-16T14:59:00.000+05:30

All men come from small boys, they say. In fact they also go on to say that perhaps within each man there is a small boy who refuses to grow up! Guess thats true in my case and i have fully utilized this psychological expert's statement to justify my fascination towards scale models of vehicles. In short toy cars and bikes. Not to forget buses, trucks, planes, ships, cranes, bulldozers, harvesters etc and whatever moves.

I have been playing with model cars since childhood, but never thought i would get into serious collection. Its merely coincidental that i started hoarding my dinkies, never allowing outsiders to touch them, washing and servicing them every sunday and ended up with some 12 - 13 shiny cool collectibles at the age of 8.

Seeing dad waxpoling our bike, i started polishing these cars also and sometimes even gave them a touch of paint whever required.

With each passing year, each birthday saw more additions to the cars. Each academic achievement saw more additions, Thanks Ma Baba; love you for that.. Some i even managed to flick off some of my friends and proclaimed them to be belated friendship day gifts.

Slowly; The collection started getting more and more versatile. I first got a Model Bike as a gift from Satish, a childhood friend as soon as i got my first job. It was a BMW R 1200, and that triggered off the sequence of collecting more and more bikes.

Model Aircraft collection started off when i made a 1:144 scale model of my favourite aircraft, the MiG 21. AWESOME Aircraft despite its rather sad track record. This was perhaps the first Fighter Jet i ever saw up close and personal, and hence the fascination.

Trucks, trains, buses etc happened parallelly.

And dekhte dekhte aaj mere paas 650 se bhi jyada models ho gayein.

Well, I was deeply humbled when i managed to visit the Miniature Railway Museum n Pune. This was the brainchild of Mr B.S Joshi also knwn as BhauSaheb Joshi hailing from Pune. My Grandpa, the gentleman behind my fascination towards the mechanical world, knew Mr Joshi and had asked me to visit this museum at least once in my lifetime. I got an opportunity and went there. I was simply floored by the awesome manner in which a whole city has been built all from small mechanical parts. Its a huge city with train, cars, highways, ropeways, baloon, circus, factories etc.

The other exhibit is a 1:500 scale Airport with anumber of aircraft, including the CONCORDE.

WOW. What an experiance.

Its fun to be living in and around this miniature world. Its fantastic and feels so damn special. Gives a certain amount of life to your spirit. Gets you back into childhood and imagination.

See my viewpoint of the miniature world HERE.

Read more about the Museum HERE

Strawberry Ride !!!

2007-10-10T13:58:00.000+05:30

Come Sunday and I suddenly develop this itch to get back on the Road. I had just had an amazingly satisfying and fulfilling Ride to Malshej and it was time to raid the Ghats once again. So early Sunday morning I woke up and taking my trusted steed and pillion took off towards Mahabaleshwar, the most popular Hill Station in Maharashtra. I can give clarification for people who think Lonavala is a hill station. This sunday, on the cards was a ride into Strawberry country..Strawberry country is what most of us normally refer to as Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar, the amazing twin hill stations of Maharashtra near Pune..

The Early Morning cool breeze was definitely refreshing as we rode on NH4 bypass towards Katraj and then further on towards Himesh Reshammiyya's village SUROOR. The good smooth ride was occasionally spoilt by fully loaded buses which were going towards Satara and drove in the center of the road leaving no gap on any side. Overtaking these was definitely a big big pain. To Add to this was a turquoise blue ZMA with an idiot as rider and a nincompoop as pillion who was holding on to three polythene bags and trying to duck behind the rider trying to avoid wind draft. Although sporting a Mumbai Number plate - (MH 06) these guys rode like straight out of Liberia, or maybe Kazakhstan. Taking buses, trucks, and the odd car from any side. Guess some place I gave them a small crash course in safe overtaking. A Good combination of Day Flash and Horn coupled with some smart down shifts, revs and a twist of the wrist often makes each overtaking move a stylized activity.

After running on smooth roads for quite some time I came across the first stretch of Ghats on this route. It was the legendary ONE WAY Khambataki Ghats. I stopped at the beginning of this Ghats to have a sip of water, despite being a frosty morning; a little amount of water always helps avoid dehydration on longish rides. The climb up the Ghats was one helluva experience. I did overtake a couple of goof’s on my way up but then luckily this being a ONE WAY climb there was no traffic running down head-on to me.

Crossing the Khambataki Ghats, the road further ahead was again a smooth 2 Laner each side. That gave enough scope for the Bike to open up and gobbles miles under its rubber. Unlike other rides this time I had not put on any music and hence all that I could hear was the cool wind rustling inside my helmet and the sound of the Jumbo rubber eating the tarmac. Despite being a bike full of Vibes, the pulsar is amazingly silent cruising at 80 KMPH. A little off SUROOR, we came across the diversion to Mahabaleshwar. They are constructing a flyover at that turn so that the Traffic turning right towards Mahabaleshwar doesn’t go and block the oncoming traffic from Satara towards Pune. It’s quite easy to miss this board but then one should keep eyes peeled for such indications on our Indian highways.

A right turn and I was on my way to Wai, the base village to go into Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar. I passed the outskirts of Wai and then was slowly climbing up towards Panchgani. It was here that the second Ghats section Pasarani Ghats started. This road is again one which runs along the sides of the mountains with amazing picturesque views. Twisting up the Ghats we came across lots of buses parked haphazardly where most of the tourists had taken breaks. I stopped at Harrison Folly a flat piece of land jutting out form the Ghats which formed a nice viewing point. The dirt track and gravely surface on this section was a dream ride on the Pulsar which sticks to the uneven surface with good traction. Somehow I guess the dual purpose tyres work great here. A short break and some snaps later it was time to move further ahead into Panchgani. We stopped at a check post and paid 10 bucks per head as ‘Pollution Tax’ (OMG – I never knew it was officially legally allowed to pollute the fragile ecosystem of hills stations). We climbed up to Table Land, the largest and perhaps the widest Plateau this side of the tropic. Panchgani is also known for some of the best Boarding schools this side of the country. Its second best I guess only to Dehradoon.

Panchgani derives its name from the five hills around it. At an altitude of 1334 m it is just 38 m below Mahabaleshwar. These 38 m translate themselves into a breathtaking 20 kms approach from Mahabaleshwar that swoops around bends with abandon, offering heart stopping views of the river Krishna on one side & the coastal plains on the other. Panchgani is the quintessential hill station, with the Raj stamped indelibly all over it. It can be seen in the old architecture of the old British buildings, the Parsi houses, & the Boarding schools that have been for a century or more.

Amble along the walkways, thickly canopied by lush trees & vegetation & delights in the secrets you come upon. The Krishna River snakes through tiny hamlets, farms & ravines, hundreds of meters below. From the Top of Table Land we can gaze over the coastal plains, looking like miniature water colors. Panchgani is one of the rare places that doesn't crowd anyone, yet in its own unhurried way deeply touches every visitor. We came down and had a scrumptious Breakfast at a local joint. Being a tourist destination the stuff sold there was obviously highly priced but then who complains on a holiday. After all a day earlier I had filled in 10 litres of POWER into Chotu’s huge Tank, so stuffing ourselves was no issue.

After a quick bite we zoomed off towards Mahabaleshwar and paid the same Tax there too approx 15 bucks per head and moved straight to Old Mahabaleshwar, the place which gave this town its name. As we rode into Mahabaleshwar we were crossed by a thundering group of some 10 odd bulleteers. Man that was some sight to see, I guess Biker brotherhood is what I call it.

Old Mahabaleshwar has some 3 temples which date back to prehistoric times and officially was recognized as a pilgrimage place in the 13th century. Old Mahabaleshwar nestles around the source of the Holy Krishna River, with a temple dedicated to Krishna' locally known as "Panchgana" (meaning "Five Rivers" - i.e. Krishna, Koyna, Venna, Gayatri and Savitri). The earliest shrines here date back to pre historic period, but this Krishna temple in its present form is attributed to Singhan, a Yadav King ruling from Devagiri in the 13th century. It was later restored first by Chandra Rao then Jaoli in the late 16th Century and later by the Great Maharatha Shivaji himself in 1635, then by Sahu (1670-1709) and lastly by the 19th century banker Parashuram Angal.

There is a legend behind the origin of these five rivers on the site. The myth goes as follows: On this site many ages ago Lord Brahma along with the other two Gods Vishnu Mahesh (Trinity) and his younger consort Gayatri were performing Yagna. While doing so Brahma forgot to wait for his senior consort Savitri. When Savitri arrived she was enraged at this insult and in her fury she transformed these four into rivers, but not before they retaliated, turning Savitri into a watercourse as well. Brahma became the Venna River and started to flow east then South and both Gayatri & Savitri became the river of the same name, Vishnu became the river Krishna and began to flow east and Mahesh got transformed into river Koyna and started to flow south. Whew! Whatta Legend. Now how does that explain the existence of these Gods parallelly along with the existence of there rivers even till date. Hmm!!!! Some transformation!!! The first place where I stopped at Mahabaleshwar was the Mahabaleshwar temple, belonging to Lord Shiva. It was a very peaceful experience; somehow a visit to a place of worship during a bike ride always refreshes me up. After the Mahabaleshwar temple we also went to the Panchganga temple and then decided to move into Mahabaleshwar town for some sight seeing. By now the sun had started beating down on us though the temperature was still comfortable. Looking at the crowd which was now getting thicker I decided to cancel the city visit plan and move to some of the far placed ‘scenic points’. I turned the bike around and moved towards Arthur’s Seat.

The roads around Mahabaleshwar are very shaded and practically run all around the mighty hill station like a network of arteries. These roads run through Forests and I noticed a lot of Boards warning about WILDLIFE CROSSING. I would have disposed it off as a joke had I not experienced one strange phenomenon on this ride. On the road right in front of my eyes were the Forest guards pointing out to something in the dense undergrowth exclaiming on the sheer size of it. I Stopped the Bike, got off and ran with them towards the other side of the road armed with my camera and right there in front of my eyes a HUGE GAUR ran across the road. There were two of them and I immediately tried to tail the other. This beast was about 7 feet tall at the shoulders and wasn’t quite bothered as I chased him in the undergrowth. After about a couple of seconds he stopped and turned around looking me in the eye. I froze. What if this guy decides to charge at me and check out his HORN strength? NAHIIIII..I turned and ran back to the Bike, forest guards in two. I guess these mighty beasts disappeared in the undergrowth in some time. I have heard stories of people being badly mauled by Wild Bison’s and I didn’t want to add to the same, but nevertheless I got an amazing shot at the Beast.

I proceeded off on my bike and reached the legendary Arthur’s seat. This was an outcrop from the cliff where a British Author named Arthur was alleged to have sat and written many a story about this mystical place. Legend again I may say, but then this place had a certain mystical aura as I could clearly see different landscapes from here different floral patters, rock structures and on top of all of that ..Dense fog. And mist. Visibility dropped oh so frequently as we trekked in the clouds.

Back to the bike it was time to rush back and we rode back again till Panchgani. On my way back took a much deserved break at MAPRO Farms, the place where the strawberry and fruity stuff gets made. Had a solid treat out there and saw how Jams and other confectionary are made. The place was getting more and more crowded as late afternoon was approaching so after a short break we decided to zoom off towards Panchgani. Saw lots of Strawberry fields all over, after all we were in splendid strawberry country after all. It was at Mapro farm that my wish of getting wet in the rains at Mahabaleshwar got fulfilled and a sudden cloudburst appeared out of nowhere. Split second later everything around us was drenched in cold water and a mild chill started setting in. We decided to call it a day and moved off from the Farm after packing our backpack with tons of goodies. Took a short breather at Gliding point watching couple of Para gliders jump off the cliff soaring and riding on the thermals. The ride down the Pasarani Ghats this time was fantastic as I managed to take every corner with panache. Despite a throbbing headache, I guess because of the suddenly cold weather due the cloudburst I rode through, and managed to reach Wai. After Wai the ride was becoming slightly uncomfortable as chilly cross winds made a chill run up my spine every now and then. .

I took a break at Suroor finally and had a good steaming cup of tea. That was all I needed to start my system reboot again and then I was as fresh as ever back on the bike. Riding back to Pune was another harried experience trying to dodge over enthusiastic trucker and car drivers rushing back to Mumbai/Pune trying to overtake from left right and had it been possible even from top or under. A mad rush through the Khambataki Tunnel and then the Katraj bypass tunnel and rest of NH4, made me reach the outskirts in no time. The open road gave me another chance to test out the twist of my wrist capability of Chotu. I managed to see a reading of 110 on my Speedo, that too with a pillion. May not be fantastic but I guess I am satisfied..Rather I am obviously thrilled. Finally I managed to reach home tired but very very very thrilled. Saw the Speedo and noted down the reading. WOW. Whatta Ride. Wish I can do it again and again and again…

Till Then keep riding.

Watch Entire Set of Pics HERE

Malshej Ride !!!!

2007-10-09T16:07:00.000+05:30

Didnt want to write a big big writeup hence trying to sum it up in as little words as i can.
Excuse hurried incomplete sentences.
But then on this Malshej Trip there was too much that happened.

Woke up early and left home at 6:30 AM Met nav at Aundh.
Met Biswa and Nalin at Nashik Phata on Pune Mumbai road at 7:00 AM
Rode till Rajguru Nagar on Nashik Road then uptil Narayan Gaon
Took left towards Malshej Road
After some nice patches of roads ran into some real bad sectors for about 10-15 kms.
Last few kms were amazing as we descended into malshej Ghat section near the lake.
Stopped for pics.
Did some runs and re-runs of the last twisty road section to take pics
Reached the Resort at 9:45.Met BN guys from Mumbai-Nagar
Had breakfast - Chat Chat Chat
Went behind the resort to the plateau and went shutter happy
Came back and got back on bikes to go to the lake
Got confused went wrong way and came back to another road to go to lake
All guys went to the lake
I proceeded ahead on dirt track to Harishchandragadh
Went till foothills and then came back.
Joined the guys back to the ResortHad Lunch.
Chat Chat Chat
Leave towards Mumbai side - Murbad.
Rode like crazy.Shot video of the ride down. -
KUDOS to pillion for being an ace fotographer and shoot the video while riding as pillion
Stopped for a breather in between
Rode till the Nhane ghats-Karjat turn. 30 oddd kms ahead of Murbad.
Bid goodbye to Mumbai GuysBiswa went to petrol pump at Murbad
Roy, Navendu self n Khyati had rounds of Tea and Chat sessions
Biswa and Nalin came after filling up
Rode through 70 odd kms of forest plus village roads
Pitch dark - surprise potholes -dust - frogs popping up from everywhere on the road.
Ocassional Buffaloes and walking on the centerline villagers.
Maintained formation of Gypsy, Extreme,Pulsar,Cbz,Maruti.
So 3 tail-lamps ahead, 3 headlamps in rear view mirror meant everything was fine.
Reached Khopoli junction.
Roy took off towards Mumbai
We took a breather at Khopoli.
Rode furiously up the ghats to Lonavala.
Picked up some goodies
Rode till Tony da dhaba
Had a lovely dinner
Rode back Home.
Reached at 12:30

Photos - Too Many - please dont complain.

Video - Watch !!!!

Till Then Keep Riding !!!!!

Recovery Ride.

2007-10-09T15:57:00.000+05:30

One of the most popular English Language Dictionary defines the word RECOVERY as follows:

re·cov·er·y (r-kv-r)
n. pl. re·cov·er·ies
1. The act, process, duration, or an instance of recovering.
2. A return to a normal condition.
3. Something gained or restored in recovering.
4. The act of obtaining usable substances from unusable sources.

Taking a cue from the same it was definitely essential for me to :Return to a normal condition and that meant to be able to clock miles under my wheels and to be able to do that with some amount of decent speed. Unlike one of the Bollywood flicks where in the lead actor develops cold feet and what not when subjected to similar conditions on the road, I had no other option but to learn to ride the same way as I used to before my crash.

So I took off on Saturday the 29th of September and headed off on the NH 4 towards Satara, the plan was to ride the Bike and clock at least double digit figures on the odometer and decent three digits on the Speedo. This was essential to re-build the confidence. A lot of patchwork had been done on the face and the Bike was also repaired.

So off I went from my place in the morning and headed towards Sinhagad road. After passing through a suburban village called Dhayari, I headed towards Khadagwasla Lake which used to be one good watering hole for most puneites some time back. A smallish break at Khadagwasla and a cuppa tea later I was off again towards the base of Sinhagad, the Maratha fort near Pune. After some good riding beyond Khadagwasla I reached the foothills of Sinhagad and then decided to turn back.

Somehow after riding a little distance I decided to turn back and actually take my bike all the way up towards the top of the fort. A reassuring nod from my pillion rider made me take the risk and extend my adventure. The climb up the hill was an good combination of slopes and twisties although road quality was not so great as this road ends in a dead end and is not so frequently used. Neither is it wide enough. Dodging traffic at places and avoiding revving too hard to overtake, I finally managed to reach the top and then parked the bike and proceeded inside the fort. Wandering all over the now abandoned and overgrown with grass and weeds fort I came across the huge ammo dump/room right at the entrance just after the Horse parking lot. There was a monument inside commemorating the Maratha warlord Tanaji Malsure who captured this fort in 1700 AD after whom this was named Sinhagad, and was called Kondana earlier to that. There are a number of microwave towers inside the fort as this is perhaps one of the tallest peaks around Pune and offers good view of the entire region. I also went till the cliff which is a perfect straight wall and it is said that Tanaji actually captured this impregnable fort by climbing this side using the help of a monitor lizard.

Read more about this fort here...

http://www.punediary.com/html/singhagad.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinhagad

Lunch was a rustic Zunka Bhakri meal coupled with buttermilk and some Bhajiya. After a rather heavy lunch we decided to descend and started off from Sinhagad. As we came down the slope we came across a point from where we had a detour pointing towards NH 4 going towards Satara. I decide to get off the regular road going via Khadagwasla and Sinhagad road and took off on this diversion. After riding through some bad roads and lots of twisties descending on the other side of the mountain I finally managed to hit Satara road. A quick left turn and I was already zooming towards Pune. By this time evening had already set in and roads were still vacant enough for a decent speed. I managed to clock a good indicated 107 KMPH in the straight stretch after the new Katraj bypass tunnel on NH 4. Dodging heavy vehicle traffic I managed to reach home quite well in time and then called it a day by watching a good movie over a nice cup of tea. End of story. Conclusion. – Recovery Ride had served its purpose.

I could still ride. Far and Wide Fast n Smooth. No hitches no glitches. I guess once a biker always a biker. I clocked around 102 kms on the odo and some good 107 on the Speedo which was decent enough an effort from my side. Was happy doing this achievement. Guess I have many more miles to clock before I hang up my riding leathers.

So That was it.....Until then Keep Riding !!!!!

Catch Pics Here !!

Daughters' Day - A Biker's Perspective

2007-10-01T14:46:00.000+05:30

Last year around 26th of November i recd this SMS - " Its a cute lil baby girl moving her wrist, trying to play with a virtual throttle and making a sound like 'Vroom Vroom'" - That was the delightful news shared by a close Biker Friend Navendu. A true Biker and proud father of naina, a sweet lil angel. Probably it did not come to me as a surprise because from, my personal experiences i have understood that Biker's although may pass on their riding genes to their sons, its perhaps the daughters they are extremely sensitive about. Having seen traits of the same in my own family too.

On 23rd September, the world celebrated Daughters' day ! - So did I, although i do not have a daughter to dedicate this day to, and so did many of me fellow Biker friends..

How does a macho-muscular-macho man look at a small frail little creature, often termed as a baby girl. Well what i have learnt from experience and what i personally believe is that the guys find them simply adorable. It is said that the softest of hearts reside in the toughest of bodies and a Motorcyclist is no exception. I celebrated Daughter's day on 23rd September and commemorated it by displaying a theme set in for the special little one.

Here's wishing all the folks in the world a very happy daughter's day. Will wait for mine to come into this world and make me proud. The small sweet angel of mine. Meri KHUSHI.

Till then ..Ride ON !!!!

Biting The Dust !!!!

2007-09-14T11:01:00.000+05:30

As I waved a bye to a friend I crossed on the road that fateful Tuesday morning hardly did I know that I would soon be waving out to him again in a few minutes, albeit differently!!. I started off on Baner road leading towards NH 4, my daily route to office which was 17 kms away; I looked at my watch and estimated a time of about 12 to 15 minutes needed to cover that distance.

After negotiating a small patch of slow moving traffic I came around a bend from where the last 2 kms to the highway was perfectly deserted and wide patch. Here I opened the throttle and came out from behind the slow moving 6 seater “dukkar” and zoomed off forward. This was the short home run stretch of the road and it was natural for me to finish off this section so that in no time I was out there on the highway zooming off towards my workplace. As I moved a few notches on the gearbox and reached 70 KMPH, I saw a lone white Santro on the extreme left hand side of the road blinking its indicators and signalling a right turn. Following standard road safety procedures I blew my horn loud and indicated by flashing my headlights that I am at a high speed and I need the ‘right of way’. The car stopped at the left as I accelerated forward, and then without warning darted across the road taking the turn. I looked down at my Speedo, 71kmph, HOLY @#$%!!!! Panic struck me, and I did the inevitable. HIT THE BRAKES. I applied both brakes simultaneously as I saw the car move across my field of vision. The bike maintained a straight line as it skidded for a few seconds before the front wheel gave way and I fell down on the ground, impact straight on my left shoulder, knee and left side of the head. My head scratched on the ground for about 15 odd feet, helmet rubbing against the tarmac. The Bike and I separated after the fall as the bike hurtled haphazardly to the right side across the road. The car now suddenly halted in front of me and I saw myself moving towards the car’s rear end, face forward. The first impact I clearly remember was my jaw on the rear bumper of the car, as I bounced off and then crashed again into the car a second time, with my forehead. The stunning blows kind of stopped the whole world around me in freeze frame.

By instinct the first reaction I did was to get up, and run to the side of the road. Since I could get up and run I was sure I hadn’t broken any limb seriously. I took off my helmet and noticed something was stuck in my face which also came off. The crowd came to the scene and someone helped me pick up the bike. I was seeing drops or red appear on my shirt one after another. Someone from the crowd told me that I was bleeding from the nose. I nodded and took out my kerchief and put it to my nose. Taking out my phone I made a few calls and knew that fellow bike-nomad and my trusted support system Praveen Shirali was on his way to the accident spot to help me manage the scene.

In the crowd I saw a helmeted rider wearing a Bajaj riding suit, and as I looked across the road I saw a plastic sheet covered, camouflaged bike across the road. I looked at the guy and asked him – yeh EXCEED hai na?”, he nodded back and muttered under his breath – “Kya aadmi hai!!, isko aisi haalat mein bhi kya soojhta hai!!”. I wanted to take a look at the bike but then, situation wasn’t so conducive.

Meanwhile, the man who had caused the whole drama was no where to be seen and I searched around to see the car parked inside a compound where some construction was going on. The man had the nerve to calmly drive away from the scene as if nothing happened. I managed to get his name from the security guard and also knew the information that he was the site supervisor so he would be there on other days also.

By this time I saw Praveen Shirali was there at the spot and we moved the bike to a safe spot near the road. By this time I could feel my face going numb and my whole kerchief was red. I thought I had broken my nose but the pain wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated, so a broken nose was ruled out. The moment Praveen Shirali hailed an auto and said we have to go to the hospital, did I realise, something was seriously wrong with my face.

We reached Medi-point hospital in some time and checked into the emergency. A surgeon came and inspected me all over. He asked me to be admitted to be administered some stitches on my face as it was badly cut open. It was here that I tried to figure out from my broken helmet visor what all damage could have happened. One look in the mirror was enough to let me know that I had gashes on my face all around the nose area, starting from the brow down to the lips. Major sections had gaping holes in the skin. As I lay there on the table in the OT closing my eyes, I was wondering if the doctors would actually put back my face together for me exactly the way it was earlier, or like they show in bollywood flicks, I would come out resembling Amitabh Bacchhan or some other hunk. It took something close to an hour for the doctor to finish off the stitching. The effect of anaesthesia had started wearing off by the time the entire process got over, and pain had started sinking in.

As I was wheeled out the shocked expressions I saw on the faces of my friends and family which had come to the hospital made me realise – “Saala !, kuch to jhol hai !” The Doctor explained to me his effort, 5 stitches to the bridge of the nose, 14 stitches to the nostril to stick it back, 9 stitches to the upper lip, and 3 stitches to the nose tip, total 31. Hmmm!!. Kya SILAI hai !! This doctor had done a great job however.

I remembered last time I had to go under a scalpel a few years back, the rurally capable doctor had anesthetised the wrong fingers and then stitched the ruptured ones with the finesse of a 75 year old drunk one eyed cobbler. Well at least the doctor knew what he had to do and had done it good. Ashwin Nadig and Rashmin, fellow Bikers came to the hospital and informed me that the damage to the bike was hardly anything. The loss was just limited to a badly bent gear lever, a bent crash guard and broken left rear footrest stay besides minor scratches on the bike. Hmm, manageable damage, I thought – “Lekin ‘THOBADE’ ka kya karoon !?!?” The Doctor asked me to come again in 2 days time and get things checked up. After being discharged, I was driven home from the hospital by Ashwin, who also got my bike home.

As I lay down on the bed, face stitched up and swollen just 4 hours from the time I had left home in the morning, I introspected on this incident which had drastically changed a lot. I quick audit of the damage done to health revealed some bruises all over the body, typical bike crash injuries, lots of damage to face, some minor pain in teeth, jaws, head and neck due to the impact. Small work needed on bike. Riding Confidence absolutely INTACT. Waiting to get back on the bike. Nothing else shaken.

I also realised that most accidents happen because there are some weird kind of people on the road who definitely do not care about the fact that there are others who also use the road and are on the road. They drive around like in a video game as if everything else is run-over-able. I also found out that if there is any vehicle ahead of you then it can and perhaps will change lanes and butt in, right in your line of fire so always keep an escape route ready.

Most important lesson however was the fact that it always beneficial to wear a helmet, but then even the visor needs to be of a good quality. So out goes my STUDDS JADE, its time to look at an AGV or a GP1. I wonder what the guys wearing Marlboro, Rakshak and other street-brands would say about that.

I deeply thank my friends, fellow BN riders who helped me in this situation and made sure I was well repaired even after the damage. Also to people who wished me and sent in their sms’s. Thanks a Ton to all!! I guess I should be up and riding in about a week’s time.

Here's the indicative foto of the extent of damage done to the face. Viewer discretion is advised.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/praveen.sathaye/UntitledAlbum/photo#5109926711394535394

Till then keep riding..and remember to keep the lid on !!

Revvin It Up!!

2007-08-17T17:35:00.000+05:30

It’s been more than 2 weeks since I have had the new Pulsar 180 DTSi V1 with me, my Chotu as I have been calling it. I have been pretty careful with riding him firstly because I am still new to the Pulsar style of riding and secondly because the damn digital speedo keeps malfunctioning so damn often that it gets on my nerves. One loose connection shows 0 kmph even when I ideally am cruising at 80 while sometimes I have seen numbers even while waiting at traffic signals. Funny technology Bajaj has....or maybe the homologation has caused the dilemma.

I decided to accompany Captain Chitins for a short distance this morning and ride with him to check how fast exactly my new acquisition can go. As usual I missed him at the rendezvous point and he rode way ahead while I kept waiting. He called up sometime later and now I had the opportunity to actually chase him down. Imagine gunning for a Pulsar 220 DTSFi on a Pulsar 180 DTSi V1. So here was my mission I had to catch him as fast as possible and then get back home as I had the damn office to attend to the same day. It was already 8ish and I rode fast to reach NH4. Once on NH4 it was all left to my twisting of the throttle and overtaking the slow moving trucks on the highway. The bike does good acceleration from 0 to about 60. Further up 60 to 80 takes a little more time but the bike still lurches ahead like a beast unleashed. Beyond 80- is slightly problematic, it could be because of the upright seating position (I don’t crouch), or maybe actually acclelration drops much below expectation levels. Anyways now that I had opened up the Bike’s throttle it was touching 3 digit speeds in no time. Traffic and a slightly inclined road did not allow me to actually accelerate beyond what I had already reached.

I caught up with Captain in no time and rode with him till Somatane on the Pune-Mumbai highway from where I wished him luck and turned around. Skipper was also going great guns now that he had completed more than 600 klicks on his 220 and was taking on short bursts of 5000 rpm on the engine. I am dead sure he must have reached speeds nearing 70 KMPH on the new bike. He was taking the Bike to Mumbai as it would be inexpensive for him to move around as well as perhaps give him some degree of freedom of mobility.

After taking a U turn at Somatane I raced back to the Dehu road junction and let the loose on the Highway. This time I watched the rev meter as the revs climbed from 7K to 8 K and at around 8500 RPM I was already crossing 109 KMPH on the digital speedo. This is where I guess I ran out of road, and ran out of courage too and slowed down. I have been able to touch more outrageous speeds on other bikes that I have had but this time I guess I decided to take it slow. I guess it was the drizzle that was the culprit. The bike however has awesome road holding capability. I credit it to the massive TVS jumbo 120/80 with its arrowhead tread. I have never felt the same confidence on any other bike when it comes to rear traction.

On reaching home I parked my Chotu along with the other beau’s I had and went shutter happy clicking the family photographs. The bike after having revved hard, perhaps reaching redline for a fraction of a second and doing good 3 digit speeds, qualifies for a medal of honour and a significant place in the Clan.

Watch Pics here

Independence Day Ride !!

2007-08-16T16:43:00.003+05:30

Independence Day Ride
15th August 2007

Today we celebrate our independence day!! The independence which we credit to the efforts of our Leaders and Warriors who helped us get this freedom and after 1947 have continuously strived hard to maintain it. One of the most contributing members of this continuous fight to maintain freedom and prosperity are our soldiers. The men and women of the armed forces who have withstood harsh conditions and protected the country from evil eyes! This 15^th August I along with a few Biker friends celebrated the occasion by riding out to the National Defense Academy, Khadagwasla. We left around 4ish in the afternoon from Baner and rode all the way via Chandni Chowk and NDA road to the Pashan Gate of the Academy. After doing the necessary formalities at the gate we found out that despite it being a national holiday it was still a working day for the cadets and hence we may not be able to actually get to move around freely.

A couple of rules were clearly laid for us before we started off. Captain would be leading the entire group on his P220, followed by Self on the P180Dittsy, then Nalin on the CBZ, Suyash on his Avvy, Priyank on his Libero, and 2 more guys in their Zen! We started off in a nice formation from the Gate and rode down towards the Airfield. This airfield used to have a dirt airstrip sometime back but with the introduction of powered flight training at NDA, they constructed a Tarmac airstrip and jazzed it up. There was a Mystere Aircraft on display there. A quick “U” turn got us back on to the Main road and gunning towards Gol market. Since it was a working day we additionally got instructions to watch out for cadets on the road who had the ‘Right Of Way’ on this particular day and we would either have to slow down till they gave us the space to move ahead. We did run into a group of cadets running on the road and it did feel rather awkward to actually not blow horn but wait patiently for the pedestrian to move out of the way. Captain has immense discipline in these things as he frantically waved us down every time he saw something on the road which was essential to notice and act accordingly.

A small detour took as via the Salaria square and Sudan Block on to the Parade ground and down towards Peacock bay. It was here that we also saw some monkeys darting across the road and a signboard warning motorists of being aware of wildlife crossing the road. I could assume jackals, foxes, and other animals also skittering across the road in night. After crossing peacock bay we came out of the Khadagwasla gate and rode towards the Kudje village. The road was wet with constant drizzling and Captain was at his street biking best negotiating curves and hairpins with ease. We had lost the other riders someplace in the distance as just three of us rode in close formation. This was perhaps the 2^nd time we had to slow down to accommodate the slowpokes!! We turned around as soon as we realized we had come too far and then headed back towards NDA. After entering again we rode straight to the junction where we have the Commandant’s office and from there got off the main road on to a smaller tar strip. This incidentally was the outer perimeter road which went all the way round NDA on the outermost edge of the North-East boundary. This road was a narrow patch of tarmac with vast grasslands on both sides. As we rode further we came across the polo ground, football ground and fathomed the sheer vastness of the campus. It was here that we also came across two cadets running around the outer perimeter. Physical training is one aspect at NDA which is given immense importance and is used to inculcate discipline in the cadets. Even while punishing cadets for any misbehavior, the punishment is often just extended physical training – More running, more push-ups etc. From what I have heard most cadets do not consider going around the outer perimeter a very pleasant experience. It looked like Captain too had not been around the entire perimeter even during his two stints of 3 years each at the NDA, as a cadet and as the Squadron Commander. We also ran into some patches where an overflowing stream had caused some water logging and we waded through with our bikes and also did some semi-off-roading where slush and gravel were predominant on the road. Overall this ride was a very smooth and enjoyable patch as we were perhaps the only people on the road and were riding absolutely neck to neck at a comfortable speed of 40 – 50 KMPH. We came out at the Army Training Team area and reached the main gate once again. From here we turned back into Gol Market and finally stopped for a break.

The MiG 25 R mounted next to the Gol market caught my attention and while the rest of the gang went into one café for snacks and refreshments Nalin and I went up to the mighty bird and went trigger happy (read: Shutter Happy) on the fastest FIGHTER aircraft in the world. The MiG 25 is perhaps the only aircraft which is capable of short bursts from its cannon even while flying at speeds of Mach 2 and above. In other aircraft the speed of the projectile or rounds/bullets is slower than that of the aircraft hence they cannot actually FIGHT at that high speeds. There was a lot of interesting information about the MiG 25 and I had also heard a lot about how this aircraft found its way into NDA.

Read the MiG 25 Story here

Post the chai n snacks we again rode off towards the parade ground where we took a break and took some more photos. It was here at the FINAL STEP quarterdeck (Naval terminology), that I remembered some of my hay days at the Naval Academy. The Parade ground is impressive. So are the surroundings. The Parade ground has on display Tanks, Guns, a Sea Hawk, a MiG 21 FL, a model of INS Delhi, the Type 15 Destroyer we have. We rode off from the Parade ground and rode back to the Pashan gate, stopping en-route to click some more snaps. After moving out of NDA we came back to Captain’s place and then after bidding the customary good-byes rode towards our destinations. Nalin accompanied me home and we ended the fantastic evening by savoring some laddoos and watching a documentary on the Indian Air Force and nurturing the Patriotic spirit awakened in us after the visit to NDA.

An amazing experience it was visiting the academy where the brave officers of our nation are trained and sculpted, where men are crafted out of young boys, the alma mater of courage and discipline. I always have held the defense forces and academies in high respect despite not having a very pleasant experience myself. But then nothing makes my heart thump louder than the sight of our weaponry, our men in uniform and the spirit of patriotism.

JAI HIND!!

Catch Photos of the Ride here: