My 300 Km motorbike road trip in 2007

Prologue: To start with the background, Royal Enfield motorbikes have a cult following in India just the way Harley is to USA.
I bought one 350cc Royal Enfield – “Bullet” motorbike about 4 months back. It was an impulsive purchase. Although I always yearned to have the Bullet and go on long road trips but couldn’t buy, so when this opportunity came along I just bought it without even checking the condition. This impulsive decision left my pocket unhappy by some thousand Rupees.
Still the euphoria of Bullet was so much that it didn’t matter at that time.

The ride:
The fateful day I selected for my road trip was Sunday the 8th Of Apr’07. It was a home trip, the motorbike was in Chandigarh for 4 months that is 300 Km’s away from Faridabad (near Delhi, where I live). The road trip was planned earlier in Feb’07 but at that time the engine started leaking and I had to abort the trip.

This time I was determined to tame the beast and burn the road. I reached Chandigarh on Saturday morning at 11 Am. Straight away checked the condition of the bike. It seemed all well, in the evening went around to meet an old friend this way the bike was tested as well.

To be honest riding the Bullet is a great feeling. It is not a modern day bike with all the horse power and the sound. It is like an old world charm, the 350 cc engine gives out 18bhp and a loud thump. It’s such an exhilarating feeling riding the machine that you cannot explain in words. You have to ride one to feel.
The bike is still manufactured in the same way it used to be in the 1960’s the only difference is the advancement in the shockers, ignition and the carburettor and the weight has been reduced to 160Kg’s from 280 Kg. Although there are newer models based on the same platform but they are not that fun to ride.

The first time I rode the bike it was like riding a big black bull which has to be controlled properly one wrong move and you will end up breaking your leg.

8th Apr’07: I had planned to start the trip at 8 am but then delayed it by 2.5 hrs just to relax and prepare for the ride. I have been riding bikes for 12 years but most of the times those bikes were 100cc or 150cc which are lighter technologically advanced and easier to handle. But going on a Bullet was like preparing yourself for the ultimate experience like a ‘Matador’ at the bull arena.
Started at 10.20 Am and refuelled the bike. Then hit the main highway at 10.30 am. There was a light and cool breeze and the bike seemed eager to gallop the miles.
I had gone for around 15 Km’s when the bike suddenly stopped. Since, I am a new ‘Bulleteer’ I thought that was my fault, stopped for 2 minutes kick started and then thumped again. After another 5 Km’s the bike engine stopped again, it made me worry a bit but after 10 kicks I started the beast again and started thumping.

Then the bike developed a strange habit of stopping after every 4-5 Km’s and wouldn’t start before I had tried kick starting it minimum 10 times (one most know that kicking the bullet is no joke as the powerful kickback can break your ankle). This made me feel that it might take the whole day reaching Faridabad. After that the bike gave two blasts from the silencer like a gun has been fired. It seemed that the spark started malfunctioning and I decided to get the bike checked by a mechanic so I stopped at a road side repair shop after 35 Km’s.
The mechanic checked the bike while I drank cold water and dried the sweat due to kicking the bike at regular intervals. The mechanic gave a green signal and I hit the road once again.

The bike stopped only twice after that and I started feeling comfortable handling it. It was behaving the way I wanted and I opened the throttle to touch a speed of 75 Km/hr. Before that I was doing around 50-60Km/hr due to the regular stoppage. I was cruising at 80 Km/hr when I noticed oil all around my jeans. My eyes looked down at the engine and lo & behold there was oil all over and a trail of oil leakage. It scared me to my wits end and made me stop immediately. On inspection the culprit was a rubber pipe from engine head which burst and was now gurgling out oil. Well that broke all my determination of controlling the beast and going on a road trip. Then I took a decision to abort the whole trip and park the bike at my relative’s home. But I didn’t lose heart and started thumping ahead at a lower speed again. I thumped 110 Km’s and reached their home and parked the bike there, where it is still resting. It took me 3 hours to travel those 110 Km.

And with that my 300 Km road trip got reduced to 110 Km, although I was heart broken in some way but still it was an enjoyable trip. The feeling is still there and I hope to conquer the beast some other day.

Delhi Driving an experience..

Well, as you can guess from the title I would be writing about driving in Delhi the capital of India. It's been 9.5 years from the time I landed in Delhi & started driving on Delhi roads.
All this time I have been travelling on Delhi roads using different modes of travel from a motorcycle - my 150 cc Suzuki Fiero to cars- M800, Santro, SX4 & the killer greenline buses. It has been an experience all through these years.
However, driving on Delhi's roads currently just makes me remind of the movie 'Matrix'. Sitting on the driving seat looking ahead you can see a biker doing a Keanu Reeves avoiding the cars & buses like Neo evaded bullets in the movie. Another Neo in a car drives on the road avoiding the pedestrians, people on cycles & the bikers. 95% of the time all of these Neo's are able to save themselves as well as others. The same is with the pedestrians who cross the road with their hand towards the traffic as if they were in the Matrix where they can stop the traffic with their hand. Or they were 'Magneto' with powers to stop all the metallic objects. And the one who don't have these powers get killed by the killer buses or lorries or other monsters.
The similarities don't end here since all the Delhi driver's have a precarious habit of driving on a tangent. They drive at an angle as if the straight road or the lanes don't exist, but they are able to drive without hitting others. This again reminds you of people with special powers who are teleconnect or have magnetic powers or the closest possibility is that Delhi is a matrix.

All this is fun observing all these phenomenons while you are driving lest your car is hit or you get involved in an accident. Then you are surrounded by Delhi police virus who will oblieterate you physically or economically like it was done in the movie. The Delhi police or rather the Indian police have the knack of being at the right place so as to be able to inflict more damage on people. However, again all the Delhi'ites have developed the skills like Neo to avoid the Police-virus and save them. Only the weak fall prey to the virus. Recently, I got involved in such an experience. I was waiting in my car to turn right at a turning. The moment I was to start moving, I fel that something hit my car. Since it was 9 PM & being alone I thought it no point arguing with anyone at this time & better to head home, whatever damage I would take care of it. From a humane point of view it was not good but again reading all the stories of road rage I didn't want to get involved in. When I reached home and saw that one corner of the bumper was broken & there were dents on the car, I got a little afraid. But I slept thinking that doesn't matter will get this repaired. The next day dawned & with it there came a surprise. The police came knocking at my door saying that I hit someone & ran away.
I showed them my car & tried to explain that it was no fault of mine but to deaf ears. Since, it was a biker who hit my car & broke his leg the police came to the conclusion that it was the car's fault to be waiting on the road. Ultimately I had to pull some strings & bribe the police to get out of the mess. It was the same like Morphaeus rescuing Neo from the station by bribing the frenchman. So yes there are lot many similarities between driving in Delhi & living in the Matrix.

The only thing is that all this stops when the Neo's, Magnetos' & Morpheus are not able to do anything when there are too many automobiles on the road that there is not an inch to move. Although many are still able to squeeze them in some space but overall everyone grinds to a halt. At this point all become human & lose their special abilities.
The dangerous thing is that this is becoming regular wherein the special abilities are being lost and the roads are getting choked. The same roads of Delhi where driving was fun is now being turned in to snail roads or killer places by the insidious driving by the Delhi Neo's. The untrained drivers on the roads driving on a tangent are making the matters worse. Although the traffic is increasing but disciplined driving & honest traffic police controlling the situation can help.
In my opinion we should start behaving like humans & leave the Matrix out to lead a proper life rather than fighting the machines & viruses on a daily basis.