Transforming into a Rider, Gradually!

Not everyone is a prodigy, not everyone knows riding since birth.

My first lesson on ‘driving’ a bike was from my younger brother: “don’t apply breaks on potholes while riding fast”. He actually taught me how to drive a bike. My college mates and school friends did their part to enlighten me with bike-driving skills. A year later when my yet-to-ride-a-bike friend took me as a pillion and asked how he did do, “Now I know how the others would have felt as pillion, when I was learning to drive a bike” was the spontaneous reply.

Achtung!

Mumbai brought me the passion of Riding! Initially torn between a just another Indian cruiser and the mighty Bullet, advices and the old default charm of possessing a Bullet led me to buy Achtung, Thunderbird TS - the Best cruiser available in India. I still remember how Prathmesh, the guy I took to ride my bullet back to my place safely, ditched me to let me experience the feel of my Bull, and yes to start learning it! Thanks!

I started riding with office-mates, did a few solo rides, and then joined Inddiethumpers to ride with similar minded people. Some 5000 kilometers on my first official club ride and earned there honourable membership. A year or so, things changed and I had to move on to the BisonsRideHard with the riders I rode most in my previous club. Riding with Inddiethumpers and BisonsRideHard not only earned me friends but also enriched me with knowledge of machine, the enthusiasm to ride a rider’s way i.e. hard but safe and the passion of being a part of Bullet-brotherhood! Riding to RM consecutively two years, magnified the glory of riding a bullet with the fraternity!

Over 15,000 miles, hundreds of friends, an elevated passion, tanned chicks and neck, few minor accidents, a lot on riding long and safe and the Brotherhood of the Oil-Brothers - is what came as Bonus to me in my last 2 years of riding!

With a few experiences of my own, memoirs of the road-rajas I met, speed and the miles I’ve clocked, and with due disclaimers for sure, I though can say, have learnt a few lessons of the Art, nurtured with utmost care and obviously under no roof on tar and dirt of the whole World, the Art of Riding; but, undoubtedly a lot more is yet to learn!

Ultimately it’s about riding to your inner-self, whichever mean you choose! Wish to ride till i die.......

Banned Indian Books

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth... Few days back when I came to know about a book on an Indian Business Barron on the Banned Indian Books’ List, the first thing that came in my mind were the lines from Tagore . What an irony, we live in a country, whose forefathers have dreamt about a nation without fear, about a nation with right to speech, right to knowledge; and where the Government enjoys the “privilege” to “freely” ban the books, censor what it feels offensive! Wikipedia describes Banned books as the books whose free access is not permitted. Further it says that the practice of banning books is just another form of censorship, and often has political, religious or moral motivations. In our country, banning books have got its history since the British rule days. In fact, few of the Books ...

Natarang (नटरंग): My First Marathi Movie

Last Sunday was day booked for movies. First on the slot was Natarang (नटरंग). Natarang was my first Marathi movie and perhaps the second Regional Language movie after the classic Nadiya Ke Paar (नदिया के पार ) . Except for a few words, I don’t understand Marathi , and thus watched the subtitle version. But, I was so engrossed in movie that for the times was feeling the movie and not reading it. May be, as said by Paulo Coelho in The Alchemist , the characters were speaking World’s Unified language . The best side of the movie was its ability to keep the viewer enthralled throughout. Story line was about a body-builder farmer taking the risk of opening a theatre company, putting all his emotions on stakes; finally dares to take the role of a eunuch-character on stage. For the purpose, the hunk villager, played by Atul Kulkarni , shaved off his thick manly moustaches and had to lose his muscles. He learns the ways a woman walks talks and plays with different gestures. In the course, h...

Trekking Ghansoli Gawli Dev (Parsik) Hill

It’s been there for geological ages, we have been looking at it for last about 4years and I have been planning to trek it since a long time. Finally, few weeks back, we trekked the Ghansoli Hill. Ghansoli Hill is located at the eastern boundary of Ghansoli town, behind our office complex at RCP. The hill or better hillock is a part of small range that separates Kalyan and Navi Mumbai towns. A search on Google Map returns with a name Parsik Hill for it, though there is one more rather famous Parsik Hill in Navi Mumbai. We also found a NewsArticle , that talks about NMMC plans to develop Nature Awareness Centre at this hills and calls it Gawli Dev Hill. Here, we would be calling it Ghansoli Hill . I asked my colleague about it and he readily agreed. The very next Sunday we did it with another friend. We weren't aware of the route. All we knew is that a Central Road runs along the western edge of the hill and can be reached through the Vashi-Mhape road. We later found that t...

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