Riders of the Nation of a Billion - Dimensions and Horizons

Incidentally I wrote a post of my tranformation from just around the corner corporate junkie into a Rider (for sure, still gradually) few days ago. Now, here are the Indibloggers with a Contest for the Bikers of the Nation with Castrol guys.



Evolving Biker Code of the Nation

When you look at the scenario of Biking in a general sense, you would be attracted by the road-rowdies and rookies who ride to spread nuisance and are mostly acknowledged for their deeds by the newspaper. Hooligans may be the right word. But, once you get involved with the passion, you would be able to see how the passion of Biking, or rather Riding, is evolving in the country where 2-wheelers over-power 4-wheelers by scores of galactic height, but have never earned respect on highways just coz they are the smallest-speeding machine there! I would try to let you through the Indian Riders tale, so that you  be able to appreciate how the riders of the Country are working, though in a segregative way, to evolve the Bikers’ Code for the Nation of Billion!

This post would be entirely about being a Rider, the way I see myself. I would also be trying to take a look at the Dimensions and Horizons of Riding in India!

My Love, My Machine, My Achtung!

Test Ride to the Present

I learnt to ride a bike just a few years ago. When came to Mumbai, car was never a priority. A cruiser bike was all I wished for. Bullet is the ultimate possession for most of the Indian youths, unless you earn hell lot with no time or have got “baap ka paisa” :p Divided between two cruisers, one with finished engine and the other with the rugged thumpy-engine, I finally went with my dream-bull Thunderbird TS. The bull with a TwinSpark aluminium heart, a decisive milestone in the RoyalEnfield chronology! Thanks to the guys I hang out with who supported and nurtured my wish to be a bulleteer.

I still remember the day I test-rode a TBTS at Nerul RE station. I wasn’t able to take a u-turn and slipped. Back to service centre, that guy told me about a person who rode the bull into a pond on a test ride. Highly confused, would I be able to tame the bull or not, I came back to my home. Just around the corner I saw a guy doing a u-turn so beautifully and easily that I took the decision and booked it on cash next day only. 3 months of waiting and I rode with a bullet-mate from office to get the delivery. The guy ditched me and asked me to ride back to home myself. Anxious, nervous and excited at same time, I rode high, high and high (though well within run-in limits) ever since.

My Achtung! on my forearm!

Over 2years of riding, about 30,000 kilometers done, a 5000 pan-India and 2600 kms Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai ride on records, hundred friends, some best mates, millions of miles yet to ride - here I am writing this post on Riders. When I look at my score, I feel proud; when I get to know other riders, I feel ho much I have yet to achieve, have I actually baptized to a Rider?  

Riders Code
Let me clear the air, you call us Roadies – acceptable, but you dare to call us MTV Roadies! They don’t know how the roads treat, what's the smell of petrol and the tar-derivatives', they don’t know what’s the brotherhood; We Riders are road-people for whom Brotherhood is a religion. 

We the riders -  Tattoo of Samir aka Samzy, Me and Shyamal; Riders are Tushar aka Jr, Vinni and Deelux

We are not just about revving the machine, sporting tattoo and mustaches, shining our machine; we are people who live riding, whose soul blends so beautifully with their machine that sometimes its more than the institutional bond of marriage between two flesh. There are veterans who have ridden lakhs of miles, touched every corner and rode along all the edges of the country, there are budding riders who have got the metal and are trying to prove their worth, and there are rookies who have joined the fraternity and aspire high to graduate through budding to veteran; the beauty is that all are glued cohesively by the bond of the proud Brotherhood.

Strength of Indian Bullet Riding Clubs

In India, there are basically two-types of clubs. First, having riders of all makes; second, just the Bullets! With the globalisation an elite class of riders are getting clubbed together, mostly as Superbikers or as HarleyDavidson owners. While, xBHP is the most known and revered pan-India riders’ club, numerous city-based Bullet clubs have marked their presence on tar, like BisonsRideHard, Inddiethumpers, MBA, 60kph in Mumbai, VizeRoys of Vizag, EasternBulls of Kolkata, RoyalBeasts of Dilli, Wanderers and WolfePack of Hyderabad, MadBulls and RollingThunders from Madras, Wanderlusts from Nagpur, RERAM from Shillong and so on so forth. Castrol is certainly the leading organisation supporting the evolution of Riding in India.

Bullet-riders or Bulleteers, to a good guess, constitute more than 75% of all sort of long-distance and habitual riders in the country. Their gangs or better Clubs are rather active on organising rides and rallies than any other multi-make or SBK riders’ clubs. There are different types of riders; some are night-riders, while others feel comfortable in 6AM-9PM only. Most bulleteers know or at least always try to know their machine as thoroughly as they can; while there are some riders who are better than any qualified mechanic on the bull. There are riders who love it solo, while the clubmen ride together. There are even some lady-riders who are no less than their male counterparts, and then there are many a lady pillion-riders with an uncertified iron-butt!

We are riders, we are roadies, and you may call us neo-hippies, but we are not rowdy and we are much much different than what they portray in hollywood movies – the goons on their HDs and Triumps raping the streets and the cultures simultaneously. Riders Club are surely evolving with time in the Country and with the associations like BOBMC (Brotherhood of Bullet Motorcycle Club) they are certainly aimed towards encouraging safe riding. To list a few, safety is the first and foremost thing we observe, being it the quality helmet, armoured jackets or the protective riding boots. No booze and grass on the rides is another solemn promise we take while joining a club. No political ambition linked to club is meant to keep the rubbish distant. Never leave the co-rider behind is the attitude we follow in any and every situation we may face (A series of Incredible stories can be done on the brotherhood only, but we people are quite shy on this issues).
So, please if you don’t know an Indian Rider, just don’t form an opinion watching the TV shows on street-thieves!

Looking ahead

A lot has yet to be done for the Riders of the country. A lot has yet to be achieved for the Riders of the country. Corporate-organisations and the Clubs are doing their part, while the Riders are achieving their dreams. Organised rides and awareness rallies, sponsorships for the riders who have dreams and enthusiasm but no money to fuel would help many to reach their feast. We have lost riders like Sir Chetan Thakkar of Inddiethumpers, another bulleteer from Ranchi and Saddle sore holder MadMax Veenu from Hyderabad; we don’t want to lose any brother from the community for the any reason again! It’s time, we rise together and work upon Codes that not only prescribe safety precautions but also tips to keep fit, after all riding hard is something that demands physical and mental endurance and is not kids play, as they mostly feel!

Don't call us by our tattoo, our look, our attire; call us by what we live for...Riding!

P.S.: Don't watch Easy Rider or Wild Hogs to know us; if you want - watch "Into the Wild", we live by that attitude, after all Happiness is when Shared' :)
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