Married to the bullet:Part-4: Murud Janjeera Trip

Date:Jan 17,2009

Days of Marriage: 2 months 22 days

Odo at 3850 kms

One fine Friday evening Jeevendra (JS) a.k.a “SMAART BAOY” was sulking about his lost opportunity to join his gang for the next day’s Murud Janjeera trip bcos of his NCFM exam (ever heard of someone missing a trip bcos of NCFM???) on the same day. Well I personally didn’t want to go for any reason because it was not my gang and I knew no one there.

Our pal wrote the NCFM and came back winning and we had nothing to do on a Saturday evening. That’s when the idea of the trip was born and executed in the next half an hour and we were raring to go by 5.00 pm to Alibaug, stay overnight and get to Murud the next day.

So we started on my same old pune-mumbai highway (you have heard about it umpteen times now) and managed to reach Panvel by 18.30 Ish and it was getting dark. Didn’t want to drive much in the night because the highway from Pen to Alibaug is just two lane and there are no dividers too. But since the makzut was already decided we continued on our journey.

I couldn’t see a damned thing in the dark and my headlights were as effective as light house tower 20 kms away. To add to the grievance was the reflection of the vehicle behind me on my helmet courtesy my big rear view mirrors. We chugged along at a slow pace of 60 through the topsy turvy road and was quite uneventful except for Logan guy who overtook us real closely enuf that we almost went off the road.

We stopped at a Daba run by a sardarji midway and had kurkure and sprite to refresh the dimaag which had gone off to sleep while driving.

We were chugging along when we saw a thick strip of striped metal almost hanging across the road at a bike height. On getting close it was found out to be the side bar of a truck trying to take a U-turn. We braked hard and fairly managed to avoid any disaster.

Our pal was on the phone and inquiring where others where put up and much to our dismay it was found out that they were put up in Divee Aghar which was almost 150kms away from the place. :-( We stopped (30 kms before Alibaug) to find out what the heck was going on and it seems there was a different route they took from Pune to Divee Aghar and they would be joining us by boat in Murud the next day morning.

No hard feelings on this one and I started off my bike and set the gas to Alibaug . I suddenly got a call and didn’t pick up and continued my journey for another km or so when I got the next. Picked up the call and found that it was JS calling me. I just asked him whats the humor ur finding sitting behind me and calling me on my phone. Turned back to see that he was not there. For a moment I thought whether he had fallen off the bike and reversed and set off only to find him standing at the same spot from where I had left. It seems I had forgotten to pick him up J. The shopkeeper nearby was rolling on the floor laughing. :-) :-)

Finally after a bad patch of road and an amazing lil climb, the road was too good with reflectors beaming in the dark (made it look like we were driving in dubai) we reached Alibaug by 10.00. Found a motel and went for gulping some beers and some good sea food along with it in a nearby hotel. After 3 beers (JS saved one for the next day morning, yuck!) we decided to close the day and dozed off to oblivion.

Nxt day woke up early morning and checked out for Murud at 0630 hrs. Stopped in the midway at Kashid beach for some refreshing bread omlette and jumped in the sea with a rented football in hand. The sea was quite smooth and beach was good, but not much waves to my disappointment. Spent an hour dancing to the tune of the waves and relaxed for a while on those beach chairs when JS was gulping his saved GARAM beer! :-)

After a 20 minute ride we reached murud, parked our bikes and set off on the boat to the fort. We were joined by the other gang in another 5 minutes (not to mention the reception the SMAART BAOY got from the ladies) and set to roam around snapping.
After the time trial of 1 hour elapsed (that’s the time you get to see the fort) we parted ways and we got back to the jetty. Set off on the Bullet and zoomed off to pune uneventfully.

Married to the Bullet:Part-3:Mumbai Trip

Date: Dec 19

Odo at 2565 kms
Days of Marriage: 85

My sister, Aparna a.k.a Tintu had got transferred to Mumbai for work and wanted to find out a place for stay. One day I get a call from the Atom Bomb (read very short fuse) asking me to nibhaofy my brotherly duties and get her a place to stay based on my knowledge of the Mumbai terrain. My repeated queries to use their company’s portal to get an acco fell on deaf ears and hence my Mumbai plan was put in place.

So one fine Saturady early morning I beat the sun to wake up at 0500 hours and embarked on my longest trip so far. To add to the excitement was the Lonanvala ghats which I had to climb up and the expressway tunnel and going beyond my past escapades to Lonvala.

Finally I set foot on my machine and kicked her to a blistering start in the cold morning and she roared to life. Revved her up and zoomed past Wakad in no time and touched the NH4. This time I was really prepared for the bumps that came along the way and made sure that my ass didn’t take a beating and nor did the bike. Reached Lonvala in flat 50 minutes. Had chai from a tapori on the descend just after the amby valley turn and mentally prepared myself for climbing the ghats.

By that time the Sun had woken up and was giving me his sleepy smile and I climbed the ghats with ease. Have never been fond of heights and was a lil shaky driving the bike up at such high altitutde with cold winds blowing at you. Well that was just the trailor and the whole movie happened when I entered the expressway. The NH4 and the Mumbai-Pune expressway are joined at the top of the ghats and this is the only place wherein you can drive the bike on the expressway. There were cars, trailors, Volvos all zooming past at 100+ kmph and was even afraid to shift lanes in the first place. Then came the tunnel I hoped for. It’s a very short tunnel but driving a bullet thru the tunnel and the reflection of the sound was simply awesome. The whirlwind descend started from the ghats and I was extremely cautious as I hadn’t done this before. Reached Khoppoli and then Panvel and stopped for another chai. On the way I saw a Bolero going at top speed and wanted to check out my speed demon skills and tried to catch it. Finally managed to catch up with it. Asked a guy of how to go to Mumbai and he asked me if I am planning to take my bike on a ship????. I was laughing my heart out and the guy prompted me this is JNPT port and I had to take a turn 20 kms before if I had to reach Mumbai. So much for being a speed demon!

Finally reached Nerul where my sis was put up with her friend a.k.a Jaysree and picked up the Atom Bomb and proceeded to my friends place in Thane. After having such an exhilarating drive on the highway the city traffic at Thane was pure fart. A lot of inquiries and we managed to reach Ghodbunder road and Hiranandani gardens where my friend Rohit a.k.a Sethji was put up with his wife. Apparently his wife was in office and we had to disturb his peaceful Saturday . A lot of calls later we decided on three places nearby for the acco. Visits to these places and meeting up with a lot of girls with really quircky sense of humor (never gave a clue as to when to laugh ) my sis never liked any of the places . The sun was setting and had a night which was young and packed my sis off to her place and caught up with my old friends Dony who was soon biting the dust and Darshan whose days were numbered long time ago and was responsible father nowadays.

Found a nearby restaurant which sells you water which makes u drunk. The waiter duly informed us that there was the latest whiskey on the cards called "Black DanYell". We were wondering what it was and when he showed the bottle it turned out to be "Jack Daniels". A couple of drinks later and some good food we found that the bill was over inflated. A day with the Atom Bomb had definitely reduced my fuse and it was blown in quick time at the sight of the bill. A good dose of verbal barrage with the Manager and the bill was reduced and we paid the amount.

Spend the night at Dony’s place and proceeded to Darshan’s place in Mulund in the morning to catch up with his little daughter and wife. The pleasantries were interrupted by a phone call. The Atom seemed to be up and running and reminded me of brotherly duties. So fixed the meeting place as my friends house in Thane and she came along with her friend from college a.k.a Jaysree. We four then went on the mission hunt for an acco and was finally able to get a place true to her liking nearby Thane. So the brotherly duties were done and we were off for Lunch at Hirnandani for a refresh. After spending a couple of more hours with my friend and his wife the time was ripe for departure.

This time there was no fear of the ghats and no fear of the expressway and I just zoomed it back to pune. Took a brief respite on the lonvala ghats to wave to the smiling sun before he went for his sleep.

Married to the Bullet:Part-2:The Lohagad Trip

Date: Oct 10

Odo at 1200

Days of Marriage: 15

Craving for a good drive and knowing no place around Pune, I persuaded my roomie Kapil (KK) and my friend Joydeep (JD) to take up a Lohagad Climb on my only familiar route the good old pune-Lonavala route. After much persuasion both of them agreed. Joy didn’t want to take his antique eliminator along and joined as my pillion. Kapil was hesitanat to take his Passion on the highway and his experience on the highway was nil.
We took the Aundh-Wakad route and reached waked and then sped off to the NH4. There is a small diversion to take otherwise you might end up on the expressway. So we waited for Kapil at the diversion to signal him. He caught up with us and we got on to the NH4. We zoomed off to lonavala and stopped at XXXX for a cup of steaming chai and waited for Kapil. After 15 minutes of wait and his presence nowhere in sight we used our business continuity plan a.k.a the mobile phone. He didn’t pick up the phone and we diecided to get on our way. Partly thru we get a call informing us that our pal has reached lonavala. So we joined him there and had breakfast and took the slight return trip to lohagadd.
There are no signboards anywhere and ppl gave us confusing directions and we finally managed to end up on the right road. We were driving and driving and there was no fort was in sight. We took a small stop at a restaurant for a chai and was duly informed that we have overshot and Lohagadd was 30 kms behind L. So we returned back in the scorching sun and found a boat ride on our way back.
But there was a slight problem. There was a descent to make which was full of gravel and kapil was the first one to go. He slid the bike by jumping around stones and somehow reached down. I was a lil hesitant on my 185 kg monster but the descend was smooth probably bcos of the (185 + 63) kgs that came along with it. We took a couple of snaps of the ducks along the water and took a speed boat ride and went for Lunch. The lunch was good and we were sulking about the climb to make.
Finally we reached Lohagad and was informed that there was 1000 steps to climb L. We started off with hope and with so many pitstops and water breaks in between and an hour of excruciating climb we reached on top. The view from the top was awesome though there was nothing but a plane ground with dilapidated buildings and a temple on top. We went around the whole fort snapping before the camera decided to call it quits. We rested on top, made an entry into the registrar and went downhill at a fast pace. We were at the foot of the fort in 20 minutes.
Had refreshing Nimbu pani from a vendor and zoomed home without any breaks.

Married to the Bullet:Part-1:The Lonavala Trip

Married to the bullet.
This is a series of trips that I have done on my bullet. First part of the series many more to follow.
Date: Oct 1, 2008
Days of Marriage: 5
Odo at 300 kms

My first long ride was to Lonavla.. a cool…60 kms from Aundh in pune to meet by cousins and my grandswho were on a National trip.. The night before couldn’t sleep thinking about powering her through the highways.

Morning got up even before usual time (that’s new for me) and slowly started the bike and headed my usual way of office. Once I got to the Highway there was nobody stopping me. I revved the bike on the NH (couldn’t take the expressway as the bikes are not allowed) to touch 50, then slowly took her to 60 and then 70 and stopped there bcos it was the run-in period.Well I could see trucks in front of me which u normally dare not overtake on any other bike but here everyone made way for the bullet. It is quite a nice sight to watch when u come on at full throttle and u can view in the rear view mirror of the truck the driver’s eyes lighting up at the sign of the bullet and then gently making way for it.

Took a break a for a cup of chai and revved her on to Lonavala.

Something that you experience on her is the inner peace she gives u when riding her. Have tried lots of bikes but nuthing like the bullet. Once u make the peace with her..you have to be gentle..ofcourse..she responds. It seemed to me like the union of the two souls and in no time I reached lonavala.

They were waiting there near the railway station. It was the first vehicle I owned and I wanted to show my bike off. My mausi (mothers sister) was standing just behind their Qualis and I powered my baby a lil bit and braked hard in front of her, the front tyre screeching to a halt just in front of her .

So all had just one question why this bulky, noisy, oil leaking machine? How can a lean guy like u ride this???
I was well prepared and suggested no better and stable bike on the Indian roads and blah blah.

The best thing is every one wanted a ride on it. The lady who got it was my cousin and the beautiful lass she is, I didn’t disappoint her.

We proceeded to INS shivaji to meet my cousin who works with the Navy and the best part was that he had got his bullet the day before, though he got it 15K cheaper through his canteen service . It was quite a sight to see two brand new bullets parked in tandem.

Left the bullet at the military base and took a quick trip to Aamby valley and got back to Lonavala. Saw Aamby valley from outside and the sunset and proceeded back to the base. From there we got both our bikes and rode back to Lonavala. Here the beautiful pillion made way for a ex-bomb with her chirpy kid.

Said adieu to them and rode my bullet crazy in the night till I literally jumped in the air over a couple of speed breakers mid way. That brought me to my senses and rode safely back home.

The Bike that makes you the King on the Road

Well the backdrop to this kahani is that I needed a vehicle and I was more inclined towards a bike rather than a car.

Ofcourse being an Indian ..there U cannot escape the clutches of collective decision making that all your ppl around do it for you...( Am not against it bcos its something which has its pros and cons..ur oldman is way smarter than you in many ways than u think) My parents told me... beta U need to get a car, its befitting your social status and it would be deeming fit for you....U probably need to get an alto or a M800.

Well to me occured like a really absurd idea. So I shot a letter to my dad/mom (if u talk there is no way u can convince your parents of anything you want if they think otherwise)

"Nano and Alto doesnot come in my plans anyways. As a mattter of fact buying a good car like swift or vista would remove a handsome 15000 INR from the salary per month which at this point, though feasible, is not required as am still single and got no kids to send them to school and pick up my wife:-). Guess can spend even year even after marriage without a car. And with investment banks falling like nine pins in the US and IT industry going through consolidation, economy not stable am not even sure what will happen over the next one year. So spending approx 25% of the salary for a thing which nobody needs except in unforeseen circumstances appears to be a more unthought and unviable option. So a two wheeler looked more certain and financially sound to me"

Now I had to find a real good bike on the Indian roads..was willing to pay anything for a good bike (ofcourse within my bare means of survival).
There was this pulsar 150,180,200 and 220. Ofcourse there were too many pulsars around..guess in every nook and corner of India..just like engg graduates (no hard feelings for this..am one too).
Then there was this lil beauty called Apache RTR... well personally like lil beauties..she is a real gem bcos they have some sort of charm which the big ones dont have. This one had an amazing pick up and maneuvarability which I had never witnessed in an indian bike so far and it was worth every penny.
But the Yamaha guys had launched a new beauty called the R15 which simply took the breath away in terms of sheer performance and looks. So my heart followed it to the Yamaha Showroom where this lil one was coooling her heels in between the mammoth MT-01 and the R1. It just looked like a broken down version of the R1(its a 1000cc one priced at 13 lacs on road) and thought that paying 1.1 lacs for a 150cc bike is not the effort.

Then my friend suggested that ..if ur looking for a good something between your legs you should try the "Bullet" a.k.a "Royal Enfield".
Well.. was open to the suggestion..though personally felt a lil awkward bcos it would amount to more of an "ant riding the elephant"..bcos at 5'9" and 63 kgs you always have the doubt whether u have it in you to ride the enfield. Went to the enfield showroom to get a feel of the bike. At my first sight.. I felt that the bike was big ..way too big for me and small doubts did creep into my mind about the viability of me taking a ride on the elephant. Took a test drive on it and was actually taken over by the sheer thump and size of the vehicle.

Hmmmm..now this was a tough call..the lil beauties and this sheer monstress (it weighs 180 kgs) and spend some soul searching for which bike I needed. Well the bike needs to suit your personality and ur traits... otherwise just like marriages made for no one it would be a tragedy of errors. Well I aint no big guy..but i ve got a big heart and the only bike that could match the size..no prizes for guessing.. the bike who makes you the King on the roads-The Royal Enfield.

So i finally decided to buy the bullet. There were fourvariants.. the Standard, Electra, Machismo and Thunderbird.. The Electra appealed to me the most in terms of the style and the thumps.. the machismo and thunderbird comes with the aluminium engine and lacks that thump on the roads.. the standard comes only with the right gear shift and am not used to that.. So I finally decided to buy the electra variant with the left gear shift.

Now the biggest task at hand was convincing my parents that I am buying an enfield...Ofcourse there was mass hysteria when I poured the beans and i did not want to talk it over and my only salvation lied in the ever faithful google company's gmail :-).

Shoots off another one to Dad/Mom:
"Why the Bullet: Its been there from time immemorial. Its been there when my grandfather was there. You have personally witnessed it. So have I. So it is a matter of legacy and would still be around when my son would be around (provided I get married). So imagine this as a 10-15 year investment from my side. Even if I get a car, I could still go around once in a while on the same. Then about the bulkiness about it, I do agree with you that for a person of small to medium build like me its not a convenient option.But getting out of your comfort zone or convenience zone is what makes people different and so do i believe in the same dictum. The result is something only time will tell and bullet is that sort of a bike which redefines a persons character too. I am not in it for the macho thing but for the simplicity of the bike and the pure experience of riding it. I did a test drive before coming to the decision. Things change with time. Bullet is no more the "the men of action" satisfaction thing..here even the girls ride it for that matter :-). Though nuthing much changed in the bullet from the scissors era it comes equipped with an electric start and disk brake for better starting and control. For the weight, it is just 15 kgs (well i think so :-)) more than the pulsar 220 bike from the bajaj stable which is of the pure executive look. Mileage is similar to all the bikes which were under my view a yamaha R-15 and a Pulsar 220.

And there was no answer to the mail....I took the silence as an affirmation (sometimes u need to see things the way u want to see) and went and purchased it.

After nearly a lac down, I officially got married to her on Sep 25, 2008

Well the ride from the showroom to my house was the best ride of my life (u can call it something of a first night!!). The sheer power of the engine and the ride comfort and the feel it gives u on the road is awesome. Every one do literally make way for the Bullet. So the ant slowly learned how to ride the enfield and cope with the size of it. I took an oath that i will never use the electric start on my bike unless am in a really crunch situation and I never did. Kick starting it is not meant for mere mortals and well I have got thighs like "Roberto Carlos" now.

She is one hell of an eye catcher on the roads... ppl on other bikes stare at her..some ppl ask me about how good she is.. the security guards at both my office and home treat me with more respect now...

Nowadays when the world is sleeping .. I ride her along the highways with the wind blowing into my face and thumps echoing into the darkness..