Hello Readers.
Welcome to my blog space. It has been forever, I had been trying to begin writing a blog. However a rusty quote says " its better late than never", so by that standards it feels good to finally start.
This being my first post, it would be good for a little bit of introduction to fall into place.
I am a 30 Year Young motorcycle enthusiast from a place called Ashoknagar in Madhya Pradesh. Motorcycles/two-wheeler/bike, call it anything or let it be in any form or size , these things have been close to me since long time. In recent couple of years the relationship with Motorcycling has taken the form of motorcycle touring. But it was not never planned to become a motorcycle enthusiast , it somehow happened with time. This post is the story of how it all started.
The First Two-Wheeler
It is obvious that the first two wheeler anyone in the world learns to ride is a bicycle. Same was with me. I was in Class 4 at school, the eldest kid in pack of four kids in our large sized joint family. Playing on the roof I spotted a small bicycle in the display area of a recently opened cycle shop in front of our home. For some time me and my brother kept seeing at it and talking random things about riding a bicycle. While we watching the cycle from the terrace , our Grandmother was watching us and may be she was in excellent mood that day because in the next 30 minutes she sent someone to call the shopkeeper. The cycle was purchased then and there cost of it was 1150/- Rupees (I have a tendency to remember such details). In next few minutes he sent the cycle home and " We homies ridin ".
It had a pair of support wheels on the rear to start with the learning. Those support wheels came off in a month & I happily declared I have learned riding the bicycle.
The First Fall
The day I was boasting about me having learned riding a bicycle and that too "without falling even once", my father did not adhere the fact that his son has learned to ride a cycle without falling. So, he asked me to show how I ride in the tennis court we had that time in our backyard. I took few rounds around the court and looking at him for the confirmation that I can ride. That did not happen. He said, " you have learned to balance on even surface, but you should learn balancing on uneven grounds as well". I said " I can ride anywhere ". He threw a tennis ball and asked me to ride over it. I took it like a challenge. A couple of time I missed getting my wheel over it , the third time I came in full speed and went over the ball, went off balance and fell on the ground with the cycle over me. Knees and elbows bruised and eyes overflowing with tears. I screamed at my father " Baba you made me fall".
" Now You can't claim that you became a master without falling down" he said.
May be this was the best food for thought he gave me that day, which I did not understand at that point of time but realized what it was after I was old enough.
The First Motorcycle
Life was still moving on bicycle when I was in Class 12th and had moved to Indore. I had to go to school and had to do some coaching classes in the evening and I was in need of something to move me between those places. I was 16+ in age so could get a license to drive a gear-less scooter. But my parents gave me a choice that either finish class 12th on cycle and get a Motorcycle once you are 18 and in college or get a license for gear-less scooter and use it. Whatever I choose this was to be the only automobile my parents were gonna sponsor. I choose to use cycle and kept the Motorcycle dream alive.
Passed class 12 , got into college. 18th birthday was walking closer. As per the commitment, my father asked as to which model I wanted . I was very practical in choice of bike. I knew that parents will get me the bike but I have manage the fuel expenses from my pocket money which was fixed. I saw an article in Times of India, which said Bajaj Auto was about to launch a lesser displacement variant of its then popular model "Discover". I liked the idea of 112cc Bajaj Discover because it was higher on mileage and lower on price. The Bike was approved by parents and was purchased from local dealership at my hometown. To my surprise, my father actually did ride that motorcycle 350 Kms from my home town to hand it over to me in Indore. I was fascinated because I had a motorcycle now. The fact that my father rode it for 350 kms had other implications on my mind. I thought he did so because transportation by truck would have been expensive. That is what I believed at that point of time. I used to think that there is a hierarchy of owning vehicles. Kids go on cycle , the young buy bike because its economical and when you make a career and have a family you go in a car. That was my belief. Today obviously I know that I was so wrong.
This was about my first bike. Did a lot of races (strictly not advised to do to anyone) from DC office to Navlakkha via manik bagh, bhawar kuwa in Indore. Never ever let anyone sit as pillion because my bike was already underpowered against the Pulsar of my friends. So, they had pillion friends and I rode solo to keep the race fair. For most of the time I never won those races. For the first 6 months I didn't fall , and then on one cursed day I fell 3 times in 20 minutes. Bizarre it was. Did all sorts of rash driving , leaning sideways while turn and the worst of all we used to switch rider and pillion positions while bike was moving at a decent speed. Did not have social media profiles or camera phones so not much electronic memories of all these stupid deeds. With more falls , few broken bones amongst the friend circle these deeds slowly stopped and became more sensible on roads and thus we all are alive today.
One of my friend had a VGA Camera Phone during later part of graduation. He had collected lot of photos videos on his PC. Those were later copied into my PC. Then his PC crashed and he lost all the content. I sold my PC but converted my hard drive into portable hard-drive to keep the data safe. But in the end all this to eventually loose the portable hard drive too. So, today I have no multimedia content of that time. No worries, everything is in my memory, hard coded and engraved.
The First Proper Long Ride
Amidst all this ruckus, there was never a thought of long riding on bike. We were racing , doing stuff trying to look cool and act cool. Then came Diwali vacations of 2007. My cousin used to work for tribal welfare at some place at Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh border. He had to first come to Indore and then leave for our common home town. Such was the route of public transport that time. He came to Indore and we went to bus stand for booking his tickets only because I had decided not to go home for some reasons even I don't know today. At bus stand the booking window said that there are no seats in the ONLY bus that goes to our home town. We went to the Railway station , No seats in the train that went 45 kms before our home town. My cousin got tensed because he had to go home without switching between to many buses.
Something went through my mind
and I asked " Ghar jaana hi jaana hai ?".
Yes, he said.
I said " bike se hi to chal lete hain "
He said " chalo "
It was 11.30 AM and we agreed to pack stuff and leave in 45 minutes to avoid driving in the dark at later part of the ride.
350 Kms ride , Indore to Ashoknagar , on all under construction M.P roads of 2007. That day I realized that motorcycle is not about only being economical. Motorcycle is about being ever ready, about freedom, about being independent. I was not scared but I was stubborn in some of the rules I had made for myself. Never drive without a helmet apart from the little ride to buy milk and stuff from nearby and I was always unwilling to drive on highways at night because I had this image of Trucks running at night. In that image of mine the trucks were monsters and I didn't want to face or overtake those monsters.
Even after leaving Indore on time planned we failed to reach home before it was dark. And since it was winter, daylight hours were also less. We reached Guna (45 Kms before Ashoknagar) and I decided not to ride further because it was a single lane road ahead with all sorts of unwanted stuff to offer like bad roads , bad traffic and kids that come on roads in dark to pee or to take shit and die and the great Indian Cows who love roads to rest and ruminate. (Things are better now on all those fronts but cows still hold there positions). So, I decided to stop but my cousin had to reach home anyhow because his parents were under impression that he is coming by bus. So, I dropped him to railway station where he took a passenger train home and no one at his home knew what mode of transport he used. Innocent people.
I stayed at Guna for the night with my other cousin who used to live there and left for home early morning at 6'oclock.
My parents were knowing that I am not coming home for Diwali, and here I was , parked my bike under the tree and rushed into parents bedroom with the black Studds Helmet still on my head.
Every one yelled in surprise and got scolded later for this act which was cool for me and reckless for everybody else.
That was the first Taste of long ride and from this day I was always itching for more of it.
After this ride this became my favorite quote which was also written on my bike's visor;
" Where There Is Wheel , There Is A Way".
That was about my tryst with motorcycling. The beginning of discovery of a parallel but yet totally different kind of passion.
But still one thought remained the same that "I am fond of motorcycles because I don't own a car". So, no matter how much I enjoyed the rides after this one, the thought remained the same. May be I did not even realize at that time that these 200-400 kms runs I was doing were something better than what I rate it myself.
(P.S. Why is the blog called meet Mr Mayhem? Will be answered later in the posts to come).
Welcome to my blog space. It has been forever, I had been trying to begin writing a blog. However a rusty quote says " its better late than never", so by that standards it feels good to finally start.
This being my first post, it would be good for a little bit of introduction to fall into place.
I am a 30 Year Young motorcycle enthusiast from a place called Ashoknagar in Madhya Pradesh. Motorcycles/two-wheeler/bike, call it anything or let it be in any form or size , these things have been close to me since long time. In recent couple of years the relationship with Motorcycling has taken the form of motorcycle touring. But it was not never planned to become a motorcycle enthusiast , it somehow happened with time. This post is the story of how it all started.
The First Two-Wheeler
It is obvious that the first two wheeler anyone in the world learns to ride is a bicycle. Same was with me. I was in Class 4 at school, the eldest kid in pack of four kids in our large sized joint family. Playing on the roof I spotted a small bicycle in the display area of a recently opened cycle shop in front of our home. For some time me and my brother kept seeing at it and talking random things about riding a bicycle. While we watching the cycle from the terrace , our Grandmother was watching us and may be she was in excellent mood that day because in the next 30 minutes she sent someone to call the shopkeeper. The cycle was purchased then and there cost of it was 1150/- Rupees (I have a tendency to remember such details). In next few minutes he sent the cycle home and " We homies ridin ".
It had a pair of support wheels on the rear to start with the learning. Those support wheels came off in a month & I happily declared I have learned riding the bicycle.
The First Fall
The day I was boasting about me having learned riding a bicycle and that too "without falling even once", my father did not adhere the fact that his son has learned to ride a cycle without falling. So, he asked me to show how I ride in the tennis court we had that time in our backyard. I took few rounds around the court and looking at him for the confirmation that I can ride. That did not happen. He said, " you have learned to balance on even surface, but you should learn balancing on uneven grounds as well". I said " I can ride anywhere ". He threw a tennis ball and asked me to ride over it. I took it like a challenge. A couple of time I missed getting my wheel over it , the third time I came in full speed and went over the ball, went off balance and fell on the ground with the cycle over me. Knees and elbows bruised and eyes overflowing with tears. I screamed at my father " Baba you made me fall".
" Now You can't claim that you became a master without falling down" he said.
May be this was the best food for thought he gave me that day, which I did not understand at that point of time but realized what it was after I was old enough.
The First Motorcycle
Life was still moving on bicycle when I was in Class 12th and had moved to Indore. I had to go to school and had to do some coaching classes in the evening and I was in need of something to move me between those places. I was 16+ in age so could get a license to drive a gear-less scooter. But my parents gave me a choice that either finish class 12th on cycle and get a Motorcycle once you are 18 and in college or get a license for gear-less scooter and use it. Whatever I choose this was to be the only automobile my parents were gonna sponsor. I choose to use cycle and kept the Motorcycle dream alive.
Passed class 12 , got into college. 18th birthday was walking closer. As per the commitment, my father asked as to which model I wanted . I was very practical in choice of bike. I knew that parents will get me the bike but I have manage the fuel expenses from my pocket money which was fixed. I saw an article in Times of India, which said Bajaj Auto was about to launch a lesser displacement variant of its then popular model "Discover". I liked the idea of 112cc Bajaj Discover because it was higher on mileage and lower on price. The Bike was approved by parents and was purchased from local dealership at my hometown. To my surprise, my father actually did ride that motorcycle 350 Kms from my home town to hand it over to me in Indore. I was fascinated because I had a motorcycle now. The fact that my father rode it for 350 kms had other implications on my mind. I thought he did so because transportation by truck would have been expensive. That is what I believed at that point of time. I used to think that there is a hierarchy of owning vehicles. Kids go on cycle , the young buy bike because its economical and when you make a career and have a family you go in a car. That was my belief. Today obviously I know that I was so wrong.
This was about my first bike. Did a lot of races (strictly not advised to do to anyone) from DC office to Navlakkha via manik bagh, bhawar kuwa in Indore. Never ever let anyone sit as pillion because my bike was already underpowered against the Pulsar of my friends. So, they had pillion friends and I rode solo to keep the race fair. For most of the time I never won those races. For the first 6 months I didn't fall , and then on one cursed day I fell 3 times in 20 minutes. Bizarre it was. Did all sorts of rash driving , leaning sideways while turn and the worst of all we used to switch rider and pillion positions while bike was moving at a decent speed. Did not have social media profiles or camera phones so not much electronic memories of all these stupid deeds. With more falls , few broken bones amongst the friend circle these deeds slowly stopped and became more sensible on roads and thus we all are alive today.
One of my friend had a VGA Camera Phone during later part of graduation. He had collected lot of photos videos on his PC. Those were later copied into my PC. Then his PC crashed and he lost all the content. I sold my PC but converted my hard drive into portable hard-drive to keep the data safe. But in the end all this to eventually loose the portable hard drive too. So, today I have no multimedia content of that time. No worries, everything is in my memory, hard coded and engraved.
The First Proper Long Ride
Amidst all this ruckus, there was never a thought of long riding on bike. We were racing , doing stuff trying to look cool and act cool. Then came Diwali vacations of 2007. My cousin used to work for tribal welfare at some place at Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh border. He had to first come to Indore and then leave for our common home town. Such was the route of public transport that time. He came to Indore and we went to bus stand for booking his tickets only because I had decided not to go home for some reasons even I don't know today. At bus stand the booking window said that there are no seats in the ONLY bus that goes to our home town. We went to the Railway station , No seats in the train that went 45 kms before our home town. My cousin got tensed because he had to go home without switching between to many buses.
Something went through my mind
and I asked " Ghar jaana hi jaana hai ?".
Yes, he said.
I said " bike se hi to chal lete hain "
He said " chalo "
It was 11.30 AM and we agreed to pack stuff and leave in 45 minutes to avoid driving in the dark at later part of the ride.
350 Kms ride , Indore to Ashoknagar , on all under construction M.P roads of 2007. That day I realized that motorcycle is not about only being economical. Motorcycle is about being ever ready, about freedom, about being independent. I was not scared but I was stubborn in some of the rules I had made for myself. Never drive without a helmet apart from the little ride to buy milk and stuff from nearby and I was always unwilling to drive on highways at night because I had this image of Trucks running at night. In that image of mine the trucks were monsters and I didn't want to face or overtake those monsters.
Even after leaving Indore on time planned we failed to reach home before it was dark. And since it was winter, daylight hours were also less. We reached Guna (45 Kms before Ashoknagar) and I decided not to ride further because it was a single lane road ahead with all sorts of unwanted stuff to offer like bad roads , bad traffic and kids that come on roads in dark to pee or to take shit and die and the great Indian Cows who love roads to rest and ruminate. (Things are better now on all those fronts but cows still hold there positions). So, I decided to stop but my cousin had to reach home anyhow because his parents were under impression that he is coming by bus. So, I dropped him to railway station where he took a passenger train home and no one at his home knew what mode of transport he used. Innocent people.
I stayed at Guna for the night with my other cousin who used to live there and left for home early morning at 6'oclock.
My parents were knowing that I am not coming home for Diwali, and here I was , parked my bike under the tree and rushed into parents bedroom with the black Studds Helmet still on my head.
Every one yelled in surprise and got scolded later for this act which was cool for me and reckless for everybody else.
That was the first Taste of long ride and from this day I was always itching for more of it.
After this ride this became my favorite quote which was also written on my bike's visor;
" Where There Is Wheel , There Is A Way".
That was about my tryst with motorcycling. The beginning of discovery of a parallel but yet totally different kind of passion.
But still one thought remained the same that "I am fond of motorcycles because I don't own a car". So, no matter how much I enjoyed the rides after this one, the thought remained the same. May be I did not even realize at that time that these 200-400 kms runs I was doing were something better than what I rate it myself.
(P.S. Why is the blog called meet Mr Mayhem? Will be answered later in the posts to come).
