Ghumakkar's Diary

Sometimes when it’s call of your Soul, you ride Solo! When I started, due to heavy rain couldn't take a pic of the group.... So, finally when even the last guy cancelled the ‘just’ a week old plan to ride to Goa and then Bangalore; I decided to do it solo! After all, I planned it, and after not being able to ride to Ladakh for the reasons which themselves failed later, I was to ride on any cost! This ride had been a memorable ride for a lot of reasons, especially with a lot cases of ‘just happened’ things. A lot of things just happened and I had to change the course or rethink about it at least. To start with, I proposed and we planned this ride just a week before the actual ride day. Samzy, Sandy, Monty, Rudra and Deepak said yes to it and later due to some personal commitments kept declining. Last being Deepak who said no, just the day before the ride. Ride plan was to start early morning in Mumbai, reach Goa as early as possible, have fun, ride next day to Ban...

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...

When travelling is your passion, you are bound to see a lot in your life, meet a thousand through your journey. I realised a day back only that most of us love to write what we did on our trip, what places we visited, how was the road, the hotel, the people. The People! Do we actually write about the people we met, or the men or women we spend a good time with? I did meet few people on rides, while flying or on train journey who left a deep impression on me. But, never actually took pain, if any, to jot down about them. Just them and there stories. So, in this post I will be talking about the People only, a few of the few meeting with whom I still cherish. If you RIDE a Bullet, you ought to know him There are many a people all over India and World, who love to ride. Few of them love to brag about there rides, most are just concerned about there rides. I belong to the earlier class, ride and blow your own trumpet! This person, about whom I’m writing this section, religiousl...

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! Th...

“ We may not be blood brothers, but we surely are oil-brothers on roads ” – Yeda Anna A good ride is all a rider can ever dream of. Few tablespoons of Sun and dirt over night long marinated masti and some secret spices of drama fried in low-fat high cost oil – what else can make a perfect ride recipe! Similar was the ride to a Virgin Beach with fellow Bisons. I wasn’t available for this ride with my bull-brothers until Friday, when my plan to ride to Chandrapur got brutally killed. Another ride is the only remedy for a failed ride, so I thought to join Bisons on Ride to Hedvi. A plea to join the troupe was sent and accepted within minutes on the confirmation that my Achtung has already been serviced.  Josh and the posers Joshil, aka Josh , has planned this ride to a Virgin beach near Hedvi, Ratnagiri. Hedvi is a small coastal village some 50km off NH17 near a famous (and thus crowded) Guhaghar beach ( a rider confirmed the beach carries significance attached to ...

( This post has already appeared on Bisons Ride Hard website , to check out click here ) Ever since I read Vinni ’s post on last year’s Ride of Faith , I have been waiting for this year’s ride. The day I came to know about the Bison’s schedule, I started preparing, until I realized I don’t have leaves. Few days left to the ride, multi-reminders received and I was like, will I be able to make it? Something happened, meetings deferred, jobs got completed and I was able to ask my boss for leaves; and, who can deny you leaves that too for a Ride of Faith, Ride to AshtaVinayaka ! I felt blessed that day, and now after the hard ride we had, I know I’m blessed! We are a nation of faith, which plays an immensely large role in our lives, being homely, officially or on the tar. Though Bisons have started riding hard the day they first met at BKC on a fine Sunday evening of July 23, 2011 at BKC; official announcement was made on the auspicious day of Ganesh Chautrthi , Shukla Paksha, Bhadra...

Have you ever been on road to ascend the heights of a jungle? A trip to Naneghat may provide the best of both, a short but marvellous scenic ride as well a moderate but certainly a demanding trek! The Naneghat Peak Naneghat is considered as one of the highest peaks in Maharashtra of the Sahyadris , the Western Ghats mountain range. At an elevation of about 700meters, it provides amateurs and  travelers , especially who spend their hours sedentarily in offices , an opportunity to reveal their limits, a chance to exhaust their hearts out!

Not always the miles, friends you made en route can too grade the ride. Ride to Mahabaleshwar came at the time, when many of the Inddiethumpers have started itching to ride. Shyamal and Karna didn’t even hide their itch and shouted it publicly on FB. To cool the sensations most of the riders were having, Moderators of the club unleashed the Ride Calendar for the years few weeks back, with the first ride to Mahabaleshwar on 22nd-23rd of April. Ride to Rider Mania, Kolkata ; Ratnawadi and Gaddha Mania, Lonar were the other rides did by the Club this year. A gang of off-ride lovers also had a small one-day off-ride to Shahpur, Jangal me Dangal ; and those who had attended that, were still searching for water to quench their burnt throat! Well, this ride to Mahabaleshwar was not only special for being the customarily first of the year, but also cause the ride was actually planned for the founder-member of the Club, Mr Daman Sidhu. Over 40 riders with some 10 pillions registered for the ...

Though I tried my best to keep my last post on Mumbai to Kolkata ride as short as possible, I know it was one of the long posts, people like me, try to avoid. Interestingly, still I forgot to mention a few stories of ride. Like, the Ghost stories by Kaka that we had on our Sholapur and Elluru sleeping bag nights, Shyamal’s potty- katha (tales), the gadgeted modified Classic 500 with cool speakers of Jerry the Sikandar and Akhtar bhai’s beautiful modified ol’ Electra with number plate flaunting 786 on it. Thinking about the ride and possible write ups, now I’ve started firmly believing that epic like Mahabharata can only be wrote on a ride ! Now as told, this post is about the RM Event days and nights – 22nd and 23rd January 2010. About RM , I’ve already posted a few weeks back, day before we started the ride. Anyways, if you don’t want to read entire post, here’s a quick summary. RM or Rider Mania started in 2003, as an Annual meet of All India Bullet Clubs, with Royal Enfield’s ...

Less than 2days to go before we’ll start for the RM 2011, the Annual Extravaganza organized and celebrated by the Royal Enfield Clubs of the India, in the third week of January. The Mania, or better known as RM, started way back in 2003, when Vernon Dias, from Madras Bulls, ideated to meet. He along with few friends, fueled the very thought and gave the forthcoming event a name, The Rider Mania. RM has established itself as a paradise for all the Bulleteers. It’s a place where the honored ones who ride Bullets meet, share experiences, enjoy and feel the thump. Goa was first destination to host RM-2003, with about 70 bulleteers. It was, indeed, organized by the Madras Bulls. Next year’s was organized by the then-patron Royal Enfield Motorcycle Co., who has also got registered the name “Rider Mania”. With the passing years, conflict of interest between RE and the community started taking shape, and 2009 was the first time when RM was organized without any help from RE MC Co. Kudos...

There is saying that what/how you do on the first day of the Year, decides what/how everything is gonna be for the whole year. After my New Year’s night out with Bullet gang cancelled, I had the notion that coming year wouldn’t be happening too ride-full as I wished! There came my roommate’s wish to visit some beach. Voila! I was waiting for that wish! A partner, a Bull and a Beach - what more a Beggar can wish for, on the very first day of the Year. So, with my roommate and two more friends we decided to visit the Kihim Beach, near Alibaug . I wanted to visit this Beach, since long time. Planned a few times too, but all of no worth. It’s less than 100 kilometers from Navi Mumbai, through NH 17/4B. After having late night party on 31 st , we woke up late and started for the Beach at about 1 PM. Aim was to have a peace ride, so for most of the way we rode below 70 kmph. There was a little more than usual traffic on that 2-lane highway, cause of the vacation time. We too...

For the last three weeks, we had been planning a night out at Eco Camps, Mahabaleshwar ; but to no avail. Last week also, we failed to book the camps, thanks to superfast, super- ghumakkad Mumbai janta ! We needed at least a good ride, if not a Saturday exotic night stay.  I had heard of Slope of Hell , from Inddiethumpers and also my regular ride mate Rudra . He had been there once, few years back. So, we finally decided to ride and conquer the Slope of Hell last Sunday. I was on my Bull RE-TBTS, and Rudra on his Pulsar 220. He was aware of the route up to Kamseth, Pune. Also, not much of information is available online about the place. So, our motto was not only to beat the slope, but also to mark it on Google Maps. We have though got it published on GoogleMaps, it's still not searchable. So, I am  providing  here a route map, and also the location i.e. 18.73, 73.54 . Route Map to Slope of Hell, towards West is Lonavala We met at about 7AM, at NH 4B ...