Ghumakkar's Diary

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...

Not just the passion, few more factors act decisively while planning a ride. One such factor, that mostly overpowers the enthusiasm, is Leaves’ approval ! Plans to the RM2012 ride with other Bisons suffered with the same tragedy when Locha and I had to start the ride together a day later then the fellow Bisons. (For more on RM2012, click here ) Bisons left Mumbai for Challo Dilli ride on 24 th January. Locha aka Chemical Locha aka Amrrutraj  and I had problems starting riding to Delhi on 24 th January’s morning. So, we planned to start it on late evening, and finally were able to get on the road in the early morning of 25 th only. Simple pan - 3days to RM2012, we planned to catch the first contingent at/around Udaipur and then ride ahead together. Saddled up and all geared, we met at our usual rendezvous – Fountain Plaza, Dahisar at around 4:45 AM. Minutes there, some time spent on route ahead, we met brothers from Inddiethumpers. Hugs and mobile numbers exchanged and we...

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...

“Boot ” – done! “Jacket” – done! “Pants” – done! This…and that and all that – done! “Bull” – Oh yeah! Done! Leaves? Well, my Boss reacted, “ It’s been a year !?”, when I told him that I need these leaves to ride to RM-Delhi, I asked myself, man! It’s been a year since RM-Kolkata and I remember like it happened just another day! I was just a little over one year old riding the mighty old classic in a modern avatar- the Thunderbird TS, and still was allowed to attend the RM-Kolkata with the Inddiethumpers wearing their color proudly! What a memorable time I had riding with them to RM-Kolkata and spending the best time there with the godly Bullet fraternity! A year is still a long time, as I not only moved on to wearing new colors of BisonsRideHard but also now a day short of riding to RM-Delhi – the RM with a decade’s tale to tell! Made Like a Gun…is just not the emblem that suits the mighty Bullet, but also the fraternity, the brotherhood – we Bulleteers are...

One can’t do everything, but everyone can do something! 2011 ended in everyone’s own way. I partied hard with my friends, seniors and some friends spent the night doing barbeque at a hill, a friend spent it riding and camping across the jungles and so on. But, when it came to Welcome the Year 2012, we,  Bisons , rode to meet the  '16-till-I-die'  ladies of Assisi Bhawan. Assisi Bhawan Assisi Bhawan , located at Goregaon, is home to old age people, mostly women. Bison Sheldon proposed and planned this sacred ride for BisonsRideHard. Sacred, as it was a call of our souls and not just a hobby ride. Some 40 Bullet riders, Bisons and aspirants, from all over the Greater Mumbai gathered at BKC with some small gifts for the Assisi residents. A small prayer and we left BKC with a bisonian roar, following Ride Captain Sheldon in wedge formation, we reached Bhawan at about 5 PM. Sister Catherine and a number of ladies were already waiting for us in the Bhawan’s lobby...

(This is not a post on Resolutions, just the Wishes!) In few hours we’ll be into another New Year, year 2012. When I look back to the last 365 or 364 days and few hours a lot of tales, told – untold, experiences, emotions and a lot, I find swimming through the time. Few lines have never been sufficient to write down what I’ve felt, but a write-up of limited words is what I like to read and thus share too…. Me, Achtung, Rides and the People Achtung - BisonsRideHard A year back, Dec 2010, I wasn’t an Inddiethumpers . Year later, Dec 2011, I ain’t! I bought mu bull, Achtung, little over two years back. Rode some of the best rides with office mates, and then got to know about the largest Bullet Club of the Nation – the Inddiethumpers! You’ll die to join the club if you have been with them even for a chae-sutta ride, and so did I. I did my life’s longest ride of some 5000km , Mumbat to Kolkata and back, with Guri pa ji, Ganesh, Ranjit, Rahul, Kaka and others of Inddiethumper...

“ 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 ...