Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Reborn to ride

Nandini Nair meets the older members of Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey on their return from the holy grail of biking

CHROME AND STEEL HE RIDES! Participants of the Himalayan Odyssey PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

A line of sinuous Royal Enfields guards the entrance of Café Morison. Inside, men talk, dance, drink, writhe and head-bang in evident celebration. They have just returned from the highest motorable road in the world. They have achieved the "holy grail of biking."

Fifty-one Royal Enfield Bullets returned to Delhi on July 7, having covered 2700 kilometres from Delhi to Khardung La (5,602 meters above sea level) in two weeks. The ride took them through Chandigarh to Manali and finally on to Leh. It was a struggle against the roads, mountains and altitude sickness. Sachin Chavan, with sunburnt arms and powerful build, is clearly a pro. He is one of the organisers of the Himalayan Odyssey. Having covered this track many times, he classifies it as something "between a picnic and an expedition."

Born again bikers

The group is young. Only 10 of them are 40-plus. The older riders are generally born-again bikers. Men who had surrendered their bikes for professions and domesticity have now re-claimed their Enfields and identities. At 52, Zacharia Samuel, an ad man from Chennai, says, "This is not a mid-life crisis. I am past mid-life."

Over Pink Floyd and through spectacles, Harsh Man Rai, a creative director from Mumbai, speaks about the ride, "I had done this same route previously by car, but in a car it's like a television view, on a bike you are surrounded by the entire panorama." He did not know any other biker but found, "The bullet itself is a huge unifying force."

To him, Leh was a "tourist trap", complete with "German bakeries and Israeli food," and seemed like "Goa with sweaters." Zac however, found Leh, "absolutely superb."

Harsh speaks with admiration of the Moore plains, "a high altitude desert bounded by a valley at 14,000 feet."

He was struck by the historicity of traversing the Silk Route on his bullet when years ago the same path had been travelled on by caravans.

For Zac the attraction was to push oneself and the bike to its limit. With thrill still edging his voice, he recalls "three near death experiences." He explains that the lack of oxygen at 16,000 feet impairs human thought processes. "There are grey moments when the decisions you make can be incorrect.Putting your foot down wrong could send you plummeting 5000 feet."

Theory and experiment

"I breathe Bullet. Drink Bullet. Bullet is in my blood," says a grey-haired Subash Chandra Bose. At 55 he has the distinction of being the oldest rider of the group. He has been riding the bullet for 35 years but this was his debut Himalayan Odyssey. He says proudly, through a full-grown white beard, that the doctor of the team told him, "Boss you are the strongest." This trip was not only a "life's ambition".

A research and development manager with Ucal Fuel, he also took this opportunity to conduct a series of research experiments with the bullet. Through a variety of scientific gadgets attached to his bike, he studied the performance of the Enfield from sea level to 16,000 feet. He is confident that his company and Enfield manufacturing units will benefit from this information.

This was the third trip for Nitin Jadhav, an auto workshop owner from Baroda. With a sturdy potbelly and imperial moustache, he proudly says he owns five bullets. He says the Himalayan Odyssey has been the only "maqsad" (goal) of his life. Compared to last year's snowbound ride, this one, he says, was "very easy."

At the end of the trip Harsh says, you realise, "you want to dominate the mountain but the mountain wouldn't let you. You become humble.

You come to respect the natural order of things." As the smoke thickens and the music changes, he says, "You realise you are still mortal even if you ride a Bullet."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail