Its not just about the bike

It all started while Johnny and I were waiting for bus, back to home in Tambaram bus stand.  We were in 6^th standard then.  My first memory of seeing a Royal Enfield bullet was then.  With the deafening thump, my first impression of it was that, it’s a heavy duty bike.  Those were the days while Yezdi and Rajdoot were also on roads.  But I happen to spot the bullet alone often and the thump grew in me.  Apart from the thump the Royal Enfield logo engraving was the next which drew my attention.  Slowly I happened to hear more and more about the vehicle.  The most common words were ‘robust’, ‘reliable’, ‘tough’.  It should have got ingested in my mind about the vehicle then!

2-3 years later there was a girl who rode the bike royally in my neighborhood!  She was Jeeva’s cousin.  Its Jeeva’s dad bike, the whopping 350kg vehicle with the gear-shifts at the right side and the kick lever doubling as the gear lever!  She rode it with ease!  I started telling around that I want to ride a bullet.  But then, I never knew to bicycle too.  I was the target for amusement.

4-5 years passed. Meanwhile, I came to know that the machine is made in Chennai.  Nothing else was required for me to admire it more.  My passion grew for the bullet.  To beat the amusement, I wanted to own one.  I decided.  To add to the glory, I though it deserves a royal treatment while owning and my way of doing it was to buy it with full cash and no loan.  There started the journey of waiting along with the desire to ride one. 

I started doing more research on Royal Enfield and it was the brand I chose, while Nisha mam gave us the first assignment on the very first day I joined college.  Then I discovered that Narayanan was riding a bullet.  Thunderbird was it, with the 350cc engine.    A new vehicle, he had flicked it from his brother and brought it to college.  I managed to grab the keys from him saying I can ride it! Touched 80kmph!  It was really like kite flying.  But the moment I halted the bike, I had no strength in my muscles to park it in its centre stand.  It was fun for Narayanan!

Then after few years, it was Abu, driving a bullet.  A really well maintained old one it was.  The vehicle reflected his love towards it.  All these people made an impact with their bullets.  Indirect Inspirations!

Almost no one believed me that I can ride a bullet and they all joked on my physical appearance that I cannot ride a bullet and I should first learn to park it with its centre stand.  With all this going around me, Bhargav owned a bullet too.  I used to bug him asking for a ride.  One fine day, a small injury in his leg after a cricket match prompted him to hand over his bullet to me.  It was a good 25km distance for me to ride.  There were opponents to Bhargav’s decision to hand it over to me.  He began to become indecisive.  To add to it, it was about to rain as well.  While others were opposing me, I went through and said him strongly, that I can handle.  That’s it…! After some time I was thumping in the road.  It was a heavy rain but I never stopped.  The thump kept me going in the Grand Trunk Southern road.  I drove it straight inside home literally dashing the gates.  And that was the day all the jokes stopped.

Now…

I own a 500cc bullet from Royal Enfield.  It storms! Worth the wait all these years!  It continues to draw admiration and respect from all.  Rural, urban, A class, B, C, D and whatever classifications may exist.  It just rocks and mostly, the next generation is also admiring it.  And now, Rahul gets inspired from me.  The legend passes on.