Casual and serious thoughts / ಹಗುರ ಹಾಗು ಗಂಭೀರ ಆಲೋಚನೆಗಳು

Why Thailand? I n January 2025, I did a “South India” trip on a motorbike conducted by “ Goodwind Moto Tours ”. I immensely liked it. They announced a ride in Thailand amongst other destinations like Greece, Morocco etc. ( https://nsmcyberdude-thoughts.blogspot.com/2025/01/my-first-long-motorbike-ride.html ) I’m a conservative guy, after South India, thought Thailand would be a good choice. They drive on the same side as we do in India. The traffic is more disciplined and roads much better. So, it had to be my first “outside of India” biking trip and I enthusiastically signed up. Another reason was that I had neglected my health (particularly exercising) and my Son-in-law, Ashwin said “you are goal driven, sign up for some adventure and you will work for that, hence get back the muscle strength”. Do we really need a reason to ride a bike? Well, needed a legit one! Physical fitness 2025 was a hectic year of international travel for me from work point and I hadn’t got much time to exerci...

 The Himalayan A rider’s dream The first ever Motor bike that I bought was at a very young age of 57 (Yes, Fifty seven). It was a “now or never” moment for me and I wanted to go for it or as Nike says “Just Do it”  Before this, I had, in a  show of bravado, ridden my cousin Balaji’s Rajdoot motorcycle during my college days. Later on, after a gap of nearly forty years, I started tentatively to ride different bikes and get used to the feel. I used a rental agency called “Wicked Rides” #wickedrides . I tried out Harley Davidson and Royal Enfield. I also got a few bike rides from friends and known people who had these brands. That was when REML had launched the Himalayan and it had got mixed reviews. While many praised it performance and how it looked, few had issues with its build quality. I decided to wait for all the initial de-bugging to be done. That is when they launched the “Himalayan Sleet”. I snapped it up. This being my first ever bike that I owned, it was a moment...