Casual and serious thoughts / ಹಗುರ ಹಾಗು ಗಂಭೀರ ಆಲೋಚನೆಗಳು

  🔊 Click here to listen to “The Himalayan dream” It all began with a general comment from my weekend riding brother, Suresh, that he wanted to do a ride in the Himalayas — specifically from Leh. Royal Enfield Motors Limited (REML), makers of the famous Royal Enfield motorcycles (I own two of REML bikes — a Super Meteor 650 and a Himalayan 450), runs an annual calendar event called "The Himalayan Odyssey" (HO). That breakfast chat over idli, vada and kaapi during a routine catch-up led me to suggest that he tries it out. It's generally a twenty-day trip, which I couldn't afford given work commitments. So I approached Mr. B Govindarajan, CEO of REML, for his suggestion, and he graciously directed me to Mr. Adarsh Saxena. A quick call helped us understand that HO now runs in multiple legs called the " Satellite rides ", and he recommended the Nubra Circuit to us. The timing and duration were in a sweet spot for me. I mentioned to Suresh that we could do it t...

 The Himalayan 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 of happiness, p...