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...

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...