CONFESSIONS OF A BIKER

I’m glued and absolutely fascinated by what am watching on TV. It’s Discover Travel and Living Channel (one of the meaningful channels on TV with sane entertainment). The show “Long Way Round”. What’s it about?? Two guys, who love biking on their way from London to New York on BMW R1200GS’s (sorry for getting a bit technical there.. basically it’s a big, humongous bike that you can use to conquer the world) via Central Europe, Ukraine, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia and finally Canada (phew long way round indeed.. Why not just catch a flight??) Now everyone has a relative idea of what’s crazy and not. These two are absolutely nuts in my book and frankly watching the whole series I just fell in love with the show and the whole concept behind it. Besides the two blokes happen to be celebrities. One of them Ewan McGregor (of Star Wars and Island fame) and Charley Boorman(a well.. umm.. lesser known actor).

So what I am going to rant about is, as the title suggests, Bikers. Now these aren’t people who just ride two wheelers but people who ride Bikes, and there’s a huge difference between the two. A biker in simple terms is a person (male/female) who enjoy riding bikes (right enough of the mokkai!!). These are blokes who are obsessed with machinery and it’s like a sniff of some illegal drug. It gets you high. Talking about sniffing and intakes, riding bikes is any day a healthier habit than smoking or drinking.

Right moving on.. I want to break certain myths that people assume about bikers. Now being a sort of almost there biker to hanging out with real bikers, I believe am in a good position to break that myth.

Myth 1: All bikers wear leather, have livers hanging by a thread and lungs that have seen better days

The clichéd outlook of the biker. The guy drinks like a fish and smokes like a chimney and doesn’t matter if he’s stuck in a desert he’ll still have the leather jacket on. If u believe this, then frankly you’ll believe me if I say that George Bush is an innocent man.

Myth 2: Bikers love their machines more than their Girlfriends

Ah no, not true. Smart bikers somehow manage to balance the two love stories. However this is a rare case as not everyone understands the passion and they are constantly haggled by the jealousy of their missus. Best advice to women who have a husband/beloved who’s a biker.. gift him a jacket, gloves or even a scale model of any imported bike and trust me you’ll have him wrapped around your finger. Let me make one thing clear to all the womenfolk reading this, You got shopping, ice creams and chocolates, we men got our gadgets and our machines !! I rest my case J

Myth 3: Bikers have somehow managed to escape the mental asylum

I know personally that some of these lads are crazy and loony. Some sacrifice anything and everything to satiate their passion for two wheels and an engine, either by working long hours tinkering around trying to make it go faster or ride off someplace and chase the setting sun. Yes but tell you what you try it and see how much you’ll get hooked on to it.

The other thing is the look on most parent’s faces when they see their kid hanging around with one. It’s like they seen Satan himself and they know their son’s headed to hell. I’ve had to experience this with some of my friend’s parents. It’s hard enough being a sardar in Madras, on top of that this !! Life ain’t a bed of roses!

Frankly I can go on about the clichés and stereotypes but I think I’ve bored you enough and I know what most of your argument will be against biking being dangerous et al. Looking at the Indian road scenario, You might as well be the buffoon behind the lit cigar or the one with a beer belly. Well I concede on that fact but it’s not at all bad. Life is boring if one doesn’t take risks. You can sit in that office chair, or in our case sit in the classroom and stare at the blank board and day dream, but that doesn’t mean your dreams will come true. They’ll be as empty and meaningless as that blackboard. Go venture out into the wilderness (well our roads are quite similar to a jungle anyway) get you r hands greased, start up that motor, strap on the helmet, put on them boots and chase the horizon. Hey it’s not like your going to go from Chennai To Chicago is it?? It’s a very romantic thought but it can come true if you want it to, It’s your life!! Ride Safe !!