Rendezvous with destiny..

Wednesday, 12th Dec 2007.

It was 8 and I guess I was on time!

I was glad that I discovered this place previous evening as I did not wish to either miss it or be late for this Wednesday meeting.

Today I was going to meet the other Bullet riders from the city.
To be precise I was here to attend the weekly meeting of 'ROADSHAKERS'..

the Royal Enfield Bullet Club of Pune..

As I managed to cross over the busy road, I saw three Bulls parked adjacent to each other, in an orderly fashion. And three guys looking at me, enquiringly, wondering about my identity and the new beast.

For some strange reason I was a bit nervous.

May be it was my anxiety coupled with excitement or may be my awareness of the fact that these fellow strangers were watching me.I pretended to be undeterred by their scanning and parked CHAOS along with the other beasts. Just then one of the guys asked me to park it in the same manner in which they had parked their steeds.

So I reversed and parked it in line with the other beauties..

Once done I walked up to them and I guessed the Surd to be Baljit whom I had called up the other day to confirm the location of their weekly meeting point.

“Hi I am anish and you must be Baljit?” I greeted extending my hand for a handshake.

“Oh haan anish! tau tune hi mujhe kal phone kiya tha na! chalo badhiya hain. Iska naam hain Yuvraj and he ij Omkar. Iska bhi aaj first day hain. Bilkul tumhaari tarah. Ab aaj tum dono ek doosre per khade ho kar introduction dena. Nahi tum dono na aaj is mote par khade ho kar apna introduction karna. Bahut tagada aadmi hain ye. He is the foundation of Roadshakers” he replied in one breath and then burst into laughter.

Surds, as usual, jovial, friendly with a cheeky sense of humour..

I was feeling better once I learnt that about the other newcomer. Omkar too had come for the meeting for the first time. While I spoke to him I heard a thump and saw another beast come and park it in the same line.

Then as if the thump never died.

Being new and a complete stranger I decided to watch, unlike Onkar, who got busy doing his round of talks.

One by one I saw the men arrive on thier beauties and then following the same pattern.

Park their steeds in line.

Greets and hugs.

I sat on the footstep of some unfinished structure behind me to observe..

The joy with which they were sharing their stories and events reminded me of the reunion of the Jews after Yom kippur.

In another 30 minutes or so there were about 40 odd bulls standing adjacent to each other.

A little close to 9, I heard someone call out and then Ajinkya, a free lance web designer, told me to get ready for some thumping.

This was it!
The moment I had been waiting for was here.
At times one senses things with supernatural abilities.
I believe we all are born with that ability.
But we seldom trust it.
Déjà vu, intuition or dreams..

This time I believed it.

I was baptised with the adrenaline rush.

A minute later all I could hear was the thump in the air and then saw a cloud of dust and smoke rising from the ground.
Amidst this cloud of smoke and dust I saw the riders lining up one after the other in two parallel rows.
Without wasting time thinking I squeezed Chaos in one of the lines.

I had inhabited this city as a stranger for the last 9 months and nothing had excited me as much as this evening.

As we began thumping through the late city traffic my anxiety levels reached its pinnacle…

I was somewhere in the middle of this convoy.
We were in a formation of two rows with each rider having a partner along side riding at the same pace, all randomly paired.

It took me a while to realise that it was a highly choreographed act.
If one slowed down the other partner waited for his partner to catch up.
Initially I found it difficult but soon I found my rhythm, and then it was just a matter of acceleration.


What I loved the most was the discipline with which each rider drove with no overtaking, no speeding and followed the same pattern without causing any threat or problem for the usual traffic..
As the convoy moved together.. the thump created was exhilarating..
If felt as if we were taking a victory lap..

Then it all got confirmed at the next traffic signal..
With all heads turned towards us..
..eyes fixed on our magnificent beasts,
smiles being hurled upon with rare raised eyebrows..

And to this attention I chose to act as an innate soul..
But somewhere deep down inside I was loved this attention..
I felt nice..
I felt proud..
I felt powerful..
And I believe that is the beauty about this beast..
It transforms you into something beyond your imagination.

After about 20 minutes of thumping along the city traffic the convoy finally stopped in front of a restaurant named ‘Frangipani’.

I saw another set of bulls already parked in front of the restaurant.
Then again there was another session of hugs and handshakes..

I just choose to smile..

Soon everyone settled down, with Manish and Baljit taking to the center and everyone else choosing their favourite corner and spaces.

Manish started the session with an introduction of the newcomers.
In total there were 4 including me.

One by one we stood on a table and introduced ourselves with our hands raised position.
“Name..Model and no. ..”
This reminded me of my hostel years where we have had such similar sights of introductions...may be slightly more complex and definatley more fun..
May be its always fun to be on the other side of the table..

This was a different experience, with people looking at you and you being able to see them all because of the elevation, thanks to the table.

I started with a fumble but then it got over soon.

Once done with introductions all 4 of us were assigned two mentors, Rajat and Yuvraj..
Mentors were to take care of our queries, doubts and loads of questions we had.

Then there were regular updates and notifications about forthcoming events and some new plans..
After which the meeting dispersed with some of the riders staying back to dine together.

Then Rajat, my mentor, an HR guy in a software firm, gave us a form to register with the rules and regulations clearly laid out like..
The safety precautions, the riding gear, a must for all the rides..
The formation details where there is always a leader in the front and a sweeper in the end.. to ensure that the convoy moved together..
I believe that’s where their motto “Leave no man behind” comes from..
How I needed to earn points to be registered in the core team..
The form had all important details like from blood group to email ids which was to be maintained in case of emergencies..
Once filled, we were to submit it next Wednesday along with a one time membership fee of Rs 100.

I was too excited to wait till next Wednesday so finished off with all the formalities and submitted the form then and there..

By far this was the best thing that happened to me.
I was very glad to have found someone to help me understand and learn more about CHAOS.

I decided to stay back for dinner.
That’s when I got to know more about other members and other bullet clubs.

Some of the founder members were displaced with time but they were still connected to each other for instance a former member was coming all the way from Nepal to join these guys for Ridermania,08 at Hyderabad, an annual event held by Royal Enfield.

Besides answering my umpteen silly questions they willingly shared and lot of interesting fundas and gyaan.
In short the dinner was a very warm, pleasant and friendly affair.

A group so diverse, so different and spread across miles..
Yet so close knit by a single bond.
One machine..
One enfield..
One thump..

Was it my destiny to be one of them..
I do not know..

What I know is that in just less than three hours a city, in which I was a complete stranger, for me it opened up a whole new world of passion, love, warmth and respect for me..

And now I am one of them..atleast in the making..

And while I write this I wait for yet another Wednesday to come..



** Pictures used just for representational purposes and are from Roadshakers gallery.