My tryst with every Biker's delight – The Royal Enfield

As an amateur blogger, I have been on a desperate lookout for opportunities and inspirations to write. And as charity begins from home, I promised my darling husband to write a post on his biggest obsession, his third love after (i assume) his lovely wife (just being modest :)) and of course his profession, The 'ROYAL ENFIELD'. In desi bhasha 'BULTT' as my husband pronounces it and also makes my kids say so. So here I go to write few words on the legacy of this every biker's delight. 

After years of waiting for the right time and appropriate financial status, the moment finally arrived. Adi (as he is mostly known as), my hubby became the proud owner of a brand new model of 350cc Thunderbird and also the first to own in the entire city. Have a look at the majestic royalty.

                                       

I had never experienced the kick of owning an exclusive piece until that day when the majestic black beauty possessed undivided by Adi, hit the roads for the first time. The subtle 'dhuk dhuk' of the newbie charmed the tarmac and took the new world with its appealing looks. Although black in any form is always beautiful but believe me this colour never entranced better. The distinctive style statement enhanced by the sparkling LED tail lights made the envious heads turn on the road. And to top it all the dazzling head lamps announced its incoming the royal way. It certainly made Adi feel ‘King of the world’ truly the filmi ishtyle. Every stop at the signals left the onlookers dazed in a complete state of awe. The inflated sense of pride made the new bike the most proud possession and latest crush overnight. Though caught in covetous fever, I loved the joy on his face when he donned the modern classic. Every morning, cleaning the bike became more of a ritual and my neighbors would invariably pass a smirk ‘stop cleaning it so vigorously or soon it will give away its colour’. Even I used to ride bikes but his unparalleled passion for the new bike was far beyond me. May be it was more of ‘Men and their cars’ syndrome redefined as ‘Adi and his bike’ syndrome. Such was the level of possessiveness. Anyways, it was okay till the time it didn't cross me.

Bogged down with the too much of this ‘bultt’ fervor, I decided to have a firsthand experience of the delight of riding one. Quite confident of my biking skills I asked for the keys from my husband, “Let us go on a ride and this time let me drive you. Its been a while you got your new bike and surprisingly I haven't motored it as yet.” “Some other time sweetie. Its still so new”. He couldn't have been worse on denying me. I would have appreciated a more sober refusal. “Possessive haan”? I tried to pull up my offended self. But naah! it did’nt make the things better as his next statement worsened the fresh wound, “Look, I know you have been riding bikes but riding a bullet is a different game altogether”. Quite unaware of what his words were doing to me, he quickly added, “but if you really want a feel of this beauty, we’ll do some practice sessions before you actually go zip, zap, zoom”. Awe !! this last hit was really bad. I felt abused literally. “I don’t believe its you who’s talking this Adi! Disgusting. Have you buried the memories when you slipped on me because I used to drive your bike and that too really well ?”. “Yeah I do remember sweetheart, but here we are talking about The Bullet”. Fuming with anger I stormed out of the room as I realized there is no point taking this discussion further. “I will have to prove myself”, the biker in me spoke “and I will do it by driving his bike even if he doesn't agree. Even if he doesn't know”. A vicious pleasure gripped me all over. In the evening after dinner, when Adi and kids were engrossed in having their daily dose from the idiot box, I slipped out with the bike keys. I realized that I will have to drag the bike out to some distance so that Adi doesn't notice my venturing out with his new found love. A date with hubby’s love. The mere thought of it rippled me with unbound rush of adrenaline. But soon the happiness started fading away as dragging the heavy metallica was draining me out. But then I reminded myself of the afternoon punches and motivated to pull the heavy thing just some more distance away. Carting the machine I was already getting the feel of the caliber in question and I reassured myself of that. After reaching a convincing spot I overpowered the monster and made a self push start. For a second, thoughts about inquiring about the basics regarding the gear sequence flashed my mind but already out on the mission defiance, shrugged them off immediately. So this was the way the much talked about tryst with every biker’s delight started. Careful about handling this touchy object of pleasure, I played safe and googled on my phone about the rules of the game. Armed with the required info I launched. I flip flopped the mundane regular streets to make way towards the nearest highway.  Riding at a comfortable speed the smoothness of the ride was becoming impressive. The elusive ride with a thumping sound of vroom was already taking my heart away. The king of Indian roads maneuvered like one with a hold of the ring like none else and also made the biker feel like one as the posture was so tycoonic. The immense power made me also fall to the lovely beauty and I smiled thinking of Adi and his emotions for it. Again the response of the fellow bikers and the envied looks which were coupled with a surprise to see a lady riding bullet gave a never before high. But the reactions also made me think why biking is considered such a male domain kinda stuff. Anyways, I drove and drove and cherished every moment of it. As Adi says, a bullet ride is best enjoyed at a relaxed pace and not by speeding up. I totally agreed. The land cruiser left me in a state of trance which gripped me all over and I just wanted to go on but then looked at the watch to realize that it was already past an hour I left home. I should have been worried about getting my secret drive known to everybody but after taming this beast there was no fear but a sense of pride. Ready to take a U turn as a I stopped at the next cut of the divider, my eyes widened to see a familiar car at the far end of the road. There wasn't much traffic at the road but being careful of the vehicles passing by I, waited for the car to come near. My jaw almost dropped to see it nearing. Adi with the kiddos in the car was joining me at the junction. It was a mixed feeling of fear and excitement. Fear of having ventured out secretively and excitement of having done it successfully. Caught in blended emotions I fluxed out of the crossing and moved to the other end of the road to stop and waited for my family to join in. And then the car came and stopped in front of me. My kids jetted out of the car and hugged me fondly. “Mama you drove papa’s Bultt !!”. The awestruck faces of my li’l ones unnerved me a bit. And then as Adi joined I was again speechless. “So you took the bike against my wishes?” There was a killing silence. My face all red it appeared as if it was enveloped in fumes. My hands and feet drenched in sweat. Holding the kids tight my heart went berserk, pounding at a riotous rate. Dumbfounded in a self created situation, I wanted to sit in a time machine and take a reverse route to home but nothing of the sort was going to happen. I couldn't take my head up and look into his eyes. I could feel his eyes tearing me apart with anger. Just on the verge of a nervous breakdown I heard my elder one breaking into laughter. Immediately joined by younger champ, I was stunned at what was happening in front of me. And then I gathered courage to look at Adi who was making futile attempts at controlling his chuckling laughter. I was going mad looking at the three men bustling with belly aching 'He Haw' and needed an explanation right now but couldn't gather the courage to ask for one. Realising its time to ease me out Adi spoke. “I saw you moving out with the helmet. Although I was fuming with exasperation, decided against stopping you and followed you with the kiddos. My anger started dying down as I saw you driving and mastering my bike. I was so wrong! You are an excellent biker who can drive a bullet too.” My tears which I was holding on to, all this while, no longer listened to me and rushed down to cool off my heated cheeks and I gave myself to the open arms of Adi who embraced me fondly along with the kids. “Now lets move back before the whole traffic stops to have a dekho at our family reunion”, he smiled and I wiped off my tears.

After that eventful nightout, biking together is a regular feature with us where Adi gladly agrees to switch roles. Days passed and we biked happily ever after. 

                               

This was taken on one such drive. Although face all covered its meeeeeeeee.