BULLET PROOF

Recently Hari telephoned me. His voice told me that he was on cloud nine. "Naturally", I said unto myself.He has every right to be there. The previous day he had brilliantly cleared his last hurdle to his PhD from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Yes, he had a wonderful open defence appreciated by all who attended. He has just touched the tape after the last lap of a grueling seven years at the IISc. But I had a pleasant shock when I learned of the reason for his ecstacy. He took a blissful retreat from anything academic and was on his way to Pondicherry from Chennai with some of his friends. "So what", did you ask? He along with his friends was riding a Bullet-350 and he was on the "Top of the world", a la "Carpenters". He told me that riding the magic machine at 60km/h through the ticklish drizzle was the greatest experience of his life. I felt envy for his youth and his bullet ride. For a moment I forgot that Hari was still talking to me. Fortunately for me he was too busy to keep talking to me! Probably he was in a hurry to reach the 'fluidity' of Pondicherry!! I had a bullet ride down the memory lane. In 1983 when I decided to buy an Enfield, I was told by M/S Marickar Motors at Kottayam that I can book one and may get delivery after six months; a neat four less than the "expectation value". I talked to my friend George Varghese alias George Kutty (herein after called GK). He is usually one with a problem for any solution. But this time he came up with a solution to my problem. He suggested going to Tamilnadu and riding back on the back of a brand new bullet. We went to Thirunelveli, bought one for Rs 15000 and started our ride back. GK proclaimed that I being a novice at bullet shall be the pillion rider. Nobody says no to him. We started our ride one evening and reached Mavelikara on the early hours of 18 August 1983. On reaching home GK proclaimed that he was going to his place Kumbanad on the bullet and that he shall come back after a week. And a hapless Mr. I remained a meek spectator to GK riding off with the "For Registration" sticker on the back number plate. I wanted to say no, but then nobody says no to the mercurial GK. He kept his word and came back after a week of majestic ride through the streets of Kumbanad. And there after...... for 17 long years.......the four stroke Thermodynamics at it's romantic splendour remained mine and mine alone. In 17 years I rode it over 3 lakh kilometers and just once at 100km/h on the NH-47. Those days, whenever it was raining, I used to go out on my bullet with no rain coat and helmet. With the speedometer reading constant at 40 and with Kishore Kumar numbers like "Deevana Leke Aaya hai" or "Yeh Shaam Mastani" on my lips, it used to be a soft sweet sail over the road rather than a ride. The four stroke beats resonating with the falling rain drops used to be an experience beyond description.
It was during the mid eighties that the Indian roads were flooded with 100 cc buikes manufactured in India with Japanese collaboration. I remember the Hero Honda ad "Fill it. Shut it. Forget it". Yes, 80 km/litre was unbelievable those days. They offered very fast pick up, easy riding and a host of other new features. Then Enfield India came with a small ad "Toys are for children. Men need bullet". True indeed. That's why men like Hari ride only Bullet even 25 years after the first 100 cc onslaught. Many say that we Bullet community is prejudiced. Yes indeed, we are. But then, this is no ordinary prejudice. It is RIDE AND PREJUDICE !!! Proof of the Bullet is in the riding. No rhetoric this.














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