All posts by haikvr

The Runner Maashi!

This happened today at the Lunch table.

Conversation between Mom and Prithvi about his Maashi.

 

Why it is funny is – this Maashi doesn’t do any exercise. Once in entire 2024 she ran around the lake and got leg pain and stopped after that.

So it came as a shocker that she is going to run.

And the pun. run. done.

Sufi makes a friend

 

At Hillori one of the strays started coming and hanging out with us whenever we go. She is very friendly and very intelligent.

We named her Mike. But I think we should name her Jones.

Why?

So I can introduce her to others by saying –

“She is a Indie Aana Jones

for my non-tamil friends – Aana means but. This is an Indie but she is Jones.!

 

Btw this is the photo I massacred. My cartooning has gone to the dogs – as they say.

Donald Trump!

Is this fiction or reality?

Donald Trump is shot during the campaign.

The bullet misses him but does draw blood at the tip of the ear.

And a photographer is right there to capture the shot with a pump fist and an American flag at the background.

No – I am not saying any conspiracy theory here.

But I am awe struck by the amount of luck / good stars Donal Trump has.

It is not over.

He has numerous cases against him. The documents case, the New York tax evasion case, and not to forget the rioting he caused on Jan 6th, 2020 – nothing touched him.

And he won the 2nd term.

I am just appalled.

Like how Adnan Sami sang in his song – Lift Karadae song – divert some luck to us too! I am asking ooper wallah – look at us too a bit!

How can one man – Donald Trump – win once again against all odds stacked against him.

And it does not stop. A totally rational, engineer, scientific tempered man like Elon Musk – sides with Trump. But doesn’t stop there. Uses Twitter and all the power he has – to get Trump elected.

What is going on God! What message are you telling us? Life is unfair – suck it up and get on with our life?

So it is ok for some to have all the luck?

Poda God I am disappointed in you. How much good Karma should Trump done in his past lives – for having this amazing run in this life time!

Anyway – I hope Trump changes the world for the better.

Brings an end to the wars going on.

Finds ever lasting peace in Middle East.

Elon Musk manipulates Trump to accelerate clean energy and EVs in US and brings down the Global Warming temperature by a few degrees

And NASA partners with Elon Musk and focusses on sending humans to Mars and starts a civilisation there.

 

 

 

HBC Group Ride #2 – Horsley Hills

Sunday morning, Aug 4th I woke up at 4:30 AM and had a big task in hand.

Rewind back to Saturday afternoon. I was having some free time, and as the saying goes in Tamil – the jobless barber will tonsure his wife if he has nothing else to do – I decided to clean my MT Helmet.

On the previous ride a bird had decided to do its job on my helmet which I had wiped with a leaf. Some of the white stuff was still left behind and it had dried.

After making the outside Chaka chak, I pried out the 3 cushions from the inside of the helmet –  and soaked them in a bucket. I have this helmet for 8 years and thats 8 years of sweat that came out. Yes I was yukked out too.

It was around 4pm now. Cloudy and no sign of sun. I squeezed as much water as possible – and left it to dry.

5pm. Still lot of dampness. I borrowed San’s hair dryer – her priced possession – a Dyson hair dryer – which comes in a jewellery box! I was admiring the Engineering of Dyson while drying the 3 cushions.

ps : If you guys want to get permission for a Ladakh trip – first get this hair dryer and bring up the subject.- might work!

 

It helped a bit but still there was dampness. Then night I kept the cushions on a shelf top – closer to the fan – hoping the draft will dry it completely.

Sunday morning first thing I did was to check the cushions. It had worked – they were dry!

Now this is the first time I am assembling these back. Took a good 20 minutes before I could fit them smug.

Job done, I got ready and armoured up and hit the road by 5:30 AM towards Indira Nagar Big wing.

At HAL Junction I saw another guy armoured up in a Highness. I waved at him but he just road past me. Huh – what a rude HBC guy I thought.

But he did not take left to Jeevan Bhima Nagar into Indira Nagar –  but rode straight towards CV Raman Nagar. Not a HBC guy. He would be wondering who was that crazy guy who waved at me!

This time I reached within time and the usual chit chat was going on. There were many new faces – for me – more veterans of the group had come this time.

We started around 6AM and hit old Madras Road. When we came down the KR Puram bridge we were greeted with a nice fragrance. There was almost a kilometer stretch of flower vendors on the left side of the road. One of the perks of biking – typically which we will miss cocooned in an AC car.

At 6:30 AM there was so much traffic at KR Puram and lucky none of us got lost. But after a few minutes the traffic eased and it we left the city behind.

Stopped for breakfast at Aaradhya Grand at Kolar – and had a sumptuous breakfast. Their star item was Mulbagal Dosa.

This hotel attracts lot of bikers. Here is a Who’s Who of Elite bikes on this planet. Towards the end you can see a Highness had sneaked into this Elite list! The Red one with a Sofa for pillion is the Honda Gold Wing. First time I am seeing one in Bangalore.

 

We then resumed our journey and entered Andhra.

“Welcome to Sunrise State” the board said. Did some R&D on your behalf. This was the term coined by Chandra Babu Naidu in Feb 2015. Technically it is Arunachal Pradesh which sees the Sun rise first.

And immediately felt my innards heating up.

Whenever your friends joke about Bangalore’s Traffic and your retort on but the weather is better – holds good. Just 2 hours away from Bangalore and here I am getting cooked inside. We can fix the traffic, but weather – it is God’s gift to us.

We took a break closer to Horsley hills – after riding for almost 2 hours.

I recorded the climb up the hill –  had my Gopro on my chest – so this is the view a kid would have got sitting on the petrol tank.  I have to yet figure a way to fix the Gopro to my helmet.

Have to say this – there is something riding a bike on a hill. Very addictive.

We road almost 150 kms one way from Bangalore just for these twisties.

It was  a rocky plateau and the view was amazing.

On the summit we had a bit of introduction and handing over badges to newbies.

The oldest rider in the group – Mr.Pratap – a core member of HBC- is turning 60 next month and retiring from a 32 year stint at Tata. He had lot of stories to tell.

The youngest rider in the group – was a Super woman – just 19, in her 1st year of College! She was riding a CB 300F – and was riding super confidently throughout. Hats off to her Dad for letting the biking gene flourish! He had presented this bike on Woman’s day.

That evening I promised Prithvi – I will get your learners license in 11th summer break – 2025, and a proper license in his 12th summer break – 2026.

One newbie in his introduction said he recently added Highness to his garage. Someone asked how many do you have. He has 8 bikes and a Hayabusa was one of them.  He complimented the group for being disciplined and riding with full gear!

Around 1pm we started back, stopped at a random Dhaba  around 2:30 PM – who was a bit overwhelmed to see 21 hungry bikers. Yet they managed to feed us all.

We pushed off around 4:30 PM and after a brief stop and bye-byes at Hoskote toll reached home around 6PM.

Mission statistics 😉

A 12 hour outing. 320 Kms. Around 1300Rs expense.

Breakfast : Rs.270
Entrance to Horsley Hills : Rs.30
Lunch : Rs. 190 ( was a hand scribbled bill – no GST! )
Petrol : Rs. 800 ( got an average of 41kmpl )

 

 

Here are the SM handles for HBC

Insta : Honda_beer_club_bengaluru

FB : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556726514899

Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/@hondabeerclubbengaluru

Jul 24 Report Card

Finally I am back to a routine.

Routine feels good.

The entire household ( except Sufi who sleeps till 7:00 AM ) wakes up at 5:00 AM.

P goes running to the lake. It opens by 5:30 AM.

San does her yoga – Bhutta Shuddi and Shambhavi and joins Amma in the kitchen for packing Prithvi’s school lunch box.

Yoga Routine – Almost 25/31 days.

I do my yoga routines – all except Anga Mardhana – and wind up by 6:30 AM. Just in time to catch Prithvi come to the table to have his milk and some small breakfast.

On the dining table – I read one Thirukkural verse a day and we decode them. One of the Chennai trips I had got a 6 in 1 version. G U Pope’s version – the first guy to translate Thirukural in English – decided to skip – it is in old English and he has tried hard to rhyme and the essence gets lost  – Only the Tamil meaning by Keerthi is good.

We have read 44 so far. At this pace will take 4 – 5 years to finish all the Kurals.

Boy leaves for his bus at 6:55 AM. San makes black coffee and we read the news – I read the digital edition of NewIndianExpress and San reads digital edition of Economic Times – and we ponder over the world. Just when she finishes the physical paper will get delivered.

7:30 AM – Amma feeds Sufi breakfast and I take her for walk and she gets done with her potty.

Then I hit the lake for a run.

And boy-oh-boy I am back to my  good old running days.

Runs – 9 / 31 days. 5kms each. 

The first few runs I did not worry too much about my heart beat. It hovered around 160bpm and could do 5k in under 40 minutes.

Later I consciously tried to keep it less than 150bpm and the time stretched to beyond 45 minutes.

Even 150 bpm is too fast for my age – I think ideal bpm should be 135 for my age.  150 bpm might be in Zone 3 range.. but I cannot run any slower. Sorry.

Here is a nice article on zone 2 training.

https://www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/fitness/zone-2-training/

Strength Training – 7/31 days. 

I just hung from a bar. Trying to increase my hang time. It is less than 30 seconds now before I give up. For my age I should hang for atleast 2 minutes. Daily I will think I will lift some weights but I will reach home and forget and directly head to take shower.

Fasting – 1 Ekadesi – 22 hours. 

On day 1, I had dinner at 8PM and told the world I will do a 36 hour water fast. That means on day 3 morning 8AM I will break fast.

On day 2 – the Ekadesi day – I could work like normal as I was sipping water through out and around 6PM got bored and also a mild headache was starting. Didn’t want to have a fitful night sleep. Broke fast around 7:30 PM.

But felt good. Fasting after a long time. I think I will stick to 24 hour fasts – once every 2 weeks. Doable.

Bike Rides – 2

One was a group ride to the old cement factory. Second was to Hillori – to take a photo of Teesta next to the green house!

Books – Yet to complete

Reading 2 books.

1. Living untethered – re-reading it actually.

2. Blackholes by Brian Cox and Jeff Foreshaw.

Audio book  – The quantum series – a SciFi novel by Douglas Phillips.

My vitals at end of July 2024.

VO2 Max : 28.3. As per Apple Health, this is Low. Next tier is Below average 31-38.  Above average is 38-47. The more consistent I become with my fitness routines, this should go up. The highest I ever had was 37.2 in Mar 2018. I have fallen way below.

Resting heart rate : 73 BPM 

Goal for August 24

1. Runs. 15/30. Either bring my running to 5km under 40 minutes with 150 BPM or run 6-7km runs under 1 hour within 150BPM

2. Fartleks. Once a week. This is a high intensity interval training. Once a week I have to squeeze one in. Improves my VO2 Max.

3 Strength Training. Lift dumbbells. Do Push-ups. Do Planks.

4. Yoga. Add Anga Mardhana to my routine atleast once a week

5. Meditation. Not doing. Should start doing Isha Kriya or Heartfulness in the evenings.

5.  Fasting. Do 2 Ekadesi’s

6. Books. Finish the 3 and start on 2 more.

7. Bike – Horsley hills ride coming up this first sunday. Will squeeze in another Hillori trip hopefully.

8. Medium. Read the daily digest links medium sends. Lot of good articles on my chosen areas.

9. Reduce Doomscrolling to 30 minutes a day.

10. Start Amma’s culinary encyclopedia

 

HBC Group Ride #1 – Old Hiedelberg Cement Factory & Quarry

 

I saw this post in the Honda Whatsapp group created by the dealer.

“Honda Beer Club” logo had gone to Umling La! I immediately asked how do I join this club.

Someone messaged me the criteria. They want to know how good a petrol head you are. My blog links helped and I was let in.

That very weekend they were going on a group ride to an old Cement factory near Bangalore.

I being an introvert did not want to do a group ride at first. But the wife had banned all solo rides ( after she spotted me opening a package I had ordered with a dog tag with my name and her phone number – this spooked her ) – I thought let me try out a group ride for once.

So I signed up for this one.

Also My bike had just run only 120 kms since the day of purchase and the first service was coming up. It is always good to run the bike as much as possible as the new engine’s rough edges will get shaved off and the minute shivvings will get removed with the first engine oil change – and the engine will be all set for the long haul.

This might be a myth – as the new engine manufacturing technologies have improved and the engine and its parts are precise to the nano meter.

The ride was on a Sunday July 14th. I booked the first service appointment on Monday July 15th – the day Teesta completes 1 month.

Saturday I dug out my riding jacket, knee guard and riding shoe and let them air out in the sun. The last ride I had was around 2 years back I guess. Evening I went and filled petrol and air.

Sunday morning the reporting time was 5:30 AM at North Bangalore Honda Big Wing. I woke up at 4:30 AM and bathed in half a bucket of cold water – I had missed filling the bucket – our Apartment Complex still rations water – and finally left home around 5:20 AM.

Later I was speaking to one Anil, another newbie like me – he came from Athibele and had to wake up at 3:30 AM and left home at 4:30 AM. I kept quiet after that and did not crib about waking up so early!

Reached the Bellary Road Big Wing around 5:56 AM. They were just getting ready to depart. I introduced myself as a newbie and they repeated the instructions for my sake. We immediately left after that around 6:05 I think. These guys are so punctual.

There were 4 key people in this group.

A leader – Rajesh.

2 Marshalls – Siva and Pratik

A Sweep – Harsha

We riders are not supposed to over take the leader. And not fall behind the sweep.

Also we riders should not unnecessarily over take our fellow riders – unless it becomes necessary.

Marshalls will keep moving up and down and regulating the flow.

First I felt odd. Even for a bump or a small pothole the rider before me will point. And I was to relay the actions – which was optional for newbies.

This was so useful. Lot many places I either missed a pot hole, or a hazard like a dog waiting to cross the road on the side – and the rider ahead of me alerted me with his actions.

The signs that were shared in the group.

Our first stop was around 7:30 AM at a breakfast place just off the highway. They had arranged a party hall and a sumptuous spread. It was too early for me so I skipped the Masala dosa and had just idly and vada.

Big mistake. The lunch stop was much later around 2:30 PM.

Post breakfast we got off the NH highway and into State highways. Lot of speed breakers.

Then we got off the highway and onto a broken road – the approach to the old Cement factory and now abandoned limestone quarry.

We reached the limestone quarry – which is quite deep and filled with clear blue water. No algae no fish.

Here there was an impromptu session and the newbies were inducted into the club.

I got a HBC badge and a sticker for the bike from Rajesh, he was the Leader for this group ride.

 

He is Valerian Fernandes – founder of HBC. The Beer in HBC stands for – Bangalore Expedition Exotic Rides.

After some photo ops on the beautiful ( dead ) lake we headed over to a temple – Teertha Rameshwaram Temple. There is a natural spring here which never dries out. The teertham the priest gave was very sweet!

Interesting fact – for this ride there only Honda Highnesses. No other CB 350s or CB 300s came along.

Post temple stop – the ride was through some beautiful curving roads. I could lean the bike pretty confidently in the curves – I was following others and was learning how much I can lean.

There were no other stops. The Bangalore Tumkur Highway would have lot of truck traffic, so a little longer road was chosen through state roads and we reached Empire restaurant for lunch – around 2:30 PM.

It started raining moderately and I did not have any cover – but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

Starting from Empire Restaurant.

We made one final pit stop for tea just after a toll and all dispersed home. Bangalore greeted me with heavy traffic but heart was so full that I did not mind.

All my misgivings on group rides were gone. The group was fantastic.  We spoke a lot about bikes and very less of work and they shared so many stories.

Also this group is not one of the racy types. We puttered around 80kmph most of the ride and occasionally hit 100kmph when the roads were fine. This was exactly my pace and not once I felt they were going fast or too slow.

The organizers also announced that there will be a ride on the first Sunday of every month. This is fantastic as I can plan for it.

The next ride is on August 4th to Horsley hills inside Andhra. I have signed up – hopefully will be able to make it.

Here are the SM handles

Insta : Honda_beer_club_bengaluru

FB : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556726514899

Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/@hondabeerclubbengaluru

 

And Teesta Flows in..

2 marks answer : My next bike is a Honda Highness. Named Teesta.

10 marks answer :

Last I left the story with me giving away the keys of my KTM Adventure 390.

Then the leaving the country did not happen. That is another story in itself!

And I was left without a bike. What sacrilege.

Now and then I tried riding San’s Vulcan but I was not happy. The cruiser riding position was not to my liking. Also being a super bike I have to take extra care to park and keep an eye where I park – what if it gets towed or something.

First Stop – Triumph

I started my YouTube research. And it was full of Triumph videos. “Speed” and just released “Scrambler 400”.

I liked the Scrambler specs. It was more closer to Adventure 390. However the height was still a bother. It was only 20mm less than my Adventure 390.

One Saturday morning we went to checkout the Scrambler at Mahadevpura, Whitefield Showroom. Morning I was riding San’s Vulcan for a few chores. I got the test ride vehicle and immediately felt deflated. It was similar to getting on the Adventure 390 – I had to tip toe a bit, and the bike had no soul. Shouldn’t have compared with Vulcan perhaps.

Next time on the road you watch these old 150cc bikes. There will be a zhzhzhzhh kind of sound made by the loose chain. I felt something similar.

Both bikes looked really nice. However the looks did not translate to the ride. Perhaps they should have maintained the test ride vehicle better.

I loved the Green Scrambler’s looks.

Second Stop – Kawasaki, Whitefield

This is where San gets her Vulcan serviced. They did not have a single test ride vehicle – only the customer’s vehicles. I wanted to look at the Eliminator but they didn’t not have any.

San wanted me to sit on the Ninja 300. I did as per the Hukum but did not like the posture one bit.

Third – Non Stop – Royal Enfield Whitefield

I went back to YouTubing and Team BHP.

Looks like I was spoilt with the Power and Torque of Adventure 390. I should stick to higher CCs and twin cylinders. And San said you shouldn’t downgrade.

Super Meteor 650 CC was poking my eyes. It was less than 5L and looked gorgeous. The YouTube videos I saw did not give me confidence – has got lot of style and oomph but the brake pads getting worn off quickly, some loose bits here and there – etc. are still there with RE. Decided to overlook.

Though it had a cruiser stance – the feet were not as far ahead like Vulcan – I thought let me take a test ride and decide.

We both had gone for a mid-week vazhkai pirachanai chat at a coffee shop ( we sometimes take time out to specifically discuss our work life etc. keeps us sane ) – and return I wanted to stop at RE. However I overshot the shop and we had to take a mega U Turn – the Whitefield traffic flow is the 8th Wonder of the world. We dropped the idea saying let’s come back on weekend. And we never went.

Fourth Stop – Kawasaki Lavelle Road.

I thought – perhaps I should test ride a Ninja 300.

I have felt Kawasaki’s engine – via Vulcan – it is a lovely piece of engineering. It’s a joy to ride a well engineered machine.

Also Ninja 300 falls under Sports Tourer.

Something about my preference : I don’t do office commutes and I hate riding in City. I love the highways and long rides. I still nurse the ambition to do a solo cross country trip. I want the bike to support me there.

The only test ride vehicle they had was for the Ninja 300. It is a 8 year old design, manufactured only in India – for India market – so the price is kept around 3L – and was within my budget. But this bike was poorly maintained.

There was no soul, life, power – nothing. I had to twist the throttle so much to get the bike moving. And I didn’t like the race bike stance one bit.

We did some window shopping. Eliminator looked nice but I felt Vulcan is much better. Ninja 500 was just released – there was one on display. Looked bigger, seat height was ok – but it was touching 8Lakhs + and they didn’t have an Engine guard. Because they do not manufacture in India and it is imported. The accessories are expected by end of year. Imagine getting this and dropping the machine – or you have parked somewhere and some car hits your bike.

I knew I didn’t want any of these bikes.

Fifth and Final Stop – Honda Big Wing

At this point I was a tad bit disappointed. Just wish they made Adventure 390 a little less taller.

However, they cannot – for the purpose of off-roading the ground clearance has to be kept high.

I had read about Honda’s NX 500. Even though I was not planning to get one I thought let me at least get a test ride since we had come to Bangalore city.

They had NX 500 but it had gone for a test ride. Also the Sales rep said waiting time is till Feb 25!

The downer was this was fully imported. So it was north of 7Lakhs.

They had parked a bunch of CB 350s. Including Highness. I decided to give a shot at Highness.

The moment I sat on it I knew – this is it. I did not even had to ride it. The stance height everything was perfect.

The bike felt so light to straddle.

The horn and indicator switches were a bit off. But the speedometer was round and neat.

It was a perfect Bangalore day. Weather was hovering in the 24s, the test ride too me into Cubbon park – a nice long stretch and could touch 5th gear.

The bike was silky smooth. The clutch was very light. Gear changes were like clicking a mouse.

I had made up my mind.

But San wanted me to try the bigger CB 350. I took it for a spin but my mind was made up on the Highness.

Made the payment via UPI the next few days – to a total of 2.8 Lakhs including accessories. Next Saturday went and picked up the bike.

With me is Pavan. He was very knowledgeable and helpful. He explained how Slipper clutch worked.

That’s the story of Teesta!

Why Teesta. When we went to Sikkim we made a promise. We will be back with our bikes and ride them all the way to the source of Teesta.

Her Highness is Green. And so is Teesta.

Hence Teesta!

Some more photos of Teesta and us.

All green 🙂

Maha Shiv Ratri 2024 @ Isha

This is one event which both San and I look forward to.

My first experience was in 2016, my sister said that you should do the midnight guided meditation of Sadhguru and it is telecasted in Youtube. So I was awake that night – was watching Chess on the side, and did the meditations.

2017 – my sister got a free pass for us and we went to Isha center. Took the bus at around 12 noon, and was sitting in the hot sun till Modi came on a chopper to inaugurate Adiyogi. First time did the midnight meditation and heard a few people scream! – felt weird!

Witnessed a miracle 2 years back [ https://kvrlogs.me/2022/07/17/alai-alai/ ]

This year San and I decided to go by ourselves – Prithvi has exams and anyway he does not enjoy it that much. Even though last year Neeladhiri demonstrated his prowess with Veena and P commented – oh he has swag!

We drove down to Coimbatore on Thursday. This is the Shiva temple opposite my Sister’s home in Coimbatore. They are gearing up for Shivratri the next day – Friday night.

Every Shiva temple across the length and breadth of the country observe Maha Shivratri night vigil. Your spine is supposed to be erect and not be horizontal according to Sadhguru ( in Q&A someone will challenge this – in which scripture is it written – you can google Sadhguru’s answer for this 🙂 )

Thursday evening we went to Race course to an interesting restaurant called IndChicoo – interesting one on the rooftop. Saw a beautiful painting in their lobby.

And since I was the designated driver, I drove my brother in law’s BMW for the first time in my life – the small milestone’s in my life!

Friday morning we were lazing around – watching Guna movie. Around 11AM some of my brother-in-laws relatives came and said they are going to Isha. 3 of them were visiting from US – exclusively for this.

We thought – oops – better let’s get started. Around 2PM we made the move towards Isha. Roads were relatively traffic free and by 4pm we had parked the car and started walking towards Adiyogi.

This photo is from Feb 2017. See how the position of sun has changed – this photo was taken from the Free ticket area.

Here are some photos from the trip we made on Feb 2017.

The helicopter is carrying Modiji!

Rest of the post will complete some day.

KTM Adventure 390 Sold

Well. It has been just 20 minutes since the bike changed hands.

Morning I removed the helmet box, side box ( got it when San got her side panniers for Vulcan, she wanted only one – both she said makes her look like a delivery agent ).

My last ride on Adventure 390 was from the basement parking to the outside car parking.

I had lot of dreams when I got this bike. Thought I will go all over the country.

Managed a few long rides. Bang to Coimbatore. Bang to Bheemeshwari. Multiple trips to Bettamugilaalam.

Had an insignificant fall once. The only time Krishanu sat on the bike, I was being extra nice and put the laptop bag in the front, and it slid down and got entangled in my hand and I could not turn the handle – and we both fell. After that he never got on my bike.

Had a serious fall another time – because of me riding still on jet lag. Had a microsleep moment and I found myself lying on the road. That kind of woke me up. [ https://kvrlogs.me/2022/09/08/i-fall-down/]

After that fall my drive for riding 390 reduced. My speed reduced. Earlier I would always look for any opportunity to take the bike out. But slowly unconsciously I started taking less and less of the bike.

Anyway.

I think I am just trying to justify and patting myself saying – that we were anyways drifting apart.

Noooo. I want to experience the thrill of going on 100+ with the confidence that I can come to a stop if needed ( KTM always gave me the confidence ).

I am having that teeny weeny regret of having let go of my bike. But I had to do it. Next few years I am going to be away from Homeland for extended periods of time. Don’t want such a fine machine to stay unused.

Here are the bikes I rode so far.

  1. Hero Honda Sleek – 1998 ( My brother-in-law handed me this – had it in final semester of college ). Many of my friends learnt riding on this bike.


  2. Hero Honda Splendour 1998 – 2000 ( The fill it shut it forget it bike, I think it gave 80km per liter. Seriously! ). Had this during my 2 years of my Chennai life when I worked in TCS. Lovely bike. I took it to Tirupati from Chennai. The only long ride. And many office commutes from home in Velachery to Sholinganallur. The day I wrote GRE, I had a fall on Old Mahabalipuram road. A small child suddenly darted across the road. The car in front me, a doctor’s car, hit a sudden brake. I was in dream state and before I could react I banged the car and broke the tail light. The doctor was furious. The crowd got me soda and supported me – what can the bike guy do – the girl crossed suddenly. I was in a daze for a few minutes – the helmet strap choked me during the fall. Then I rode back home with a few bruises.




  3. Honda Unicorn. 2006 – 2019. 150 cc. After we returned to India we were out looking for a house. Once we went to see an Apartment in Outer Ring Road and could not get an auto back – as it was so deserted. These were the pre-Ola and pre-Uber days. Had to fight to get back. Next day we went to Honda showroom in Domlur and bought a Honda Unicorn. It had lovely suspension and San loved its pillion riding. Later she learnt riding on this bike. Rode it a lot from home to work and numerous shopping expeditions to MG Road, Commercial Street, Lal Bagh, MTR, Cubbon park… San’s family, my sister’s family would visit us and there would not be space in car, and I would be on the bike with one more person pillion riding. Oh those memories.

    This was the first bike Puttu rode sitting on the tank. We used to drop him in First Step – Montessori school in AECS Layout. And the trips to Narmada clinic – he sitting in between us – for vaccinations and during fever boughts.

    Once we had a fall on Marathahalli bridge. San and I were lugging lot of stuff. We had got 2 floor fans for the office from Home Town in Marathahalli. This was the 1st summer in our little office in AECS layout and it was getting quite hot. I saw some dark substance on the road – oil – and saw a bike hit sudden brake and fall down. By instinct I too hit a sudden break and the bike skidded and we both fell down. Luckily nothing happened.




  4. Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 cc- 2014 – ( with me still ). Mid life crisis! And REs are the solution. Got a 2nd hand bike from Bangalore – it had a MH number plate and I was in Mumbai that time. Rode it from Bang to Mumbai. Later would make one more Bang to Mumbai ride. After we got back to Bangalore it got stuck in paper work transfer. I found an agent and he was to transfer the papers and get a KA number plate. The bike got transferred but KA transfer didn’t happen. He has disappeared. My bike is in Tirisangu state now. Plan is to keep it for a few more years and mod it. This one will always stay with me. Has raw power and can feel the thump while riding. The feeling is Indescribable!

    But the brakes never gave confidence. So I would stay within 60-80. And touch wood – never had a fall in this one.



    [https://kvrlogs.me/2014/06/05/bangalore-to-mumbai-on-a-thunderbird-500cc-part-1/]

  5. Bajaj Avenger 220, 2018 – 2022. This was San’s first geared bike. She names her bikes – this was called FLG. ( Feels like God – the tag line of this bike ). Charu learnt bike riding on this.


  6. KTM Adventure 390, 2020 – 2024. This is like an SUV. Can take it anywhere. Goes really fast and stops like a full stop. Now that’s a “bike” bike!


    https://kvrlogs.me/2020/12/27/bit-by-the-bike-bug-again/

  7. Kawasaki Vulcan. 2022 – with us still. San’s first Super bike. After lot of analysis and Over thinking – finally San got this one. Now San was over hearing me tell Prithvi I am feeling a bit sad that I am without a bike, she said “Vulcan is yours” This is love guys 🙂 She is quite possessive of hers and she is giving me license to ride Vulcan.

    Till my next bike, Vulcan is going to be my Vaahaan for now.

So what am I eyeing next?

I started liking the adventure 390’s posture. Next few years I am going to live more in US. First have to get a motor cycle license there. Which will be hard in my visa status.

Triumph tiger is one I am impressed.

Honda Gold Wing – even though it’s more like a car. I am curious how this will be.

Harleys have always fascinated me.

In US I can rent bikes. Will not purchase and will get my yearly quota of riding done. One has to feed the soul.

Once I am back in India – mostly it will be an electric one. I love the idea of riding the Ultraviolette bike.

It is hard to keep KVR and a bike apart.