Aditya Kapoor, son of the legendary actor-couple late Shammi Kapoor and late Geeta Bali and hailing from the First Family of Indian Filmdom, reached Nagpur from Raipur yesterday on his solo world tour, on a bike that saw him cover Indonesia, Russia, more countries in Europe, USA and also other countries. He reached Kolkata via. Myanmar and started for Raipur there from, reaching Nagpur yesterday. The talk was organised by the Rotary Club, Nagpur, Charter 5868 R.I. dist 3030 at the Chitnavis Centre, Nagpur yesterday. This gentleman Aditya is so cordial and full of life, that one could spend hours listening to him.
He is driving a new Triumph Bonneville, which has endured the entire ride, with no trouble of any kind. The tyres were though changed at 28,000 kms. The service interval is 12,000 kms which suits him fine, but he said he did the oil change every 9,000 kms. The choice of Triumph was based on the fact that British technology according to him has ruled the world since centuries. The other alternative was his Royal Enfield Bullet, but the 3000 km service interval as rightly pointed out by his son, was not suited for the trans- continental, long run of this kind. He said that he has turned a biker at a late age and had started with the RE Bullet just three to four years back.
Zeroing on the Triumph Bonneville, he got salespersons from the Goa dealership approaching him. When he saw the price at Rs 10 lakhs, he was a bit puzzled and said to himself “Dus Lakh ?”. Then he went to Mumbai and was told that a Parsi gentleman and bike collector had a brand new Triumph Bonneville, that had been hardly used. It was parked in his room, beside his office table. Aditya learnt that he could possibly sell it. This was the bike that was bought, fully checked up by the Mumbai dealer and made fit for the 35,000 km endurance run.
At this age of 60, he has had no untoward incident of any kind, anywhere and has carried fond memories from every country he rode through. Speaking straight from his heart , he maintained his schedule all through, starting in the morning but not very early, halting for lunch by 1.30 pm, a short cat nap of 30 minutes, with his head resting on the dining table, tea around 4.00 pm and dinner at night, but never driving at night. The halt was made at the nearest town post dusk or around dusk, for the very fact that he was alone. In Europe and Russia, he became friendly with several truckers. Sixteen wheeled, multi axle trucks are the most common load carriers in these parts. The truckers use only the toilet at motels and sleep in their truck cabins, that are better equipped than the motels. They thus save their motel allowance too. He found that he had misplaced his bike keys in Siberia, that unnerved his confidence on the fourth day of his trip. He had a duplicate, but upon searching and searching his jacket for a long, long time, he could locate the original safely tucked in an obscure, non- lockable sleeve of his jacket. Thereafter, he systematized all his stuff in his outfits incl. mobiles, credit/ ATM cards, keys, purse etc with chocolates being tucked up in the upper pocket for easier accessibility.
In a highway hotel in Russia, the menu card was in Russian. There was a huge queue of truckers behind him. He was unable to order and could only understand something like kidney beans for “Rajma”. A lady asked him “Indian” and he said “yes”. Aditya felt helpless as he was unable to order something fit to eat. The lady disappeared to return back after sometime with a tray full of Indian dishes for him for 100 bucks.
Again in Russia, a lady aged about 45, came to him at a petrol station and asked him who he was, sighting the “Not Russian” sticker on his bike plate. Aditya told him that he was from India. She read his passport which said “Aditya Raj Kapoor “. The words “Raj Kapoor” mesmerized her, though she was only 45 and must have never been born during the Raj Kapoor- Russia euphoria of the 1950’s. She called her husband Boris a six and a half footer from alongside . Upon knowing that here, this man is the nephew of the showman Raj Kapoor, the hubby happily crooned “mera joota hain Japani….” and told Aditya to leave his bike and dance with his wife, while he sang the song.
Biking along Geneva Lake (in the Alps in Switzerland- France), a Swiss biker on a 1600 cc Yamaha approached him and asked him about his journey. He parked his bike very close, just kissing Aditya’s bike and read the number plate. “Indian” he asked ? He hugged him after knowing that he is an Indian and about the 35,000 km venture of Aditya . They chatted for a while and the Swiss biker said he had been to India and had liked the country. A lady then approached and asked them to pay the toll fee of 50 Euros (Rs 4000=00 approx), to cross the lake. The Swiss biker paid for Aditya , telling the lady that he is a tourist . The Swiss biker asking him if he can lead him through Switzerland got an answer from Aditya in the affirmative. They went along for quite a distance. The biker never asked Aditya for his email or contact and said goodbye and disappeared. Such is the heart to heart camaraderie among fellow bikers, Aditya said.
While in the US, he had ordered coffee from the menu card costing US$ 1. Then, all of a sudden he changed his mind and thought he should have the coffee variant listed at US $ 3. The lady at the cash counter got the $ 3 coffee for him. As regards the difference of $ 2, the lady said she will pay on her own. These are fond memories that will remain forever etched on his mind, he said.
Aditya said that his new bike looked dirty for most parts of his odyssey and with his backpack and luggage appendages, he could be easily recognized as a tourist biker. The trip lasted nearly ten months and he had handed over his business responsibilities to his son. As is a Kapoor family characteristic, to begin with, he looked at doing something different from the ordinary.
Summing up, Aditya said that he had just a few regrets though. He wished he was leaner. He also regretted that he carried about 10 Kg of excess luggage from home mainly comprising dresses and ready to eat food packets, that he gave away en route. He did not have any health issues, but just a viral infection near Washington DC (USA). He carried all his first aid medicines from India that came handy. He also said “age has changed me and mellowed me a lot and perhaps had I been younger, the brashness of youth could have led to some incidents. “ Though he said he is a spirited rider doing no more than 100 kmph in the Western countries, he coolly whispered that had touched 140 kmph on the Auto Bahn in Germany, but at the expense of being reprimanded by near and dear ones (Yours Truly, now remembered the old adage "A secret is what you tell one person at a time."). He will be completing the last lap of his trip back home, starting tomorrow.
Summing up, he said “I enjoyed biking at 60.”
(Pictures of Aditya Kapoor speaking yesterday at a Rotary Club function at Nagpur. The local office bearers are also seen.)