[sohanbala]

A bit of backstroy

I believe there are certain milestones in ones life as they pursue their passion for anything.This thread is about how a motorcycle made me meet friends who became family, taught me lessons that I still carry forward in life and inspired me in ways that fuel me everyday.

On the 2nd of May 2024, me along with my friend Vasisht, commenced a 13 day ride from Himachal Pradesh to Kerala.
Both of us met a year back as batch mates during the start of our MBA program at the Indian Institute of Technology - Mandi.
I still recall the initial few days of induction at campus, our program being a one of its kind course with MBA in Data Science and AI, most of us remained puzzled during the first few weeks of class.During the very first day itself my Mallu senses kicked in as I saw Vasisht join in for class, and I was right, both of us not only belonged to Kerala, but it turned out that we stay a few hours away back home.
That being said Vasisht with has background in electrical engineering and me with mine in physics, eventually started making sense out of all the coding and machine learning sessions. Once the heat from Python and ML started settling in, soon our conversation started diverting and both of us came to a common topic "Motorcycles and Royal Enfield"

My father used to work with brands like HM and Royal Enfield, I grew up listening to his stories about Enfield India, and later stories from our family friends who were on the board of Enfield Madras, stories on how Enfield came to India and how British engineers were sent to inspect and support during initial days of Madras Motorcycles.
Even with all the good stories my father was always a bit upset when Enfield was loosing popularity in India during the early 2000s, yet he was positive after Eicher group took over Enfield ,and yes, things did change for the better.
I still remember his wide open smile when the classic was launched in 2009. He used to describe me news articles about Royal Enifields new Oragadam plant and their expansion plans.
Since then the name Siddhartha Lal had remained in my mind, my father used to describe how Mr Lal is reviving the entire brand in India. I was still 16 and clueless on even how to ride a motorcycle.
However with broadband internet being more accessible, I sure did follow every news on Royal Enfield and the new plant.

Fast Forward to 2015

It's my final year in college and for the last 2 years I've been working part-time with all kind of jobs I can find in my free time, all for just one goal. Be able to afford my first motorcycle before college ends.
I learned how to ride on my elder brothers Yamaha RX 135, ever since then I've been in love with simple, fun, motorcycles. Sadly this taste didn't give me much options for my first bike, I was left with very limited choices back then, I used to go and check every brand store, to see if there's something I liked, one fine day I randomly came across a yellow bee like motorcycle buzzing by my side. And that was a Royal Enfield Continental GT 535.
I was absolutely taken for a joy ride when I started looking up the internet, as I read more about cafe racers, the history and of course, names like Harris Performance who was behind the 535. I instantly started falling in love with the Continental GT 535, within the next 2 months I got myself a brand new Continental GT 535 Black in 2015.
Since then something beautiful happened, being very keen on my motorcycle to all nicks and bits, I was quite frequent at the service center, even for the slightest of my concerns, I was bugging the service managers and technicians, not only did they help me every time, but very soon they all turned as good friends.

Rockers REunited

Hardly a year passed since I got my GT535, I was so puzzled seeing very few 535s on roads in my city, close to none I'd say.
One day I came across another 535 customer at the Service center, we spoke for a few minutes, exchanged numbers and left, little did I know that this was the start of something epic.We kept meeting occasionally and started riding together for short city meets or an evening coffee, one day it just crossed my mind, "why not start a community exclusive for the RE CGT535 in our hometown" , with just 2 of us onboard this seemed quite a task, from that very day we started chasing every 535s we see on road, Service Center, be it anywhere.. and started asking them to join the group. After the first 4 months, we gained 10 members from my own city.With 10 members in hand we approached our dealer with the club idea, who happily connected us to the rides team of Royal Enfield Kerala.With their support we were able to onboard more 535s, withing a year Rockers REunited was a statewide community with more than 800 members and monthly meetups across the state.
It was this during this time where I saw people of different age groups, different background and culture bond faster with you than your own classmates.



One of those many weekend meetups with Rokcers REunited, circa 2017


January 2024

Post COVID Rockers REunited became a bit sluggish, still we managed to kick things back with adding micro chapters in Brazil and France.

8 years have flown by, a lot has changed, after 4 years of work life, I decided to pursue my PG in Management, being a person who loved anything technical, I was quite sure that this is where my interests would align, and I joined IIT Mandi, for my MBA in Data Science and AI.

After the first few weeks itself, our batch started preparing for the summer internship programs ahead. Some of us took up a few data centered projects online, very soon I hit my first major question.
While everyone seemed happy being in analyst roles, my question was" How can one be a good data driven manager unless you know what happens on the floor and from where all the data comes from" .

I shared this thought with Vasisht and it didn't take much time for him to agree on the same. With that in mind and with the love for motoring, Royal Enfield was an obvious choice to go for, having gone from a near closure two decades back to becoming an iconic profitable brand in home ground and global markets is quite a feat.
The next question was whether to try for strategy related roles in RE Chennai HQ or Kerala Regional Office.
I have always believed in starting from the fundamentals, besides that, getting to learn from your own home market where we can relate more would be an added advantage, hence we decided to try for Kerala Regional Office, RO being located in Cochin, 6 hrs away from our hometown, many folks suggested it won't be a good decision since Chennai was just 11 Hrs away, however I still believe we made the right choice.We know our own market and customer dynamics to a large extent, this would allow us to relate and even explore the market more easily.Besides being an auto head, what's better than knowing your own auto market better

I reached out to a few of my contacts in RE Chennai( all people who I met as a customer and turned out as friends). They totally supported the idea and helped us onboard swiftly.

April 2024

3 months flew by, we were due to start our internships in another 3 weeks, with over 10 products in the middle weight segment constituting to 93.8% market share, we were certain to learn a lot from Royal Enfields customer experience, dealership network and business aspects.Once we know whats happening on the ground we can figure out how we can make things even better.
One evening we were discussing this with my batch-mates.
It was at this point Vasisht floated the idea, he looked at me and said "It will take 6 days to send our bike from home to Delhi "
I knew what he intended by this, I could already see an All India Ride to Kerala brewing in his head.

This was the time the whole of North was experiencing intense heatwaves.The whole night I sat wondering if such a ride would be possible, riding 2 bikes across the country sounded too much for me, but the thought of being able to stop at all Royal Enfield dealerships along the way, getting to experience the regional differences and probably gather some data about the regional market and individual trends, was quite a lucrative idea.
At 3 in the morning Vasisht knocked at my hostel room, I was still awake checking distance and possible routes. I told him the shortest route itself would be 6-7 days of riding, which I'm uncertain of doing in this heat.
He smiled and said, my classic 350 will be sent from home tomorrow by tain, we can ride in turns with one bike, so that its less stressful in this heat.
I just said "OK"

MAY 2nd 2024

2 days back we went to Chandigarh picked up the motorcycle and brought it to Mandi in Himachal Pradesh.
With a quick ride plan in hand, we ordered most of our essentials including a tent and riding gear to be delivered to our friends in Delhi, so that we can pick them on the way.The motorcycle also needed a full fluid change and checkup before we start.
Anyway we decided to start off on a clear noon, with the bag secured and our spirits high.




With the IIT Mandi Campus in background we decided to take a stop at Rishi Markandeya temple near IIIT campus in Kamand.


Vasisht being his usual poser self for pictures.




Local folklore relates the story of how Shiva protected Markandeya from the clutches of death, personified as Yama.

We started down to Mandi town which is 21 Kms away, the nearest Royal Enfield SC also happens to be there.
We reached the dealership, Riverpool Royal Enfield by around 4PM, I had no hopes to get the bike serviced and checked that day since we were too late and didn't even have a booking made, anyway we met the service manager and explained our ride plan, and to our surprise he instantly took the bike in for service and assured us to finish everything within 3 hrs.



As we waited we met motorists from all over the world, solo riders and some in groups, all of them stopping here for a final check before they enter Manali, and all of them had the same destination "Leh"

As we were talking to them, the service advisor explained how Royal Enfield has a support team station just an hour away from the last motorable road in India, and had a region specific program where riders can inform RE about their Ride Plan to Leh and a RE local representative will assist them with route information and ride technical throughout their ride.
We spent the next hour at the dealership checking out the bikes and just observing pointers while making notes on various customer aspects.

With that being said we made some good friends there, they wished us GoodLuck for the ride and left us with happy waves.






Mandi to Chandigarh




We kicked off back to the roads, with Chandigarh planned as our first stop, so far we have made no hotel bookings or any route plans made, we decided we'll chart things once we reach Delhi.
We rang up our class mate Vidit, who gladly invited us to stop over at his home in Chandigarh.



Thanks to the elevation and longer days, despite of being 6pm, we had some daylight as we left to Chandigarh which is 3.5 Hrs away

Nothing like Ghar ka Khana, thanks to Vidit and his family, we finally had some good home food after our months of mess food.



We decided to have a quick night drive around the city after dinner.
I would have loved to attach more pictures from Rose Garden and Boat Club, unfortunately the night pics I took don't do any justice to how beautiful this city is.



Chandigarh to Delhi

We started off a bit early, to avoid the super sunny morning.
We waved goodbye to Vidits family and rode straight to Delhi.

Though it was just 250 Kms to Delhi, some unexpected congestion on the road slowed us up. By now the heat has started to take a toll on us, after being in the comfortable Himachal climate for too long, this was too much to handle.



Here's one picture from the three water breaks we had until we reached Delhi.


Attachment 2625485

From an average of 10 Celsius at Himachal, all the way up to 37 celsius in Delhi was quite a jump.

We decided to stay the night with some friends in Delhi, and plan up what next.
So far, as per the heat maps, taking any of the coastal roads would be a very bad idea,the ongoing elections were another concern.
We decided to take the middle route as per the following.

Delhi-Agra-Jhansi-Jabalpur-Hyderabad-Bangalore-Mysore-Kerala

Delhi to Agra

We left Delhi by morning 8AM,



While maps showed a 4Hr Ride, it took us almost 6 to reach with 2 breaks in between, the heat kept growing Intense, we just wanted to reach Agra somehow, where our friend Pratyush lives. We decided to stay there for the night do some sightseeing the next day and leave day after to Jhansi.



We reached Agra by noon, got lost twice in an ally, lost the bike keys once, but sorted it in between.Somehow we reached our friends home by3PM
After freshening up at Pratyush home, we finished a dealer visit nearby.

Next day morning, we treated ourselves to some Agra Bedai



And then we headed straight to the Taj.



After 2 Hrs of roaming we definitely knew we had to get back and sort things for Jhansi tomorrow.



Me and Vasisht, we were literally telling each other that, "finally we made this ride happen".
Evening we visited another RE Service center nearby, got the chain cleaned and lubed.



Agra to Jhansi

We packed our bags and started early to Jhansi, by now Vasisht has become an expert in securing the bag.



With the heat building we were taking breaks every hour and strictly adhered to no rides from 11AM-3PM

A quick stop at Jhansi Fort



I reached out to a friend, whom I have not met in 13 years, I knew he was recently posted and Jhansi and upon contacting, he happily made arrangements for our stay at Jhansi.
Despite of reaching late, it was incredible to catch up with an old friend after 13 long years.
How I wish we had more time in Jhansi, now with the heat building up intensely, we had to start riding early.

Jhansi to Jabalpur

We've been having sugarcane juice and water breaks alternatively, throughout the ride.




After an early breakfast we decided to ride straight to Jabalpur, Col.Lee who I fondly remember from Rockers REunited stayed at Jabalpur, he was riding with us on his GT535 when he was posted in Kerala, the last time we met was in 2017, we decided to catch up that evening and it was sheer delight to meet a fellow rider after ages.



Not only did Col.Lee meet us, he called in a few of his usual riding friends in Jabalpur to meet, it was fun listening too all of their riding stories and experiences with different REs like the Himalayan and Meteor.

Next day we spent some time checking the local dealership, we also had the throttle cable replacement done at an RE SC.



So far, at every RE Service Center, when we mentioned we are riding, they have given us priority tags and made sure we had a seamless experience without having to wait much


Jabalpur to Hyderabad


We were running short of time, I had to get to Bangalore by the 12th for a meeting.
We decided to ride in straight to Hyderabad, on our way we stopped to put up a tent and rest for a while, BAM!
There was a sudden gust of sand, we literally had to run for shelter. To top things up, it started raining, while all the bags had rain covers, getting our rain jackets from the bag was a task we did not even want to attempt.
We parked in for around an hour for the rains to settle in and then we resumed.



Came across this beautiful field as we were riding down.

By around 8PM, we reached Adialabad, with no good stays nearby our location we decided to tent up that night.

Rise and Shine, wasn't really the most comfortable sleep, but I did sleep.



We stopped again at 2 dealerships on the way, just casually checking out, and of course made some wonderful friend there.



After another 5 hour ride, we finally reached Hyderabad



There's this wonderful feeling when you travel for so many days and finally you end up in a place you're familiar with.

First thing in the evening, we headed straight for some tea at Niloufer



Always been a fan of their tea and bun, finally we called it a night after meeting several old friends from college and school at CyberCity



Hyderabad to Bengaluru


We decided to do this 600Km stretch without much stops, after leaving early morning from Hyderabad, we took our lunch break on route.
Sometime before entering Bengaluru we stopped at this spot, camped around and took a break.



Bengaluru always felt like a second home from Kerala, with most of our frieds and batch mates around, we got 2 full days of rest in Bengaluru, giving us ample time for dealer visits and catching up with many good old friends.

Bengaluru to Kerala

Its been 10 days since we left Mandi, without loosing much more time, we left early morning straight to Mysore, stopped at Payana Museum and entered Kerala through Bandipur.



Such an amazing sight to see this after spending so many days on the move.
We spent the night at Calicut Kerala, and moved to Cochin Regional Office the next day morning to meet our manager.

Finally at Royal Enfield Regional office Cochin



13 Days across India, covering 11 states and with visits at 23 Royal Enfield stores along the way, this ride down from IIT Mandi to Royal Enfield Regional Office Cochin was purely propelled by passion, the changes we noticed across the country in customer interests, experience and perception is sure to help us during our time with Royal Enfield.

I would like to thank all our friends, family and beloved brotherhood of riders for all the support. Finally a "Thankyou" to the amazing team at Royal Enfield for supporting me as a manufacturer while a customer and now as a mentor while we steer our career.

[Kkumar]

What a wonderful travelogue that has been executed with passion. You are indeed lucky to have picked up a profession that helps you fulfil your passion. Congratulations on successfully completing such a wonderful ride across the country against the elements. Waiting to hear more stories from you. Keep on munching miles.

[Shobhitsaxena]

Wonderful capture of the emotions and memories you have created. Wishing you many more of these and looking forward to reading and seeing more such travel diaries.

[boniver]

I love reading travelogues like this. There is no better way to explore our country than on a motorcycle, and you have made the entire experience even better by adding the unique touch of visiting Royal Enfield service centres on the way. I hope to read another travelogue from you about the return trip, and if you decide to stop in Delhi on the way back, I'd be glad to catch up with you guys and listen to your stories. Till then, ride safe.