18th October : Mumbai

Vijay Wheelie on his Chetak and me on the Fireblade posing for the Cam on Bandra Reclamation. He is the best in India when it comes to poppin scoots!


We were in DNA, HT, TOI among other newspapers and on NDTV, Times Now, India TV among other Channels...
18th October : Mumbai

Ipan office by 10:30, meet the officials from Castrol and briefing by 11:30, after which proceed to the Gateway of India by noon and give interviews. Taj by 2pm, when the one to ones start and go on till 4pm. And then we are free.
This was the schedule for today and I was really excited and tensed. The former because this would be my first ever serious interaction with the media guys, that too Mumbai media! Tense because I didn’t know how the media would react to our ride – which to many is a waste of time and money…
The day started quite early as we went to Reclamation to meet some members and then rode through maddening rush hour traffic of Mumbai to reach IPan’s office. You have to be there to experience how it feels like to fight for every inch of the road. At places, traffic moved slower than a snail’s pace, all eyes on us (and our bikes…), being bombarded with a million questions. Thankfully we had Vijay with us, who made sure we reached on time and went around the office and talking to people around before we sat with a senior official from Castrol for some talks. Next I see is that we are riding to the Gateway of India, where we are allowed to take bikes very close to the monument and tens of cameras pointing towards us and reporters ready to shower us with questions. Where do I park the Jupiter, where do I stand, how do I smile and how do I talk! Am I looking ok, am I doing the right things, what are the journos thinking about us? A million things were running through my mind. Plus the bloody heat made me sweat as if I just had a bath and cameras didn’t stop shuttering at all, not giving us even a seconds time to wipe the sweat off!
The press meet started with lotsa still pictures followed by channel interviews, both in English and Hindi and in the end I must admit that Mumbai press was very cooperative and understanding and the more pictures I posed for and more the interviews I gave, the better I started to feel. Did miss the presence of our fourth rider, Sunil, but made sure he was told about to the press. After we were done with the ‘hot’ session, we proceeded to the Taj, for the one to one sessions with some media guys, followed by a much deserved buffet. Today I got to understand how things work out with corporates, with the media, and a lot more. It’s not always about what you and me think, but about a lot further. And then the fact that just a few days ago we were sweating our ass out in the Rann and today we were in one of the best hotels in India, with the best guys in the business and being covered by the best media guys. Lot of guys did know about us already and had been following us through our blogs and that did help matters a lot.
It was time to leave and give the Fireblade and the Jupiter for a check up at Zubin’s place, one of the better bikers in Mumbai, who know their job very well. Sunny had to rush back to the hotel to send stuff to the media and so I made sure the Fireblade was done up and took it back, while the Jupiter would be given tomorrow as fixing the rear brake was a tricky job. Oh yes, riding the Fireblade back, alone, through the Reclamation… but sunny was kind enough to allow me to take it for a much longer ride and some hours later, I was riding back to the hotel from Colaba, the other end of the town, alone, through the Marine drive section. Life did seem to rock at that time. With over a 170 horses between my legs, the power, the feel, the speed factor… once again – you live only once, enjoy it to the maximum. Every slight twist of the throttle turned heads, every single quick release of the clutch made the front come up. Nine lakh rupees will make you live a new life, every time you take a ride on one of these machines. There is un-describable feel about these super-machines. They can kill you, they can excite you, both at the same time. It was an awesome ride back to the hotel but knowing that I will have to wake up within a couple of hours for an early morning photoshoot did sadden me a bit (sleep is one of my passions too you see…) nevertheless, with memories of the ride back (and all that happened in between…) I am off to sleep. It’s been a long long day and a very productive one too. Tomorrow is going to be special – probably one of the best days in life. Hint : what Sachin is to cricket, John is to bikers….