I don’t know exactly when. The “Travel Bug” bit me very early. As early as a 6th grader, I was wondering, how it would look like in the middle of “The Land of a Thousand Lakes”. By 10th grade, the most interesting subjects to me were Mathematics and Geography. Place names like “Kalgoorlie & Coolgardie”, sounded like mystic characters in an epic movie. Reading fiction was out, History and Geography were in. Atlas was more fun than Biology. By then I could draw the borders of every country in the world, kind of, and name every capital of those countries and mark them on maps. I think, that was the beginning of “World, Borderless!”
But travel needs time, money and energy. Building a career leaves no time for long breaks. Finally, totally unexpectedly, the time poured in. I should thank “bunch of people” for that. The mindset for long journey was already there. Just needed some fire to ignite the fuel. In 2011, got a Royal Enfield Bullet Classic 500. That was fun. I was crisscrossing on the Bullet all over the town. Still did not ignite the fuel, though.
Then lightning struck. In Bangalore, while on a trip, visited a Harley Davidson dealership, to have a casual look. That was a long, long, enthusiastic look. Move over Bullet, welcome, Harley Davidson Fatboy. That was enough for an explosion. That changed everything. I never knew a bike will change the way I live, laugh, enjoy and being me.
After a couple of solo rides to Bangalore, my eyes were set on Goa for IHR 2014 in February – an annual event organized by Harley Davidson India for Harley Owners Group (HOG). With new friends, Laiju, Rohit, Kishore, Dr. Anand and Joju, all from Thrissur, “vroomed” to Panjim, Goa. Thousands of Harleys running all over in Goa those couple of days. But ride back home that was the turning point. After 16 hours of continuous ride, through rough roads, heavy traffic, flashing headlights, fatigue…. that was a game changer.
After that, riding the Fatboy became a routine. Bangalore, Hyderabad, Khajuraho, Hampi, Dhanushkodi, Ellora, Udaipur, Meghalaya, Puri, Wagha Border, Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal…. The list goes on. Every place and all the corners in the country were at a “Riding Distance”. But all that great things came to an abrupt end, in the form of a triple bypass surgery.
The Fatboy got a much-needed rest. The “naysayers” was all over me. Forget about bike riding. When I laughed, they warned me. After a year, took the Fatboy for spin to Kolli Hills, Hampi, Panjim, Murudweswar, Kushal Nagar, Wayanad to back home – 2,100 Kilometers . That erased the doubt in my mind about future rides on a motorcycle. And the icing came next. A solo ride all over India, dubbed as “Unity in Diversity Ride – UiDR” in November/December 2017. Took 43 days, 16,400 Kilometers, half a dozen tumbles from the bike, to complete the ride. The first one ever to ride through all contiguous States and Union Territories in India on a Harley Davidson.
Then the sight was set little high. Why not do it all over again? On a bigger stage. The Whole World. That is the World, Borderless!
Because I believe, a free human does not need borders.
In the next few weeks, I will be embarking on an ambitious trip around the world on my Harley Davidson motorcycle, an Ultra Limited. The plan is to visit each country in the world, including over 50 islands, spanning roughly 6-7 years. That would take more than 250,000 kilometers of motorcycle riding. I would be vlogging this effort. So please follow me in this journey, on my social media sites.