Yesterday morning, while cramming for my finance paper upstairs and envying those who were frolicking about in the sunshine with nary a worldly care, I heard a sweet sound.
It was the sound of music in a North American spring. The sound that heralds the shedding of winter coats. The sound of freedom, of letting the breeze run through your hair, of the wide open road...It was the drumroll of a Harley-Davidson!
Ah, the sound of a bike motor that beats with one's heart! I think all Indian guys will totally get what I mean. Motorbikes are often the vehicle of choice in India for college students and office-going youngsters. Many a time, even after marriage, many Indians continue to stick with their bikes for many reasons - financial, lifestage, location (if working away from home). In the 1990's, it was common to see entire families on a bike or a scooter - father, mother, son, daughter - somehow seated with economy and security.
The BIGGEST reason of all for the connection, however, is perhaps emotional. Indian guys are connected to their bikes in a way that is hard to describe - well, maybe in the same way that they are connected to their wives/ girlfriends. During Pongal (a Tamizh harvest festival), the vehicles and other assets of a Hindu family are decorated and venerated for their good performance and reliability. In the same way that wives are considered the Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth) of their homes. And not just the Hindu guys - Muslims/Christians/Sikhs/all other sects and denominations behave the same way - after all, we are Indians over and above everything else ;).
Almost all Indian ads for bikes have a ladka (guy), ladki (girl), their helmets (who can forget these??), and the open road :). This plays a HUGE role in setting expectations for dates and romance in India. Imagine my amusement in 2000, when shortly after our marriage, my First Mate tells me, "You know, I reeeaallly want to take you out for a movie on my brother's bike." Hahahahahaha! I told him I was only used to taking my friends out on my bike. But yeah, I would love to ride pillion with my arms around him!
Here is a song that captures this kind of bike ride very well, from 'Rockstar' (2011), starring Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoFGgEiROa8
There were so many - Hero Honda, Kinetic Honda (this was a scooter - I used to ride a silvery dark blue one to college), Yamaha RX-something (100 or 135 or whatever), Royal Enfield, TVS (a lot of my friends rode their 'Scooty' to college), Suzuki....as far as I can remember. I'm sure there must be many more today. Or maybe there are many more cars. I hear that Indian roads are choked with cars. Well.
I loved those times - of zipping off after college with a friend on the back seat, to Elliot's Beach, to the USIS or the British Council library, to Suswad sweets, to Eden restaurant in Besant Nagar, to Rasi/Kumaran's (if we needed salwar-kameez material), for a movie in Satyam theatre, to Fountain Plaza/Odyssey/Landmark to browse the music shelves, to my friend's homes in Mylapore/T.Nagar/Kodambakkam/Purusawalkam, riding back home to Anna Nagar...when I write this, the memories are so vivid...I wish that I could turn back the clock. And then I catch my children playing on the computer or scribbling in their coloring books at the desk behind me and I know that this is my life now, that they are my life, and my life is here, in the United States.
My dad's first bike was a Bullet. I wonder what my children will ride...the iconic Harley-Davidsons perhaps. My dad often waxed lyrical about his bike. Who knows what my children will say about theirs? They sure wouldn't be blogging - maybe speaking into the air at some hi-tech screen 15 years in the future that maps their location, age, weight, height, companions, and generally everything else that enables an individual to glorify themselves and live out their private lives in public, as is the trend nowadays. Sure says a lot about our self-esteem, emotional security, etc, etc,...oh well, let's not get into that now.
Hey, any of you remember the Hero Honda jingle by Leslie Lewis? "You got a good thing going, Hero Honda!" I would sing this to my First Mate whenever he did something exceptional - the romantic date, for instance lol!
Hero Honda:
Kinetic Honda :):
My First Mate's dream bike - the Honda Gold Wing in the US. My First Mate describes it as a "sofa on wheels":
One day, when our kids are away at college, my First Mate and I will go off on a long bike ride. We will join the Harley-Davidson club. Who knows? We might be 'Iron Butts' some day!
It was the sound of music in a North American spring. The sound that heralds the shedding of winter coats. The sound of freedom, of letting the breeze run through your hair, of the wide open road...It was the drumroll of a Harley-Davidson!
Ah, the sound of a bike motor that beats with one's heart! I think all Indian guys will totally get what I mean. Motorbikes are often the vehicle of choice in India for college students and office-going youngsters. Many a time, even after marriage, many Indians continue to stick with their bikes for many reasons - financial, lifestage, location (if working away from home). In the 1990's, it was common to see entire families on a bike or a scooter - father, mother, son, daughter - somehow seated with economy and security.
The BIGGEST reason of all for the connection, however, is perhaps emotional. Indian guys are connected to their bikes in a way that is hard to describe - well, maybe in the same way that they are connected to their wives/ girlfriends. During Pongal (a Tamizh harvest festival), the vehicles and other assets of a Hindu family are decorated and venerated for their good performance and reliability. In the same way that wives are considered the Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth) of their homes. And not just the Hindu guys - Muslims/Christians/Sikhs/all other sects and denominations behave the same way - after all, we are Indians over and above everything else ;).
Almost all Indian ads for bikes have a ladka (guy), ladki (girl), their helmets (who can forget these??), and the open road :). This plays a HUGE role in setting expectations for dates and romance in India. Imagine my amusement in 2000, when shortly after our marriage, my First Mate tells me, "You know, I reeeaallly want to take you out for a movie on my brother's bike." Hahahahahaha! I told him I was only used to taking my friends out on my bike. But yeah, I would love to ride pillion with my arms around him!
Here is a song that captures this kind of bike ride very well, from 'Rockstar' (2011), starring Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoFGgEiROa8
There were so many - Hero Honda, Kinetic Honda (this was a scooter - I used to ride a silvery dark blue one to college), Yamaha RX-something (100 or 135 or whatever), Royal Enfield, TVS (a lot of my friends rode their 'Scooty' to college), Suzuki....as far as I can remember. I'm sure there must be many more today. Or maybe there are many more cars. I hear that Indian roads are choked with cars. Well.
I loved those times - of zipping off after college with a friend on the back seat, to Elliot's Beach, to the USIS or the British Council library, to Suswad sweets, to Eden restaurant in Besant Nagar, to Rasi/Kumaran's (if we needed salwar-kameez material), for a movie in Satyam theatre, to Fountain Plaza/Odyssey/Landmark to browse the music shelves, to my friend's homes in Mylapore/T.Nagar/Kodambakkam/Purusawalkam, riding back home to Anna Nagar...when I write this, the memories are so vivid...I wish that I could turn back the clock. And then I catch my children playing on the computer or scribbling in their coloring books at the desk behind me and I know that this is my life now, that they are my life, and my life is here, in the United States.
My dad's first bike was a Bullet. I wonder what my children will ride...the iconic Harley-Davidsons perhaps. My dad often waxed lyrical about his bike. Who knows what my children will say about theirs? They sure wouldn't be blogging - maybe speaking into the air at some hi-tech screen 15 years in the future that maps their location, age, weight, height, companions, and generally everything else that enables an individual to glorify themselves and live out their private lives in public, as is the trend nowadays. Sure says a lot about our self-esteem, emotional security, etc, etc,...oh well, let's not get into that now.
Hey, any of you remember the Hero Honda jingle by Leslie Lewis? "You got a good thing going, Hero Honda!" I would sing this to my First Mate whenever he did something exceptional - the romantic date, for instance lol!
Hero Honda:
Kinetic Honda :):
My First Mate's dream bike - the Honda Gold Wing in the US. My First Mate describes it as a "sofa on wheels":
One day, when our kids are away at college, my First Mate and I will go off on a long bike ride. We will join the Harley-Davidson club. Who knows? We might be 'Iron Butts' some day!
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