In This 2.5+ years .. i have changed from ordinary to special ..a negligent to responsible person ..and i learned many things with respect to life .. how to respect it and how to live it .. i have learnt the art of patience and more importantly it changed me from a irresponsible Commuter to an Responsible Biker.
Let's Go back some 4 years and u will realize my life was like any other ordinary ppl ..and that time i was working in a company called Lucent Technologies .. and the office was resided on Bannergatta road and which is almost 23km from my home where i stayed ..and my daily transport was ..our own BMTC bus .. every day i need to change 2 buses to reach office and back ..and it use to take more than one hour to travel ..and i got used to it.
Things changed when i brought my First Bike ..Bajaj Platina [100CC] and all of my friends [Engineering friends] started to get there first bikes from there earning and all most of them were going for big bikes like pulsers and apachis .. and i am the only guy who got this 100CC commuter bike .. as like typical milage mindset and even my friends made lot of fun of this bike ..but i still brought it and i was very happy ...
Before this bike ..in our family we didn;t had any bike except Bajaj M80 which belong to my father and i have hardly rode it .. may be all together i ridden it not more than 15 times .. and i have just not good rider that time ... and now i have this brand new bike booked and i don;t even know how to ride bike with Leg gear .. i have never ridden bike with Leg gear .. but nothing bothered me .... as i was very happy that i am getting a bike and that too with my own salary .. i made a down payment of 14K/- and rest on 0% installment which comes some 1600/- per month..
The day came when i need to take delivery of my bike from showroom .. and after getting a call i visited the showroom ..and i saw my bike .. and i am very happy to see her ..and after the sales person explained me all its features .. i was decided to take for temple .. and as it was Monday morning .. there was nearby temple i visited and a quick Puja ceremony happened within 5 min ..
Now i got bike and without thinking anything i decided to take her to office and that time i never knew how to ride a gear bike [Leg gear].. and trust me .. traveling those 22km to office took me almost 2 hours and bike repeatedly used to switch off at every junction and traffic as i was not used to operate clutch properly .. and during this entire journey more than 25 times bike turned off .. that time ..my mind was thinking going in BMTC bus is much easier ..and whether i made mistake of buying bike ..and some times i used to think ..soo many ppl are riding bike and i can too ride it properly ..and for the next 3 months i rode it very slowly .. i never crossed 30kmph speed and always i was on the far side of the road .. and things improved quickly and i became comfortable with it ..
Next One and half years it became my best friend ..and i started to take it to long rides from couple of km to 100+kms .. and each and every bit i loved it .. and at the same time ..i also became a commuter .. who honks horns irresponsibly ..riding on footpaths ..and cutting lanes on my wish ..and riding without the lid also .. my believe was ..honking continuous horn will make ppl to give the way .. and many times it worked .. and now i was soo attached to my bike ..i always took it with me ..every where i go ..and even for morning gym too which is hardly 200mts from my place.
One day while searching on the Net ..suddenly i come across something which instantly catched my mind and eyes .. and which going to change me forever .. It was Yamaha's New bike YZF-R15 .. and instantly i fell in love with it .. it was Jan 2008 and every day i use to keep track of its news .. i never been soo waited in my life and curious .. some time the test bikes used to come showroom in the late evening for parking .. i used to go there and used to see it in flesh .. and in march that is 4 months before the launch of this bike .. i booked it with 5000/- and finally Yamaha launched it in B'lore on July 1st and they invited us [who booked bikes] to launch ceremony which included a fine lunch in a 5 star hotel followed by presentation and launch of it in Garuda mall [a famous shopping complex] .. that same day i waited till late night 3AM to get my bike delivery .. and entire showroom was crowded like anything.
From the day 1 of this new bike my life is filled with joy ..as i was one among the few ppl who got there bikes in first lot .. i was felt special .. the entire ride to my office was which i never forget in my life .. in each and every traffic signal and stop ..surrounding ppl used to ask about the bike and its cost ..its milage ..etc..etc.. and even BMTC bus drivers use to ask about bikes .. and i used to ans them with full joy .. and i started to feel like king.. the same thing went on for months ..every day i used to ans people quarries.
A couple of weeks later i was with a group of ppl who has R15 bikes .. and this is where my real biking interest started.. we used to ride in groups and every time yamaha organized any event they used to call us to participate and treated us like kings ..
Then most important turning point happened .. i come to know about two biking groups which are going to change me in to a more responsible rider .. those are XBhp and BangaloreBikers .. .
I have learned my first lessons of group riding here and over the time .. they turned me in to a responsible biker ..
I started to strictly follow traffic rules .. now i can't cut lanes .. i can't ride on foot paths .. and i started to respect my bike like car .. without trying to squeeze my bike between the vesicles .. it thought me patience .. all this made me more responsible and also i figured it out .. if one persons starts to follow rules promptly at least few of other riders will follow you if not all ...
I started touring now ..with my bike ..and with biking community .. it helped me gain more friends and joy of riding .. i felt there is lot to see and experience in our life than just to sit in home on weekends or sleep like baby whole weekends ..
I have met couple of crashes with it also ..few are my mistake and some are unavoidable..but it never deter me .. all i can say is .. "Car without a Scratch and Bike without a Crash is a myth "
My habit of Biking and out door activities like Trekking and touring ..given me a complete new identity .. and changed my life from mere a person to something different and something more responsible ..
I know my story will be almost same as yours but its special to me as .. i have changed in a Positive manner ... its not like i am completely 100% now .. i still some times rides in a way which is against my philosophy .. and i am gradually over come it .. and when i see ppl with powerful bikes [R15,P220,ZMA] riding like maniacs .. i feel sorry for them and curse there parents who just brought there kids bikes but not responsibility associated with it.
Some words will always holds the punch of truth ..Either in a Movie or in a Novel .. or in a Real life ...Great Power comes with a Great Responsibility
