Shahwar can help you live free – at least momentarily

On each of the long (and tough) motorcycle tours that I run in the North East, I get to meet some really colourful characters. Sure, I’ve also had my share of obnoxious riders, but thankfully they’ve been the minority. The sun, as it is, fries my brain and these obnoxious people compound the effect. It’s the colourful characters, on the other hand, who serve as a balm for this fried brain.

There was Nishant Rodey, a baker by profession and a rider who had the royal riding experience of 1,200 kilometres before he signed up for the tour. At least he had the willingness to learn off-roading, as well as a great sense of humour. Good enough combination for me. We named him ‘Cakeku,’ because he only made cakes.
And then there was ‘Guruji’ Sopan. He was a walking-talking Encyclopedia. No sooner did we make the mistake of mentioning a topic, and we were showered with his wisdom. The only topic he didn’t touch on was guns. But I did learn a lot from him. And how can I forget Guruji riding the bike ‘Gangnam Style’ – cross armed!
I’ve had riders who longed for their favourite dish during a tour – they longed, but never demanded. Except ‘Rasam.’ I named him Rasam because he ‘demanded’ that he be served rasam – and that too at the snow covered 13,700 foot Sela Pass. I guess his brain suffered from a lack of oxygen at that height, but he came back to his normal humorous self sometime later. The name stuck.

An overwhelming percentage of my clients come from Bangalore – techies mostly. They speak in strange technical terms that my outdated antennae cannot receive and decipher. I am largely computer illiterate. But the techies are ever ready to help me fix my computer.

Many of the riders want to live out a dream on the tours. Max always wanted to shoot guns, and in Nagaland he shot ancient muzzle loading guns in a remote village. He said he felt like Robinson Crusoe, which is quite apt actually because Crusoe had the same kind of guns.

Dinesh wanted to ride the twisties like Rossi rides the track. He did too (as much as his loaded bike would allow him) on the fantastic curves leading to Cheerapunjee. It was a joy to watch him. Tharu Alex (we called him Daru Alex because he worked with Seagrams) was an Amir Khan fan, and he was sporting a ‘Ghajini’ style haircut two days into the tour.

Two guys took skinny dips on a deserted area in Majuli Island where not a soul was to be found – we laughed our heads off. Fat Rashid couldn’t swim to save his life, but didn’t hesitate a second as he jumped off a cliff into the clear blue water below. He said he saw them do that in NGC, and always wanted to try it.

Travelling through the interiors also has a huge benefit – lack of connectivity. Manish and Suresh held very high positions in some multinational companies, and their phones rang all the time. They longed to shut them off – and when their phones didn’t work in the remote areas, they were two of the happiest people in the planet.
I’ve come across some great guys on my tours – singers, artists, photographers, hard core riders, adventure and adrenaline seekers, quiet ones, chatterboxes, funny ones and the obnoxious too. It takes all kinds, and that’s what makes it so interesting.

I was listening to that lovely Lou Reed song, ‘Doing The Thing That We Want To,’ and I realised that all these guys come on these tours to live free – momentarily – before they go back to the cut-throat world that they’re wedded to.

As for me, well, I’ll just wait for the next bunch of guys who want to live out their dreams. Happy to help them do it.