The Pleasure of Travelling
by Motorcycle

chillibreeze writer — Srivatsan Sadasivam

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For an avid traveler, the journey is not just the means, but the end by itself.

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I have heard people say this many times, but was unable to understand what it really meant. The truth in the statement hit me when I made a long journey by bike for the first time.

For many people, a motorbike is just a means of commuting to work. For them, what awaits them at the destination holds more importance or is of more interest that the journey that brought them there.

However, for those with motorcycling in their blood, the entire magic begins with the concept itself. A motorbike is the steed of this century. For a biker in this era, motorcycling holds the same magic that riding a fine horse held for a knight. You can move about at will and you have a personal means of transportation that leaves you at the mercy of none.

This is the same idea that got me hooked to motorcycling.

The addiction started when I walked up to the mechanic in my neighborhood with a little money in my pocket to ask him if he had a bike that I could buy within my small budget.

At that time, I having set my mind on no bike other than an Enfield Bullet, could not afford a new one with the money that my parents had given me.

After a short but impatient wait, I ended up buying one that just about matched my budget and officially became a biker.

Initially, it was not very easy handling the heavy bike and there were times when I thought that I had made the wrong choice. But I did not have another option for traveling to work and back and soon riding it became second nature to me. It was like the bike was en extension of my body and instinctively responded to my will. This is when biking became to me, the realization of the dream that was all along. For a while, apart from a few other places locally, my journey to work and back was as far as my bike took me.

All this changed when, as a part of my work, I had to travel to a place about 110 kilometers away. I was initially scheduled to travel by bus, but then the thought of all that a long bike ride would offer was too much to resist. I decided to travel the distance by motorcycle.

I am not one who has a need for speed; it is the thrill of exploring and experiencing new places that made me an ardent biker.

When I travel, I like to experience the places to the fullest, and a motorbike offers me just that. When one travels by any other means, one is removed from the surroundings. The environment in the vehicle becomes his world for the length of the journey, and what he gets to see of the outside world is just a glimpse.

This is where motorcycling stands apart. When you are on a bike you experience, first hand, all that is around you and if you want to indulge in the sights and sounds of a place, all you have to do is to stop and you are right there.

Having spoken so much about how pleasurable motorcycling is I do agree that there are times when I wish I had a car. Any other means of transportation would be a better choice when nature plays spoilsport and you are on the road on a bike on a rainy day. Or when the stars are not in your favor and you are stranded because of a flat tire and you know if you had been traveling by car you would have had a spare.

It is at these times that I try to look at the brighter side. When else would you be able to take the time off to leisurely sip some hot tea and watch the rain at a cozy dhaba by the roadside? And when was the last time that you took a break to explore something interesting at a local village while your bike is being fixed? So whenever a seed of doubt begins to grow in my mind, these thoughts of experiencing the simple pleasures in life rekindle my passion for biking.

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Srivatsan writes for chillibreeze.

The Pleasure of Travelling by Motorcycle

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The Pleasure of Travelling
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