Thunderbird: Down Memory Lane

I just saw an ad promoting Royal Enfield’s new Thunderbird Twinspark. The tagline – Leave Home — took me back to the time I first left home. Ironically, I bought my own Tbird within a few months of this transition. This reminded me of an entry I had made in RE’s networking section called ParkingSpace. Since it’s not going to get any eyeballs there I decided to ferret it out of the RE archives and post it here as a first step towards becoming an active blogger again. Hopefully!

After almost four years of planning and dreaming and reaching levels of absolute madness and frustration I finally became the proud owner of my TBird on Dec 31, 2004.

I had been obsessed with the Bullet since my college days. But then I saw the American classic Easy Rider and realized I actually wanted a thumper cum Cruiser that could handle the highways and off-road locations of India. The Western world had its Harley’s and Triumphs and BSAs. But the combination I was looking for was still a dream in India. Sometime around 2000 I heard about REs plans to launch a cruiser. So I decided to be patient and wait.

The months rolled by but there was no action on this front. Many a times my patience almost ran out and I thought of getting hold of a second hand bullet and modifying it to my likings. Well there was a big hindrance in the form of my parents. And another even bigger one in the form of cash flow. So I convinced myself I didn't quite like the idea of riding a modified bike. And the wait continued.

Then RE introduced the TBird and I knew that very moment this was it. I wanted an Indian thumper cum cruiser. And before my eyes my dream machine was taking shape. However, convincing my folks was an impossibility. The other option was to collect the moolah myself. But going by the measly salary I drew in those days that plan was equivalent to robbing the Mint.

But in Jan 2004 I took a resolution. I will have my Thunderbird before the year ends come what may. But soon it was December and I thought here goes another resolution for a toss. I was ready to kill, shoot, pillage. My brain was doing somersaults morning thru night thru morning, day in day out. I had this huge poster of a Tbird on my soft board. The first thing I did every morning was look at it. Through the day, wallpapers and screensavers of the Bird flashed on my PC. The RE website had become my daily bread.

I finally decided to give up and convince my folks to pitch in. But that was an impossibility especially seeing that I had crashed my existing 100 cc quietly badly the previous year. And not once but twice. The second landed me in bed for more than a week.
So a guy who can't handle a 100 cc how can anyone ever expect him to stay alive and in one piece on a 350 cc! But then a miracle did happen. A company I used to work for earlier had a provident fund system and in the third week of Dec they credited my account quite unexpectedly and send me a mail. Ah 42 beautiful ks!

I immediately ran to the RE dealer from whom I had fleeced zillion test rides of all the models that used to hit his showroom. But then he didn't have one in Black. I almost compromised and took a Red one home. But then sanity prevailed. After all a miracle had already taken place. Now it's just a matter of waiting for a few more days.

I began haranguing the dealer every single day. At least 3-4 times a day. It was 31st and I had given up hope. I thought OK so what I'll begin the new year with a thump. The sudden windfall had restored my sanity to some extent.

But then around lunch time I get a call. Your Bird is here. Off I ran. With dad and bro in tow. Bro because he was as excited. Dad cos he was also excited but he was on express orders from my mom to prevent this disaster from taking place. heh heh

But Dad actually welcomed the new member into the family with a warm prayer. Now the best part. No money in my pocket to buy fuel. Ah!

This time however Dad relented and after stopping in the middle of the road umpteen times and struggling to figure out the kick system I finally brought my bride home.

The very next day we left on our honeymoon. Wandering, wandering we reached the foothills of Matheran. But now that's another story.