Love ‘n’ Ridin!!!

Well may be the title does sound cheesy but hey its all about the love you see out here, ok?! No getting funny ideas! And we are not just talking about the love people have for their machines – that topic has been covered since time immemorial, proven by the fact that we are often inundated by 360 degree angles of all types of vehicles all the time – Ma ride, My girl, My black beauty, etc…..!

Let’s look at the actual ladies (or men) in this picture who often become the third wheel, after a loving new shining machine steps into the limelight, or maybe even before!

For those already booked and cooked, when they know that they now have to share their partner with an actual lifeless piece of metal, meaning that he will now spend all his free time cleaning, polishing, tampering, sprucing, modifying,  taking her out for regular spins that stretches for hours on the right road, etc…. they usually have 2 options –

1.       Bluntly tell the love struck guy that he can now go and live in the garage with his prized possession  and forget coming inside the house, OR

2.       Like the more benevolent society that we live in, roll their eyes dramatically, give huge exasperated sighs  and then make the attempt to go all out and accommodate that shiny wonder on wheels into their lives!

There are people who never had a two wheeler, forget about 4 wheels, but the need to get one, either to attract the other sex or on the suggestion of their existing partner, decided to go ahead and get one for themselves

Then there are those who already had a vehicle, which was an additional point in scoring in getting the right girl! And after that it was him, her and their wheels…. Until they broke up and the cycle repeated itself!

Let’s not forget about those who after a bad breakup, decided to even go ahead and just get rid of even their beloved vehicle, just because it reminded the owner too much of his lost one!

On the brighter side, many serious bikers (and cagers too – err, the people who prefer sitting tight and snug inside their vehicles , cause it offers more protection?!) who after getting hitched, enroll their better half s’ into their soul searching odyssey, across the country and sometimes continents too! We have had riders who plonked their wives as pillions on their motorcycles, apart from all the standard gear required and rode up across the treacherous terrain of Leh & Ladakh!

Now how about this? A young Mechanical Engineering student at Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland, wanted to do what he loves, along with his lady love by his side. And so on 15^th July, 2007, Mariusz Kubka and his girlfriend Aleksandra Luczak set off on a 10,157 km ride, through 17 countries on their faithful Jawa TS 350, through Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, again Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, France (and Monaco), Belgium, Holland, Germany and then back home to Poland. Now isn’t that just the best way to spend time alone with your love discovering new places?

And for me if you ask, well for now all I could do was a road trip  up the Konkan coastline right from Mangalore, to Malvan in the Sindhudurg District of Maharashtra. And yes this was for a our honeymoon and every moment was definitely worth it, free from all the hassles of waiting for flights or trains, sticking to the scheduled timing, eating the standard food offered enroute, etc.  

Nothing like Love on Wheels…!