He’s 60 and has covered six states in six days within 60 biking hours, riding solo on his trusty motorbike and spending not more than Rs 6,000 all inclusive (for petrol, boarding and lodging). Meet Tehemtan Firoze Bhagwagar of Poona whose wife exclaimed "You’re mad!” when he first told her of his plan. But after the initial sulking fit, she helped him wholeheartedly to organize and prepare for his unique road trip, Bhagwagar acknowledges in a write-up sent to Parsiana.
After "careful consideration and much debate” the route took shape, starting in Poona and going through five states — Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh — before culminating at the starting point in Maharashtra. Keeping to national highways most of the time, Bhagwagar felt he would be able to cover 400 km each day if he rode for eight to 10 hours. Just before his departure he rode overnight to Udvada to seek the Almighty’s blessings at the Iranshah Atash Behram for the success of his venture which he undertook in December 2009, he writes.
The design of Bhagwagar’s bike, an Apache RTR 160, not being conducive to fitting side bags, he fabricated special supports to fit his carrier over the pillion seat. Along with a comprehensive tool kit ("packed with the fervent hope that I would never need it”) and a few essentials like changes of clothing, the fully loaded bag weighed less than 10 kg. "The only real difficulty I ever faced was swinging a leg over or through the narrow gap between the tank and bag,” he notes. Preparations for this odyssey took six months.
Tehemtan Bhagwagar and his trusty motorbike with special carrier
Kick starting the trip early in the morning from Poona, Bhagwagar passed Satara and reached Kolhapur earlier than scheduled, moving on to Goa via Sawantwadi and Amboli, a long but scenic ghat. He then pushed on to Karwar and reached that city by sunset. The following day he rode to Kasargod in Kerala where he was surprised to see "a lot of Gulf money floating around.” The next morning he set his sights for Bangalore in Karnataka where he arrived tired and hungry after riding for a total of 11 hours. The fourth day was spent at the TVS factory in Hosur where motorbikes are manufactured. Here he received a "royal” reception, with a garland and gifts when his hosts found out about his 60th birthday. Then it was back to Bangalore to prepare for the next day’s journey to Hubli. Starting out at eight in the morning, Bhagwagar touched Hubli 10 hours later. And then the last day of the amazing road trip dawned. Bhagwagar, heading for Poona, says he did the final 200 km home run to the tune of John Denver’s composition "Country roads, take me home... to the place where I belong.”
Having enjoyed the trip immensely, Bhagwagar waxes lyrical when he notes: "With the engine purring, the sun shining down, the wide smooth ribbon of road winding away into the distance, a state of Zen is reached when man and machine become one.” Asking himself why he did it, the biker reasons: "Every once in a while each one of us should get out of his or her comfort zone and face, tackle and overcome some difficult but uplifting task... (to) help us to better appreciate the value of life... to discard the pettiness and trivialities which seep into our psyches and drain our mental, spiritual and emotional strength.” And he has started planning another road trip already — to cover seven states in seven days when he reaches the age of 70!