Hello xBHPians!
My name is Jay and I'm originally from the Chennai area. I studied at Kodai Intl and then went to the States for mechanical engineering. Undergrad was at Purdue and then did a masters at Texas A&M. At Purdue, I was part of a college race car design team where we built a mini formula car using a Honda CBR600 engine and most of the guys were into bikes and that was my entry into life on two wheels.

I thought I would be prudent with my first bike but I let lust take over and bought a 1995 Ducati 900SS on impulse after hearing that gorgeous bike fire up. I was so scared to ride that beauty and sold her after the summer was over. While at Texas A&M, I started properly into bikes by meeting a 92 Suzuki GS500, who was called Trisha, and I learned how to ride on that gem of a bike. Campus was also huge, so a bike was essential transport, hehe.

I got a job in Chicago for a cellphone manufacturer and with that first pay check, I upgraded and met a 2004 Suzuki GSX-R600, called Myra. I joined the local sportbike community and met many experienced riders who taught me a lot about motorcycling. I started going on short tours and found my passion while touring on the black top. Others cautioned me that the GSX-R wasn't an ideal touring bike but I just loved the twisties and I wanted the best bike for the twisties and didn't complain while riding the highway to get to the good stuff. That first year on Myra I made my first long trip, which was into Eastern Canada, swinging by Toronto to get my H-1B visa stamped in my passport. Subsequently, with my good biker friends I made 10 day trips to explore the grand western states with a tour of Montana and Wyoming in 2006 and Colorado and Utah in 2007.

All this time, a dream was brewing. I dreamt of riding around the world. I dreamt of leaving everything behind and going out to live on a motorcycle. It seemed a very distant dream while punching away at my corporate job but I never let the dream die and slowly racked up the experience that I would one day need when the dream came true.

I realized that most of the roads in the world are actually off-road so best to get an enduro bike to handle all kinds of roads. I went out and got introduced to auDRey, a 2004 Suzuki DR650, a great compromise of a motorcycle, handling twisty asphalt with great joy and then blasting off when the tarmac ended onto gravel and rocks and sand.

The dream was slowly taking shape and having gotten fed up with life in the US, I figured that I was going to ride back to India. But before I could come back home, I would see the other lands of our beautiful world, traveling through Latin America and Africa. To get some experience of riding in a foreign country, I made a two week trip to Mexico in 2007 and loved it. Everyone thought I was Mexican, just because of being brown. Great, if I could just learn Spanish, I could pass for a local through all of Latin America. Then, while biding my time, I went on a three week trip to Alaska in 2008. On that trip, sadly, auDRey got some serious engine issues and she passed away. But that experience was crucial as I learned how to deal with serious situations that I knew would no doubt arise on the big trip.

Firmly believeing in the design of the DR650, I got acquainted with sanDRina, my current stead, a 1998 model. In 2009, with final preparations underway, we made a two week journey down the Continental Divide of the US, riding mostly off-road along the spine of the Rockies. I camped a lot on that trip and felt at home and got a taste for being a motorcycle nomad.

In March, 2010, with everything falling into place, I sold everything I had in Chicago: house, car, Myra and most worldy possessions. With only the items that would fit on sanDRina, we set off... man and motorcycle into the wind. First, we rode through Central America, then crossed into South America and spent about a year wandering that beautiful continent, from the Andes to the Amazon and down all through Patagonia. From Buenos Aires, we boarded a cargo boat for a month long journey across the Atlantic. I wanted to see how far apart really are Europe and Africa from the Americas and that time spent on the ocean is a most-cherished experience.

In Europe, I met my first hurdle of traveling with an Indian passport when Morocco refused to give me a tourist visa in Paris, citing lack of being a resident. I quickly changed plans and took a ferry from Venice to Alexandria and entered the epic continent of Africa in May, 2011. From Egypt, I passed through Sudan and Ethiopia and got to Kenya by August. In Kenya, I took a year break to do some research for this distance masters that I've been studying for during my journey. You see, I wanted this trip to be a transition in my life, from being a corporate engineer to one working on more human-related issues, such as food security and water management. My thesis was on agricultural water management from a gender prespective and I hope to get into this field when I get back to India.

With the thesis and MSc degree completed, I got back on the bike to complete riding through Africa. I headed down through Mozambique, then cut across Zambia to Namibia, where I am now. From here, I'm heading into South Africa and then looking for a ship to bring me home to India.

I think I'll be arriving in Chennai in March sometime and then will be riding around India for a bit, ending up in Delhi.


I'm thrilled to see such an active motorcycling community in India and would love to meet as many of you as possible on my journey through India. And of course, after getting to Delhi, I want to explore more into the Himalays, the northeast and the south and all the roads inbetween.

Cheers and see you guys soon,
Jay
JamminGlobal.com | facebook | twitter | Google + | YouTube | ADVRider


Starting off from Chicago in March, 2010.


My route map. Click on it to go to the interactive version in Google Maps.


Riding across Salar de Uyuni, high altitude salt flats in Bolivia.


Meditating at Giza.


sanDRina in Tanzania.