Text: Sandeep Goswami/Old Fox
Photos: Sundeep Gajjar/Suny

Ashok Naidu (50) of M/s Tatamotors Ltd Pune, Maharashtra, rode his Cz-Jawa motorcycle of 1952 vintage to the world’s highest motorable pass, Khardung La on June 19, 2005. So says the Limca Book of Records 2007 about this modest but very capable motorcyclist’s achievement.

A young Ashok would see his father pump the kick lever of his 1952 Jawa each morning and leave for office on it, possibly unaware of his son looking wistfully at the smoky trail left by the bike. One day with fingers crossed and a silent prayer, the boy mustered courage and requested his father to let him start the bike each morning. Dad said ‘yes’ and the throb of the same engine would still reverberate in the boy’s life 40 years hence. The young and impressionable Ashok Naidu fell irretrievably in love with the Jawa and still has her breathing and running as if she’s just come off the production line. It takes more than mere passion and love for a machine to be able to do this. It takes an almost human bond between man and machine for this to be.

By 1967 and a strapping young man, Ashok started riding in earnest and rare would be a local competition or a group ride that he would not participate in. This went on for a few years and wanting something more powerful compared to his father’s Jawa, he bought himself a second hand 1962 model Royal Enfield in 1980. Over the years, his mother was not exactly enamored by her’s son’s ‘dangerous’ hobby and would resist it. So when in 1980, he decided to participate in his first Motocross event on his Enfield, his mother got wind of it. She held on to the bike’s grab-rail when he was about to leave and wouldn’t let go. Ashok relaxed the bike’s pull for a moment and sensing that his mother’s grip had loosened fractionally, took off as fast as he could. He led the race for the first 4 laps and then skidded and fell. The race was over for him but he was happy with what he had managed and didn’t look back hence.

His first victory came during the 1981 Motorcycle Rally held on the Mumbai – Pen – Pune route. This was also his first ever solo ride on the highway and Ashok still remembers it. A complete novice at rallying, he had no clue about reading tulip charts, just followed the map and rode on instinct. The trophy he won for the rally still graces his mantle-shelf and is a particular favorite. For someone inclined towards anything mechanical and being a bike lover, he never had anything against cars and would competet in as many events on 4 wheels as he would on 2 wheelers. He drove his modified HM Ambassador to third place in the 1983 edition of the Himalayan Car Rally. He became a regular at the Himalayan Rally, initially with his Ambassador and later switching over to the Maruti Gypsy. He had a bad car crash in 1988, fractured 6 vertebrae and ribs and yet continued in the rally with the doctor’s permission. Doing so takes not just a steely resolve but also an inner drive that only the exceptional are blessed with.

But motorcycles have been his first love and the call of two wheels is ever
resounding in his ears. He has been a regular at almost every Vintage Motorcycle Rally in and around Pune since 1990. And as a Bulleteer, he’s ridden for long with Pune Road-shakers (featured in our October issue) and has done the Himalayan Odyssey, a group ride from Delhi to Leh for Enfield owners and also organized by Enfield India. Needless to say, our die-hard veteran rode his 1962 model Enfield all the way to Khardungla Top and without a single mechanical issue to boot.

For a man whose life has been so steeped in travel, sport and adventure on both 2 wheelers and cars, there’s not an iota of stagnation or complacency in his approach to either of the three even now at age 52. In fact, age for him is a mere number and not a factor in deciding how much time and distance he accumulates either in his bike’s saddle or behind his car’s wheel. He still vividly remembers riding around for short distances on the Jawa on weekends with his father’s permission and dropping it once as he skidded on a sharp turn. That fall was a deep lesson for the boy, a lesson he retained as a young man and cherishes even now. Loving one’s machine means loving it enough to protect both it and the rider from harm. Which is what Ashok Naidu has ensured all through his sizeable 35 years long riding life. And the story goes on…..