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Some things are hard to ignore. For example the petrichor after it rains. That sweet smell that you get after it rains and soaks the dry earth. This might fire your neurons and conjure up images of a motorcycle, wet grass and maybe low lying clouds overlooking the mountains. And if you are really a peace seeker then maybe a tent besides and you are sipping on a cup of hot tea that you made on your portable stove.
It makes for the perfect Instagram photo. Yes it does. Then you zoom in to that photo a bit and you see that familiar profile of the motorcycle you are riding. Then you zoom in a bit more and you inevitably see the cursive font saying those two magic words, Royal Enfield.
It is impossible to be a motorcyclist and have never heard of it. It is quite a phenomenon that cannot be possibly achieved with any amount of meticulous planning by a marketing board. It is what the Mahindra Thar achieved. It is what the Apple iPhone achieved. It is what maybe Coca Cola achieved.
And yet you have to market. Good for magazines and influencers. Right.
The biggest marketeers for a product which resonates within your heart are its consumers. Let me coin a new name, emosumers. The emotionally driven consumer who will ignore any flaw of the product s/he swears by. It is kind of limerence where a partner doesn't see any flaws no matter how unhealthy the other person if for you.
But.
Make no mistake.
I draw no negative connotations here for Royal Enfield. It is a brilliant phenomena which has catalyzed the motorcycling culture in India. From being present in almost every household in the villages of India to being the machine of choice for the urban man. A whole generation and more has grown up sitting on it’s tanks holding the handlebars as their dads rode it around.
The thump. That’s another keystone in the gauntlet that makes it so potent. It might have changed but it still reaches till the bone marrow of many people that ride it.
And then you have the classical imagery of the Royal Enfields, or the ‘bullet’ doing into the distance on a long straight narrow road and the tall rugged mountains in the distance. It was always cool and now it is the new cool as the new generation re discovers the metal and the thump in their new avatars. The fast 650s.
Then there is the camaraderie. Sometimes it is so intense then it leads to gang wars and politics. But that is with every emosumer. iOS vs Androids. Cricket. Football and what not.
17 years ago when I started xBhp we started meeting at what is now called the xBhp Dhabha in Delhi. We were five or seven people in the beginning. A Royal Enfield group with riders a few years elder to us on an average shooed us away. They literally marked their territory and asked us to take our ‘jap craps’ somewhere else.
It was not really a good impression on someone who was starting out in motorcycling and was just 22.
The Royal Enfield community was forever imprinted on my mind as brash people who smoke and treat you with disrespect if you don't ride their ride or have the hair or moustache to go with it.
And that carries forward to this day along with the folklore of whatchamatchahappens in Rider Mania et al.
And that is one of the reasons why I have probably not ridden an Enfield for more than 300 kms total in my life. Even though I have done over 60 countries on two wheels.
But, I have never hated anyone. Far from it. I have not even hated the machine. Even the likes of Charlie Boorman have badmouthed enfields as I rode with him around south India on a Multistrada. Called it names. Royal names
. In fact in the last 15 years ever since xBhp started doing pan India rides like the recently concluded #roadTripUnited2021, we have welcomed Royal Enfield clubs with open arms. And some of the most memorable and hospitable moments have come from them.
And that’s the power of xBhp. The wall that the club built in my head almost two decades ago when I was young, was not only decimated by xBhp, but xBhp also promoted safe riding and riding united. It is the biggest achievement as far as I am concerned. Subliminally because of that incidence, I was driven to succeed in uniting the guy on the Ninja H2 and the guy riding the TVS Ntorq.
And in all this we all forgot that the bike was originally from England. A lot of riders who ride the bike might not even want to believe in that. Is there anything wrong with it ? Of course not. England invaded India. Not the Redditch company. Or did they ?
Whatever the case maybe Royal Enfield was made what it is today by the Indians. The fervour around the brand is the proof.
You might be wondering what am I coming at with all this ?
I wish to thank Royal Enfield for what they have done for the motorcycling community in India. Unknowingly. And I want them to thank xBhp for it’s role in uniting motorcyclists and helping them erode this imagery that Royal Enfield riders are territorial, at least upto an extent.
It is when you start appreciating the good each other does, be it in your group, your office or as partners, it is then when you start to truly bloom and become a functioning unit, a nation or a company. Whatever communion you are in.
I am a Royal Enfield fan even without ever being an owner, or having ridden it to Ladakh or performing any rite of passage.
And this ladies and gentleman is how a legend is made. Serendipitously, not by meticulous planning. The flaws make it more human, and make it more acceptable.
Keep thumping.
P.S : This article has not been proofread. Forgive any typos or grammatical errors.
