Imagine a person with more logic than anyone else!
Imagine a person, who sleeps on the floor in a corner of his room, because there is a motorcycle engine on the floor, and other assorted spares and tic tacs (read motorcycle parts) on his bed.
Imagine a person, who will pay you to buy a carburettor, just so he may see the performance of this part on someone else’s bike, to assess how the carb might perform on his!!
This, is truly, the most logical baba of them all, and that is none other, than our dear friend Bikram Singh, also known as Biku.

River Crossing, the logical way

This is a photo of him crossing ( or trying to) cross a river in the freezing environs of ladakh, wearing undies and no shoes, so that he can keep his stuff dry. Biku has also made this fascinating discovery that wearing surgical (or latex) gloves is the best solution while going to Ladakh, where temperatures may drop unto several degrees below zero.
The basis of this discovery is that Rubber is waterproof, windproof, and according to Baba Biku, also Cold-Proof!!!!

Biku driving a bike which was bent to the left side, completely normally!! This is Superlogically Inhuman!

Biku Superman

Biku also claims that squishing his index finger onto his eye socket, whilst the finger is bent like a claw, helps to ward off cold.I will try to find a photo of that, and show you what I mean!!!
I will also add more about the Logic (bomb?) Baba and his (mis?)adventures in the frozen sands of Ladakh, and beyond as soon as I am able to get my hands on more images for the same!
Hats off to the Logic Baba!!! He is truly the master of innovation, a Meat Chawal lover, dauntless biker, excellent half-mechanic and a very good friend!!!
Rock on, Dude!!!! May you receive dozens of engines to fix….

-His infernal majesty, the Baba.

Yeah, go on, open the windows, let the climate come in!<–>

Hello everyone!!!

It has been long since I updated the blog as I have been caught in a whirlwind of tasks, chores and other associated synonyms of this dreaded word. Plus now I work nights, so the ability add a post every other night has been withdrawn.

Working nights has its good and bad parts. The good part is, that I now have time to shop and have a bit of fun at daytime and I can also pay my bills, etc. in time, which, otherwise, I would have waited until a weekend for.

This also means that now I am dull, dim-witted and perpetually sleepy which further draws me away from writing. I did, however manage to write an article for the anniversary edition of our local newspaper.

I received quite a few messages about the article, so I decided to post it here too, sans pictures.

You may read the article here.

Here is a picture of the article, as it appeared in the newspaper:

The article, photographed

I now have time to update the blog more frequently, and give it a definite structure to enhance your reading pleasure and ease the categorization for me.

Until I write more!

Be good!

Babaout!

White is what we fathom from the name- Himalaya; the abode of snow, but the myriad of colours leave one spellbound as  the paintbrush of nature runs amok while painting the landscape of Ladakh- The land of passes.

From the Scraggly snow covered tips of the dark mountains around Dras and Kargil, to the sandy moonscape of Lamayuru, the sense of time is lost, and the sensations in the lower limbs are forgotten as we traverse through the remnants of the roads to the capital of Ladakh, Leh.

The steep climb to the Zoji-La, the dramatic change of the Landscape from Rocky to sandy, and the ever thinning cover of air as the road winds through these lofty peaks towards the city of Kargil, which is an oasis of green. The green turns to brown, and the road makes way for a jittery and stony path towards the Pensi-La and the icy expanse of white known as the Drang Drong. The Nun and Kun massifs watch as sand turns to alpine flowers and merry shades of green, lavender, blue and brown  as the road ends at Padum.

The return journey leads one to Kargil yet again, and the landscape changes from Rocky to Lunar, as we approach monastery of Lamayuru, perched on a ledge with sheer drops that make your heart skip a beat.
Alchi is no different, but on a hillside with a gentle slide into the Indus valley.
Drawn across the magnetic hill, we reach Leh. Leh is an extremely colourful city where people from all over the world come to find peace, and skies that are lit up with an unimaginable number of stars.
The view from the Khardung-la pass is breathtaking, but is soon forgotten as the sun sets over the Nubra-Shyok confluence, and paints the valley in gold.

Bactarian camels sail through the sea of sand and so do the vehicles that navigate through the desert of nubra towards the city of Leh, and then to Shey, where the lofty palace of the Namgyals . The road turns towards a pass aptly named the Mighty Changla, and the sky is a fierce shade of blue. The deep blue of the sky is soon contested by the vast dark blue expanse of the Pangong-Tso, which snakes through the Indo Tibetan Himalaya for over 120 kms.

Hypnotized by the blue, the road meanders through the mountains towards Sakti and upshi, climbing onto the Tanglang-La pass and finally dropping into the sandy expanse of the More plains. The Gata loops sidewind and cling to the mountainside as the road drops into the plains at sarchu. The air rarifies, and the Baralacha La looms into view.
The suraj tal is similar to an Ink Drop on white paper, and soon the white, brown and grey turn to green, as we cross the river into Darcha and finally into Jispa and Keylang.

The blue has decreased, the green constantly increases until the summit of the Rohtang-La and the colours are slowly tainted, and finally devoured by humans, traffic and pollution.

The first mo-bike ride from India to Europe…

The year is 1978 and the average Indian motorcycle enthusiast is only averagely enthusiastic till now. Enter a stick-to-itive Chandigarhian who’s about to kick the moto-enthusiasm up a notch by making a road trip from India to Europe on his 250 cc Yezdi. He goes by the handle SPS Garcha and yes the year is 1978.

The month is April. Accompanied by his friend Preetinder Singh, he starts the journey with Kabul, Afghanistan but a coup forces them to forfeit for now and they fly back home.

Come May, things settle down and they return to Kabul. From Kandahar to Herat, crossing the Desert of Death, they reach Iran. Iran welcomes them with a strip search for drugs. It’s Shah’s rule, people are liberated and moneyed. The roads are ruled by Lamborghinis and BMWs.

The stay stretches to a week before they move on to a not-so-tourist-friendly E. Turkey. The roads are missing and fuel is bad. They make their way into W. Turkey without wasting too much time back east. On to Bulgaria and Austria, it’s real Europe, a new world – faster, swankier and urbane.

En route Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway via Czechoslovakia they encounter the quintessential European lifestyle that amazes them two. Touching North Cape, the northernmost tip of Europe after riding eighteen hours a day through the land of the midnight sun, they further make it to England, France and Italy and there on, they take the same route back.

The month is now December and winter only makes the ride that bit harder. On the way back, they bump into a few others in East Turkey, riding down to India and they decide to travel as a pack through the snow clad terrain into Iran. Nine months have now gone by since they first started. They fly back from Kabul and hearing the first horn blare, they know it’s home. It’s been a remarkable journey with new people, new sights and sounds, new gouts; a journey that’s now made Garcha the first to have pulled something like this off.

The year is 2008. The month is May. Exactly three decades later, he recounts the story and shares his extraordinary experiences. So how did he come up with the idea at that time? “Well I was a Geography student then and I thought there’s no point studying Geography inside a classroom. There was no TV like we have today. But National Geographic Magazine did intrigue and inspire me and being an avid bike lover, what better way than to ride through the world,” he avows.

And how about the preparation that went into it? “Well getting the papers ready was a labourious task. The ministries shuttled me for four months after witch I approached Mr. Vajpayee (external affairs minister at that time). He helped me out with the whole process but we couldn’t get the Pakistani visa so started off with Kabul,” he remembers not before adding, “The funny thing is, reaching Bulgaria, the guards at the border shunned away all our documents and asked us to go right ahead. It only made me question the intelligence of Asian paperwork, we reached where we had to anyways!”

“Next was the  equipment,” he continues. “For such a trip you need to make sure that you have quality equipm nt like your tents, sleeping bags, stove, tools, etc. and in the 70’s there was hardly any available in India. But one option was Cannaught Place, Delhi where foreigners would sell off stuff, so I guess we managed. We obviously updated once we reached Europe, the strangest of all things being paper bedspreads that I picked up in Austria, believe it or not I still use them,” he says with a smile.

So what’s been the most memorable experience of it all, we ask him and he quips, “All of it! Nothing can be singled out. From seeing men in Lamborghinis charging hitchhikers in Iran to discovering the Autobahn in Germany and a hovercraft in Copenhagen, Denmark, nothing was short of amazing. Another incident I remember is when we couldn’t figure out how to cross the road in Austria, that’s when we saw a subway for the first time too. The cobblestone roads in Bulgaria were a sight, difficult to ride on though. East Turkey however was anti-traveller, they’d stone all passersby, and fortunately they had bad aim,” he chortles.

“Stockholm’s youth hotel on a battleship was a phenomenal experience and so was the visit to the Jawa factory in Czechoslovakia.”

And the hard part? “Iranians had a strict drug-check routine. They drilled a hole in my boots, deflated the tyres and made us unpack everything which it took us two hours to repack. They even had a special museum for people caught with drugs! Then while coming back the weather was really testing, in Turkey we couldn’t find anyone at the old camp site in freezing cold when we spotted a Mercedes Benz 300D. It belonged to an Australian whose Austrian wife accompanied him and they were returning home after eight years of travel. We all decided to move back together when we were joined in by a few others and soon we were a fleet riding through the harsh weather and slippery roads. Being an Autocross champ helps but the discipline we followed was what got us through, we all had our rear-view mirrors fixed on the vehicle behind. In Iran, an accident blocked our way and well, the blizzard didn’t make things easier either. But other than that the ride was smooth throughout, the bike fortunately didn’t trouble us at all,” he retells.

So how, according to him, did Europe fare in the 70’s? “Way more advanced than we are even today and so clean. The road systems, the speed at which they travelled, the traffic management… beyond compare. In Holland, Preet wanted to wear his turban instead of a helmet and he got fined for breaking the rules. And unlike India, he wasn’t allowed to ride back after that but was driven home by the cops! Plus, we didn’t hear the sound of the horn on the whole trip,” he smiles. No wonder it took them time to get used to the traffic back home.

But it wasn’t just a one-off or a hobby for that matter, he’s still as close to motor-sports as he was three decades ago. He is the Regional director of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and helps promote the sport in our region. And knowing that, we couldn’t help but ask him, what’s up with FMSCI and the MAI? “Ah well, they need to get over this issue, for the love of the sport at least. FMSCI is the only registered body, once MAI came up, there was fighting and delusion whereby private companies got stronger. Mr. Vijay Mallaya, who’s heading both these bodies, needs to get over the ‘living room’ talk and come down to a merger decision as soon as possible. Mr. Hoosein should think about the sport

first and quit this selfishness of his. What good has he done anyways since he became the president of MAI?!” he chides. Well that’s Indian motor-sports for you; yes there are sports other than Cricket in this

country. And thankfully we have people like S.P.S Garcha around to sincerely care for them.“Motor-sports is in my blood and I’d do whatever it takes to bring it to the level it deserves to be at,” he avers and we remember he’s tenaciously resolute so we know he means it!

–The Editor-ess!

Hello Hello vehli junta!!

A new page has been added, about a very special baba.

This baba beats all when it comes to predicate logic, motorcycle repair, unfathomable methods of disaster recovery (bikes only)  and awesome survival skills (which include wearing latex gloves at -2 degree celcius and not getting a frostbite!)

Please read this utterly amazing page about an utterly amazing person!!!

You may click on the link below, or on the link at the top right hand corner of the page:

http://www.bikerbaba.com/blog/2008/11/06/biku-the-logic-claw/

Leave some comments!! We just might forward them to Biku Baba!

Read On!!

While I eat a Ciabatta with some scrambled eggs and cook up some more real life babas for your vehla selves!

Greetings, lesser mortals and other organic forms including useless creatures like slugs!

The Bikerbaba.com website is finally online(almost).

Due to the ongoing design issues(read whining) I have had to keep the main pages offline, however, this blog shall remain as the main page until the actual website is up and running.

This website is basically a satirical description about Biker Babas from around the globe, whom we have managed to meet, be with, and record their special characteristics.

During the course of the next few days, I shall add all these babas one by one, so that you may enjoy reading about them.

All these posts shall be religiously edited by our editor(ess) (yes, yes, its a whiny woman) who shall undertake all responsibility to nag at everyone(excluding me, his imperial lordship, or at least that’s what I think)

The main reason for the existence of this website? Well, frankly, I have no fugging idea! I wanted a website about a few people I know, and up came this idea for a domain, and the category we term as “babas”.

Why are you here? What can you gain from this webpage except useless information no one needs and ramblings? : Well, you are here because you typed this domain, and the charisma of the great baba pulled you towards our website. Advantages: You may gain route info, send requests about routes to various places in India, and if we wish, maybe we shall send you a pictorial description along with a map.

There will be a few categorised sections in this website, which will be populated shortly.

I shall write more soon. The baba is now tired, and wishes to rest his eyes.

Until then, seva karo, meva lo.

peace be out, in and up your ass.

Fug foo!

Babaji