First Hand Account – The Musafirs – A Family Outside Family

Destination: Karde/Dapoli

Ride#16, April 2012

Although I was always enthusiastic about motorcycles, for me, until this ride, riding meant commuting to office and back home. I had a notion that only Harleys and Enfields are suitable long rides. However this notion changed on my first ride with The Musafirs – the bike club in Mumbai that has etched a name for itself among bikers in Mumbai.

As I filled out the registration form for my first ride, I was quite skeptical about whether I would be able to do it on my Pulsar. As I was to be riding with a biking club other questions which persistently hit my mind were: Will I be able to ride as well as others?  Will I enjoy the experience? How would I be treated? And many more… I could hardly sleep the night before the ride. I was very excited and very nervous – A feeling many first timers will share with me.

With bags packed and loaded on to the bike I rode to the designated assembly point – Eternity Mall. It was 4 AM – These chaps usually start their rides early morning to escape city traffic and enjoy the weather. As I was approaching the assembly point, I could see few bikes parked neatly, in order. The riders smiling and hugging each other as if they have met a long lost friend.

The only 2 people I knew in this crowd were my long-time friends Nicc and Sajesh. Shy, I was standing near the bike, looking at the seasoned riders like Andy, Sathpathy Uncle, Clay, Nicc and others. In few minutes, I could hear Nicc calling for all riders and briefing the riders on the route we were about to take i.e; the NH17. A crisp briefing covering all aspects and giving us a clear picture what to expect from the ride.

Something which really fascinated me was terms like Master Pilot, Master Shepherd, Road Captain, Group Pilots and Group Shepherd. The pre-ride communication email and the early morning briefing gave me an idea of the enormous planning that must have gone into this ride… On asking another co-biker, I was told that this is the way the Musafirs ride.

In 10 minutes, the riders were ready, loaded and starting their engines – Andy was the Master Pilot and Clay the Master Shepherd… All bikes started following the Pilot in a organized way which was simply superb…  I was already soaking in the feel of how a rider would feel on a Musafir ride.

We rode through the NH17 (Mumbai – Goa – Kerala highway) and following a quick breakfast we were back on roads riding towards Dapoli.

This was the first time I was seeing such a disciplined ride with riders actually following the road signals and the hand signals. NH17 is a notorious route – very famous for its blind curves and some beautiful Ghats.

Around 2 PM, we reach our accommodation from where we could see the beautiful beach of Dapoli. Following lunch, while some enjoyed their afternoon siesta, others headed towards the beach. Playing games and some ‘taang kheecho’ sessions were kind of an ice breaker. We also got on a boat to see the dolphins… and we did see dolphins!

The sunset was picturesque. We headed back to a small lawn where a long table was setup with chairs as if a feast was going to be served… Well For the seasoned musafirs it was a feast as usual as “unko naye bakre mil gaye.”

A fun filled session of introduction and few experiences shared by other Musafirs made the evening perfect. Not to forget few beers and drinks was an icing on the cake. J

The session continued well past midnight… Knowing that we had to ride back the next morning back, sleep was important.

We started the ride back to our daily grind early next morning… With the sun gods not showing any mercy, the soaring heat was a test for all riders. We reached the dissembly by 7 PM bid good bye to each other with hugs and smiles.

Finally, I was part of the Musafir Family …

God Speed !!!

Vaidyanathan V

The story behind helmet colour patches (By Nicc):

We had got used to splitting the large convoy into smaller sub-groups with each sub-group having a pilot and shepherd. However, the challenge was that when on the road, how does one ensure if he is riding in the sub-group assigned to him/her.

On this ride we called the groups Red, Green, Blue and Yellow and introduced the colour coding – we used tapes of different colours on the number plates to indicate which group the rider belonged to. This worked out well. If any rider loses position, it was easier for him to ride back and identify his assigned sub-group by seeing the tapes on other bikes riding with him.

Over the next few rides this practice changed into sticking colour patches on the helmets for the same purpose – sub-group identification.