Text and pictures by Anuj Agarwal
[box]What does heaven look like? Anuj Agarwal, a motorbike fanatic, found his in Jaipur, at a bike builder’s workshop.[/box]Without wanting to delve into the murky waters of religion too much, I would like to think that most of us have some vague notion of what “heaven” would look like. For some, heaven would consist of rolling fields and cooling winds and a refreshing sense of silence and calm. For others, heaven could be a beautiful island where the sun is always pleasant and the sand is always white and the water is so clear that you can see right till the ocean floor. And then there might be some who would think of heaven as a never-ending night at their favorite disco, with the DJ playing their favorite tracks all the time.To each their own, I suppose.
How about screaming engines, lovingly crafted monsters-on-two-wheels? Bucket loads of chrome, intricately stitched seats, delicate brake handles and exhaust pipes that sing the sweetest of sounds?
Sounds like heaven to me.
I got to see a little bit of my heaven a few months ago when I rode into Jaipur. Without taking anything away from the many wonderful sights and sounds of Jaipur (it is a wonderful city in more ways than one), if I could recommend just one thing to do in the Pink City, a visit to Rajputana Custom Motorcycles (“RCM”) would be it.
Really.
In the basement of a gorgeous old mansion, lies the office-cum-workshop of RCM, makers of some of the most stylish and eye-catching bikes in the country. The day I visited, there was a beautifully styled 1942 BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) bike which had been christened “Lado,” standing right next to RCM’s first, and perhaps most well known creation, OG (short for “Original Gangster”). Lado was a gorgeous little piece, painted in olive military green and standing like a proud officer. An officer of another era but an officer nonetheless.
And right in the thick of things, stands Mr.Vijay Singh. At first glance, Vijay does look more like a racer than a builder of bikes: Leanly built, with tattoos running up the side of his arms and a baseball cap on his head. He certainly does not have any of the bulging biceps of the bike builders they show on the telly. But as he begins to speak, I realize that this man loves his bikes. It is as simple as that.
Vijay, the heart and brains behind RCM, is an easy guy to talk to if you like your words simple. Ask him about the road-legal status of his bikes and he simply replies: “If the cop begins to ask for the papers, then you are f***ed.” The fact of the matter is that the bikes RCM churns out may not be street-legal; if you do get caught by the cops you will definitely have plenty of explaining to do. Still, this does not seem to deter RCM’s customers; Vijay points to a mint-fresh Harley just lying in the corner. “Owner just dropped over the keys the other day, told me to ‘do what you want’.” It is something that has Vijay pretty excited and he plans to showcase the finished project at next year’s Indian Auto Expo.
Bikes came pretty early to Vijay; he rode his first bike when he was just seven years old and has done a fair share of racing and rallying since then. It was simply in a moment of lazy boredom (or so he claims) that the idea of building a bike was born and that is how OG came into being. He decided to build a bike. And so he did. Of course, things were not as simple as that.
One of the biggest problems he faced was sourcing the engine itself. He would repeatedly call up the Enfield Office and pester them for an engine. He did not want a bike, just the engine, he would tell them. And every time they would ask what he would do with it, he would calmly reply, “I want to build a bike”. In the end, they decided that it would make much more sense to give him the damn engine than put up with this pesky fellow!
I ask him how he comes up with the designs, the thought process with which he churns these bikes out. I am curious to understand the way in which his mind works. He thinks for a second and then simply shrugs his shoulders; “You can’t put it in words” he says, the designs just form themselves in his mind. Sometimes, in fact fairly often, he has no clue what the finished project will look like; each day is taken on its own terms.
Although Vijay claims that RCM is a “hobby” and something he does in between the regular job, I am not so sure that he was speaking the truth. A maniacal gleam enters his eyes whenever he speaks about his bikes and it is quite evident that petrol flows in this man’s veins.
And how much do these things cost? No fixed cost, says Vijay, it really depends on what you want to do with the bike. A completely modified bike will cost upwards of a couple of lakhs. He points to a photo of John Abraham and an RCM bike. Apparently Mr. Abraham is just one of RCM’s slowly growing clientele.
As I left the RCM workshop, I had a pretty stupid grin on my face. It might be because of the fact that I got to see some really beautiful bikes or perhaps it was because I got to speak with someone who is following his dreams. Or may be it was that aura in the workshop, the air filled with dreams and the faith in following them. I don’t know now and I did not know then.
What I do know is that you should drop into RCM’s workshop the next time you are in Jaipur. The palaces, forts and rubies can wait a while.
Note: It is best to drop a short e-mail to Vijay regarding your visit. He was more than happy to accommodate my visit despite barely a day’s notice.
After spending five years “studying” law in Calcutta (he was actually gallivanting across the north-east), Anuj spent two years litigating in the various courts of Delhi. Realising that his greatness lay elsewhere and NOT because he fired himself, Anuj recently shifted to Bombay. He now spends his time cursing the roads, loving the women, hunting down places to eat and building his character. And trying to make a living. He has four friends, two of whom can speak Manadarin and one of whom is imaginary.He blogs at www.kroswami.wordpress.com, compulsively checking the site stats every five minutes or so.
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