Late 1990’s…..

As like any other small boys in the streets, I also run around making the Drrrrrrr sound in the mouth, holding the handlebars in the air. There starts my love towards the bikes. Not only bikes! Cars, Buses, Lorries, everything which had an iron heart had a special place in my tender heart and the drivers were my superheroes.

Coming back to the topic! Those days my dad had this moped from the Royal Enfield called Silverplus. To the latest RE fans! yes, the biggy RE used to make 50cc mopeds also. I was so fascinated by the wrist gear shift setup. In that period of time, a hero entered my neighbourhood. The ROADKING! Whaaah, what a name!! The YEZDI Roadking!!!

A Red colour Roadking.

The dual exhaust pipes and roar sound attracted the little boy. The way the rider kick started the yezdi was so stylish, the exhaust pipes let out some smoke and the roaring sound, I was ready to watch that action all day. I had no idea what is the name of the bike, what it is…. Ran towards every small kids Encyclopedia – DAD! to know the name of that super bike. I heard the name JAWA for the first time in my life.

JAWA! JAWA!! JAWA!!!

No other bikes had the talent to get my attention. I was not big enough to understand the mechanism or trivia about the Czech machine those days.

Early 2000s

Japanese manufacturers introduced their fuel-efficient and Eco-friendly bikes in India replacing the drunkard Yezdi. Yes, he drinks a lot of Petrol. He drinks kerosene too. After that, people started feeding him only with the paraffin rather than petrol. Many heroes died because of the suffocation. So SAD! Almost 15 years, I hardly see my hero on the road.

Years passed! The small boy is now old enough to handle a two wheeler. Accepting the hard fact that I can never own a Jawa, I went to his rival. Royal Enfield.

Went inside the showroom, touched the Royal guys, rode the bullet. But I felt incomplete. Came back home. There is a Tweet from Anand Mahindra. Yes, Jawa is coming back!

Cloud nine – Nineteen – Ninety! Whatever, I was so happy about owning the Jawa. Jawa got launched, I made the booking and waited for a year, actually almost 3 years from the day I saw the tweet.

After 3 years of waiting!

On August 18th, 2019 I visited the Jawa showroom in my city and asked the sales guy for a test ride. The ride I waited for three years. The stylish kick start was not there, The exhaust was not roaring. However, It is JAWA. I decided to buy Jawa 42 – As the ‘Deep Thought’ responded to the question about the ultimate answer of Life, universe and everything!

Made the advance payment for booking. The provided timeline for delivery was 8 months. So I could get the Jawa by April 2020. Leaving the showroom filled with JAWA was tough for me. Every other day I was checking the delivery estimator to see if there was any change in the timeline. Jawa motorcycles gave me little happiness by advancing the delivery date and I was not patient enough to wait till the showroom’s phone call. Atlast….

Waiting for the big day!

I lost count how many times I checked the delivery estimator on the Jawa Motorcycles official site. The delivery estimator said I would get my Jawa by April 2020. Counting the remaining days and dreaming about the delivery were the two things I did all those days. The estimator started working! The delivery date became March 2020, again changed to February 2020. Some day in December 2019, it said i would get my Jawa by January 2020.

I called the showroom with excitement and they just killed it saying, don’t believe the estimator, it fluctuates. He was right. In a week, the estimator asked me to wait till March 2020. Back then there was no Corona threat. So I consoled myself and made up my mind to receive my Jawa in March 2020.

2020! Happy New year!!

I got a call from the Jawa showroom. The voice from the other end said – “Sir, we got the news about your bike. You will get it shortly. Shall we proceed with the finance part?”

First week of Jan 2020, the only thought I had in me was the delivery of Jawa 42.

The executive asked me to visit the showroom for the completion of the finance part and paperwork. I was ready with all the documents. I believe that was the first time in my life I was so excited about doing the boring paperwork. Though I was ready to take the Jawa the moment it reached the showroom, my parents asked me to wait till the auspicious day and time.

It was January 12th of 2020, my parents decided January 27th of 2020 as the day. Those 15 days were longer than the 4 months of waiting. The countdown started, 15, 14, 13, 12….. The twist in the story. The showroom called to inform me there might be a delay in the delivery date, as they were yet to receive the Jawa reserved for me. I was angry, sad, frustrated and what not. To distract myself, I went to meet my friends in Bangalore and started gabbling away the sad story. To my surprise, another twist happened on 27th January 2020, morning.

January 27th, 2020 – 10 am

Call from the showroom. I was informed that the Jawa reached Chennai the previous day and the Jawa was on its way to the vehicle registration office. They told me happily the bike would be ready for the delivery on 27th Jan 2020 as planned. I was happy about the day and was in a hurry to reach Chennai. Booked ticket in ‘Jabbar travels’ morning service to Chennai. The Bangalore traffic added density to my tension.

Even the highway was crowded for me. The Volvo moving at 100 kmph felt like a static body. The restless journey I ever had on a bus. In between I contacted my colleague who owned a Jawa a few days back to join me for the occasion. Finally, we reached the showroom at 7 pm on a Jawa 42. Yes, the red Jawa was waiting for me at the entrance of the showroom awaiting my arrival. I went crossing him to collect the keys and admired the masculine beauty from every angle. I got my JAWA 42, COMET RED.

Many More Journeys with my Jawa 42!