“Good Things come to those who wait”, is a caption which I often used to see, since my childhood, while visiting my family doctor at his clinic. That sign board still hangs on his door to this day. It has had an immense effect on my life and thinking. I always used to remember this caption while waiting for anything I was expecting, be it exam results, going out, while being stuck in traffic, standing in a queue, etc. Infact, I’m still waiting to achieve some more dreams before I settle down in life. That caption should be applied by everyone in this world and it will have a great effect in bringing about peace in everyone’s life.
Well, I started my journey of being an avid automobile lover with my dad’s purchase of a brand new LML Vespa Select Scooter, although I’d learnt riding my uncle’s Suzuki Samurai much before. But, the new scooter was a nice addition to my family, which brought out the true automobile lover in me. I used to play, imagining riding the scooter all around Bangalore, sitting on the scooter. It was a Sparkling Blue coloured scooter, which was my favorite at that time.
Sometime later, my cousin, Paternal Aunt’s son, stayed with our family for some time and brought a second hand Standard Model, Iron cast Bullet. He had got the engine of the bike tuned so well that, the beats were simply fantastic to listen to. But that didn’t impress me then, and my love for Royal Enfield was a big ZERO at that time (coz it’s a man’s bike and I was a boy then!). I became a proper two wheeler rider, learning all the lessons of riding, on my dad’s LML Vespa and passed the DL test using the very same scooter.
My journey of becoming a two wheeler owner started off with Pulsar 150-DTSi, my first Bike. I was very endeared to this black beauty of mine because of my experiences associated with it. Brought this bike during my final year of Degree and it seamlessly served me for four years without any hitches, bad incidents or experiences. After Sometime, It was time to move on and I sold it off after a good 4 year stint with it for a very good resale price.
Then the question arose, what next? I surprised many of my friends with my next choice of purchasing a gearless scooter (surprised myself too!) and brought home a Suzuki Access.
It was one of the best gearless scooters in the market (still is) then. Rode it around for two years before going in for another change. By this time, I was in deep love with the grand old man of them all and the humble beast, The Royal Enfield(RE). My love for the Bull had started after I had purchased the Access and it took me two long years to bring my dream bike into my life.
It was really tough for me to convince my parents on purchasing the RE because of their belief that RE’s are heavy and my personality didn’t suit the size of the bike. Moreover, Suzuki access was relatively new and I had no justification for the change. I just had to keep quiet and wait patiently for the right time. That time didn’t take too long to come (read the caption in the beginning). I found a job and was posted to a rural area which required a sturdy strong vehicle for those rugged roads. This was the time to justify my demand ( and passion) for an RE and my dad agreed instantly.
Everything fell in place and I made my trip to the showroom of RE after 15 days of finding a job. I had read many blogs, watched n number of videos, visited innumerable websites to zero in on the best RE model. I was confused to the core on which bike to zero in on as all of them had the same engine, except for the cosmetics. It was a really tough time in choosing the right model (many of you prospective buyers might be in the same dilemma). I finally made a choice and decided that the bike I’d own would be a Royal Enfield Classic 350cc. Upon enquiry with the sales guys, I was disappointed to know that the waiting period was 8 long months( even though I was aware of it) and there was no other way to bypass this long period of waiting( I even offered Rs.10,000 extra for an immediate delivery but to no avail). I just had to wait and could do nothing about it. My craving for this bike had reached its peak during this time and found it really tough to control it. But I remembered the caption on my family doctors door and started to count days( months infact!!!) for the delivery of my bike. I just kept my love for this bike in hibernation for 8 months.I also didnt take a test ride coz it’d make me more desperate to own the C350 immediately and I’d find it extremely difficult to wait for 8 months and also because of my confidence in the performance of this humble beast.
During the waiting period, I satisfied my appetite for this bike by watching videos, reading blogs and looking at snaps of the bike. I used to follow this bike whenever I found it in traffic, secretly admiring its beauty (I observe others doing the same while I’m on my bike now!!!) and browsing for them in parking lots of malls. I used to enquire from the C350 owners (wherever I found them) about the performance. This happened for seven months and I didn’t bother visiting the showroom for enquiring the status of my booking coz I knew very well that I wouldn’t be getting the bike sooner than 8 months. After seven months and 15 days had passed, I visited the dealer and enquired with him and got a promise that the bike would be delivered within the next 15 days.
After waiting out my full quota of 8 months, there were no signs of me getting my bike on time and another visit to the showroom saw an extension of another 15 days. This was the time I thought I should be assertive and start exerting pressure on those sales guys. Another five days, another visit to the showroom, another round of threatening (friendly though) talk yielded a promise of me getting my bike in another 5 days for sure. This happened on a Saturday. Monday, I got a call from the sales guys (after me calling and reminding him) that I’d be getting my bike on Wednesday. I made full payment and walked away happily that the wait had almost come to an end. On Wednesday, the day of delivery, I called to confirm the delivery and was disappointed with the reply of the sales guy. “ Sir, I forgot to take your signature on a document and there is no way that I can get your vehicle registered today and deliver it to you”. Disappointment again….. Damn!!!!!
I rushed to the showroom and signed the document and extracted another promise for getting the bike delivered the next day ( I didn’t shout at him as I thought that it was of no use) and warned him that I would bring the roof down if I didn’t get it the next day.
It was a bright sunny Thursday and I was all set to receive my love in the evening. Called the sales guy to confirm and pat came the reply, “ sir, please take your bike tomorrow along with all the documents or you can take the bike today and collect the documents tomorrow”. This time I thought I had waited for too long and my patience had thinned out. I said to the guy that I had waited enough and come what may, I wanted the bike and the documents together the same damn evening. I went to the showroom and threateningly said that I’d not allow him to close the showroom till I got my bike delivered. The delivery time was slated to be 5.30 pm and it was 7 pm and there was no sign of the documents, though the bike was there. It was 7.30 pm when I laid my hands on the beautiful, shining Royal Enfield Classic 350cc and my joy knew no bounds. Had got my dream bike after an arduous and agonizing wait of 8 months and 13 days!!!!
“Good Things Come To Those Who Wait”. Thanks to my family doctor who had enlightened me with the caption on his door and brought in loads of patience into my life for this helped me wait patiently for 8 months just to lay my hands on my dream bike!!
Will be back with a detailed review of the bike, its performance and my experiences of being a proud owner of a Royal Enfield Classic 350cc!!
– Madhu Bagepalli Iyengar