standard disclaimer applies: is kahani ke sabhi paatra kalpanik hain. All characters in this story are fictional and any relation to real life is purely coincidental!
It was a pleasant weekend on a beach in Mandrem, located in the extreme north of Goa, that the gang of 4, as they eventually became, first met up. The occasion was BullitMania – the very first of what would later become an annual pilgrimage for the hardcore bullet clubbie. And as many will fondly recall: probably the best BullitMania EVER! Now ofcourse, we know….!
To return to our story, the motley bunch got along like proverbial peas in a pod. So much so, that after the event, the gang of 4 decided to head south and explore Goa, eventually settling down to spend a whole week in a shack on a remote beach called Palolem, in the very south of Goa, which back then was not the mess it is today. Back then, it was an unspoilt beach, popular with hippies where one could find accommodation for 2 adults for as little as 60 rupees a night!
You couldn’t have found 4 people more different than these four! Cutlet (who also features in some other stories in the Road Tales series) was training to be a film maker. Then there was “Kid” from Pune, who claimed to be 18, but who we now know couldn’t have been a day older than 16 at the time. Then there was Kuggie, also from Pune: star rider/tourer etc etc and clearly the celebrity of the group, complete with the starry nakhras. Last, but by no means the least, was STUDD, dress designer by profession (though critics allege most of the clothes in his store were not original creations but smuggled in from Bangkok or Malaysia). STUDD had ridden down all the way from Kanpur in central india just to attend this biker meet! RESPECT!! Such a disparate group could only have come together through the hand of god!
Anyways, after a heavenly week spent in this heaven by the shore, the gang of 4 returned to their respective homes, but not before resolving, that next year, and every year after that, the annual pilgrimage to BullitMania would be rounded off by a visit to the very same beach shack!
The following year, BullitMania was not held in Goa (indeed it has not been held in Goa since). However the Gang of 4 still kept their resolution and rode to the very same beach even though it entailed an extra ride of over 600 kms each way. Once in Goa, the Gang also had to give a not so subtle D-P-L (dhungan-pe-laath) to some pesky riders from Dilli who insisted on tagging along that year. No offense meant to anyone brothers! but the Palolem brotherhood was a private one indeed and that’s the way they preferred to keep it!
