Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Scene 1 : The Begining of the Begining....

After 30 odd months of doing " Tea Coffee" and "Veg Non Veg" (cabin crew lingo)i needed a miracle to bring me out of my rut. Dont get me wrong, i had lot of respect for my job, where else would a 23 year old hotel management diploma holder earn 25 g's a month and be chauffer driven to work and back. Plus i was doing alright, being one of the youngest flight supervises at the time and being appreciated for the blood and sweat i was putting in.( i cut my finger once pulling a food cart out). The miracle came in the sweetest forms. My bike, my Love!

Lets go back a few decades to say 1980's (hindi movie style black and white n all....) i dont remember anything that interested me as much as two wheels....put together of course.
My first cycle(tricycle): age 18 months
My first Bicycle(with training wheels): age 24 months
My first BMX: age 12
My first Racer cycle: age 14
My first Motorcycle(The RD 350cc) : age 16
Now when you have a RD 350 at the age of 16, you are king.
Riding it to Xavier's early in the morining(once in a while petrol costs in 1995: Rs 25/lt) was a feeling i will never forget. That was my entry into the big bad world of motorcycling.

Coming back to my jet days, i had saved up enough to buy a 2nd hand royal enfield which by now i had been craving for atleast 2 years. since i had to sell my RD to pay off some foolish debts i had'nt owned a bike for a while, which by my standards was a lacking in my manhood.
So I put all my savings and bought this old 1974 royal enfield that had an engine to die for. Actually all it had was an engine. I begged, borrowed and stole(literally) to get all the stuff required to put the rest of her together. Dont be confused i was'nt customising her, just restoring her to her original condition.
So that boys and girls is the begining of the begining......come back to find out how this modest beauty turned in to a spectacular hottie!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

and now the story continues................

DIESEL said...

You guys are awesome!
Great Visual Imagination!

Certainly the best in India
Dunno to how many guys I have recommended about your work.
STUPENDOUS!

Epiphany said...

Finally..waiting for this for a long time :)...

--xh-- said...

lets hear the rest of the story... :)

Unknown said...

hey guys u rock.....
i always tell my friends about u guys. recently i heard that u guys are starting your own production bike line. is that true ?? i dunno
but u guys really rock.
i would like to hear more from u guys. cheers guys!!!

anurag said...

well well well ........ no words .......... atleast for now ............ i am a fan of urs and this place seems to be a perfect canvas for my imaginations to run wild ........... on an on .....

Amit Naik said...

Guys, this is what the media thinks of him: (picked up from a magazine article:)

Vardenchi (India) www.vardenchi.com is probably one of the few Indian Custom Motorcycle shops that bring the true chopper experience to you. These guys started off on the Royal Enfield platform and have moved on to much larger V-Twin engines. With quite an impressive history of builds behind them, the technology used to churn out machines now is unimaginable. Just thinking of a single sided swing arm and belt driven final drive makes seasoned bikers sweat, and Vardenchi executes these technicalities effortlessly. The professionalism is what will blow your mind away. The crew comprises of graduates who have chucked promising jobs to do what they love the most. Not a single guy steps into the chop-shop without their trademark ‘V’ T-shirt on.
Akshai Varde's bikes have everything in place: they handle perfectly, the engine has just the right beat, and the seating posture is precise, personifying the “boots in the wind” experience. The only thing missing is a sign on the rear view mirror: “Objects in the mirror disappear faster than you think!”