Is India Superbike ready?

With the tragic death of Md. Azharuddin's younger son Ayazuddin at a very early age of 19 after the kid succumed to his injuries following a horrendous crash of the kid's 11 day old Suzuki GSX-R 1000, it's the question that's being asked in every nook and corner of the country. There are people, and a very large section of people, who believe that India is not ready to have these bikes in India, simply because we lack the sense and infrasctructure needed to allow these high speed demons to run loose on our Indian roads.

Well, here's what I as a member of the Indian motorcycling fraternity has to say about this question.

To me, the question is not if India ready for super bikes or not, for me the question is, why can't for once, we stop blaming others for our mistakes, lack of common sense, which is so deep rooted into us that sometimes I feel it's in our genetics. Why can't for once can we appreciate the sliver lining instead of ranting continously about the dense dark cloud above us. Why can't for once, we pause for a moment and think before we speak.... just why can't we?

If this country can afford to have Super Cars running on the same road as Tata Nano and nobody has no problems with that, then why can't that same tarmac be shared by Super bikes along with say a Hero Honda Splendor?? Why everything seems to be falling apart when the term Super bike comes to picture. A person is as vunreble inside a steel cage as he's on an alluminium chassis. Take for example the Air-bags a standar Indian car comes with. Just go through the user manual of any car, you would find that the scenarios that are given in which the air-bag won't be inflating for you are generally the most common scenarios in which you would find yourself in a bad situation in Indian traffic conditions. But still we want to pay for Air-bag, because we are inbred to think that notion as being safe, when the ground reality is different.

You go out on the road fully suited, and 90% of the janta would think you as a poser dude with leisure cash at disposal to spend on these worth-less accessories. Most of the time when I wear my riding jacket to my office, people come to seat to first look at the jacket and then make fun of me for spending so much on a riding jacket when I ride a mere 200cc motorcycle at an average speed of around 70kmph and say - "Why pay so much for this mosquito net!!". People say that at this speed even a kid can stop the bike. Well, I can throw an open challenge to those people and I would be very blunt at not considering the age, if anyone thinks has balls enough to try to slam the brakes of a motorcycle travelling at 70 kmph on a loose surface, without thinking for a fraction of a second - "Oh f*** I'm screwed!!", come be my guest.

People are jumping onto conclusions and claiming that when the tragic crash of Ayaz happened, he was racing at 200kmph when the bike when out of controll. Some soar mouth news channel even reported the bike to be a Suzuki Hayabusa. Such is the sewage grade media we are having that people are reporting about a kid, who was then fighting for his life and another kid already lost his life in his minority. People....... just look at the bike, does it look like a bike that survived a 200kmph crash?? At 200kph, the bike would have been shredded to pieces. Don't believe me... just look at some crash vids over YouTube for MotoGP and Isle of Man TT. Not even the entire front fairing of that unfortunate GSXR was damaged. The bike clearly shows what might have happened at that very instant. But no one even gives a thought about being sensible, just start ranting and blabbering about Super bikes and start making propagandas with tags like "Maut ka Tohfa (Gift of Death)" and what not crap.

If someone talks about infrastrcture, then most of the metros have enough infrastructure to support Super bikes, and if these bikes are selling in India, then offcourse the economy is ready for them too. But if someone asks if we as Indians are ready for Super bikes, then I would say that we are not even ready for 150cc motorcycles leave aside 1000cc motorcycles. Yes 1000cc motorcycles are fast, yes they can attain insane speeds, yes they can kill, but at the same time, they are the best pair of wheels that a person can afford, they are best pair of wheels on which a person can learn what truely motorcycling is, they are the best pair of wheels that can nurture the character of a man in you. The only thing is we as a community, we as a nation have to put is thought before our actions and speech. I'm no one to blame anyone for the losses of lives that happened, but I urge and plea to this nation that think before forming an opinion and before jumping onto conclusions.

Disclaimer : The above are my personal thoughts and not intended to any person or group of persons.