Dadu Aur Madak
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in Delhi, we found that Lalli had all of the paper work completed, and
the luggage racks had been fabricated. Lalli Singh, we had learned is
known all over India. Although he is not an authorized Royal Enfield
dealer, he maintains a stock of bikes for foreign buyers, and for the
several tour operators that he provides support for. His tiny shop is
in a basement in an alley in the Karol Bagh motorcycle market. He also
has a warehouse about ten kilometers away where he stores scores of
bikes for the tour operators. He is totally thorough, thinking of many
things that we would not of thought of. He provided us with all the
tools and spare parts he thought we might need, with the understanding
that he would take back anything that was not used. He also insisted
that we come early on the day before we were leaving and meet his head
mechanic for instuction on removing and repairing the front and rear
tires, and replacing clutch and throttle cables. His thoroughness
didn't end there though. He also changed the stock horn for a louder
one--a must in India, and the evening before we departed he took us
with both bikes to a closed off area of a nearby park to teach us how
to kick start them, and to let us get accustomed to riding them. He
also provided us with the easiest route out of the city. This last item
was a godsend in a city where driving is absolute mayhem. Here he is
affixing a decal of the elephant headed Hindu god Ganesh, who is the
god of good fortune. The rear luggage was adorned with the
symbol for Om. |
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| The
Karol Bagh motorcycle market is a four block area and the
jumble of alleys that connect them, where you can find any type of bike
available in India in any price range. Bikes and scooters constitute
nearly half of the traffic encountered on the roads. Below is an
example of one of the reasons for that. |
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| Connaught
Place is the Delhi's tourist center. It consists of three concentric
circular roads, with eight spoke-like Radial roads. The center "hub" is
a park that connects to an underground bazaar, an underground parking
lot and the city's metro. Above is one of the spoke roads. You will
note that the cars are parked five deep leaving only two narrow lanes
for actual traffic. How they are able to get cars in and out is a
mystery to me, but it does all seem to work. |
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| Once
Lalli was satisfied with our training, there was one last order of
business before we could leave. The bikes were adorned with garlands of
flowers and sticks of incense and were given offerings of sweet almond
balls before being blessed by a Hindu prayer. |
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| Finally,
once Lalli was satisfied, his whole crew came out to see us off. |
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