I’ve worked as a divemaster there, ridden a tiger 800 to Diglipur, swum in the sea at night, found a cobra in the kitchen, jumped off a perfectly good boat for fun and done a few things that could get me banned from instagram if I mention them here. I thought I’d done everything I wanted to in the Andamans.
Except dive Barren Island.
On this trip, by pure luck, no planning and excellent timing, I spotted a board outside @scubalov.in announcing their Barren trip.
The timing was right, my bank balance agreed and I realised I’d been unknowingly waiting 9 years to dive there!
Barren is bucket list Andaman stuff!
Diving on the edge of the abyss, seeing sooooo much coral alive, feeling the black volcanic ash from the last eruption run through my fingers… sigh…
Thanks @high_hat19 and @nigel.jeffries for leading an unforgettable time and everyone else, please excuse the raw footage…. I believe @neil84shah is working on his crazy video and I’ll share it when he’s ready 😁
After a long time I tagged along with @theschoolofdirt for @ktm_india ride. Had such a fun time with the boys … bread, jam and Nutella… 😂 also our man who abandoned the bike mid climb and decided to go for a downhill sprint 😂 to more of these! 🍻
#ktm390 #theschoolofdirt #kerala
The only way to find your limits is to push them. I don't ride a bike to add days to my life. I ride to add life to my days.
My therapy session today was a bit dusty.
#OffRoad #sonyalpha #DirtBike #Enduro #createwithsony
12,000km on the @ironman4x4india suspension and I now know without a doubt that it’s a must have for the Jimny.
Last week’s 1300km round trip to Chennai proved it - the Jimny sat unfazed through wide and fast corners, didn’t get affected by crosswinds and actually rides smoother when you drive it fast over the highway’s under construction bits.
The Ironman also improves the stance of the Jimny - the stock five-door has an ever slight tilt to the left - and this gets corrected and hence doesn’t set off my OCD’s everytime I walk up to the Jimny 😂
Now I’m dreaming of @raceconcepts 130bhp upgrade 😈
Auto India was where I first got excited about cars and reading about Hari Singh’s exploits behind the wheel in the wild old rally days is therefore hardwired into my mind.
Many years later, when I became an auto journalist myself, I got to meet him a few times as a perk of the job. Hari Singh is and always will be a big baritone voiced Sardar and his heart of gold and his larger than life personality are what I’ll always hope to emulate.
Hearing about the tragic speedboat accident in the Maldives is affecting me in ways I haven’t been able to comprehend yet.
My prayers and thoughts to his family and a strong old monk will be raised to his spirit tonight.
The brakes are not from now, suspension tech has moved on, the new 900 and 1200 will eat the 800 for breakfast but man, the 800 has a way of getting the hair on the back of your neck up like no other ADV does. 1-2-3!
So many things to say about last weekend!
1. @paawantandon had been telling me from the time we started working with KTM five years ago that one day KTM India will bring Chris Birch here and it finally happened!
2. I never use a GoPro but I did miss one this time. It would have been fantastic to have some footage of me eating Chris’s dust riding behind him down that canal trail! Oh well, I suppose that footage is seared in my memory and one that I won’t forget in this lifetime.
3. I’ve been watching Chris’s videos for about 9 years now and have always been in awe of his skill but this meeting in Goa blew me away because I got to see first hand how superb his instructor abilities are — clear, precise instruction blended with great analogies and humor.
They say you should never meet your heroes because they might disappoint you. Absolutely not the case with Chris.
Long Christmas break. Got back, hopped on 1200, led the1500km long @indiatriumph Western Ghat Twisties!
As a way to start the working year, little else comes close!
My car and bike of the year 2025 awards in no particular order :)
1. The Tiger 1200 Rally Pro because after 6000rpm.
2. The Jimny Manual because it is proof that fun doesn’t need to be fast, fat, complex and full of touchscreens.
3. The Ducati Desert X Rally because of what it does when you ride it faster than a Desert X.
4. The 2016 Ciaz Multi-jet diesel because it is 131,000km old, still goes 18 kilometres to the litre and is still so reasonable to maintain it makes an EMI look unreasonable.
5. The new 390 Adventure because they really have done spectacular things to it to make it better at what it does. And because it’s become my go to trail bike after Triumph spare parts prices went through the roof.
6: The Africa Twin DCT because it’s the Africa Twin DCT.
7. The Transalp because it looks sober and then you’re ripping through everything.
8. The 390 Enduro R because it is serious.
9. The 2015 Mahindra Getaway 2.6 because using a Hilux as a workhorse really hurts.
10. The Tiger 800 XCX because no other adventure bike can replicate its intoxicating howl.
11. The Kodiaq 2.0 TSI because it has a way of soothing the tiredness out of you for half E-class money.
Congratulations to all my winners 😁
One phone call, then two more and one to back out of the trip and one more call after two drinks to get back into the trip the next day. That’s how my last off road detour for the year ended up in the Jimny. I’m not complaining and I’m especially thankful for the @ironman4x4india suspension lift that helped the Jimny easily clear the moonscape you see in the last clip.
With me on the trail was @nishant.jacob intimidating torque monster, @kurianxaviermd in a slightly massaged Jimny and @rishjohngeorge in the ever faithful Getaway. Not a bad way to drive on bad roads I say!
Harley’s updated roadster, the X440 T is a surprisingly nice bike to ride. An easy going, torquey engine that’s smooth and has good low and mid-range power. It’s ride by wire now (one of 72 improvements to the bike), so throttle response on the T is better than on the S I’m told. The exhaust note is nice, it pops and bangs when you get off the throttle and typical of a Harley, the engine’s been tuned to happily sit in high gear at low speeds and pull without complaint from there.
Ride quality is nice with the retuned front suspension, it’s nimble enough to cut through traffic easily and the low seat height makes it easy to reach the ground even for shorter riders.
I’m still undecided on the reworked rear styling (it looks nice from some angles) and I can’t help but think that a fatter rear tyre would have done wonders for the bike’s overall stance.
I’m not a roadster/cruiser kind of person but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my three hours in Goa on it.
