Entertaining travelogue
India’s automotive two-wheelers industry has experienced a radical metamorphosis in the past two decades. It’s unbelievable but true that only rickety scooters and pre-
World War II design motorcycles were in the market. Until 1985, when the Japanese automobile major Suzuki signed up with Bangalore-based TVS to manufacture the Ind-Suzuki range of two-wheelers. Since then the automotive two-wheeler industry has made a quantam leap and currently almost all Japanese and Korean
motorcycle manufacturers including Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda and Hyuosung have set up shop in India.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), annual motorcycle sales in India have risen from 430,000 units in 1991 to 6 million in 2004 clearly proving that
despite bad roads, relatively high price tags and rising fuel prices, motorcycle sales are rising at ____ per year. Fed up with pathetic government-run public transport systems operating across the country, a growing percentage of youth are opting for new generation motorcycles which recently replaced scooters as India’s most preferred automotive two-wheelers.
Not surprisingly the ready availability of a plethora of nexgen motorcycles has incubated the phenomenon of biking holidays and spurred the popularity of biking as an
adventure sport. It’s almost de rigueur, today, to see bike enthusiasts strap up saddlebags and hit the highways to exotic, far flung destinations, from the freezing heights of the Himalayas to the golden beaches of Kerala. Moreover smart two-wheeler marketers have been quick to promote bikers’ clubs with evocative names such as Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club, Inde Thumpers, Madras Bulls, in major cities across the country to popularise motorcycle adventure travels and holidays.
Despite this, in terms of movies, books and journals, India has little to offer on the subject and most automobile magazines devote their columns to technical mumbo jumbo. Little wonder mobike travelogues written by foreign, especially American bike enthusiasts are warmly received in India. Long Way Round (LWR) by UK-based Hollywood actors and motorcycle aficionados Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman is yet another addition to this genre of travel literature. The book, also available as a movie in DVD, is a first-hand account of an ambitious motorcycle odyssey across the world from London to New York through Europe, Asia and North America. Presented as a diary of events recorded before, during and after the
journey by the two actors, LWR is distinguishable from normative travelogues and its technique of interplaying both stars varying
experiences and feelings as they hit roads and adventure around the world, is quite appealing.
Comprising 12 chapters, two appendices and interspersed with maps and glossy colour pictures of fascinating locales, LWR chronicles the duo’s experiences, observations and ruminations as they journey across Europe, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, across Bering Straits into Alaska, down through Canada, finally ending back home in the US.
Some of their notable easy rider style escapades include being chased by paparazzi in Kazakhstan, being accosted by gun-toting militia in Ukraine, harassed by the police everywhere and served bulls' testicles for supper by Mongolian nomads. And yet despite all trials and tribulations they sped over 20,000 miles (35,000 km) in four months, a journey which according to the
authors has changed their lives forever. Despite exhaustion and round-the-clock excitement, the authors have meticulously documented, photographed and video shot their encounters and experiences producing a highly entertaining travelogue in two media.
On the down side McGregor’s endless whining about being away from his family is annoying. On a round-the-world journey anyone would miss their family and loved ones, and surely there’s no need to harp on this theme in almost every chapter of the book. Moreoverequipped as they were with a satellite phone, the all-important family was only a phone call away, so the constant whining adds no value to the book.
LWR is especially invigorating for dyed-in-the-wool biking buffs in India, most of whom dream of hitting the road and circumnavigating the world. The authors’ can-do determination to traverse tarmac, stones, mud, water and often barely discernable paths to attain their mission is admirable. It drives home the point that beyond romantic notions of inter-continental road travel, great journeys require substantial reserves of perseverance, determination and guts-and-glory hard slog. The actor duo repeatedly detail experiences of common folk who didn’t have a clue of their star status spontaneously coming forward to help them. It’s enough to restore one’s faith in humanity and the brotherhood of man.
More reviews about the Long Way Round – Chasing Shadows across the World