Remembering an old friend!

The cellphone blurted out an alarm at 6 AM. It was a birthday reminder set for a few friends who mean the world to me. I looked up and saw it was Parikshit's birthday. (Doc to me). Memories flooded my mind's screen. That gentle genuine smile from behind the lid. The warm sparkling eyes. That fluid language straight from the midst of Freshwater East in the July 2007 edition of the Monoshock emag! I never endorse drinking or smoking but I raise my glass of rum for you tonight as I try and put my lonely self to sleep. Hope you had a great day, and continue to have many thousands more of them. Someday, we will be back again like the good old days doc.
Love
R

Site Building. Aw the good old days!

While I am in the process of restructuring the Monoshock website, adding an all new feel, easier navigation and some new material, the old memories keep coming back with every click of the mouse. Jai's spanking new Zma, run in religiously for all of 3 km before he said 'To heck with running in'. There he was that early morning, looking out into the horizon. The sky as perfect as the Kolkata winter would allow.

This very view is now dotted with concrete monsters inching their way up to the heavens. Every inch of land has been flogged for its worth. There is a message there. At least I can read it. Genuinity, good times and creativity are somehow never connected with money. I for one am a sucker for all of those. Money can go to hell. As far as Monoshock is concerned!

Yamaha tickles our man Neo!

Our man Neo does not mind when an R15 blows him into the weeds while he is riding over to the office on his old, red P180. He does not even wince when the spec sheets of the latest arrivals read seriously advanced figures. Neo was, till now a very happy man.

The Yamaha FZ16 changed all that. A franctic call came to me once in the middle of the night. "Darn Rahul! These Yamaha dudes have slapped a 140 section rear on the FZ16 man!", Neo blurted out. I heard him out and hung up, sure of the fact that he would not sleep all night. He would feel destroyed. Its not about cubic capacity or bhp mates. Its all in the rear rubber! Road test on the All New Monoshock website soon!

Action Update Folks! Please

We wonder where the action happened? Oh yes, the TVS flame has launched itself grandly on hoardings all over the country. The sky behind the bike is beautiful to look at and that’s what held our attention for a good 30 seconds! The P220 is still quite a rare site on city streets. The Apache RTRs are on the rise. Yamaha and its MT (01) promises still appear to be a far cry from street side reality.

The R One Five (as the Yamaha blokes insisted, it be called) is something our eyes still scan on the horizon. There is nothing from Bajaj KTM or Honda for that matter. The Kinetic SYM thing does not appear to have taken women into any kind of flight. We know for sure that there are lot of informed folks out there who drop by the Monoshock site and blogs. Let us know what we missed guys. Hand hold us for a month and have patience. We will thrash them bikes around again till they beg to be photographed in a display of wild action. Ok! That reminds us, where is the camera?

Heck it has been long... really long!

Hello guys,
It has been 6 months now since we went quietly into the night. I owe all of you an explanation and apologies. Sure, that will come. But after I get the site and other things online. Should take me about 4 days from now to get Monoshock back to life. There were a lot of comments and mails. Some of them overwhelming. We will discuss all of them, this time, when its time.
By this weekend, Monoshock and its team will be at your service again.
- Rahul

Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad!

In true Russel Peter style we say. Our man Niel worked his ass off (or was it something else eh?) and finally picked up this awesome 954RR a day back!

Now thats what we call a man who lives for his two wheels.

Expect a full story on the RR soon. Eh Niel, can you hear us?

A letter to Rossi - We got this on mail.

i have tried all these but no one is responding. i am compelled to go to college outside my state due to my family pressure. my parents, they want me achieve in college. they do not understand i want to achieve in other thing where i am best bcoz JESUS has given me this.

HI SIR PLZ SEND THIS MAIL TO V. ROSSI, THE DOCTOR, 46 YAMAHA GOD/ PLZ SIR HELP ME / I AM A VERY POOR BOY PLZ HELP ME

dear THE DOCTOR VALENTINO ROSSI,
i’m sonu and i’m your very biggest fan in the world and you will never find anyone in the world like me. i am a mad lover of your’s. i mean you are my life and my ideal and i respect you too much. i’m asian Indian and I LIKE YOU THIS MUCH. i want to participate with you. i’m a very poor boy i mean i’m not in a position to participate but i’m a very good bike rider, and like you if i got the chance i can progress ahead. i want become your student because you are my master. my age is 20 and nobody is here to help me expect JESUS. i don’t even have any family support and i hope you will help me.
ONLY YOU CAN HELP ME
jacob ratnam,
near gopal general stores
rajatalab RAIPUR 492001
Chhattisgarh, INDIA.

We got this mail today from Jacob and are reproducing it just the way it came in.

Hello Jacob,
It is so warm to see that you have such intense passion for motorcycle racing and Rossi. We are also sure that given the right support, you can become an able biker. However, education is very important for you. It will help you stand up as a man, make money and then empower you to buy the bikes you want and practice on a track. India also has many big races and you can start even 10 years later, when you are ready!

Remember Jacob, Jesus helps those who help themselves and you must keep the fire burning inside you and use it as a force to fuel your passion. But right now, it is time for you to make a career. Our economy, unfortunately does not allow for sponsorships for such causes, dost. Yes, its a cruel world. But you must not give up. And whenever you do make it, we will always be around to cheer you up on the track or on the road.

And we hope Rossi comes by to our blog to take a look at his greatest fan.

But till then, take a bow from all of us dost, for your courage and love for motorcycling.

- The Monoshock Team

CL, EL, ML or PL?

We will explain those HR terms later. This week has been full of myterious disappearances from office. Our head ops Nitin aka Neo has shown us his clean pair of heels!

He had left office on Monday morning to pick up our er, fairly short long term Pulsar 220! Industry sources revealed that the bike was duly picked up. Infact last week there was a nasty brawl in office between him and our ed about how the ed was talking badly of Pulsars and praising Karizmas! Lucky we wear our helmets even while we are typing! Dare we say anymore in this public forum. :-D

Now knowing Nitin, if he has been riding that fuel injected beast for 3 days, he should be somewhere around Moscow.

Oh PL? Pulsar Leave!

Danke!

Absent without leave!

Say hello to our editor in chief, Ben. Wait a minute! How do you say hello? The last we heard from him at our workplace was last week when he had gone to Bombay.

One of the reasons the emag is delayed is because he just vanished. Rahul said Ben had called him asking from where he could pick up a couple of Arai lids (Couple?) Everyone is having a whale of a time with Mr. Buttkicker out of town. And something tells us that tomorrow morning he will walk in as if nothing happened and hug us like long lost brothers! [If he has not read this till then]
- Anonymous