This was my first big project which involved application of all my skills, making it very close to my heart. It took me almost an year to be able to clearly visualize what I wanted from this trip and how can it benefit my community (xBhp) and Indian biking scenario as a whole. My aim was to do the trip in a way that no one had done it before in India. This meant something had to be different other than being just an Indian roadtrip. I added the following elements to achieve this:
A superbike (Honda Fireblade 1000RR)
Moto Scooters (sponsored by Kinetic Engineering India)
I decided that there will be daily updates online thus allowing people to follow the trip closely as it is being done.
Stress on media coverage
Offline Interaction with xBhp members and other bikers across India as we travel.
Why was it such a big deal back then?
Getting sponsors is never easy, and it was definitely not easy to get such hige amount for such a big roadtrip.
Risk: Having exotic bikes like this and taking them around India meant that the trip will be over if anything happens to anyone of them, there were hardly any superbike mechanics back then, getting a spare from abroad was the only option in case something went wrong.
Riding around on bikes like these meant lots of curious people and unwanted attention and dealing with them.
Creating a whole new level of expectation from the club and creating a trendsetting impact.
What the trip achieve?
connect hundreds of like minded biking enthusiasts offine throughout India
connect thousands of like minded biking enthusiasts online at xBhp.com
positive publicity for India and the concept of bikeism as a way of life through press releases
created a trendsetter. Many clubs have been trying to emulate xBhp.com’s success and model and we can expect trips borrowing cues from the GIR, which is good for the Indian biking scenario
The GIR proved that any superbike can run in most of the Indian conditions and roads
on the road blogging from many parts of the India during the GIR proved that India has a mind boggling wireless internet setup ( courtesy Reliance ).
proved that India is one of the best countries to travel by road
The Great Indian Roadtrip coffee table book was released in Oct 2007 in limited numbers and is availaible in most major bookstores across India. Published by Om Books International. The book was compiled, designed and edited by me.
The Great Indian Roadtrip documentary is on the cards.
I have developed a trailer with the help of the excellent editing done by my friend, Ashish Guliani. The trailer can be seen here.
Decent press publicity. (60+ press appearances)
My role in the trip
From conception, getting sponsors, choosing the riders, managing and making sure the trip happened succesfully was my responsibility. besides this interacting with media and providing them with feature articles and updates was also a very important task.
My role in the trip as a Photographer
Below is a set of pictures taken on the 2006 India roadtrip, it is a Flash application. Click on it anywhere and then use keyboard arrow keys (left and right) to navigate between different images.
In 2006 I was just getting into photography. My equipment was a Canon 300D with stock lenses and a 15mm Fisheye.
My role in the trip as a Writer
I was responsible for interfacing with the media and writing feature articles for magazine on the trip. Here are some articles that I wrote/co-photographed:
Bike India Articles (3 full feature articles). Bike India Magazine is one of the most popular automotive magazines in India. I had written text and compiled photographs (including my own) to cover the whole 108 days India trip in 3 full length feature articles. Click here to read them.
My role in the trip as a Designer
I was responsible for designing the entire trip website along with all the creatives like tshirts, motorcycle branding schemes, riding gear branding etc.
This was an 360 degree real world excercise for me in branding.
