A Matte Black Dominar 2019 Comes Home

I had been contributing to various automobile forums in India, somewhat infrequently over the last few years. Recently, had a very bitter experience with team-bhp and one of its very arrogant admin, who goes by the handle gto. With posts getting deleted selectively, changing the narrative, and after receiving arrogant communication like "do not question the admin", I started wondering why the heck should I tolerate this nonsense, especially when I am generating content for their forum for free - by writing posts there. Gave it back in appropriate words, and decided not to contribute there anymore. 

Found xBHP to be much better, and lenient community in comparison. I still post there. But by and large, decided to try using my own blog going forward, as much as possible, to note down my long term ownership experience of the Dominar. So here goes.  

THE AVENGER 

Since returning from Spiti, last September, I had this overwhelming feeling that I had grown out of the Avenger. With all the mods I had done on the bike (the handle positioning, comfortable seat, hadlebar rod to hold mobile, charger for the mobile etc), the bike was supremely comfortable for both rider and pillion, and the bike effortlessly carried all the luggage we threw at it on long rides. 

In the ghat sections, the bike's power was more than adequate, and despite having a very long front fork, cornering on the bike, with all the luggage in place, wasn't exactly scary. It behaved very well around those corners. New tires were helping as well.  

Yet, when driving it on the plains, after getting down the loooong ghat from Manali, into Chandigarh, the 220cc, ~20bhp engine started feeling inadequate. The bike would do 80-90 without much trouble, but anything beyond that would strain the engine, resulting into vibes all over the handlebar. Irritating. 

Besides, having used to cruising at 130+kmph in the car, 80-90kmph started feeling very boring and mundane. 

NEW BIKE

So, since coming back, I started saving for a new bike - which one? That was yet to be decided. The KTM 390 Adventure that was rumoured to be released during 2018 EICMA, never did. And then what started with a Dominar as an alternative, quickly degenerated into a salivating pursuit of a "sports tourer" - from RR 310 to the world of parallel twins - Ninja 300, Ninja 400, R3 and even Ninja 650. I had even finalized R3 after taking a test-ride and figuring out the economical running maintenance costs of the bike. I knew at the back of my mind all the time that the aggressive posture these bikes demand (ofcourse vis-a-vis an avenger), would make them more of a "sports" bike and less of a "tourer". Yet, childhood memories of doing oohs and aahs oggling at a fully faired sports-bike, kept pushing me towards it. 

Thankfully, around the same time, the 2019 Dominar started making an appearance in prototype reviews. And my biggest concern - that of vibes in the 'touring' RPM range of 4000-6000 - owing to an SOHC engine setup - was taken care of by introducing a DOHC engine. There was still this fly in the ointment that the compression ratio was increased to 12+ - on the lines of the Duke - meaning possible addition to vibes and excessive heat generation. I would have preferred it being decreased, and addition of more torque low down instead. But that wasn't to be. 

Anyway, the reviews that were coming in were very encouraging. I let the better sense prevail, and dropped the idea of booking an R3, that would cost almost 4.3L on road in Bangalore, and instead decided to book an equally powerful, though single cylinder, Dominar 2019. I went to Khivraj Bajaj on Kasturba road in Bangalore, and put down a booking deposit couple days after pre-orders officially opened. The prices were declared almost a month later, in April. 

The folks at Khivraj Bajaj were quite professional in their handling of a customer. While they didn't allow me to take insurance from outside, they allowed me to choose a bike out of 4-5 bikes after a detailed inspection, and gave me delivery on the day I wanted - 7th May 2019 - on the occasion of AkshayTrutiya - अक्षय्य तृतीया - one of the very auspicious days (muhurta) as per Hindu calendar. 

Just out of delivery bay. 7-May-2019

The Dominar 2019 - Finally comes home, after a long 6 months of wait.

Musings about Hindutva and Secularism

It's been an amusing watching political reactions post the election results of 2019. On one side there is this repulsive Amar Singh, who changes colours faster than a chameleon, talking about how he kicked Manishankar Aiyyar's butt back in his hay days, and on the other side there are likes of Shashi Tharoor musing about the results in as honest terms as the suave diplomat in him allows himself to.

THE SHASHI THAROOR INTERVIEW

Just sometime back I watched Karan Thapar interviewing Shashi Tharoor about Congress' debacle in the 2019 election. 



I like Karan Thapar for the pointed questions and his ability to shoot point blank. It's a treat when you have an erudite like Tharoor responding from the other end. It makes for a very entertaining and a very thought-provoking discussion.

While for a long time I myself have been wishing to see a Congress lead by Shashi Tharoor as a capable and much needed opposition to Modi, as Karan Thapar kept suggesting all through the interview, I am as 'optimistic' about it happening, as either of them are. 

That aside, what troubled me towards the end of the interview was the standard hate-mongering about RSS and Hindutva. I have been hearing this for a long time, from this pariah-making industry, and this time I decided to note down my thoughts around this. 

HINDUTVA AND SECULARISM

In the interview, they sound so worried about how Hindutva is dangerous, how it will "destroy" this multi-cultural country, how it's against the Nehruvian ideas (while simultaneously being 'intolerant' to an alternative school of thought that Savarkar presented - and why). But at the same time they are either completely unaware of, or are unwilling to acknowledge, why so many people in the country, who, by the way, believe in live-and-let-live or 'वसुधैव कुटुंबकम्', and who would have voted BJP to power, do not associate Hindutva with the negative connotations that these people are so hellbent on projecting. 

The fact that Hindutva rose as a response to counter the hardline presented by political cults of Islam and Christianism, seems to be nowhere in their conscious. Neither does it seem to register with them that Congress' idea of 'secularism' - appeasing religious vote-banks - has been laid bare time and again, may that be way back in late 80's in the Shah Bano case or as recently as in defending triple talaq. They never seem to acknowledge that it's the RSS that's been pushing for common civil code for so many years, and it's the congress and the muslims who are opposing it, and having it their way for so long. The Indian populace may not be as big an 'intellectual' as they are, but they are smarter than what likes of Karan Thapar seem to assume. They catch these double standards and that's what they have rejected. 

That's also why people seem to resonate with Modi when he says 'the veil of secularism has been lifted from those who were hiding behind it'. Secularism, lately, has become the idea that pretentiously denounces everything that can cause even slight inconvenience to religious 'minorities' (Common Civil Code, Triple Talaq et al), and upholds everything that undermines Hinduism (Shabarimala, Hindu Terrorism et al). And while one can endlessly debate for or against it, people have acknowledged this disparity and double standards, and have expressed it through their votes. 

There are scores of intellectuals and journalists who wouldn't say a word about the train that was audaciously set on fire, burning scores of people, including women and kids, to death, but would endlessly go on denouncing the anger that boiled over into the unrest that followed. Remind me why there are hardly any 'intellectuals' or journalists who are critical of muslims when they commit a religious crime. For all the wrongs that you associate with Hindutva, it doesn't kill you for being critical of Hinduism 24x7, despite being a Hindu yourself. Try doing that with Islam, and in no time you will have to go hiding like a Salman Rushdie or a Taslima Nasreen. 

The moment you have muslims (and these so called 'seculars' or 'liberals') denouncing the wrongs that (other) muslims do, as vociferously as Hindus do when some overzealous Hindus commit a religious crime, the Hindutva that these people fear of so much, will dissolve in thin air. 

PARTING THOUGHTS

In this context, what's really dangerous is that these so called intellectuals, who look upon themselves so highly and who consider themselves as the torch-bearers of the secular cosmopolitan thought, either aren't cognisant of this, or are just plain unwilling to acknowledge it. 

So far as they keep up beating around the bush like this, Hindutva will keep gaining momentum, and people like me, despite being secular and liberal in our thoughts, will not find any fault with it. After all, if true secularism is never to see the light of the day, and if it has to be a political cult that rules India, I would much rather prefer it to be the one that I belong to, and one that I have confidence about in having scope for inclusiveness for any other religion. I definitely don't want to live in a Bangladesh or a Pakistan of yore, thank you very much.