You can’t deny it. If you’re a bike lover, everytime the pulsing-fast ad where bikers on a black Indian-made sports bike plays on television, your heartbeat hastens till the sunflower oil ad that comes next, begins.While the slickly produced ads that beautifully exhibit the stunt-capabilities and speed of Indian-made sports bikes are a treat to watch, it is inevitable that they are promoting dangerous road games among youngsters. Sure, they’ve got a little white disclaimer on screen that says that ‘these actions were performed by professionals’ and shouldn’t be tried otherwise, but is that really a deterrent? Ravi*, a track official with the Madras Motor Sports Club, says that half the youngsters today are inspired to try stunts, courtesy the fast-paced ads aired by bike manufacturers.While slogans like ‘Racing DNA unleashed’ and ‘Rule the road’ doing the rounds, there is little wonder that the city’s youth are gunning for these 150-220 cc speed machines, even before they turn 18. Alok Joshua, a eleventh grader who has a fixation for bikes and Bollywood, says that his ambition is to coerce his father to buy him a Hero Honda Karizma ZMR. “After Hrithik Roshan rode the bike into a tornado, he came out with a perfect slide. I’ve heard the bike can top 140 kmph and can perform a ‘stoppie’ (stop on front wheel while the rear is suspended). Is it true?” he asks.Meanwhile, television-reality shows revolving around stunts sponsored by a bike-maker rub wannabe stunt-riders the wrong way. Average youngsters are shown on screen trying their hand at dangerous ‘wheelies’ and ‘burnouts’ on their normal bikes. Besides, there are regular stunt shows by biking crews. Recently, after a stunt exhibition in the city, a bunch of college students were spotted trying the same tricks in the parking lot, right after. Expectedly, one of them fell and had to be rushed to the hospital in the ambulance stationed there. “If people want to try stunts they should go to the stunt school in Pune,” advised Saravanan, a stunt-biker with the crew.
Comments
0 comment