Mysuru: Jawa lovers celebrated International Jawa Day by taking out a bike rally in city this morning.
More than 300 bikers including from Bengaluru and Kodagu took out a rally with their precious good old Jawa and Yezdi bikes vrooming along the thoroughfares of city. The event was also a platform for Jawa bike enthusiasts to interact with some of the oldest riders and employees of the then Ideal Jawa factory.
The roads came alive with the sounds of two-stroke engines of Yezdi and Jawa bikes as their owners took out their pride possession to mark the day. These iconic machines, called the ‘King of Roads’, were manufactured by the erstwhile Ideal Jawa (India) Ltd. which had its factory in Yadavagiri.
Ideal Jawa (India) Ltd., manufactured the most sought-after two-wheelers in the 60s and 70s. The land that stood abandoned after the factory stopped production in 1981 was auctioned in 2001.
The rally began near the new Jawa showroom at Saraswathipuram and passed through Hunsur Road, Bogadi Road, Vontikoppal Main Road, Old Jawa Factory Road at Yadavagiri and culminated at Bal Bhavan in Bannimantap.
While motorists gave way for these iconic machines to pass by, the public, especially young boys stood on eithersides of the road to have a glimpse of these machines which were once manufactured in their city.
The bikes, which took part in the rally, included Jawa Colt (1970), Jawa Jet (1962), CL 2 and Jawa 350 which include right from 60cc to the 350cc Jawa models, Yezdi 250, Yezdi Roadking, Yezdi Classic, Yezdi Monarch and other models.
Jawa is one of the most iconic motorcycles to have graced the Indian roads. With the first Jawa rolling out of Czechoslovakia in 1929, it made its Indian debut through the efforts of F.K. Irani at Ideal Jawa which started importing them to Mysuru around the mid-1940s.
Jawa bikes are still being actively used today not just by their original owners but have been handed down to generations.
Praveen, Khizer Ahmed, Sameer, Gavin, Jawa Shama, Sangam Manju, Raghu, Hemesh, Krishna, Rickey, Chote Saab and others took part in the rally.
In Kodagu
International Jawa Day was also celebrated at Kodagu, where about 12 riders took out a ride on their prized possession to Chelavara Falls and Kabbe Hills near Kakkabe.
They rode from Mysuru yesterday and stayed overnight at a home stay in Siddapura.
Dilip (home stay owner who also had a 1983 Yezdi), Gagan, Nagendra, Yashwanth, Nithyanand, Harsha, Pruthvi, Mohan, Sachin, Pradeep and Ruthvik participated.
What pride in driving large number of outdated bikes with inefficient combustion engines adding significant air pollution to the clean surrounding of Mysore and Madikeri? Use bikes for normal commutes and enjoy the Java while doing it. No need to gang up on fun drives pumping so much smoke into air. Or compensate the pollution you all create for fun by doing additional social work. And wear helmets.