BALANCING ACT

The Kia Carnival strikes a chord with our motorcycling bunch over a 2000-km road trip

- Ruman Devmane

See the happy lot here? They're motorcycle guys. Okay, they sure dress funny sometimes (A yellow jacket? Really?!) and they do highly questionable things with their knees and elbows while on their motorcycles but they mean no harm. Except to themselves, that is. Leave them to their own devices and they're mostly a hardy, resourceful bunch who seek happiness in simplicity. Oh, and all of them place thrill far higher than they do comfort in their order of priorities.

Why, then, do all of us (er, that's me in the yellow jacket...) really fancy an MPV? I'd have said 'van' had it still been fashionable to say so, but you get the point, no? Some of us fantasise owning a big, white van spacious enough to swallow a motorcycle or two along with all the paraphernalia that accompanies them. Others — also us — like them posh. Kia Carnival levels of posh, let me say. Of course, there are more exquisite cars of its kind you can buy today in exchange for more exquisite sums of money, but us motorcyclists are an inherently rational and frugal lot. Ask my father and he'll tell you, proudly, how little I've spent on my motorcycling exploits over the last couple of decades. Please don't tell him what you know.

VAN WITH A PLAN

It was only appropriate, thus, that we chose the Carnival to set off on an epic motorcycle story hunt for our previous issue. At the onset, it appears large and supremely plush, and its diesel engine would make the 2000-km round trip more palatable (see what I mean?). Mumbai to Bengaluru and back, with a week’s worth of luggage? Sounds too easy to even be a challenge of any sort, no?