GOAN ARE THE DAYS

A two-wheeled tribute to the smallest state in India. And it's the chillest big deal around

- Kartik Ware

Goa has has a way of turning me into more of myself, for better or for worse (I like to think it's always the former). Maybe it's the vastly diminished frequency of traffic signals, but I suspect it runs deeper than that and is usually aided by a bottle lined with condensation. Goan beaches are beautiful, but I prefer looking at them from a comfortable distance. I also don't quite care for the timbre of the Konkani language; it sounds a touch too brusque to my ears. But I do love the place, and that's why I've been going there for the past 20 years at the drop of a hat. I'd even go so far as to say that I consider myself a Goan by nature, if not by birth, and people who know me might just wholeheartedly agree. The same goes for the Royal Enfield Goan Classic 350.

With the Goan (the bike, now), you sort of already know what you're getting. It's the same mellow and characterful J-platform you've seen before, with a little bit of the old and a little bit of the new. Sort of like Goa itself these days, and it does nothing to diminish their own specific charms. When I first saw the Goan in this 'trip teal' paint scheme, I thought, 'Man, that's way out there... and I like it.' Like the place it takes its name from, the Goan is a synthesis of a laidback core character and an eye-catching aura, a proper paradox of being. Needless to say, the Goan looked right at home wherever it went in Goa. And that feeling tasted much better after a couple of days, as Goan sorpotel does, when I gazed at the bike in the right settings, too.