IN FLUENCE

Boundaries, geographical and otherwise, are theoretical for some riders. Here’s one such special one

- Kartik Ware

What is an influencer? I’ve asked and have been asked that question time and again in a wide variety of tones ranging from genuine curiosity to mocking disdain. The word ‘influencer’ may have been added to the English dictionary only in 2019, but people have played that role for as long as I can remember; the first one I remember from my childhood was Kapil Dev saying there was no answer to Palmolive shaving cream, leading me to wonder what kind of questions were being asked, and why a cricketer had to shave his face on TV. Anyway, for the new touring-outfitted Dominar, Bajaj paired me with Candida Louis, a real-world modern-day social-media influencer among other things. Among the first things she said to me was, ‘I’ve been trained to kill a person in two seconds.’

Having only met her for the first time, I thought it polite not to burst into laughter, though I did also take a few careful steps back. Louis is one the many Dominar Odyssey riders who have ridden across the world — she herself went on an epic eight-month ride from India to Australia in 2018 on her first-gen Dominar, and prior to that she’d already ridden around India more than most people I know of. And she’s had quite an interesting life so far, too — which can also be said of the Dominar. The bike is a great adaptation of the KTM 390 motor, with the addition of Bajaj’s typical grunty smoothness. And so far, I’ve observed that anyone who rides it immediately likes it — but anyone who looks at it first doesn’t know what it’s for.