BREAKING FREE

A venue change that jolted India Bike Week (and me) out of comfortable autopilot

- By Manaal Mahatme Photographs Kaizad Adil Darukhanawala

India Bike Week — a festival that was meant to steer people away from their almost-robotic existence — had slowly started succumbing to monotony itself.

I mean, every time it got bigger and better, but come on, the same ride, same venue, and even the same watering hole for continuing the revelry after the day ended... it was like rewatching the same movie. And I only realised that after attending the event in Panchgani. When IBW announced that it will be moving out of Goa, the disappointment was almost universal.

Panchgani felt like an odd choice. Too quiet. Too touristy. Too... not Goa. Vagator had become muscle memory by now — the same coastal roads, the same sunset cues, the same watering hole where everyone would spill once the stages shut down. IBW there was predictable, efficient, comfortable. And that, I realise now, was exactly the problem.