The World Is Not Enough

Aditya Raj Kapoor Plans to Travel the World on His Bike

- Sayoni Sinha

For the last few years of Shammi Kapoor’s life, his son, Aditya Raj Kapoor, busied himself caring for the veteran actor. After his father died, Aditya Raj, a retired management consultant, felt he had lost his purpose. Seeing him at a loose end a year later, his son recommended investing in a motorbike—even though the then 56-year-old had never been on a two wheeler. In 2012, Kapoor bought a Royal Enfield, named it Baby Blue and decided to see the world on it. But first, he mastered “road respect” at a biking club in Mumbai, completed two trips across India, and acquired a “call name” (every biker has one): Lord Fusebox.

Eight months after acquiring Baby Blue, Kapoor invited his wife Priti to join him on a 5,022-kilometre round trip from Mumbai to Lahaul and Spiti. Half expecting her to bail out, he meticulously planned the trip, staying mostly at state tourism hotels, as “they have the best views”. “Every single day for 25 days, I anticipated that she would be fed up and take a flight back from the nearest airport,” says Kapoor. He later summarised his trip in a book, Bike on a Hike.