adhere to the highest levels of road safety and traffic regulations.The Club regularly organizes Charity Rides during Christmas,Independence Day and other occasions.Proceeds or monetary contributions received are donated to orphanages and the under privileged within the state.Biking and riding are not their sole motto but promotion of safe riding practices and education of road safety rules to citizens are also part and parcel of their calendar of activities. With more than 500 plus Bullets on the streets of Aizawl,membership does not come easy.Just owning a Bullet does not guarantee membership to the Club,prospective members need to be cleared on a lot of fronts before they become eligible to join it.

As the new millennium unfolded there was a wave of riding clubs established across the country.These different clubs had a longing to bond with other bikers from various places and

Such zeal shown by the biking brotherhood in Delhi for an event in the North East for their biking brethren is a welcome move which can help building better awareness and understanding of the North East in the capital

different states and so Rider Mania–the biggest confluence of Royal Enfield riders in India and possibly the world started in 2003.However participants from the North East were few and far between at Rider Mania and the desire to bond bikers in the region was brewing amongst Bullet riders of the region from 2006.This desire of theirs finally saw the light of day in 2009 when the first North East Riders’ Meet was held at Kaziranga in Assam.Since then Arunachal Bullet Club in 2010,Royal Enfield Riders Association of Meghalaya(RERAM) in 2011 and the Nagaland Motorcycle Club(NMC) in 2012 have respectively hosted the earlier editions of NERM very successfully.In fact,NERM 2012 was an official part of the famous Hornbill Festival of Nagaland.Riders from Mumbai,Delhi, Chandigarh,Bangalore,Chennai,Hyderabad and Kolkata to name just a few have made their presence felt in these NERMs.

Joshua John,an avid biker from Delhi got together more than 100 bikers and organized the Delhi Bikers’ Breakfast Run on 15th September wherein they undertook a 48 kilometre ride from South Extension in Delhi to Murthal in Haryana on 15th September to promote this year’s NERM.Such zeal shown by the biking brotherhood in Delhi for an event in the North East for their biking brethren is a welcome move which can help building better awareness and understanding of the North East in the capital–something which is needed very much in the wake of frequent untoward incidents targeted at the North Eastern community in Delhi.This will definitely strike a right cord.

The Club regularly organizes Charity Rides during Christmas,Independence Day and other occasions.Proceeds or monetary contributions received are donated to orphanages and the under privileged within the state.

More than 200 riders had confirmed participation for the event from as far as Mumbai,Pune,Delhi and even some even from Nepal.To make this year’s NERM an international event,Chief of Aizawl Thunders and owner of the Lawma Enfield,the franchise of Royal Enfield in Aizawl,Rinchhana Tochhawng(R Cho) has made a number of trips to Myanmar meeting the authorities to get permission for the riders to ride up to Kalemyo in the Sagaing Division of Myanmar.

To organize events of such a magnitude,governmental patronage and corporate sponsorships are crucial in making it a success but unfortunately both have come in little measures for the NERM in Mizoram.This has however not dampened the resilient spirit of the Aizawl Thunders and they are putting in a lot of their time and pooling in finances from their own end for the event.Last year,Eastern Panorama had covered the North East Riders’ Meet 2012 held in Nagaland in its December issue.This year,Eastern Panorama is one of the official media partners for the 5th North East Riders Meet.EP feels that any event that promotes the region needs to be adequately covered and hence is proud to be associated with Aizawl Thunders in this noble gesture at promoting the North East to the rest of the country.

Pratap Chhetri