My Passion, My Love, India’s Pride Royal Enfield - Mr Abdul Karim Alsayegh
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
“I came to know about this India’s Pride Royal Enfield from my Indian colleagues when I was working for an Indian Company in Qatar. My love towards this Enfield started from that time”, says a proud Kuwaiti, who carries great memories of India. Mr Abdul Karim Alsayegh, a Kuwaiti national rewinds his memories of India with pride.
“I was working with Punj Lloyd in Qatar and had a lot of Indian friends there. First I came to know about Ambassador Car. But the problem of importing a right handed car and legal issues in converting an original right handed car to left handed one stoped me from that. But when I saw the Royal Enfield on Indian roads, my eyes totally focussed on that”, says Abdul Kareem., who is currently helping Punj Lyod in its Kuwait operations.
The Royal Enfield Bullet has roared back to life in India. For an Indian youth, it’s not just a bike; it screams addiction and passion. Known for its rich heritage and history, Royal Enfield is the oldest motorcycle brand to be in continuous production, with the first motorcycle manufactured in 1901. Currently its production is from Chennai.
Abdul Kareem bought his first Royal Enfield Bullet from Dubai after a lot of struggle. He approached the company in Chennai to import one bullet to Kuwait. But the response was lukewarm. Later he found out that they have a distributer in Dubai and went there to purchase his first Royal Enfield Bullet Classic with a side car. He was the first owner of Royal Enfield in Kuwait as the traffic department needed to create a new entry for registering his bike as the manufacturer name was not present in Kuwait traffic department records.
Many of his friends were really surprised to see this beautiful bike. They all want to try riding this whenever they see the bike. "This type of motorcycle luckily is Indian and still Indian. I have been using this bike for more than 3 years and have no problem at all. I find this type of motorcycle very social. I can have my wife beside me or my daughter, son or the whole family can sit. Only problem I face is when I go on the road it occupies space and looks like a car. It’s fantastic and I just love it". says Mr Abdul Karim Alsayegh.
“I enjoy fellow Indian passengers on the road looking at me with great astonishment when I ride this royal Enfield on Kuwait roads”, he says happily.
He bought his second Royal Enfield from Kuwait when Kuwait Automotive Imports Co WLL, KAICO opened its showroom in Kuwait. “Now since the Royal Enfield has its own showroom in Kuwait, more and more people are buying this bike here,” he said. He has created an exclusive Royal Enfield Riders Club in Kuwait and connects with other Royal Enfield owners through Instagram. We have around 14 members including some Indians, Kuwaitis and westerners who own Royal Enfield in Kuwait. There are other 4 - 5 Kuwaitis who are also proud owners of Royal Enfield. He also knows many Kuwaiti friends who visited India and enjoy the Royal Enfield ride there on Indian roads.
Recently the club members did a trip to northern boarder of Kuwait by all members on Enfield, which was a great experience, he said. “Now my dream is to ride my Royal Enfield to Himalaya”, Abdul Kareem says.
“Sometimes I wish to buy my third Royal Enfield Chrome from India and ride it to Kuwait”, his dreams are unlimited! He never faced any problem with the bullet in Kuwait. “Now since KAICO have Enfield showroom in Kuwait, they take care of the service very well. Only issue is I am not getting enough accessories for my bullet here. But here every Kuwaiti will have some Indian friends, through them we can get it easily from India” he said.
Abdul Kareem visited India 4 times mainly Mumbai and loves the country very much. Very soon he is planning to visit Kerala (God’s own Country). He likes the culture and the people in India. “All my furniture’s and artefacts in my House are ‘Mughal’ style and purchased from India,” he concludes with high esteem.
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Deepika Nambiar is part of the IIK team and IWIK core team. She does regular contributions to the news portal IndiansinKuwait.com and also for Timesofindia.com.
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