Three days inside Motoverse 2025

I knew what waited for me the moment I landed in Goa last week. Something straight out of Mad Max: Fury Road. Engines snarling, dust hanging in the AQI like prophecy, men and machines moving with purpose — the purpose being the love of motorcycling, where the journey is the destination.

I was walking back into a world I had sworn I had left behind. A past love calling. Ironic, considering I have done my fair share of long-haul cross-country biking. Chennai to Mumbai via Bengaluru and Goa — 1,800 kilometres of breeze, highways and clean air. Then the return trip a few years later, again over a week, because I had to take the motorcycle back and my stress-related backaches disappeared magically.

Bikers at the event

And then the big one. Rajasthan during Demonetisation. Udaipur to Jaipur to Pokhran to Jaisalmer and back to Udaipur in three days — 1,600 kilometres riding along potholes and trenches, enough trauma to make me promise myself I would never swing a leg over a motorcycle again.

Yet here I was, walking out of the North Goa airport, excited like it was my first time. Three days for the love of all things motorcycling. The Motoverse (November 21-23).

On arrival, the folks at Royal Enfield handed me the key to a Hunter 350 the night before — 11 litres in the tank to explore Goa during the Motoverse. The perfect Goa bike. Whether I was dodging potholes or slicing through them, the suspension took most of the brunt. Compact, nimble, easy to flick through traffic. I was all set.

A drone shot of the event

Hanumankind at Vagator

It is not every day you see rapper Hanumankind gloving up like a prizefighter before mounting a bike. From Garage Café, he led a pack of riders up to Vagator Hilltop, the venue for what would become three days of controlled chaos. Helmets gleaming, machines revving, a convoy worthy of a George Miller storyboard. Even Siddharth Lal, Royal Enfield’s chief, rolled in with the swagger of a man who bleeds motor oil.

Hundreds of riders took over Goa’s roads as locals stopped to film the spectacle. For a moment, we weren’t on NH66 or a sleepy Goan lane — we were in our own cinematic universe. A pilgrimage. A shared beat.

Attendees at The Motoverse

Vagator Hilltop had morphed into a giant carnival — a moto mela, a biker’s Comic-Con or Disneyland. Stalls everywhere. Vintage jackets, touring gear, bizarre accessories, food counters that smelled like every Goan kitchen I have ever loved. Mozzarella sandwiches from Artjuna. The perfect Hot Head pizza at Como Agua Pizzeria. Plenty to eat and drink for foodies.

At the heart of the Hilltop, riders defied physics at the Maut Ka Kuan, racing motorcycles around a wooden well as if gravity was optional.

The big showcases drew their own crowds. New Royal Enfield motorcycles gleamed under spotlights. The new apparel lines — the graphic-forward Comic Helmet, the upgraded Motowave X2 Bluetooth unit, the exclusive Motoverse Collection — were laid out for riders to poke, prod and test. I rode out sporting Vallon Moto Aviators to explore my favourite haunts before returning to base for the gigs.

Day one ended with Hanumankind revealing he was getting back on stage after surgery, though he had been advised rest. He wanted to take it easy, but this was an offer too good to refuse. The crowd of thousands made it worth his while as he kept the momentum going with a high-energy act, sweating so much he took his shirt off. Thaikkudam Bridge had just warmed the crowd up earlier.

A bike on display
| Photo Credit:
ASHIKTHOMAS

Every evening, artists performed on different stages. On day two, I caught Dot and the Syllables, who charmed indie fans with her jazzy vocals after a ten-minute fashion show with models showing off the apparel range. After a bit of Aman Negi, I walked over to the main stage to catch DJ Diplo, who had the crowds vibing to bhangra beats and EDM.

Enroute Panaji

A trip to Goa is incomplete without a visit to Panaji, where the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) happens at the same time. So at the end of day two, I biked my way 22 kilometres to hang with my filmmaker friend Q, who threw a party at Praca Prazeres to celebrate the distribution deal of his new film Deshlai (Zewel). Fellow filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj and Kiran Rao dropped by to wish him luck.

On the final day, after watching Moto Polo where a local Bengaluru team beat a pro-level international team, a friend and I decided to ride all the way north to Morjim to check out the hippie scene. We found it replaced by mainstream candlelit dinner shacks charging ₹1,500 per person for an inside table and ₹2,000 for a table by the beach. We rode back to Chapora to chill by the bustling dive scene around Darlings after getting a bite at Boiler Maker, rated one of the top 50 bars in Asia.

A snapshot from The Motoverse.

Just before returning the bike the next day on reserve — four litres — after 140 kilometres, I had a moment to myself. Lunch by the sea at Purple Martini in Anjuna. Somewhere between the new scale model displays and the roar of dyno tests, I realised how much I had missed motorcycling. I was home again.

The writer was in Goa on invitation of Royal Enfield