By Carolyn Webb | The Age | Australia |
Nine years ago, Parampreet Singh Rajput realised he was living life as though he were a machine. He worked more than 16 hours a day, seven days a week. As a young migrant, he sought to do well.
“I realised I was losing the real taste of life,” said the chartered accountant, who runs his own business. “It was ‘work, work, work’ and nothing else.”
The 40-year-old, from Lyndhurst in Melbourne’s south-east, started spending more time with his wife and two daughters. And he sought a hobby.
He remembered how, in Amritsar, his home city in northern India, he used to love riding a motorcycle up into the hills with friends.
He bought a second-hand motorcycle and, in October 2014, rode from Geelong to Lorne along the Great Ocean Road with two friends. They had a great time.
So began the Sikh Motorcycle Club Australia – made up mostly of Sikh men from the Punjab region of India – which now has more than 120 members.
They wear black jackets and many ride sleek Harley-Davidson machines. Club rules include no alcohol or drugs, no overtaking each other and no speeding.
Rajput once counselled a young man who rode too fast on his sports bike, warning him “either you leave the club or be more disciplined”. The man no longer speeds and is an accepted club member.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of Sikhs in Australia has soared, from 12,000 in 1996 to 210,400 in 2021.
The motorcycle club has thrived and destinations for their monthly Sunday rides have included Hanging Rock, Ballarat and Healesville. There have been longer trips to Canberra and Phillip Island. Sometimes they stop to pray at temples.
“I feel like a bird, I have wings. I’m flying,” Rajput says of the freedom of the road.
Read the full story here.
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