RSA : Maitreya, Level II Rubber Smokin' Angel

It was the November of 2004 when one of group members, Soulreaper, gave me call to inform me of a new Prospective member for our biker club. We were to meet him the same afternoon and we did. He came on a Hero Honda Ambition, tallish guy, long hair with a pony. He came and introduced himself as Maitreya Mahajan.
We headed to our area of practice to find what our new member had in store for us. It was not long before he saw the empty road and started showing off his skill of balancing the bike on one wheel while in motion. In simple terms he was Wheeling to glory. A few tens of meters and quite shaky. He tried showcasing his Endos too which were quite good for starters. Good skills, a biker attitude and a down-to-earth nature had already confirmed his membership in the group. Soulreaper was his idol when it came to stunts. He always had a special attachment with Soulreaper and always vouched to be as good as him one day. Over a good period of 6 months in the group he had formed a strong bond with each and every member and wanted everyone to call him ‘Mats’. He came in at around the same time when RSA was planning to implement the ‘150cc rule’. He knew the bike he had would not suffice, not only for the group rules but also for his stunts. In short, the Ambition was not enough for fulfilling his ambitions to sharpen his skills. He never wanted to tax his parents for his hobby and so he took a job where he worked till he had enough dough to buy himself a 180cc. During these job days he involved in a lot of small and friendly traffic police encounters. This earned him an alias ‘Cop Magnet’ in the group and on the online community, xBhp.com.
I still remember the day he got his 180 Pulsar. He bought it in Mumbai and rode down directly to Soulreaper’s house in Pune to show us his new ride. Mats wanted him to be the first person to ride that bike on one wheel. After this, there was no looking back for Mats. He had earned the bike he wanted and there was nothing that was going to stop him from practicing his stunts day in and day out. Within a couple of months his wheelies had extended from a few tens of meters to a few hundreds. I still remember the photo shoot we had for Bike India’s first issue, where Mats had given one of his best attempts at wheelies. In the wet, he and Soulreaper had a pulled of wheelies together and both went exactly the same distance. Mats had gone as long as his idol. Mats hugged me and Souly with tears of joy filling his eyes. That was a benchmark for him and also a boost for times to come. He was the only member in the group who accelerated to the Level 2 spot in a very small period of time. He was improving at a good pace in Stunts, but he never forgot what his parents expected from him. He was equally concentrating on his studies too. He may not have been the best when it came to academics, but he was not the worst either. But I would surely say that he was the best college student, everybody’s favorite, everybody’s friend.
Again, in early January this year, one of my group members, RDX, gave me a call in the morning and asked me to rush to a hospital he mentioned. I thought that one of my group members must have crashed somewhere while practicing. So I reached the mentioned place. It was not a very good sight, hundreds of his friends gathered over there, most of them with sore red eyes. Mats had left us. He was involved is a freak accident which was fatal. The grounding cable of an electricity pole snapped from the pole and wound around his body, claiming his life. It was unbelievable but true. The person whom I used to meet almost everyday had suddenly left us all. It came as a big shock to the whole group. I and my members are still not ready to believe that Mats is not amongst us anymore. I feel, that’s the best way to overcome this shock. We would rather keep him alive in our senses, in our group and in our hearts. Mats was like a younger brother to me and he even said that every time. I will always be proud of him. I would like to quote his Dad’s words, "I wouldn’t have felt as bad if my son would died while stunting, but this way, its just useless." This shows how supportive his Dad was to him. Today Mats has left behind 30 group members, hundreds of friends, his sister, his mother and his father, who was his biggest support and his best friend.