The road so far
From seven riders outside a Chennai coffee shop to a ride we want in every state of India. Here is how it happened.
A poster from Sydney
Around 2013 we came across a poster for an event in Sydney. It showed a gentleman in a suit on a vintage motorcycle, riding with his buddies. It was the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride, which used the love of motorcycles to raise awareness of prostate cancer. We were in Chennai and couldn't take part, so we wrote to its founder. His reply surprised us: if you love motorcycles that much, why not host the ride in your own city?
Seven riders and a lot of stares
We invited more than a hundred biker friends to suit up, clean their bikes and meet at a coffee shop at 7am on a Sunday in September. Seven showed up. We rode anyway: coffee, a loop through town, breakfast. Everywhere we went, people stared, because nobody in Chennai's heat wears a suit, let alone on a motorcycle. When the photos went online, the friends who had stayed home started calling. That first ride taught us that motorcycles bring people together.
Two thousand riders at 6am
The next year, about 50 riders came. Then more, year after year. Five or six years in, more than 2,000 riders in suits gathered at 6am on a Sunday at Phoenix Market City, one of the largest malls in Chennai. Hundreds of volunteers and hundreds of clubs helped, and we raised up to $10,000 for charity that year. None of it would have happened without our friends, our family and our club buddies.
Where is our money going?
As the ride grew, riders started asking a fair question. We are raising this money in India, so why isn't any of it used in India? The funds went to a prostate cancer foundation overseas, and the global rules allowed no exceptions. They also allowed no fee to cover the cost of running an event for thousands. Then the global date moved to May, the hottest month of the year in Chennai. We handed the Chennai ride to the juniors in our club, who still run it brilliantly.
What if we did it the Indian way?
Years later, Sarthak kept saying the same thing: imagine recreating that experience with an Indian touch. One afternoon we sat down to brainstorm. India needed a motorcycle event with a twist. Not a fest, not a rally, but a fundraiser ride for a cause that matched our values. In those conversations, one cause kept coming back: the families of our martyred soldiers.
A name that is a promise
Amar Jawan, the immortal soldier. When we spoke to NGOs and foundations that support martyrs' families, some of them set up by retired Army officers, we saw families who need emotional, financial and skill-based support. The Army does a great deal, but when a soldier has given his life, there is always room to give more. So the ride became a tribute: not a race, not a rally, a salute on two wheels. The suits went too. Our only dress code is Proudly Indian: come dressed in whatever says India to you.
The first edition: ten cities
Seven riders started the last story. This one starts in 2027, in Chennai, Nagpur, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Kolkata and New Delhi: ten convoys, one salute. Dates are announced by the AJR team, and registered riders hear first.
Then the money, then more cities
Fundraising opens after the first ride. We raise first, then choose the partner organisation in the open. From day one, our goal has been a ride in every state and every city of India over time. Riders from other cities are already on the waitlist for the next edition.
What we believe
A tribute, not a spectacle
Every ride opens with the flag and the flame. The convoy is marshalled, the route is set, and the finish belongs to the families we ride for. We have organised rides for thousands, and we know a crowd is not the point. The salute is.
Free to ride, open to all
No fee, no club required, no bike too small. If you hold a licence and want to salute, you ride. There is one dress code, Proudly Indian, and it fits every state, every culture and every rider.
Every rupee to the families
Riders once asked us where their money was going, and the answer was: overseas. Not this time. AJR takes nothing from donations. We raise first, then choose, in the open, the partner that puts the money to work for the widows, children and dependents of martyred soldiers.
