Volume 5, Issue 2: Fall 2009

Lyricism in Design: A History of Motorcycles in India

Sushil Chandra and Sudhir Atreya

Why a study of motorcycle design centered on India? After all, no motorcycle worth its name has been designed in India. Interestingly, the answer lies in the past, present and future. Although motorcycle manufacturing started in India only in 1961, when the Indian Army placed an order with Royal Enfield on the condition that it set up a manufacturing facility in India, the history of Indian popular culture contains the seeds for future motorcycle development in the twenty-first century. Since India today is among the leaders in motorcycle manufacturing, so far as quantity is concerned, motorcycles are increasingly being designed with Indian sensibilities in mind.

A look at the Indian literature, ancient, medieval and modern reveals an astonishing fact: Indian sensibility, as reflected through literature, has always been lyrical.  In Indian literature, starting in 2500 BC with Rig-Veda, verse, rather than prose, has predominanted.   Not only were epics, such as Valmiki Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the Upanishads written in verse, but so were books on medical science (Ayurveda), mathematics (Leelavati by Bhaskaracharya), and law (Pramana Vartika by Dharmkirti). In the modern era, no Indian movie is complete without songs.  Essentially, in all forms of Indian creative expression, lyricism has been an essential ingredient.

In post-1984 India, the volume of motorcycle production has been rising substantially, and designers have taken care to cater to the Indian lyrical sensibility. In the future, as India becomes a global hub of motorcycle design, it is almost certain that the design will grow increasingly lyrical.

The relationship between lyricism and design in general and motorcycle design in particular has caught the imagination of other writers, including those in the West. After all, to its riders, the motorcycle is essentially an emotional object, an extension of the individual’s inner self. The motorcycle originated, of course, as a means of transport. But starting with the baby-boom generation, it metamorphosed into an alter ego of the individual. Che Guevara in his Motorcycle Diaries and Marlon Brando in the movie The Wild One exemplify the emotional expressions of their generation.

But at the same time, the motorcycle is also a product of engineering design, in fact, the ultimate in mathematical reasoning. This essay will consider where and how these diverse streams meet. An exploration of the evolution of motorcycle design, the dynamics of fundamental social codes and their effects on literature, politics and popular culture, enables us to have a holistic picture of the Indian landscape through the lens of motorcycle design.

Approaches to Design

Traditional approaches to design started with intuitive, operational and applied approaches. Later, as illustrated by Donald A. Norman in Why We Love Everyday Things, design evolved into a rational approach, supported by an engineering background, which emphasized functionality, durability and emotions (visceral, functional and reflective) generated by an object (1-4). In the context of motorcycles, this approach resulted in stress on ergonomics, dynamics, performance (engine performance and drivability) and durability. So far as the emotions are concerned, visceral and functional emotions are taken care of by ergonomic and dynamic aspects of functionality.

Reflective emotions, which are generated by the collective memories of society and individuals, form the secondary aspect of design for two reasons.  First, in the evolutionary phase of design, priority was accorded to functional aspects.  Second, technological constraints limited the capacity of designers to freely express their individual and social sensibilities.

A contemporary approach, by contrast, places product semantics at the core and uses a pluralistic approach to achieve what might be good for the end users. This approach sees the design process as consisting of a triangle formed by (1) the designer, (2) the meaning of the product, and (3) the design solution. This approach has led to two distinct design approaches:

In Engineered Industrial Design (EID), the designer sees the product as a combination of primary (physical) and secondary (social and symbolic) qualities. The meaning of the product lies in its functionality plus emotional, social and symbolic values. The design solution attempts to balance emotional, social and symbolic qualities with the help of different empirical and semi-empirical methods.

In Contextualised Industrial Design (CID), the designer interprets different forms of interaction with the product (physical, social and symbolic).  The meaning of the product lies in its ability to respond to fundamental socio-cultural codes that govern perceptions and values. The design solution supports good cultural codes facilitating communication and interactions between groups.

Whether it is the social and symbolic value of a product or its interaction with fundamental socio-cultural codes, these are products of collective cultural memories. Interestingly, these very collective cultural memories are the source of the literary sensibilities of a civilisation.  The cultural codes understood as “lyrical” can be applied both to poetry and motorcycle design, which mutually illuminate one another.

Lyricism in Poetry

To consider the lyrical elements of motorcycle design, the poetry of the machine, as it were, we must understand lyric poetry.  While lyric poetry has been a staple of the western poetic canon, it was perhaps most famously practiced by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in their anthology Lyrical Ballads. Without going into the history and traditional definitions of poetry, one single sentence can suffice to describe it: poetry is distinguished from prose owing to its emotions and rhythm.      

A more technical definition of lyrics, which can provide a framework for lyricism in engineering design, is provided by Frederic Ives Carpenter in his book English Lyric Poetry: 1500-1700, which supports our simple definition:  “In the stricter sense of the term two essential ideas attach to the term ‘lyrics’: the idea of its musical character and associations and the idea of lyric as a peculiar poetic instrument for the expression of personal mood and feeling” (xxi).

The most important thread linking poetry with motorcycle design is aesthetics. The two may be entirely diverse disciplines but the aesthetics of both depend on the elements of emotion and rhythm.   While poetry has various means to generate emotion in readers, we might argue that the style of a motorcycle, that is, its form and color, generate emotion in the beholder.  Similarly, the linguistic rhythm of poetry finds its design analogy in the dynamism, flow and symmetry of a particular machine.

Emotions

William Wordsworth, in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads writes, “All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” This assertion makes the force and power of a remembered emotion an essential element of lyric poetry. However, how to identify and quantify the emotions, whether in poetry or in motorcycles? One of the most useful tools for this purpose is Watson and Tellegen’s circumplex of emotions, interpreted by Russell (Vittersø, et al. 7) (fig-1). It expresses all emotions in terms of valence (measure of pleasantness) and activation (measure of stimulation).

Fig. 1

Another tool which further helps us in our pursuit is Rasa-siddhanta by Bharat in his famous study of dramatics, Natya Shastra. This theory revolves around nine rasas, which encompass the whole gamut of human emotions:

1. Shringaara: Love, beauty, devotion

2. Shaant: Peace, relaxation, calmness

3. Karuna: Sadness, compassion, pity

4. Bhayaanak: Fear, anxiety, worry

5. Vibhatsa: Disgust, depression

6. Raudra: Anger, irritation, violence

7. Vira: Courage, confidence, pride, aggression

8. Haasya: Joy, humor, sarcasm

9. Adbhuta: Wonder, mystery, curiosity

Though this tool has been widely used to analyze Indian literature, here we can superimpose it on Watson and Tellegen’s circumplex. Here each rasa can have intensity from 0 to 3 (fig-2). This superimposition helps in expressing each emotion in terms of polar co-ordinates r (intensity from 0 to 3) and θ (rasa from 0 to 360).

Fig. 2

How should one assign r and θ values?  While differing analytical approaches to poetry might assign such values differently, with motorcycles we can take a methodical approach, using the factors of content, color and form.  Content:  the emotion generated by a motorcycle is partly generated by its type and (cruiser, sport or standard), size (lean or bulky), generic styling (minimalist or ornamental) and features (type of visor, head light, front console, wheels, etc.). Color has several aspects impacting its emotional character: hue (color type on the spectrum), value (black or white content on a scale of 0 to 10) and chroma (intensity on a scale of 0 to 12) of individual colors and the effect of these aspects on the combination of colors. (This effect of combination gets reflected in harmony or contrast.)  The form of a motorcycle generates emotions that result from the combined effect of different parts, predominantly the seat, body covers and fuel tank. The factors responsible for this effect are the predominance of organic or geometric form, the type of geometry (curvilinear or rectilinear) and the combination and intensity of negative and positive spaces.

Method

To quantify the emotional quotient, i.e., the effect of content, color and form, an online survey was conducted in three parts. Besides, these online surveys, detailed discussions with designers were undertaken to confirm the findings.

For the effect of color, a color matrix of different hues, combinations and variations in value and saturations on one axis and keywords reflecting different emotions on another axis was created and circulated online to respondents.  Similarly, for studying the effect of form, variations of forms and form combinations were created.

Content is a more complicated problem to handle. Criteria were chosen based on two factors: overall classifications of motorcycles and specific features that provide character to the motorcycle. The conclsions may or may not be generalized, depending on the context.

Emotional Quotient

Finally, we created a matrix to calculate the emotional quotient of a motorcycle, factoring in the mismatch among each of the factors. Each factor contributing to content, color and form was rated on polar coordinates r and θ using the findings of the survey. Then the ratings were matched on a scale of 1 to 2 (1=not matching and 2=matching). The emotional quotient was determined by taking the mean of all ratings.

Table 1

Matrix for Calculation of Emotional Quotient (e)

Rhythm

To accurately judge these factors for assessing rhythm in motorcycle design, we conducted an interesting exercise. We listed the different factors in visual design and defined them in terms of poetry, as the following table illustrates.

Table 2

Rhythmic Elements in Poetry

We then took some examples from Indian poetry, acclaimed for their lyrical quality and looked for the visual design factors in them. (The examples have been taken from Indian poetry, for, as they say, one can feel a poem completely only in one’s own language from one’s own social context). The following table emerged from this exercise.

Table 3

Test of Rhythmic Elements in Poetry

From the above table, the following three essential elements of lyricism emerge, which we will call visual factors: unity, dynamism and form.  The following table gives the criteria for judging the above factors and assigning a score (from 1 to 3).

Table 4

Calculation of Visual Quotient in Design

Finally, we calculated the visual quotient by finding the mean of three scores.

Lyricism quotient

With these exercises in mind, we constructed a lyricism quotient, which can be defined as product of emotional and visual quotients.  Quantatively, this quotient yields the following values:

q=e.v

q_min=0

q_max=9

0≤q‹3: No or very low lyricism

3≤q‹6: Reasonably lyrical

6≤q≤9: Highly lyrical

Lyricism in Motorcycle Design: India

In India until 1984, basically three brands--Enfield, Rajdoot and Ideal Jawa--dominated the Indian scene (figs. 3 to 5).

Figs. 3-5

From 1984 onwards, with the advent of lower capacity motorcycles (figs. 6 to 11), there was a dramatic shift as far styling was concerned (see fig. 12). 

Figs. 6-11 (click on the image to enlarge)

Fig. 12

Prior to this era, from 1961 to 1984, while the global lyricism quotient varied from 1.4 to 3.04, the Indian scene remained static from 1.006 to 1.2575, as the same three vehicles-- Enfield, Rajdoot and Ideal Jawa--ruled the roost. But in the post-1984 period, the Indian motorcycle lyricism quotient matched the global score.  Why? In the 1960-84 period, motorcycle design was shifting its centre of gravity from the US and Europe to Japan, whereas Indian motorcycles were completely dependent on British and Czechoslovak designs. Moreover, since the production quantities were miniscule, the Indian sensibility was not catered to. But in the post-1984 period, the quantities increased leaps and bounds (Table-5), and manufacturers, mostly aligned to Japanese and other global modernizers, attended to Indian sensibilities. These factors, coupled with the advent of CAD-CAM and new plastic materials, resulted in breathtaking array of lyrical designs. Consequently, one can foresee a bright future for Indian motorcycle design.

Table 5

Motorcycle Production in India

There is another interesting sidelight to the Indian scenario, which is largely similar in South and South East Asia. While global motorcycle designs have largely concentrated on high-capacity bikes, marketing them via images of fun and adventure, in the Asian arena, the motorcycle has, for all practical considerations, remained a medium of transport. Considerations of economy have restricted these motorcycles to capacities from 100cc to 250cc. Although Asia has segmented the markets into power and economy bikes, even the power bikes’ capacities are miniscule compared to global standards. Since Asia is responsible for the largest volume of motorcycle production, the sensibilities have shifted from western models of attractiveness and functionality to designs more akin to an Indian sensibility. With ready help coming from technology in the form of CAD-CAM, flexibility of design and materials, the last barriers to producing bikes with a focus on lyricism evoking Indian attitudes are being lifted.

From 1961 to 1984, three brands dominated he Indian scene: Bullet from Royal Enfield, Rajdoot from  Escorts and Yezdi  from Ideal Jawa  Ltd. In this period, the hierarchy of Indian society consisted of administrative, caste and feudal classes running along identical lines, i.e., the people at top occupied all three hierarchies simultaneously. Similarly, people at the bottom of the three pyramids were also the same. In this period, cars were meant only for the select few among the urban rich. Motorcycles were meant for the rural rich and elements of the urban middle class. This resulted in the fundamental social codes of rural dominance and the urban quest for grace and class for motorcycle owners.

In the art of this period, motorcycles mostly acted as the instrument of romance in Indian movies, such as Bobby (1974), Andaaz (1970) and Ek Duje Ke Liye (1979). But the dominant social code for romance was not very explicit. In public life, one could see wives and girlfriends on the pillion seat of the motorcycle, sitting sidesaddle. Overt public display of affection did not have wide social acceptability. The following table illustrates how the social codes of that period got translated into motorcycle design features.

Table 6

It should be emphasized that since production volume was small and the technology was primitive, fuel tank contours and seat geometry were designed to suit the most common denominator, alongside manufacturing feasibility. These factors restricted the scope for lyricism and, despite the differences in the fundamental social codes and a deep-rooted quest for lyricism, design remained low on lyricism.  One might speculate on the social origins of the phenomenon.   Pre-colonial Indian social life was rich in romance and poetry.  Whereas Indian society was deeply divided along caste and feudal lines, within the feudalistic compartments, man-woman relationships were open. But the advent of Islamic and European influences transformed male-female relationships.  India turned into a conservative society in terms of gender discourse, while feudal and caste lines not only remained intact but were deepened.  (This duality is amply illustrated in the epic Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas.)  

The ideals of the French and Soviet revolution left a deep influence on the liberal values driving the Indian freedom struggle. In 1961, when motorcycle manufacturing started in India, a fierce conflict remained between Victorian conservatism and western liberalism, a conflict reflected in then-contemporary Indian poetry and movies.  This conflict is illustrated by two most enduring images of motorcycles in Indian movies. Unlike western motorcycle movies such as the The Wild One, The Leather Boys and Hell’s Angels, where the motorcycle becomes an extension of the protagonist’s anger and aggression, Indian movies of that era used motorcycles as vehicles of romance. In 1970 movie Andaaz, the boy (Rajesh Khanna) is driving a Bullet 350 with the girl (Hema Malini) riding pillion, singing the chartbuster “Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana.” Interestingly, the girl is sitting with both legs on one side and facing front. This inhibited expression of love finds expression in the flat contours of the seat and fuel tank and horizontal muffler. In the groundbreaking movie Bobby (1974), the girl, who claims to belong to the twenty-first century, sits with legs parted facing the front and nibbling the earlobes of the boy. The motorcycle was a Rajdoot GTS 175 (Fig-13) with smaller wheels and long handlebars. (Interestingly, it was supposedly made especially for this movie, hence its nickname “Bobby Rajdoot.”) Though the seat and tank contours remained flat due to technological constraints, the muffler thrust upward, giving it a relatively dynamic look. This movie image anticipated future social behavior, when this sitting posture became common in metros.

Fig. 13

The period from 1984 to 2000 was a watershed both for postcolonial India and the motorcycle landscape of the country. After her comeback from near oblivion, Indira Gandhi, having discarded her socialist orientation, opened the country to foreign technology, inducing leading Japanese giants to open shops in India. Hero-Honda, Escorts-Yamaha, TVS-Suzuki and Kawasaki-Bajaj were the joint ventures that resulted, bringing 100cc, fuel-efficient bikes to India. At the same time, a much deeper development was taking place at the socio-political level. The feudal, caste and administrative hierarchies, instead of remaining parallel, started crisscrossing each other. With the arrival of the Maruti car, cars became affordable to the upwardly mobile middle class. Inter-gender discourse became more forthright and upfront, at least in urban areas. The way a boy and a girl interacted with the motorcycle was the extension of the “Bobby” phenomenon, with the difference that now the motorcycle was a willing participant in the process. Consider the seat, fuel tank and body cover forming the dynamic and unified profile of the Hero-Honda Sleek and its matching muffler inclination. All this social and moral upheaval produced another set of fundamental social codes.

Table 7

This period saw the formal end of lyric poetry in Indian literature. As a natural corollary, poetry was completely detached from mass discourse.  Consequently, music, specifically film music, remained the Indian people’s only food for their deep-rooted hunger for lyricism. Interestingly, in the same period, we can’t recall a single enduring image of the motorcycle in movies--lyrical or otherwise. Why? Our hypothesis is that mainstream cinema is basically the common man’s fantasy. Since, cars became the main mode of transport for the upper-middle class, motorcycles made an exit from the fantasyland. But happily, music and lyrics remained. Thus continued the Indian people’s quest for lyricism in motorcycles.

In technology, new kinds of paintable plastics like ABS emerged, allowing freedom of design for body parts. Another technological evolution was CAD/CAM, liberating the designers from analog constraints. Fuel tank shapes, with generous combinations of positive and negative space, were otherwise impossible. Advances in lighting technology, such as multireflectors, further eased the life of designers as lens shape was not a constraint. All these factors played a key role in improving the lyricism quotient.

The period after 2000 is significant on many counts. In such a populous country, we can’t expect gender equations to change significantly in such a short time. But the attitude of the urban middle class certainly changed, at least in appearance. The social upheaval in the hinterland consolidated itself and the new power equations brought the marginal sections to the forefront, resulting in increasing motorcycle penetration in the countryside. This was further helped by increased countryside road coverage.

Cinema also witnessed a major overhaul. Motorcycles reappeared as characters. However, the machine that had embodied romance lost its Indian legacy and reappeared as an expression of aggression, raw power and anger. Two films, Josh and Dhoom, exemplify this transformation in the motorcycle’s cinematic image.   Josh was a gangster story in which the motorcycle became an extension of the gangster’s character. Dhoom was cop-chases-thief story in which a Suzuki Hayabusa was the instrument of robbery and its speed the main theme. Both films marked the certain end of the romantic character of motorcycle. In turn, we can see this aggression reflected in the design of contemporary motorcycles.

Table 8

Conclusions

1. Aesthetics in poetry and in engineering design are intrinsically same. The force of emotions and rhythmic appeal form the essential framework for both. The essential elements of rhythmic appeal are also the same, namely dynamism, unity and form.
2. Lyricism both in design as well as poetry is product of cultural sensibilities of a civilization, which is formed by collective memories of a society. In this respect, the western and Indian civilizations have followed diverse trajectories. Whereas the West has followed a sharply logical path reflected in the dominance of prose forms, the Indians have followed a path steeped in lyrics, which has been reflected in all forms of cultural expressions, from Vedas to mainstream movies.
3.  The emotional and visual quotients of the motorcycle can be quantified through two matrices separately and an overall lyrical quotient can be calculated by multiplying the two.
4. Motorcycles have followed two different trajectories in the West (including Japan) and India. Whereas high capacity sports and cruiser bikes have dominated in the US, Europe and Japan, India has concentrated on small capacity bikes for transport. But because of strong lyrical tendencies, Indian bikes have shown excellent improvement in lyricism quotient.
5. Lyricism initially in India was restrained by technological limitations in materials and manufacturing processes. But advances in materials (particularly plastics) and manufacturing technology (CAD/CAM, painting) have removed these constraints, resulting in steep improvement in lyrical designs.
6. Recently, the economics of scale has decisively shifted towards South Asia (particularly India and China). This trend is shifting investments in design towards India and China. Owing to the Indian lyrical sensibility, this development will further boost the improvement of lyricism in motorcycle design.
   

Works Cited

Carpenter, Frederic Ives. English Lyric Poetry: 1500-1700 Books for Libraries Press, 1969.

Norman, Donald A. Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books, 2000.

Vittersø, Joar, Gunvor Marie Dyrdal and Espen Røysamb. “Utilities and Capabilities: A Psychological Account of the Two Concepts and Their Relations to the Idea of a Good Life.”  Paper presented at the 2^nd Workshop on Capabilities and Happiness.  University of Milano, Italy, 2005. 1-23.  

Wordsworth, William. Preface to Lyrical Ballads. 1798.   http://www.bartleby.com/39/36.html

Appendix-1

Findings of color, form and content survey

Colour:

1.Hue

2.Figure and ground relationship: Figure/ground

3.Grid:

4.Colour harmony:

5.Value and chroma

a.Blue

b.Red

c.Green

d.Yellow

Form:

a.Geometric

b.Organic

c. Content:

Feel free to post your reactions to our web board and continue the conversation with other readers.

Login here: http://www.nova.edu/WWW BOARD/FAR/ijms_ferriss

The login is ijms

The password is vroom

(Please note that login and password are all lowercase.)

Images and text copyright © International Journal of Motorcycle Studies