Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

White Horses to set city on fire on Saturday

Thiruvananthapuram: Shewta Ashwa, the motorcycle stunt team of the Core of Military Police, owes its name to the late Chief of Army Staff and war hero General A.S. Vaidya.

Thirty silver coloured 2007 model Royal Enfield Bullet 350 motorcycles of the White Horses team and their red-jacketed riders disembarked at the Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station on Wednesday evening.

The performers hope to set the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium “on fire” for 30 minutes from 5 p.m. on September 27, team leader Subedar Major C. K. Mone said. The middle-aged resident of Sholapur in Maharashtra has been a motorcycle stuntman with the White Horses for the past 23 years. He has served the Army since 1970.

M.G. Rajan , Naik Subedar and resident of Nagappatinam in Tamil Nadu, is Subedar Major Mone’s second in command.

The team entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999 for carrying 111 stuntmen on 11 motorcycles for a distance of 250 m at a speed of 25 km per hour.

It won the accolades of film star Amitabh Bachchan for its performance at the opening ceremony of the Miss World competition in Bangalore in 1995.

Subedar Major Mone said the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium is too small for the team to display certain manoeuvres. However, it will be doing high speed “scissor” crossings and 11-men moving pyramids. Naik Subedar Rajan will be doing the risky 45-m high-speed jumps. He said he would “fly” his motorcycle over 30 men lying in a row. The riders would also jump through rings of fire and break into walls made of glass.

Brigadier N. George heads the team, which is based in Bangalore. Lance Naik E. Gopa of Malappuram district is the sole Keralite in the team.

The White Horses vie for glory with the “Dare Devil” and “Thunderbolts” motorcycle stunt teams of the Army Signal Core and Army Supply Core respectively.

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