Comments on Travel Tales from India: F1 Driving on the Indian Hills

Raman, I wonder if you blog, because your wonderfu...

2007-02-01T23:05:00.000+05:30

Raman, I wonder if you blog, because your wonderful comment is as good as a post, thanks a lot for sharing it. And three cheers indeed for the HP drivers.

Sidhu, see because you are taking pangas, the blogger made you anonymous, and I really don't know why it is happening because my email comment notification shows your name.

OK Pooja, as long as it is a good humored smile ...

Thats a very interesting and funny narration, Mrid...

2007-02-01T02:22:00.000+05:30

Thats a very interesting and funny narration, Mridula. I know, I know - I shouldn't be laughing at your woes, but it was just a well meant, good humored smile.

Hopefully, the driver on your next trip will be much better.

OK...To put it plainly, in an F1 event, the cars a...

2007-01-31T18:49:00.000+05:30

OK...To put it plainly, in an F1 event, the cars are specifically constructed for the purpose and race on a track that is also made especially for that purpose, while in the case of Rallying, the race is held on public roads or dirt tracks and the cars taking part have not been made for racing only(though the participants might have made some modifications in the vehicles, in order to enhance performance, as permitted by the rules).

:)

Drivers. We once were on our way to Recong Peo - i...

2007-01-31T18:28:00.000+05:30

Drivers.

We once were on our way to Recong Peo - in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh - in the middle of July of the year 96.. the roads were in a pretty bad shape due to the incessant rain.. and to add to that we reached a makeshift bridge - the original one having been washed away by a cloudburst. Since the bridge was weak the BRO workers made all the passengers get off the bus, except ofcourse the driver.. He was to take the bus across that bridge.

As we were all getting off the bus I heard the driver comment - 'sawarion ki jaan jaan hai aur hamari jaan kuch nahi' and that was something that I couldn't ignore.. ..so even though I was dead scared..I remained seated on the bus alongwith the conductor as the driver drove the thing across that creaky structure.. ..and once we were on the other side I felt good about the whole thing, about my conduct.. wouldn't have felt the same had I gotten off that bus after having heard the comment that the driver had made..

three cheers to all the drivers of the Himachal State Roadways fleet.

Raman

Sidhu, don't tempt me with references, or else I a...

2007-01-31T17:24:00.000+05:30

Sidhu, don't tempt me with references, or else I am an academician and with ease I can bring in a few references every time I leave a comment at your blog. Don't say I didn't warn you :)

And thanks a lot for the blog post link.

Also, here is an interesting account by one Rallyi...

2007-01-30T18:09:00.000+05:30

Also, here is an interesting account by one Rallying enthusiast, who also happens to have participated in one such event, in the Himalayas:

http://b-schooldijourney.blogspot.com/2005/10/himalayasso-inspiring.html

I'm a motor-sport fan, to be precise, which includ...

2007-01-30T18:04:00.000+05:30

I'm a motor-sport fan, to be precise, which includes Rallying as well as F1.

To be able to understand the difference better, take a look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rallying

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One

Sidhu, shall I say, Baal ki khal nikalne ka shukri...

2007-01-24T19:41:00.000+05:30

Sidhu, shall I say, Baal ki khal nikalne ka shukriya :) Are you a big F1 fan?

Er...actually...F1 races are run on a track constr...

2007-01-23T19:13:00.000+05:30

Er...actually...F1 races are run on a track constructed specially for the purpose, on flat ground and with a lot of safety precautions. So, the Himalayan Car Rally might be the right one to compare with...it has been defunct for a while now...so you might simply say that all these drivers you encountered were aspiring car-rally champions.

Couldn't resist making that comment... :P

Nilesh, I hope you will have a fabulous trip. I wi...

2007-01-22T23:41:00.000+05:30

Nilesh, I hope you will have a fabulous trip. I wish I could say come back and blog about it but maybe one day (looks long time ahead) you will blog.

Prashanth, drive safe not rash. Or I will point out a lot of Himank (BRO project in Ladakh) sayings for you. And yes, the motto is one post per day :)

Thanks Cuckoo, as I said, I am trying to put one post per day.

Well, the drivers have to be very responsible on t...

2007-01-22T16:57:00.000+05:30

Well, the drivers have to be very responsible on those roads. Sometimes they think they are the kings of those roads and show off.

Lots post these days.

I like it. :)

Me too met a person similar to Toni, way down here...

2007-01-22T14:11:00.000+05:30

Me too met a person similar to Toni, way down here in B'lore. On the way to Ooty from Mysore, there comes a ghat section where there are 36 hair-pin curves. He was just cruising as if he was drivingon a straight road. I was pretty much impressed with his driving.

PS: posts are flooding these days in your blog... :)

PPS: Will read Sikkim post in the evening...

hi mridula,nice to see so many travel posts from y...

2007-01-22T13:56:00.000+05:30

hi mridula,
nice to see so many travel posts from you. look like you started really enjoying talking abt travel as much as you love travel :)

PS: taking inspiration from you, I too planning a trip to Mangalore this long weekend.

Karnail, thanks a lot for your comment. After read...

2007-01-22T10:26:00.000+05:30

Karnail, thanks a lot for your comment. After reading it I realized what you say is true to a large extent. But I thought Ladakh and Sikkim are better places for shared jeeps.

In Uttranchal and Himanchal, it is quite possible to meet rude drivers, rather it is more of a norm. It didn't occur to me because we travel by bus in both Uttranchal and Himanchal as far as possible. And we almost never book an entire cab for day trips at any place. But what you say about the drievrs is right about Uttranchal and Himanchal. I remeber having a very rude person for a driver at Dalhousie for one of the rare day trips we made where we booked an entire cab.

Rightly said. But all I can say is that, whether r...

2007-01-21T21:12:00.000+05:30

Rightly said. But all I can say is that, whether responsible or not they always try to show the passengers that they are supermen. Also they scare the new comers to such an extent by their tactics and talk that we from the plains can not drive in the hills. Apart from this the drivers in the hill towns are also very arrogant and bad tempered, its solely due to the Unionism.