The demented thoughts of a purposefully wasted mind!!

More updates...

2009-06-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

Well, It's been a long time since I've blogged, might as well update. For starters, the bike had been to B'lore and back. Got some chamak work done on her and yes!! She MOVES like a thoroughbred on steroids now!! Very very happy on that front!! The heat in Chennai makes sure that everyone is dehydrated every 10 minutes!! Too much to bear!! Wanted to get out for a couple of rides, but every time something or the other keeps popping up!! Decided I'm riding out this weekend, no destination, just ride till I get bored, stop, have some grub and get back, if in the mood!! Any one wanna join??

Deviance

2009-03-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

I got this as a fwd. Brilliant stuff!!

Deviance

"Mom, I've decided to get married."

The Seshadhris were only too ecstatic to here these words pop out of their elder son's mouth, yet afraid at the the same time. After all, their son did study in the United States for 3 years. And from what they heard from their neighbours, the States "do things" to perfectly normal sons. What if he wanted to marry a white girl? The blasphemy! How would they ever explain to their relatives?

"Indian no?", Mrs.Seshadhri asked, nervously.

"Iyengar...."

"Oh thank god! Chamathu da nee. We'll see the girl tomorrow!And I'll have to call all our relatives to inform them. Ha! First I'll call your aththai. Her son went to the states and ended up with one of those...punjabi a? Ya, punjabi-o ennavo. But my son? Chamatha Iyengar ponnu paathutaan."

"Amma..."

"What? I know I'm getting excited but its not everyday your son gets married! First ponnu paakanum. Give me her address."

"I can't give the girl's address."

"Why not? " interrupted Mr.Seshadhri. "Is it because they don't know? Its okay, we'll convince them"

"No, its because there is no girl"

"Ennada solra?" chorused the parents.

"I am in love with an Iyengar, yes. But its not a girl. Its a boy"

Silence.

"Is this some kind of TV show? Is some shanniyan going to come with a camera and say all this is some joke? I know! Vijay TV-la Simbhu is doing something like this. He's going to come now, isn't he?"

"No mom, nobody's behind your almirah. This is real. I want to get married to him and him only"

"This is not normal, you know that?"

"Appa, who're you to say that it's not normal? How do you know that it isn't normal? I want to get married to him and that's the end of it" and he stormed out of the room.

The Seshadhris were appalled, and did what any other parents would do when presented with such a private confession. They called the entire family over to discuss it.
Mamas, Mamis, Thathas, Paatis, Chithappas, Chiththis, Aththais, Athimbers, Perippas, Perimmas and a motley crew of cousins promptly assembled to exchange their views over filter coffee and masala vadais.

"Enna kodumai Seshadri idhu"

"This is not the time to joke, its a very serious issue pa. Namma community-la this is just not done"

"Are you sure about this? I mean was he joking?"

"Will anybody joke about things like this? Avan serious-a dhaan irukaan. He's gay."

"Amma Amma, what's a gay?" interrupted 6 year old Achu, loudly.

Silence.

"Sshhh, Achu. Go play outside with Kichu." said his visibly embarassed mother.
Achu promptly ran outside hollering KICHU! GAY-NA BAD WORD DA!

"Kids"

"Yea. I'm hoping he gets a girlfriend soon."

"Shree, he's 6"

"The earlier the better. And I'm so not sending him to the US"

"Not everyone turns out like that. My son married a perfectly nice girl. Enna, she's punjabi. But very nice girl."

"You know she has a beard, right?"

"Oh please! At least she's a girl."

"Enough enough. This is not about her daughter-in-law's beard. Idhu konjam serious-aana matter."

"Yes yes. There are so many fundamental complications"

"Like if this marriage does go on, who gets to be the Maapla veedu?"

"Chechu make it clear to them that we will be the groom's house. We will demand our rights"

"Hey, who gets to tie the thaali?"

"Will there even be a thaali?"

"Maybe they'll tie a golden poonal around him"

"One more doubt. The girl usually sits on her father lap when they tie the thaali. Does this mean that the son sits on his mothers lap? How does that work exactly?"
"Yea! And then usually the girl wears that special koora-podavai before she ties the knot. Do we have to get this guy a koora-veshti?"

"Atleast you'll save on all those silk sarees."

"And that Mehndi thing. Unless your son wants it, ofcourse"

"Hahahaha! Thats so g...nothing"

An uncomfortable silence followed, but was swiftly interrupted by the Periappa.

"Come to think of it, that golden poonal will weigh a lot"

"Does your future...err son-in-law cook?"

"Aiyo! Don't call him son-in-law! I don't even want this to happen!"

"Maybe you should do that. Vidaatha. Then he'll come around"

"No way, then he'd elope. Odi poyiduvaan!"

"Thats not good for the family name."

"Thu! As if marrying a boy is very honourable."

"And besides, eloping-na, usually the girl runs away, gets a baby and then only gets accepted back in the household. This is how it is in all tamil padams"

"Ok, but how the heck are these guys going to get a baby?"

"My point exactly, so they won't elope"

"Which is worse. What if they get together like those villains in Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu?"

"Aiyo! That's a movie about homosexual psychopaths! You're son is too sensitive for that. He cried in the climax of Kabhi Khushi Kahi Gham, for heaven's sake!.

"Appove we should have noticed..."

"You think there's some kind of homeopathy treatment for this? Or Ayurveda? Some kashayam or something?"

"No no, its a state of mind. No kashayam can cure it"

"Or should we send him to a psychiatrist?"

"Illa. Those psyciatrists are Peter parties. They'll end up brainwashing us about how we are educated and must accept him the way he is"

"Adhaan pannanum" said Mr.Seshadhri, finally.

The entire household went mute.

"You mean...we have to get him married? To that...that boy?"

"Yes"

"Only then, he'll be happy."

"Aiyo sentiment thaangamudila"

"My decision is final. I'll go call him and find that other boy's number. I have plenty to talk to his parents."

The household watched him go with a rather stern resolve in absolute silence. The only sound was the jowku-jowku of Paati eating Vadai.

"Enna paati? What do you think?" said one of the cousins, finally breaking yet another uncomfortable silence.

"Ennadhaan payyana love pannaalum, atleast Iyengar payyana paathu love pannane, adhuve porum"

Slap the charges sheriff!! I'm guilty!!

2009-03-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

Yes!! The sinister, cold blooded, diabolical and methodical murderer in me was awakened this weekend!! Read on to know more...

Friday Feb 27th.. around 8 pm

I returned from work and plonked myself wearily on the sofa, mentally going through the extremely tough day at work. Yes, it was a very tough day, demanding and thoroughly exhausting work. I decided to make myself some refreshing Tang and watch a movie. Moved on to the kitchen to accomplish this. Thats when i noticed it.. Brownish white, moving at a rapid pace on the walls, and it hid so fast that i just managed to get a glimpse of this unnerving terror!! Ignored it at first and made myself the drink and settled back watching the idiot box.

9 PM - Happily watching, suddenly see the brown-white thing again, this time in the hall!! Was very very pissed off!! Being a clean home, i wonder how this reptilian menace got into my house!! I stood up, watching the intruder up on the wall.. cold stares exchanged.. i tried shooing it back into the kitchen.. cold reptilian stare back.. the one that makes the hair on your back stand up!! Eventually it runs back into the kitchen, leaving me irritated and sipping my Tang.

9.20 PM - Vile reptile back in hall, apparently attracted by the dim light and a couple of mosquitoes hovering around it!! I try chasing but this time there is a determined effort by the villain to linger around!! Grab the broom stick and chase it.. manage to scare it off back into the kitchen area.

9.30 PM - Back again and i lost it entirely!! Broom in hand i huffed and puffed till i chased this nasty creature into the spare bedroom!! Hit upon an action plan!! Broke open the bathroom drain and out popped 4-5 cockroaches!! Whack!! Whack!! Whack!! All dead!! Go to the closet and grab HIT spray and spray generously over the carcasses!!

Next step, hunted down this vile reptile and chased it into the bathroom!! Success!! Locked it in, sprayed another generous dousing of HIT insecticide!! Wicked smirk as i lock the intruder into the bathroom!! Sleep tight!!

Sat Feb 28 9 AM - Cautiously open bathroom door, see 2-3 cockroaches missing!! Plan is going perfectly!! Spray more HIT on the remaining cockroaches and lock bathroom

Sun Mar 1 9 AM - Open bathroom door to find remaining cockroaches missing!! Look further and i see the bugger lying lifeless on the floor!! Murder planned and executed perfectly!! Asked the maid to remove the critter (apparently she is unafraid) and rejoice!!

Yes, lizards scare the bejesus out of me and i will take every possible measure to make sure we dont co-exist peacefully!!

2009

2009-01-22T04:21:00.000-08:00

Well, been ages since i've blogged, thought might as well put up a few posts about what happened through Dec and now.

December's main events were a mixture of trips to B'lore, one for an interview, one for Adrian's reception. Had great fun catching up all the RTMC's fellas there!! Abhi's b'day bash happened the next evening at Prashi's place!! Was way too much fun there!! PP got his RD along and everyone was making fun of the 'white elephant'. Challenges to kick start it eventually landed upon me. Many many bets later, all i did was one pump, one kick and the twinner was growling!! Happiness on my face and PP's and astonishment on the rest!! Guess i can never let go of the twinner ego!! Hehehehee!! Later in the evening, we all landed up at Soup's place for some AWESOME biryani and UBER SPICY chicken!! When a half-golti like me says it was uber spicy, you can imagine what fire it was actually creating for the taste buds!! Had good fun trippin over Soup, Dosai, Skud and the rest!! Back to Chennai in train the next morning.

Christmas came and went. A very small party at Guru's place with minimal crowd saw the family bonding happening!! Had good fun there!! Made sure the OH intake was lesser as there was a bigger event happening the next day and required my complete attention!!

David was getting hitched finally and come the 26th of Dec, i was all dressed up in formals with suit and tie yadda yadda!! It was great fun!! The wedding itself used up all my energy running around co-ordinating stuff and to my surprise, the event lasted about an hour at the maximum!! We moved on to the reception which was about a street away in a huge school!! The Madbulls and the RTMC came in full attendance and made sure that they were NOTICED!! Lotsa revving, burnouts, shouting and melee!! We had innumerable photo sessions with weird poses and general nonsense running around!! Left at about 10 in the night and dropped off Deepa mami on the way. Headed straight home and changed up and went to Dodo's place just to find out the post reception party was not happening. Went on to Dosai's place where the fellas were partying and stayed till about 1 am. Raj's JEEP ran out of gas and we hunted down a diesel bunk in the night and cranked her up!! Super machine it is i say!!

New years too was a close knit affair with a Guru, a few friends at home and family. Welcomed it in all its glory and screamed till we were hoarse!! Hopefully i am thinking this would be my lucky year to get that big break in life!! There were a couple of long weekends, but lazing around took up all of it!!

The RTMC is hosting that Rider Mania this time in Ooty. Sadly, I would have to miss it this time around. Hopefully would make up for it at the RTMC anniversaries that come up later in the year!!

Nothin more to report from here!! Whats your rant??

The ride to the edge of the world.. contd...

2008-11-06T05:39:00.001-08:00

Well woke up the next morning at a mind numbing 3.30 am!! Damn!! I had to saddle up and ride to Dhanushkodi. Freshened up and the cold water was not helping at all. We all rode out without much fanfare to the coastal check point where 4X4 vans were to ferry us across the sands to Dhanushkodi. A strong tea along the way helped brighten things up and we were off in full party mood to a very very eerie place!! Dhanushkodi was the definition of eerie. There is sand EVERYWHERE!! No life for miles together. All the fellas who were shouting earlier were slowly silenced by the deafeaning silence as we entered this haunted place. There were remnants of a railtrack, houses, a massive church and other boats that had landed here since the tsunami and untouched ever since. The power of mother nature in all its fury had us stunned into silence for several minutes.

Eventually regained composure and went clickety-click. I took lots of photographs and we spent a good 2 hours walking up and down the ruins of this ghost town. We then took the vans and went to the point where india ends. From there, if you can squint a little, and if the weather is favourable, you can actually see the outline of Sri Lanka!! Well, i tried and tried, to a point where i thought i was gonna be permanently squint eyed!! But no, the weather played spoil sport!! We clicked a good number of photographs here too. Eventually the time came for us to say goodby to Dhaushkodi and we all went back to our hotels. I managed to visit a temple while all the boys were saddling up to for the return journey!!

For the return journey i decided to take the East Coast Road through Nagapattinam and bypassing Pondicherry. Big mistake!! The roads were still under construction and we were offroading for about 150kms!! Luckily i was on the Unicorn and the suspension held all the way!! I would've stopped halfway if it were for my RD due to a broken back!!! Eventually stopped for lunch at Karaikudi and raced along towards Pondicherry. The off roading had taken its toll on everyone and we were dead tired when we reached Pondy. By the time we reached, the folks wanted to halt at Pondy for the night. Bad idea, being a saturday, i knew they would be overbooked!! The guys tried everywhere while i took a quick power nap. Eventually they returned with no good news. The power nap had refreshed my brains and i called up a local hotel where we stayed everytime we visited pondy. He knew me and instantly offered to convert the restaurant into a sleeping room for us!! We thanked the manager profusely and had a coupla drinks, some great food and crashed for the night!! Wokeup at ease the next morning and casually rode down that brilliant stretch of the ECR back home!! All in all a fantastic ride that is gonna be etched in my memory forever!!

The ride to the edge of the world...

2008-08-27T23:38:00.000-07:00

Finally it has happened!!! I've waited for this for a full year and boy oh boy!! What a ride!!! Below is my version of it!!

As planned, we departed Chennai on August 14th at 4.00 pm. The 'we' consisted of me, the missus, Raja and his wife Lakshmi. We were on the Unicorn and Raja was on the Thunderbird. We made steady progress towards the airport and exited the city pretty quickly!! The first stop we made was for water and small refreshments about 80 kms from the city. The roads were beautifully straight and smooth, plus the unicorn had splendid suspension!! Our only issue was that we had only 2 good hours of daylight before dusk settled in and we wanted to cover a good distance before that set in. Raja was not sure about the route and was hesitant about leading. So caman the throttle opening!! We did non stop riding for about 150kms and reached Tindivanam is good time. Here's when we took our real long break. Had tea, refreshments and other condiments and double checked the harnesses and cramsters for secure holdings. The other reason we stopped was it was almost dusk and the insects would come out. Riding amongst them was a pain and we decided to halt for an hour to let them pass so that we would have minimal intrusion. This was a blessing in one way, but we did'nt realise that 6.30 onwards the lorries start their daily grind!!

We slowly packed up again and started out to Trichy at speeds not exceeding 80 kmph. Blinding lights from opposite vehicles and ill mannered Sumo's and Qualis' made our journey a tiresome one. No one was willing to give way although they knew a bike would cover that gaps they were trying to do, way faster!! Finally after about 80 kms, my eyes were killing me with all the dust, grime, bugs and flashing lights. I hailed raja down and washed my face completely to find black water and dead bugs falling off my face!! damn!!! Raja also washed up as he was in the same situation too. The roads from here also were turning pathetic as there were deviations every 300 metres!! We slowed down further to speeds of 60 kmph and moved along to reach Villupuram. Thats when i noticed the board!! Pondy was only 40 kms from there!!! DAMN!! I had travelled 100 kms of bad roads just to find i had missed out on the lovely ECR that was just running parallel!!! Mentally made a note to return via Pondy!!

We trudged along and stopped again about 50 kms later. The oncoming lights were getting a bit too much to handle and the roads were not helping us too. We had a little snack here and I thought i heard bullets approaching. I turned around and LO!!! Dosai just zoomed by on his 220, followed by the entire battalion who started at 5PM!!! I was more than happy by this addition, mainly because now, i knew someone else would lead the way, secondly 8 bullets definitely create a ruckus on the road!! More than enough for the unruly oncoming lights and the Taxi's who thought the road was theirs!! I happily followed this group until we reached Perambulur where suddenly the roads seemed to widen and everyone was on their own trip!! So, there we were again, back to square one!! Me and Raja moved at 90 kph while the others felt triple digits were the need of the day!! They were never too far away though!! We all took another stop near Siruganur where much needed chai and smokes were available. This was a good 30 minute break.

We saddled up again and sms'ed Simmrit about our whereabouts, just to hear him howl his lungs out at how slow we were!! He had arranged food and drinks at his farmhouse and was waiting for us!! We promised to be there and sped away. This time i made sure i stuck to Dosai as he had the most powerful lights of all and maintained a constant 90-100. Signalled to Raja to follow up and he did it, although i could see he was a tad uncomfortable with all the luggage and night riding. He did manage pretty well though!! The last 50 kms to Trichy were the most painful as the roads were the worst i'd have seen!! We were stopped just before Trichy by the local police and a quick mention about Sim's dad made us feel treated like VIP's!! The cops were more than glad to show us the way and about 15 kms later we saw an Ikon zigzagging across the road with strobe lights on and all chamak!! We knew who this joker was!! Sim, with all the bleeng bleeng in his car joined up and led us on to his farm house where we joined up with the gang that had left chennai in the morning at 6.30.

The rest of the night was a complete relaxation session with alcohol and food flowing freely and everyone cracking jokes and taking each others trip!! The food was awesome and we had a great night enjoying everyone's company!! I crashed at around 2 after everyone had a blissful sleep!! Woke up at around 10 in the morning to see everyone was cleaning their bikes!! No idea why!!! Walked down and joined them up for some casual banter. Hari managed to change the oil on MAK's thunderbird. The oil in the eninge was more like grease!! No idea how MAK was riding this!! By this time I learnt that everyone, other than us 4, had already woken up earlier and had breakfast too!! Given that, me swapna, raja and lakshmi set off to find breakfsat and settled down in a decent looking place. Had my fill of idlies and vadas and made sure everyone had a good breakfast.

We went back to find everyone saddling up. They wanted to have lunch and leave to Rameshwaram ASAP!! We geared up and decided to stop for lunch later!! Again, just me and Raja sped away, towards Rameshwaram. It was daytime, the roads were good and we had a good nights sleep. This time the speedo maintained triple digits!! We reached Pudukottai in record time and took our first break. A good 20 minutes later, we started off towards Karaikudi and reached Karaikudi in about an hour. We stopped by a good hotel to taste authentic Chettinad food!! The food was fantastic and we gorged on it, a mistake we realised about 10 minutes later!! There was only one loo and everyone made a run for it!! We emerged 'releived' about 10 minutes later and sms'ed Sim about our whereabouts. They had just crossed us and were about 5 minutes away taking a break. We joined up with them and caman the belting sessions began!! It was a great ride all the way upto Devakottai, where we stopped at Dosai's ancestral house for a cuppa chai!!

The whole village came out to see what the ruckus was all about!! 30 bikes rolled in and that seemed to be enough to stop the village's proceedings for the rest of the evening!! This is where we discovered that Raja had a puncture!! Hari immediately started work on it and we all rested and made banter while the puncture was getting fixed. The village by itself was very small but had a beautiful lake in the middle. We took tons of photographs and thanked the hosts for the delicious tea and zoomed away once the puncture was fixed!! The next stop was going to be at the Pamban bridge and we started in earnest!! All plans came crashing down as soon as i saw Prabu's car parked waiting for us. I could'nt resist playing with that uber cute son of his!! We stopped for another 20 minutes and realised daylight was fast fading. Prabu led the way with his esteem and Sim and me followed him as we really were fighting against time to reach the bridge before sunset!! We did eventually manage to do that, but had about 2 minutes to relish the bridge!! The sun, as stated rightly, did not wait for anyone, and went about it's own business and let the moon take over!!

The Pamban bridge connects the Rameshwaram island to the rest of the world. It's a natural wonder by itself!! We all marvelled in it's glory and spent a good hour on the bridge watching traffic go by and generally talking around. Rameshwaram was only about 20 kms from there, so we knew we had nothing else to do. Started later and went straight to the hotel that was booked for us. Checked in and had a 'refreshing' kwaaack thoooo salt water bath!! We joined up later with Muthu and gang for another round of drinking and making merry!! The agenda from last night continued and we tripped on Bra and his numerous girlfriends!! We slept at about 11 as we planned to catch the sunrise at the ghost town of Dhanushkodi.

To be continued....

Dhanushkodi beckons...

2008-08-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

Here I am, sitting 5 hours away from a fantastic ride, sleepy!!!! Yes, I had to wake up at 5.30 in the morning for a function, which makes my effective sleeping hours exactly 4 hours for the night!! Planning to make a call at around 11 and get back home and power nap!! The ride is sure demanding, and the weather seems to be really bleak!! I hate riding in the wet, and to top it it's going to be night riding at some point of time!! Damnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!! But yes, I am gonna get some out of the world photos and have a jolly good time!!! Hope Simmrit has loads of food at his house in Trichy where we are stopping for the night!! I AM HUNGRY!!!!!!!! So this blog should be updated probably next monday!! Wish me luck folks!! I am off riding to the edge of the world!!!

Updates... and lots of it!!!

2008-08-11T06:26:00.001-07:00

Been a while since i have blogged, here are the updates!!!

- Had celebrations of best frd's wedding anniversary in Chennai!! Pics are here!! Great fun!!!
- A week later, we all drove down to Yelagiri and celebrated my 2nd year wedding anniversary!! Thats the most fun i've had till date this year!! Every single person there was floating high on the altitude and the OH served!!! Pics are here!!!
- Celebrated wifey's birthday in B'lore with her best friends!! Loads of fun!! Keep watching this space for pics!!!
- Was given the notice to evacuate by landlord. After 2 hectic weeks of searching for a new place, the landlord agreed upon a small raise in the rent!! Happiness ensued!!!
- Went for a mind blowing performance by Parikrama and Strings!! Those guys made a helluva lotta great sounding noise and we throughly head banged our way through the night!!!
- Watched the Hindu Metro Theatre Fest. Watched 'The Midsummer Night's Dream' performed by Koreans!! The play was THE MOST FANTASTIC ADAPTATION of the classic novel!!! The Koreans also managed to slip in a bit of humor by inserting tamil verses in all the dialogues!! Also watched 'The President is coming', a play that had me in splits the entire 120 minutes!!! Fantastic narration, excellent dialogue delivery and humor that actually had the crowd jeering for more every time!! This is one play I wouldn't mind going for again!! Yesterday I watched 'The Suit', a play based on a wife's infidelity and her attempts on covering it up. Frankly, the play sucked big time!! The actors need to rework on their emoting and surely need more dialogue!! At times, the silence makes you feel they have forgotten their lines!! A bad ending to a totally fantastic theatre fest!! Can't wait for the same next year!!

I leave to Dhanushkodi later this week, taking advantage of the long weekend. I am hoping this to be a photo-pilgrimage of sorts!! A friend of mine visited last year, and I was unable to do so, due to work pressure. However, this time around, I am hoping to really make up for all of it!! The ride is going to start on Thursday noon and a stopover at a friends farmhouse in Trichy, and the next 3 days of photography, riding and views of a lifetime!! I am so excited, I really can't pen down feelings here!! Watch out for the Dhanushkodi post, coming soon.......

Ride to Cloud Valley with the RTMC

2008-06-26T05:12:00.000-07:00

“Bob, wanna join me for a ride up to Coorg with the RTMC boys?” asked Dominic. I had a trip pending to B’lore anyways and was giving it serious thought over the week. I had to deliver my Enfield Fury anyways there and thought I will hop on pillion up to Coorg. As the week progressed, found out that the buyer of the Fury was out of town and needed 3 more weeks. So I decided to “run-in” my brand new RD350B engine assuming 750 kms should be a breeze of a run in and also straight roads would help it set a bit!! Thus, I settled down, making plans with Dom to leave on Friday evening to B’lore, stay overnight and then leave the bike with a local mech there and go pillion up to Coorg. Left the bike on Wednesday with my mech here and gave it a thorough check up. New hot plugs went in, new acc cable and clutch cable, new exhaust manifold. They were things that needed to be replaced anyways. Test rode it on Thursday, did a bit of fine tuning by myself and yes, was all set to go!! Tragedy struck….

Dom went out for a party on Thursday night and had some rotten food. His tummy was out for a toss!! He dropped out last minute saying he might leave on Saturday morning if things became ok!! I couldn’t believe it!! This was something I was actually looking forward to, and it was breaking to bits in front of my eyes!! Went ahead and took matters into my own hands!! Dom or no, I left Chennai on Friday noon at about 3 pm and headed towards B’lore, alone. (Odo reading 10997 kms)

As I entered Poonamalee (50 kms from Chennai) the bike seemed to be responding well!! She seemed to be looking forward to this for a long time!! But somehow I had the feeling that she was struggling to pull above 60 kph in regular traffic. Tired a few open throttle sessions and yes, it was confirmed!! Bike was not moving freely!! Looked immediately at the first suspect, the back wheel drum!! And yes, the brake was tightened beyond normal!! Stopped over at a mech’s place, borrowed a pair of pliers and loosened it myself. Tried a couple of test runs and it seemed to moved with relatively much more freedom!! Thanked the mech and moved on.

The ride to B’lore was actually pretty uneventful after that!! Ipod in the ear, an occasional stop for coconut water, tea and smoke saw me reach B’lore at about 8.30pm. Got lost in the city and then called up Anil who was waiting for me along with Soup. We were to have dinner at a place called ‘Elements’. As usual, Soup’s selection of an eatery was excellent!! Amazing T-bone steak coupled with some excellent chicken made sure I had my share of fantastic meat for the day!!! Once that was done, me and Anil rode back to his place where I promptly crashed out on the couch and was snoring away…till….Anil’s alarm woke up the entire neighborhood at 4.30am!!

Had a quick shower and geared up. We head off to B’lore University, as this was the meeting point. Although we were doing good speeds, we managed to reach the meeting point only at 5.45 am…to find no one there!!! Anil panicked, he assumed everyone had left. Made a logical decision and called Prashi who picked it up at the first ring!!

Prashi: Hi bob!!
Me: Dude, where are you??
Prashi: At home da!! Why??
Me: Dei, are you not going to Coorg?
Prashi: Yeah macha, I am.
Me: Anil and I are at the meeting point and there is no one here da!! I think everyone left!!
Prashi: What naansense!! I am the ride captain!! I’ll see you in 10 mins!! Dumm….

Prashi casually arrives at 6 am that’s when I see the boys slowly assembling over!! Anil heaves a sigh of relief, and for no reason, heads off alone towards Chennapatna!! I did a little catching up with Prashi, Chaddi man, Kavitha, Easha, Dead dog and others. We eventually rode out at 6.45 types. Since Dead dog knew I was running in, he graciously slowed down for me the entire way!! Much appreciated dude!! Although the reason for the slowing down shall be attributed to later!! Hehehe!!!

We met for breakfast about 90 kms from B’lore at a place called Chennapatna. A good idly-vada combo made sure everyone had a hearty meal before the belting of the ghats began!! As usual, the riders who were hell bent on making those bullets move, sped away and I rode at a steady 80-90kmph behind Dead dog, who was looking into his rear mirrors from time to time checking if everything was ok. That’s when I noticed he was also talking to his pillion and then realized this was not a check for me, but mirror talk with the pillion!! But I knew he would stop the minute he realized I was not in a remote part of his rear mirrors!! We stopped at a T-junction at a place called Srirangapatna. I thought I was the last to arrive, but lo!! There were people who landed up after me too!!! This is where the ghats / forest section began!! We passed many small villages and at one place, Kushal nagar, my back went for a toss with absolutely no roads and just rocky protrusions on solid, hardened clay!!

We met a good 120 kms later at the beginning of the ghats that led upto Madikere. Over here, Chaddi and Sam were too eager to start off and sped away. That’s when I realized everyone had left except for me!! I had no choice but to try and keep up with them on the ghats!! Although it was pretty easy on the RD to do this, I was a tad worried about the constant revving and gear shifts needed. We rode like a racing squad hell bent on out turning each other!! Regular foot peg / silencer scrapes were the norm of the day!! In fact, I had the feeling of riding on the track with all the leaning and knee out sessions!! That’s when I heard an odd clanging noise from the rear. Assuming it was the troublesome seat lock that kept unlocking itself, I kept speeding on!! But it seemed to grow louder with every left turn!! When I finally reached Madikere and stopped, I was shell shocked!! The left silencer had dislodged itself and was resting precariously on the main stand!! I had absolutely no idea how it managed to stay on all the 35 kms uphill with the constant belting!!

This was the first time something had ever happened to my bike on a ride!! Dejected I walked around Coorg searching for a mech who could weld the silencer back in place. Unfortunately, none of the mechanics were willing to help and I walked back in silence thinking what I would do to get the bike the rest of the 50 kms uphill towards Cloud valley. I sat down next to the bike, peering into what the actual issue was. I noticed that the silencer clamp had cleanly come off, broken and the screw holding the front end of the pipe to the frame had fallen off!! That explained the rattling sound all the way up the ghats!! I noticed a courier packing service nearby and borrowed some of the jute tape they use to bind couriers, hoping that should last the 50 kms as Prashi promised of some JEEP garages in Coorg. I tied it up real tight and Abhi was last heard commenting “that should last you all the way to Chennai man!!” At least that’s what we all hoped!! But fate had other plans….

As everyone geared up and left towards the mountains, I slowly, hesitantly packed up my gear and rode cautiously behind the whole bunch. I mentally noted down every turn, so that in case I got lost, at least I knew the way back to the city!! At one point everyone had disappeared up in front, and I was left riding alone. Abhi’s words came to a crashing halt when I heard a huge metallic klang and the silencer broke clean off the clamps and tape and lay on the road smoking!! Glanced around, found some very very dirty kid’s pant embedded into the clay, pulled it out, beat it clean, tore it to smaller bits and tied up the silencer!! Later found out that it was a madman’s cloth, which he had discarded all over the roads!! Rode this way all the way back to Coorg, found no mechanics willing to help again and rode back all the way to Cloud Valley!!

When I rode in, found some tents that were pitched up for the night and all the boys waiting. Some of them thought I was lost and were actually gearing up to get back and find me!! Huge sigh of relief for them as I trundled in with bits of pant holding the silencer!! Prashy went ahead and ordered for some binding wire from the resort owner and we tied up the silencer real tight and it seemed to work!! Unpacked my gear and saw that the boys had already started their ‘session’!! Joined up with a nice stiff drink and there were stories throughout the evening with good doses of everyone tripping on each other!! Great fun that was!! Somewhere in the evening, after lunch, everyone decided to head to the river for some splashing around!! We trekked for about 5 kms and reached the crystal clear Cauvery river!! Here, Abhi and co. made sure no one was spared and everyone was either, gracefully led into the water, or in most cases, forcibly pushed into it and drenched!! All of us returned to the resort like wet crows, after a good hour of water sports!!

Back at the resort, a quick change into dry clothes and we continued where we left off!! Drinks, smokes and good doses of laughing!! A great dinner followed somewhere in the middle and made sure no one was hungry!! Anil got his dose of ‘wet’ treatment with a bucket of cold water, as he did not make it to the river!! Almost everyone crashed at about 12 in the night when KJ suddenly called Anil and said he was on his way there!! Me and Anil waited in utter darkness, on the roads, flashing torch lights to guide him into camp. Almost looked like a scene from Jurassic Park where Malcolm is found and the torch lights keep flashing on the trees looking out for the T-Rex!! Finally a good 15 minutes later, we hear the familiar thump of 2 engines and KJ arrives with 2 of his friends. More drinking, pranks on KJ and co. followed and I eventually crashed out in the tent, at around 3 in the morning, with the musical chirping of the cicadas on one side and heavy snoring of Prashy and Shakti on the other!!

Woke up at about 8 the next day (or rather same day!!) to find everyone already up and jumping about!! ‘Saamaan’ was trying to fix his puncture, Prashy was looking into my bike to check if the wire would hold, ‘Susumaa’ was trying desperately to fight off the mother of all hangovers and KJ was trying to fix the horn on his Bolero which for some reason was sounding like a TVS champ wail!!! Got refreshed, morning duties done, an excellent breakfast made sure I was firing on all cylinders!! Went to the bike and double checked if everything was ok and yes, perfect as usual!! The regular photo session took place, more jokes and more plans later, people rolled out into the parking lot and we started our decent back from heaven!! The ride back was uneventful though, I was making sure the wire would hold well and yes, we had done a fantastic job of it!! It held all the way down the mountains and back to the meeting point in Chennapatna!! I had a hearty lunch there and bid adieu to all my biking brethren and started out on my solo journey back to Chennai. Reached Bangalore at about 5 in the evening and was stuck in the heaviest of traffic jams possible!! Tried wiggling my way around but it seemed to get worse by the meter!! So I called up a family friend and shifted base to their house for the night!! Settled there at about 7 in the night and another round of drinks, story telling and the Chennai – Rajasthan match provided ample entertainment!! Slept fitfully at about 11 in the night and woke up at a crisp 7 in the morning!! Had breakfast and beat the traffic out of Bangalore!! The ride up to Vellore was pathetic with intermittent rains and bad traffic, but later everything worked out well and I reached Chennai at around 1 PM in the noon. Went home straight for a good bath, lunch and realized that I need to be at work!! Went to office at about 3 and left back after completing the day’s work by about 9!! The rest of the night was spent in narrating the incidents to wifey and laughing at the comedy of errors that we are!! (Odo reading 12668 kms)

Thanks a ton to the RTMC, who despite my last minute entry, greeted me with open arms, as usual!! Special mention to Dead Dog who made sure I was in his rear view mirror and giving me company throughout the ride!! Thanks a ton dude, I owe you one!! Thus ends a fantastic ride, with great company, great booze and most importantly a mind blowing destination!!

Pics are here

A comedy of errors... circa 2005

2008-06-04T03:58:00.000-07:00

An incident that remains fresh in our minds even though it has been 3 years since!!! Read on.. Narrated by Ravi and Dosai

THE DAY BOBBY GOT FUCKED - PART - 1 - By Ravi Kiran

PARTY DAY - 7:00PM, ANNA NAGAR.

"Cheers!!!"...said everyone in unison.

"Sarangan, this champ-agni is berrry nice." said Bobby as he gulped down a portion of Champagne and chased it with some cheese and pineapple on a stick. "I am so glad I bunked office and came here. I just told them I don't feel like coming today, and my office was perfectly fine with it."

We stood in the balcony, which gave us a fantastic view, letting us admire the five RD350s parked outside. Zoo, Sarangan, Burny and Bobby went slightly 'rocket'. There were others at the party too, but it's a little hazy. I know Dosai was there, but his role starts a few paragraphs later.

PARTY DAY - 3.00AM, ANNA NAGAR

The night goes and we move to an assortment of beverages, one after the other - vodka, whisky, beer, anything we could get our hands on with alcohol content. It was a fantastic party as usual, with lots of talking and general RD discussions. Sarangan played some Jethro Tull, and we ended having Jet Airways finest. We finally parted ways only to realise that Bobby is too smashed to go back home. Also, he had a small predicament that affects a few men, 'fear-of-wife'. So we went to my house and slept.

DAY AFTER PARTY - 9.00AM, (SOMEWHERE IN TNAGAR)

Swapna: Hello? Hi, is Bobby there?

Bob's Manager: Oh, Hi, Swapna, how is your father?

Swapna: Why, what happened?

Bob's Manager: Bobby said your Father was seriously ill and that he had to go to the hospital. So I told him he didn't have to come to office last night. How is your father?

Swapna: Oh! (Bobby, you @*$%!&!!!) He is fine. Thanks for letting Bobby come, we really needed his support.

Bob's Manager: Ok Swapna, take care then

Swapna: Bye.

DAY AFTER PARTY - 9.00AM ANNA NAGAR

"Dai, Bobby! I am off to office, lock the door and go back to sleep. Drop of the keys at my office on your way home", as I was just about to turn around and leave, I saw Bobby jump up like a spring and chanting "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..." On enquiring, apparently, I was on the recieving end because I didn't wake him up at 6 o clock in the morning. Bobby took off home right then, and I left for office, still reeking of alcohol.

DAY AFTER PARTY - 11.00AM ANNA NAGAR

My phone rings.

Me: Hello?

Swapna: (sob, sob. sniff, sniff)

Me: Heloooo?

Swapna: Ravi?

Me: Swapna?! (uh oh) Why are you crying?

Swapna: Ravi, I want you tell me the truth.

Me: Hello? Hello? ....Sw...Hel..

Swapna: Dai, I know you can hear me

Me: Okay...what do you want to know?

Swapna: Where was Bobby last night?

Me: (I cant believe I have a call waiting at this time - Burny??? Why was he calling?)

Swapna: Please Ravi, I need to know. Where was Bobby last night? I called his office and they said he didn't show up. So where was he?

Me: Ok, he was at my place. But what is the matter? (what the hell does does Burny want? - now Bobby's calling?! UH-OH! This means trouble)

Swapna: Ravi, please don't lie to me.

Me: I swear it, he was in my house. Er...I will have to call you back.

DUMMMMM.......

THE DAY BOBBY GOT FUCKED - PART - 2 - By Dosai

Continuing what Ravi started...

DAY AFTER PARTY - 10:55 AM FOGHORN OFFICE

Tring Tring ....

I pick up my mobile and see "Swapna Calling" and was like " HOLY FLUCK WONLEE"

Me : Hi Swapi
Swapna : Dosai u are my friend no ??
Me: Aama ya , What happened ?
Swapna : U will tell me truth wonlee no ??
Me : Shappa kanna kattudhey
Swapna : Where was Bobby Last night
Me ( in an instinct to cover the bald headed barnacle ) : I never saw bobby last night
Swapna : Dont lie to me da, Please tell me. It is a serious thing.
Me : I never saw bobby da swapi, Sathyama I didnt see ( the shit was hitting the roof )
Swapna : Give me Ravi's number da, Ill ask him
Me : Mumble Mumble.. Hold on ( I am signalling to Bharani to call Ravi and tell him to SHUT THE FUCK UP )
Swapna : Never mind i have it, Ill call him ( Bharani is too late in calling him and swapna's line to Ravi goes thru )

Result - I am FACKED!!!

DAY AFTER PARTY - 11:30 AM FOGHORN OFFICE

Tring Tring - SWAPNA CALLING AGAIN - I am going to be dead, write my will please.

Me : Sollu Swapna
Swapna : How can ya lie to me da
Me : I never saw bobby da i swear ( still maintaining the lie )
Swapna : Bobby told me the truth ( THE NERVE OF THAT BALD HEADED BUNGEE JUMPER )
Me : Oh shite
Swapna : #@$%$#@%$%#@$#@$ ( Continues for about 45 mins )

DUMM - Phone line goes dead

DAY AFTER PARTY - 12:30 AM FOGHORN OFFICE

Tringgggggggggg - Jets Bobby Calling

Me : THEVIDIYA PAIYA
Bob : Machi sarri da
Me : THEVIDIYA PAIYA
Bob : I didnt know what to do
Me PUNDA KOODHI ( change from the usual thevidiya paiya )
Bob : Romba sorry man
Me : THEVIDIYA PAIYA
Me : #@$#@$#@$#@$@#$ ( continues for the next 15 mins )

DUMMMM - I cut the phone

Final Result - Bobby gets ass raped at home, Ravi gets OH FUCKED and I get my nuts plucked off. All for what ?? For saving a useless fellow who flies at 160 kmph!!!

No better words....

2008-05-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

Walking slowly along the footpath, your mind is wandering through the crammed mess of the daily routine. Suddenly, for reasons unknown, you snap out of it. It could be the unfamiliar sound of a performance two-stroker. Or the glimpse of additional helpings of chrome. Whatever it is, it's not a ubiquitous sensation.
Your aroused ears catch the unmistakable sound of two cylinders breathing hard in tandem. The powerful song grows louder, and as you whip around, you see a blur, the bike closing rapidly towards you. Looks familiar and very, very fast. The rider flashes his lights as the sound surrounds you. In a thunderclap, it disappears into the distance, leaving behind a small cloud of blue smoke and fresh memories of speed.

The senses are unwilling to let go of the sensation. The sound, the sight and the smell mingle with your blood. Goose pimples dot your skin as an adrenaline overdose raises your heartbeat. For this one moment, you stand face to face with intense jealousy, YOURS....

Sigh.... I'm in ecstacy everyday!!!

The monthly update...

2008-04-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

Damn!! I'm getting so lazy that I'm blogging once a month now!! Sheesh!! Things seem to be moving at a rapid pace though!! Finally my tickets to the Formula 1 night race in Singapore are confirmed!! Ecstatic is too small a word to describe the feeling as of now!! So am off to Singy land on Sep 28th for a week long holiday!! Yipeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Had quite a number of small parties at home. Long weekends seem to be the order of the day!! Almost every friday seems to be a holiday in April!! Sad to see the month close so soon!! Speaking of which, May 1st is a holiday!! If only I could take Friday off work!! Heheheheee!!! Been ages since i've been to B'lore and everyone there is getting impatient to see me there!! Been abused verbally over the fone innumerable times!!! What a wursht i say!!

Chennai is getting hotter and humider by the day!! The car seems to have her A/C in full flow constantly!!! Sadly the bikes are being retired only for weekends. Pity I have to do that as i just got Trinity on a new heart imported from the US!! Anyways, I had a few friends over from B'lore and Hyderabad. They seemed to keep on a constant complaint mode regarding the weather here!! Don't see the difference as I've lived in both places and can't seem to get enough of Chennai!!

The Chennai - Leh trip has taken a back seat this year due to the Singapore trip. Will have to plan up and make the finances for it next year!! Random rambling is the order of the day!! I am working on a small (read mildly sleepy) entry on the blog and will finish by the next week!! Hope you'd enjoy that better than this one!! Truth is I can't think of more to write!! :D Cheers!!!

Evolution of the indian biker!!!

2008-03-08T23:44:00.000-08:00

No Words... Just watch!!!

Moving on..

with nonsense abt RACE technolofy which drives F1 cars and all!! Full bullshitting the indian customer!!

And then... The meaningful ads started to flow....

The revolution begins!!!

and continues....

and then!!!

They definitely saved the best for the last!!!

The indian biker hath truly evolved for the better!!!

Lazy ass back again!!!

2008-03-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

I haven't been the most active on the blogosphere!! I've been busy with the new job and it's already taken the first victim!!! Damn!! But i did do some travelling though!! Rider Mania '08 at Hyderabad, with fellow riders. It's a 700 km one way ride!! Had great fun!! Then went travelling aimlessly, just chose directions and rode away!! Here are some snaps using my Nokia E50 that I took during travelling as well as when stationary!!! This is 1.3 MP camera, so ppl complaining about clarity STOP READING HERE, CLOSE THIS WINDOW AND VISIT BACK IN A WEEK!!! Others, carry on!!

The beach on a lazy sunday morning!! Had to pick up some clients at 4 AM, took them to the beach and sat down merrily clicking pics!!!

Looks neat nah?? Contrary to what you may think this is, disco lights, studio lights and so on, these are just up close shots of the lights in my elevator!!!

Just another 'point to direction and ride' destination. This time we landed up at a temple near Andhra Pradesh. Sky looked menancingly white in contrast to the peace shown by the temple, so i clicked this

Another ancient temple at the same location!!

Taken from my balcony at the office!! I liked the orange contrasting with the blue hue and the varied colors at the bottom of the horizon!!

WTF is a PURE indian gas kit??? Others have impure ones or what??!!! Damn these literal translators of the local dialect!!

Meme

2008-01-25T03:01:00.000-08:00

A game passed on from David

1. Two things you do well.
* Communicate
* Race

2. Two things you're not so good at.
* I beleive we have a term for it now, absent mindedness!!
* Lying to the better half!!

3. Two extraordinary things you plan to do this year.
* Chennai - Leh ride
* Work out those biceps

4. Two items in your house you should get rid of.
* A completely useless diwan
* Darned beams on the ceilings

5. Your two favorite beverages.
* Beer
* Coke

6. Two of your nicknames.
* Bobby
* Booby

7. Two places you've never been that you'd like to go to.
* Leh
* Kolkota

8. Two of your favorite authors.
* Micheal Crichton
* Robin Cook

9. Your two favorite outfits.
* Tee
* Jeans

10. Two words you hate hearing.
* Yeah Right!!! (sarcastically)

I'm thinking of five ppl i need to tag on this!! Suchi, Jammy, Paddu, Cuckoo and Tara are the first ppl that come to my mind!!! My fellow readers are more than welcome to take the tag along!!!!

What i want to do in my life...

2008-01-22T03:24:00.000-08:00

A brilliant video made by a friend... More or less descirbes what i'd want to do in life...

">

2007.. the year gone by.. in pictures...

2008-01-03T23:03:00.000-08:00

Here's my version of the events of 2007

That's DD, sloshed, stoned and soaring at about 8000 feet. Taken in Arul's Farm on the 6th of April. Terrific party that was!! The culprit for all of us hitting the roof was none other than that bloody Dosai!!

Thats me, the very next day at work!! Yeah i know!!!

A shower, shave and some sleep later!!!

On July 6th, our 1st year wedding anniversary, we watched 'The Ring' and Swapna trying to imitate the same!!!

On August 27th, we left to B'lore for a fun trip, this was all i could see!!! Damn!! He was fast!!! I tried keeping up, but German technology vs Jap technology was not happening at all!!!

Alice and Rubin, a Netherland couple we met during our B'lore-Mysore-Masinagudi trip!! Great fun to be with!! Good company to talk to and have a nice drink with!!!

This was during Diwali, Dosai came home and we partied at home with the gang!! I had a wicked idea of taking this in 'B/W' mode on the camera, but hey!! It looks like its on B/W mode!!! :P

Ahhhhh!!! Unexpected visit from a friend, i look out and spot his car!! Finally felt what german technology feels like when i pressed pedal to metal!!! What a car!!!

This was at a party at Sid's place!! He's a music director and this is his den, well, we kinda cleared the expensive stuff before we started the party!! Awesome night that was!!!

And i woke up the next morning to receive Zoo's new J350 from B'lore!! Beautiful bike!!!

On 2nd of December, we did an impromptu ride to our favourite joint, MoonRakers. Me, wifey, bro, Venky, Guru and Mom!! This was a heated discussion about some nonsensical women's lib thingy!!

And that's how the conversation ended!!!! Tongue in cheek statement eh??!!!

Happy new years everyone!!!!

The christmas party!!!

2007-12-26T22:22:00.001-08:00

As predicted, the christmas party went along in full flow!!! Dosai landed first and we had the usual wine tasting and then full drinking session!! Guru, Sowmi and the lil one came 5 - 10 mins later. Mom joined somewhere in the middle!! After a trillion phone calls, Dave came along later but unfortunately Hannah couldn't make it this time around!! Dave, Dosai and me were yapping to glory but he had to leave early to attend the midnight mass. After that it was just Dave, me and the wifey!! Talked till aeons when the moron decided to go home after he was drunk!! No idea what went through his mind!! Anyways he reached home at about 3 in the morning and sms'ed the same. Here are some pics of the celebrations!!!

Damn!! Just 4 more days!! Can't wait!! Bengalooru!!! I am coming to rock the socks off ya!!! :)

Tamil Rap is here to stay!!!!

2007-12-23T23:35:00.001-08:00

I remember hearing tam-rap for the first time somewhere in the early 90's. Many small time rappers who unfortunately didn't see the big picture due to lack of viewer enthusiasm!! People were all goo-goo-gaa-gaa over Apache indian and Snow. Hindi rappers had a go at it too, I remember Baba Sehgal and a dude called Stylebhai. Baba still makes an appearance on some weird show in TV. The other fella has faded into oblivion!!! Cut back into early 2004!! Blaze makes a comeback of sorts with A.R.Rahman's tunes!! It was nice to see a revival of something i really liked!! He proved to the people he was not a 1 hit wonder and continued to make collaborations with Sivamani and new gen fusion percussionists!! Then came out a remixed version of an obscure tamil song from the 80's by Ilayaraja. The Black eyed peas made history with this remix

The song made the tamil masses world wide sit up and notice!! Tamil Rap was taking shape. Although this was an english version, people saw opportunity. The best to make use of it was a malaysian Yogi B who got this out ASAP!!!

That did it!!! Tamil Rap was out to a world wide audience finally!! People in germany, poland were swinging to this although they could'nt make head of tail of what the song meant!! Yogi B continued his winning streak with an album aptly titled 'Vallavan'. Literally translated that means "The brave one". I loved the song and my ipod probably would have played it over a thousand times!! But still fascinating!!!

Enter mid 2007! Blaze is still rapping and going great guns!! But his tunes are based on the jamaican wave!! Everyone likes it but after 3 songs, it gets kind of repetitive!! Not so if you are on dope that is!! Heheheee!! Yogi B decides to continue and brings this out!!

The entire nation is swooning with this even today!!! Absolutely fantastic use of the turn table and voice mods!! Today as i passed a few music stores, Remix tamil albums are back!! Prominently displayed at places like Music world and Landmark, places that used to shudder at anything thats Tamil and the like!! I'm enjoying it and am sure you've let the video buffer itself and are enjoying the same!! I ain't biased but i still feel tamil music has genuine talent and needs a wider audience, that too in a nation that treats every other language other than hindi as a downtrodden kind!! Party on boyz!! It's time to return the kicking!!!

'tis the season to be jolly!! Fa la la la laa la laaa laa laaa...

2007-12-23T23:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas is here and yes, the bells are cling clanging and all that yadda yadda!! We have the christmas tree set with all the chinga linga lights and bells and the usual fare!! Small party with biryani, plum cake, wine and some OH ion also happening tonight!! It's gonna be a looooooooooooong weekend!! We're leaving to celebrate new years at B'lore!! Can't wait!!! Oh god!! Am too excited to type!! Here's to wishing everyone a super duper christmas!! Have fun folks!!!!

The 80's....

2007-11-12T22:43:00.000-08:00

I was a kid in the 80's and damn!! Am proud of it!!! There are times that i cherish, thinking of the simple life, the simpler lifestyle, Doordarshan, comics, Gilette world of sports (a program i used to wait for an entire week just to know how alain prost, aryton senna, eddie lawson, , wayne rainey, mick doohan and so on fared!!), the psychedelic ad's, Ramayan, Mahabharath, Oliyum oliyum (the tamil version of superhit muqabla, only much older!!), and much much more that kids today will sorely miss!!

People are more stuck up on the net, cell phones, weekend discos, rave parties and so on!! I still love a quiet sunday walk on the beach, a peaceful sunday evening movie, visiting friends on the weekend... sigh!!! Last weekend was diwali, went to my in-laws place for a visit and happened to chance upon an old copy of Tinkle, a comic i used to cherish as a kid!! I still do, but it's mostly between bike/car mags and SAP manuals!!! I chanced upon some really old advertisements!! Gold spot, Nutrine, Poppins, spider man, maggi, rasna.... damn!! Was all nostalgic!! Reminded me of my dad, our good times, the weekend beach visits, the ad club parties every month!! Anyways, here are a few ad's I managed to source from the net. Do let me know if this reminds you of further stuff!! Most of this is from another 80's geek like me called Vishal Patel. He has this fantastic site about 80's stuff which i adore!! Do drop him a visit.

Yummy!!!!

I miss Gold spot man!! Really do!!

GRRRRRRRR!!! There was not a single day that i did'nt curse this fella!!

The weekend....

2007-10-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday..

*yawn* ah.. 11.30 AM eh? Baby can you make me some nice hot tea?? Thanks baby...
.
.
.
.
*burp* oh!! it's 3.30 PM!! Nice!! *snore snore*
.
.
.
.
Wife - "Wake up you ass!! We need to shop!! It's 7.30 PM!!"...

Me - "uh??!! What??" *wipes drool from face*
.
.
.
.
8.30 PM, Me watching / listening thunder of 12 bullets rolling into my parking lot!!

PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

"knock, knock.. Hey I live a flat above you, can you keep the noise down?"
Me - "Facaf!!!"

SLAM!!!!!!!
.
.
.
.
Mom once again proves why she is the best cook this side of the country!!

Excellent tandoori chicken, uber kewl jeera rice and chole masala, Naathaari sangam, OH ion!! Killer combination wonlee!!
.
.
.
.
Sunday
.
.
.
.
*yawn* It's 1 PM eh?? Time for lunch!!
.
.
.
.
"Bob, lets watch a movie..."

BZZZZZZZZZTTT!!! BANG BOOM!!! PHHAAATTTT!!!! The transformer outside my building decided today was diwali!! Darn thing got its dates mixed up!!
.
.
.
.
Sits in darkness watching rain fall..pitter..patter... DAMMIT!!
.
.
.
.
Electricity finally returns at about 6 PM.
Too much rain to go out...
Funny weather.. Steaming hot potato bajjis.. Cuddled up into bed, devoured bajjis and watched a marathon run of the Fast and the Furious...

Aah!! Life is good!!!

Random observations!!!!

2007-10-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

This was on a arterial road in Bangalore on a recent visit. Note the irony!! They dump it right below the board!!! It's not perfect in Chennai too!! The only thing is that there would have been a garbage can and the people would have already filled it within minutes leading to a similar scene!!

Sometimes I wonder why people refuse to have any kind of civic sense!! Disgusting to see and heartbreaking to render in a country that has the fastest growing economy on this planet!!

Yesterday was MAK a.k.a. Arun Kumar, a fellow rider at the Madras bulls' wedding!! It was at one of my favourite marriage halls!! Huge place, lots of places to roam, good friends!! I could only to go the reception where i chanced to notice this!!

Yes that was a ganesha in ICE!!! Too cool looking!!!

(Photo courtesy : david)

Please do not confuse the second foto with Ganesha!! Thats MAK!! Mak might look like Ganesha but he is married now and as we speak would be in Langkawi enjoying his honey moon!! Cheers to the couple!! One more added to the club of spineless, hen pecked lot!!

Another year.. closer to nirvana??!!

2007-10-23T01:59:00.000-07:00

Yup, I officially turned another year older on the 13th!! No great shakes you might say, but yeah... was fun!! Joined a new job, new office, new friends, working at day!! Feels weird after being in "the dark" (read night shift) for 4 bloomin years!! The party was simple and adequate!! Rounded up Datta, Ninja and Satya came down from Hyderabad. Me, wifey, mom and bro. Simple no? Usual round of drinks, laffing, cake smearing and so on!! Will post up the pics here in some time. Mom gave me a nice shirt. Wifey's ordered a Sony Vaio, bro's ordered racing boots!! None arrived on time, and as i type, still not arrived!! Anyways, no issues, i know they will!! Was on a 3 day weekend apparently because my office decided Monday was Vijaydasami!! Was deep in thought yesterday about me, life and wife!! Was contemplating about the change in job but decided that it was a good move considering most IT companies today require manages with IT experience!! So when i move from here, probably in about 3 years, I should bag a plum offer!! For people readin here and asking me the eternal question.. NO GOOD NEWS!! NO WE ARE NOT HAVING KIDS!! Not at least for another 3 years!! please!!! STOP!!! :D

Office is a dreamy 1 KM from home, so I mostly walk / ride it down!! HUUUUUGE saving on petrol bills!! Feeling overall happy like the Chennai weather!! Been awesome weather for the past 3 days!! Wish it continues this way for maybe another 3-4 months!! Nothing more to type, planning a b'lore visit in the near future... planning a ride to Pondy..... planning an RD meet of the Chennai Jets... planning to go for an OTR with the Jeep Thrills club... damn!! so much planning, so little time!! Wish a day had more hours!! Only in the evening that is!! :D

The MRF Road racing challenge!!

2007-10-03T02:37:00.000-07:00

I went for this a while back, ben lazy to post the write up!! Read on!! Here it is!!!

As you stand there waiting at the pit wall listening to the grumbling… waiting… All you can hear is a collective grumble of four stroke symphony. You wait... it seems like forever... You lean across the pit wall to get a better view... That’s when it happens!! All hell breaks loose!!! The lights come out in sequence and go off and all you can hear is bass induced thunder!! They streak past you in various hues of lightning, blue, red, silver and so on!! So fast that they are all gone at the C1 before you can catch your breath from your accelerated heart beat!!! You stand back and wonder, what the hell was that??

Welcome to The Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore, host to the MRF International Challenge 2007.

This annual event held every year at Coimbatore brings out the best in racers and their machines. The riders are willing to take man and machine to the extreme limit for the glory the ends this event!! Yes, there is prize money involved!! I had the immense pleasure of racing with good friends and catching up on old ones when I went there for the weekend

The event is FMSCI approved and is allotted by the MAI. Simply said, it was 3 days of unparalleled thrills, spills, reality checks and glory!! Friday was the free practice session which saw almost everyone vying for space on track to get a good feel of the track. First out were the Group C bikes who were undoubtedly a class apart when it came to track experience!! Everyone wanted to get some good times in and also learn the lines. It also was a time for all of us ‘newbies’ to sit back and watch the pros rip the tarmac apart!! All of the spectators were watching peacefully when there was the announcement, “All RD350 riders, please gear up as your pit lane opens in five minutes!!”

Words cannot describe what happened next!! Almost as if it was synced in every riders mind, the entire RD gang started their engines together!!! The feeling was electric, the sound, out of this world!! Imagine 8 bikes of varied decibel level warming up their engines!! No STOP!! Your imagination is out of league!! Think again!! 6 bikes had open core exhausts and were sounding like firecrackers going off!! George had a much muter tone with his bike while I was the quietest with stock pipes!! As the bikes entered the pit lane, the scene was something like a WWE wrestling ring!! Millions of flashlights everywhere!! People were jostling for space to get an up close and personal view of these ‘monsters’!! Then the green flag started waving…. One by one the 2 stroke demons rolled out to high pitched wailing straight out of the pit lane into C1!! I had complete satisfaction as I started last and enjoyed every accentuated stroke of all the bikes!!

The track was great as in such, smooth tarmac, clean marked corners and good chicanes. The start – finish straight was a whopping 800 meters!! The RD’s rode in sync with each one of us learning or teaching the other one whatever ‘lines’ we knew of the track!! After an exhaustive session, I chanced to see Adman standing by the sidelines watching us all. Unfortunately he seemed to have blown his chances with piston trouble. I towed him back to see the end of the practice session. Well I thought that was the end of it all, but no, I was wrong, the best was just coming!!!

The Indian Super 1400cc class with the souped up Esteem’s came onto track!!! These guys were professional racers with blazing lap times and equally blistering driving skills!! It was nice to see Amritraj and Vijaykumar outpace each other at every turn. Hot on their heel after their session came up the 1600cc cars with MRF sponsored Fiesta’s, Baleno’s and Cedia’s. Amrit proved he was the best of this lot too with immaculate lines and clear cut exits from corners. After all this cacophony of engines had completed, I was still wondering why there were some Sri Lankan registered EVO’s and Supra’s parked up in the pits!! As if they read my mind, they collectively rolled out and started into the pit lane!! This was getting fantastic!!! These cars were waaaaaay above our league of racers and I had a hard time getting them on the camera!! They were simply way too fast!! Straight line speeds in excess of 220 kmph made sure they completed the start – finish straight in less than 4 seconds!! The super bikes came out next and my long time friend and National Champion Dilip Rogers proved time and again why he deserved that title!!! Simply said, too fast for the competition even on the practice sessions!! We retired like excited little puppies back to our hotels in eager anticipation of what was in store for us on Saturday.

Saturday saw very bleak and damp weather and the track was not especially dry. This, coupled with my eternal fear of wet racing made me skeptical about getting on track for qualifying. I guess the almighty read this thought and I was promptly pulled up for scrutiny!! My boots were found to be too short and I was not allowed to qualify despite many pleas that my wife was getting my racing boots!! I had to be content watching from the sidelines. As I was dialing furiously to check if my wife had reached Coimbatore, the marshals decided they had enough and started qualifying!! I was almost heartbroken to watch each one of our folks give me thumbs up and get on track!! Qualifying for the RD’s saw Christy emerge on top with bro Adrian on his heels with a close second. Sanju was third with Harish on fourth. George, Manu and Ganesh finished 5th, 6th and 7th. I was entitled to a DNQ status. The race was at noon and I double checked with every possible marshal about the rules for racing if one did not qualify. They were cool as long as I started in last place. To add to the injury my wife and bro landed up with the wrong set of shoes!!

I was just short of a nervous breakdown as I had asked every single person I know for a spare set of boots and none had a spare!! God took some pity on me I guess. As Sherin of the Madbulls came to visit us, I looked at him with despair and chanced to look down, HE WAS WEARING BOOTS!!!! Hurriedly I gave him mine and swapped his boots just in time for the race!! God bless him!! Push started the bike into the pits and the marshal had one wry look on his face and let me go!!

The RD’s started out on track and I was in last place. The formation lap was uneventful as I just was looking at smoke through my visor and kept a healthy distance from the rest of the bikes. Eventually we all landed up at the starting grid. The next 5 minutes were the longest I had ever seen!! We were sitting there, bikes revving, heat between our legs and the race was not starting!! I waited... and waited… and waited... and finally the man with the finicky sign showed us the 30 seconds board!! Then disaster... my bike stalled... and Adrian’s... and vodka’s!!! I was petrified!! I had no clue how to jump start my bike!! Vodka sensing the emergency showed me how it was done and luckily I managed to get started just before the 5 second banner!! The lights went out and all I prayed for was I don’t run into anyone!! As I zoomed out I could see Vodka, George, Manu and Ganesh go behind me and I thought, hey!! This is good!!

At the 600 meter mark all I could hear was a zwooop and a high pitched wail!! I look up to see that familiar rear of Vodka and George in front of me!! How the hell did that happen!! To make matters worse they were pulling away!!! Caman the gear cutting and raise!! Bad idea, Manu goes in front too!! I look back to see Ganesh’s engine pack up and he pulls into the pits. Damn!! I’m back where I started!!! As I lean into C1 I again get on the inside of Vodka, Manu and George and hold on till C4, then a straight line comes!! Zwooop, wheeeeeeeee and vroooooooooooom!! They are all in front of me!! This repeats for the next 3 corners and I decide enough is enough!! I try a daring move at C7 and next thing I know I am off roading!!! I cling on to the bars and desperately cut gear to avoid losing control!! I get back on track and guess what…. Last place again!!! As I tried and tried, I realized something, this track was for a machine that can pull up a good straight line speed and I was simply puttering around!!

I still try to salvage the best of it and the next lap saw me close in on Manu. Chris and Ad’s were nowhere in sight!!! I leaned over at C1 again just in time to watch Sanju’s engine pack up and he pulled over to the tire barriers. Felt sorry for him as he was running a great lap!! The rest of the 4 laps saw me trying to hold the bike steady but the rear tire, coupled with my morbid fear of the wet saw me off roading most of the time!! Eventually I finished in 6th place (ok that was last place!!). We opened up Sanju’s engine and found the piston completely broken to bits!! Antony sat down immediately and started his magic on the engine!! The rest of the races were practically just a mere formality with Amrit demolishing the competition in both the Fiesta and the Esteem classes. Dilip exterminating the rest of the pack for the Super bike class and Rajani excelled in both the 160 cc class and the 250cc. Then the mean GT cars came out….

The Evo’s and WRX’s were clearly built for the track and behaved as if on familiar territory. Aravinda Premadasa gave a great fight but it was Reyaz Farooque who took the honors. The WRX was putting on a stunning display of agility and handling on the track when suddenly out of the blue the car seemed to slide off track on C1!! The Subaru simply flew away like a rag doll and hit the side barrier and somersaulted over it!! It avoided a ditch and landed on the right side after about 6-7 rolls. Thankfully the driver was unharmed and walked away from the accident scene. The car however was not so lucky. It was smashed inside out and the entire chassis had taken the impact. The driver’s side was intact and there was not any visible damage there!! Safety par excellence!!! With the memories of watching it live, I rolled back into bed with memories of my last place at the back of my head.

Sunday was a different scene at the track altogether!! There were camera crew, interviews, babes, more super bikes!! God knows where they all came from suddenly!! Chris and Adman were suddenly doing interviews!! I just sat back wondering, what the hell was going on??!! After some initial hiccups, the 2 stroke and the 4 stroke 160 and 250 class races happened as scheduled. Again Rajani made mincemeat of the competition and made sure that the cup was going no place else than his cupboard!! The RD class saw only 7 riders this time as we could not get Ganesh’s engine running. Antony did a fantastic job by getting Sanju’s engine up and running!!! The formation lap saw George have a false start and unfortunately he landed behind me as we lined up for the race start. Manu started well but fell behind the pack. I had no idea why. That’s when I saw it happen!! He went straight for the C1 kerb and hit it wheel first!! His tank flew off and he somersaulted through the air and landed on this hands. He seemed to get up immediately and walk. I felt relieved that he was ok and continued. At the outset of the race, I had made some minor changes to the carburetion of my engine and made sure I can pull out a few extra kmph for that straight line speed.

The start of the race was fantastic!! Everyone was revving hard and all of us seemed to move exactly at the same formation as we started!! That’s when the inevitable happened!! It was a straight line and all of us were gunning the engines to reach the corner first!! I decided to play safe and slowed down holding back George in the process. 2 corners later he took it in full flow on a straight line and whizzed past!! I was back where I was last race!! Last place!! But I didn’t give up this time!! Did some chamak racing and was hot on the heels of George and Vodka. Unfortunately Sanju’s engine packed up again and he pulled over at C3. I was pushing it for all the engine was worth when on lap 4 I decided to do a Valentino Rossi!! Late braking with inside line overtaking!! Unfortunately my friends ahead of me had other ideas and firmly shut the door!!! As I frantically braked, I knew I had to much speed for C3, so I braked and leaned… and leaned…. and leaned further, I could hear silencer scraping on tarmac, but still too fast!! Leaaaaaann….screeeech…..!!!! The next thing I know is I am parked up next to Sanju and he is watching me in bewilderment!!! I am sure he was thinking what a dumb move, but dude, if you are reading this, I really was desperate to get out in front!!! Ok yeah, it was a silly move!! Happy??!!! 

I picked up the bike and realized the right had caved in entirely!! Bent the brake pedal by hand and restarted the race without much help from the marshals who refused to give me a push start!! Jump started the bike in frustration and realized at the next corner that my front brake lever was kaput!! Adrian and Christy were hot on my heels and I let them go straightaway!! I tried to keep up a sane speed as far as the rear brake limits would hold. Eventually when I reached the start finish straight I saw the chequered flag waving!! Although it was last place, I felt content that I had at least put my best effort in!! As I towed back Sanju to the pits, the boys came in and congratulated me and said it was pretty gutsy to get back on track after a fall and attempt to finish the race!! That gave me a completely satisfied feeling!! Manu was unfortunately not so lucky and he had broken both his hands on the fall!! We sent him to the hospital and eventually back to Chennai. Hope he gets well soon.

Back to the racing scene was pretty much a repeat of Saturday!! Dilip for the SBK’s, Reyaz for the GT cars and Amrit for the 1400 and 1600 class. The fire spitting, muffler crackling WRX was sorely missed although the driver took out another car on track. There was John Britto’s dancing team that put up a good performance on the track swaying to the latest numbers. Then out of the blue, there were super bikes on track pulling off wheelies, stoppies and doing burnouts!! It was a treat for the eyes and ears to see these bikes doing what they do best!! There was a guy on an R1 who pulled off wheelies for the entire 800 meters…. Both ways!!!

Eventually the event closed to the reverberating claps of the audience as the boys collected their trophies and cheques for the races. All in all, it was a great event that was to be experienced first hand rather than being read here or in any other magazine!! Truly fantastic and I am hoping to get my act together when this repeats back in December!!