been thinking of this new comic strip to start... the characters are all real but their public identities will not be revealed for fear of public humiliation!!!
FART BOY!!!
he is the latest superhero when it comes to crime fighting...his secret weapon (like his name suggests) is a lound stinkfilled fart bomb that he launches from his rear-end. watchout criminals! start buying your gas masks...
BOTAD BABE!!!
she is FartBoy's faithful sidekick, dont know if she can be helpful in the crimefighting or not, but for now, she just accompnies FB in all his adventures and her strongest point is tuning out completely at crunch time and start behaving like a 'botad' (Botad is basically a camel's baby) who doesn't do a bit but just piles on to all the issues created!!!
comments? suggestions? any more characters that you'll want to see here????
Monday, September 24, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
RIP till R.I.P
the wind whispers
and he fly his metal steed
where eagles dare, he roams
chasing the midnight sun
playing hide and seek with clouds
singing on top of his voice
his growling exhaust note
the smell of burned rubber
sweet fatigue of unbridled passion
the soul of rebel
the metal made of sin and sweat
the molten tarmac, the numb hands
the lashing rain, the scorching sun
the howling crowd, the lone water well
he grips, breaks and rips again
dancing with the devil
touching the cheek of death
saying a prayer and keeping a steady hand
he rips till he is R.I.P
Courtesy Anoop -XH-
plans and rides... don't actually work!
Ah the joys of riding solo! This was my first solo ‘long ride’… I’ve ridden till now with my lovely wife as the faithful pillion and never knew how it feels to push the beast on those open roads at full throttle! So when the wife decided to go to Ahmedabad for a few days, I started planning for a really long ride, something that will satisfy my appetite for the open roads and also to start preparing myself for the really long December ride.
The original plan was to ride till Pondicherry on Saturday morning and come back to B’lore by Sunday evening so that I can unwind through the night and be all fresh and new for the coming hectic work week… then Ajey my buddy from SB suggested trip towards Waynad, the lovely place in Kerala where the roads are smooth like butter and the twisties that can make you puke… I talked about this to Keeny (another buddy from SB) who had decided that he also wanted to do a long ride before he goes to Delhi for the last weekend of this month.
We started preparing for this and I got all the route info (like always) to prepare myself mentally… on around Wednesday Ajey called again and said that the roads to Waynad might’ve been washed off due to the heavy rains that this region has been facing since a few weeks. So Keeny and I made a few calls and decided to get back to the original plan of Pondicherry… we called up Ajey and told him about this… but all the curses to that bugger, he said that the whole coastal region is on a red alert for the Tsunami threat (some earthquake in Indonesia) so Pondy is not advisable (darn!). this is when I started seeing the plans falling apart like a raft made out of twigs… I called Keeny again and asked his opinions and suggestions; his response was amazing "dude, I just want to ride, anywhere or anyhow". So I pulled out the internet database again and started rummaging the possible places in the radius of 500Kms.
Hampi was the next decided destination, but like always a new situation arose… Keeny didn’t have his camera this time and he doesn’t ride to any ‘good’ place without it… must admit; he is a pretty good photographer also! (Checkout is work at http://keeny.smugmug.com/ ) So the next option was Hassan where we can go to Belur/Halebid which is around 250kms. The plan was set and we decided that we’ll leave for Hassan on Saturday morning.
I guess early Friday, I got a call from Keeny that he is planning to get the rear crash guards fixed on his bull before we leave and to be honest, I wanted to get some auxiliary lamps fixed for the December stint. So we decided that Saturday we will invest in getting all these gizmos on the bikes and leave on Sunday early morning. The meeting was planned for 10:45 am Saturday morning (my time) and we finally managed to meet up at J.C.Road at around 12:30 (Keeny time)J . one of my colleagues, Gauravdeep also had decided to join in this shopping spree since he is new to B’lore and a proud owner on a new electra standard (right-shift gears) we landed on J C Road and started looking for the headlamps, alas Saturday being the GaneshaChaturthy, most of the stores were closed. The store that Rocky Da and Lohit had suggested was apparently closed and we landed in a completely different place; we were not sure if we wanted to pickup the lamps that this guy here showed.
We just looked around and came to Sandhya (the one stop shop for all Bullet accessories) picked up the crash guards for Keeny’s and Gaurav’s bulls… I was all impressed and all set with those, but not sure if my wifey will be able to sit on the bull with these things hampering her leg space. Anyways, after the shopping, we went to the headlamps guy and got 4 headlamps, 2 for the ‘redeye’ and the other 2 for ‘irony’ went back to the mechanic who had fitted the crash guards on the bikes earlier and got the lamps fixed. Must say, that the bike looks royal after the extra fitments! Anyways, this took up most of Saturday and we decided to go to Saleems’ garage (he is the mechanic I got introduced to with Rocky da) wanted Saleembhai to check the wiring and also check if our bikes were all set to go out on the open roads for a long run…
He gave us an A-Okay by 8pm. We started celebrations with beer and more discussions on the route… by now the routes had been changed a gazillion times and none of us were clear as to where we wanted to ride the next morning! I guess we had decided for Mandya – some heritage town that Keeny had heard about and on route Mysore.
At 1 in the morning, I got a message from Gauravdeep that he is dropping out of the ride as he had a bit too much to drink and was not feeling well… Sunday morning 5am I called Keeny expecting him to sound groggy and giving some silly reason to not join in, but to my utter surprise he was all fresh and sounded really charged to go!
We met in front of Nimhans, Keeny as always was a bit late, but thankfully this time I waited only 10minutes J he had his colleague as his pillion (sort of role reversal) I was the one who usually showed up with a pillion and the others were solo bikers! His friend was a pretty enthusiastic bikerchic (this term is usually reserved for my wife) I could see that she had the spirit for biking and didn’t complain like most other women I’ve rode with till now…
We started towards Mysore (honestly no destination in our heads) stopped at Kamat’s for our breakfast, spent a good 40 minutes (or more) there and then started back on the way, Keeny suggested that he would like to explore Mandya (not exactly sure what, but the town intrigued him) we started riding and I for a change was the lead rider… the ride was awesome, thankfully not much traffic on the roads and the weather was just awesome! We could see mist covered mountains (well actually hills and hillocks ) and a slight drizzle on the way, after a few kilometers I realized that Mandya was left behind a long way and we were already nearing Mysore! I pulled over and asked Keeny if he wants to turn back or keep on going? He was cool with the idea of going wherever! So we kept on riding… around 20kms later, I saw a signboard that said that ShivanaSamudram was around 70Kms away on the left turn… we took the left and started on the road.
This road was like a dream! Absolutely no traffic, all straight road, and you can see it merging into the horizons… this stretch of road will stay in my memory for a long time now… the loud thumps of my RedEye, the straight stretch, the lush greenery all around and us riding into the nothingness to the nowhere…
After a while we started hitting bad stretches of the good road, it turned so bad that for one point it was only slush and sludge and no proper road! I kept cursing under my breath as I could feel the slush splashing all over my bike and making it look more like a disaster than the sexy beast she was! But we kept on. On the way, I stopped by a gas station and filled her up all the way! With the full tank of gas, she was all set to prove her worth all over again!
We kept on going and finally hit the Simsha water plant; the waterfalls were only a few kilometers from here, the roads actually led us straight to the falls… if it was not for the railings, we probably would’ve taken the bikes all the way to the base of the falls.
Stayed here for a while, I smoked a victory cigarette and we all stayed there for a while, had some tender coconuts and Keeny tried his hands on the ‘masala gooseberries’ was pretty tasty must say!
After a while, we started on our way back… I noticed on the way that there was a different route (via Kanakpura) back to Bangalore. So we decided to go this way… BIG MISTAKE!!!
The road that looked pretty un-trodden, empty and smooth suddenly turned out to be the off-roading highway to hell! The tar was completely nonexistent and we had crater sized potholes all the way! This was some project that the state government has started a few months back and decided to make the place better! (I guess they just forgot about this stretch of land) for almost 25-30 kilometers and a lot of aching backs and butts, we got back to relatively better roads, stopped over at Kanakpura for a chai and a well deserved butt break and started back again.
By now, I could sense Keeny’s frustration as I was doing steady 80-90s and a few stretches of 100kmph while he was used to faster speeds on his beast. So I could see him come all the way to my rear bumper and then slow down again since we had decided that I was the lead. (Sorry dude, you would’ve cursed me enough I know J )
After a while we finally reached Bangalore, took the route to BTM and stopped at the parathaguy near my place (he makes some of the best parathas!) had a pretty heavy lunch and then we split. I came home, thanked the beast for its awesome performance and promised it a longer ride soon…
A few things I must say that I learnt…
if you want to ride, just ride, don’t make plans and don’t wait for people to join in. its eventually the spirit of riding and not gathering people together…
if people decide to drop out, don’t over react; it’s a matter of their choice and taste, they wanna ride, good if not, good for them!
Ride at a speed that you are comfortable with, don’t ride because the guy in front of you is ripping or the one behind you is too close
Remember, it’s a ride and not a race… not with your group, never with others!
Enjoy the ride, love the challenges and changes of terrain… its all a moving picture for you
Well, enough gyan from me and a really long droning story, but had to do it!
Cheers!
The original plan was to ride till Pondicherry on Saturday morning and come back to B’lore by Sunday evening so that I can unwind through the night and be all fresh and new for the coming hectic work week… then Ajey my buddy from SB suggested trip towards Waynad, the lovely place in Kerala where the roads are smooth like butter and the twisties that can make you puke… I talked about this to Keeny (another buddy from SB) who had decided that he also wanted to do a long ride before he goes to Delhi for the last weekend of this month.
We started preparing for this and I got all the route info (like always) to prepare myself mentally… on around Wednesday Ajey called again and said that the roads to Waynad might’ve been washed off due to the heavy rains that this region has been facing since a few weeks. So Keeny and I made a few calls and decided to get back to the original plan of Pondicherry… we called up Ajey and told him about this… but all the curses to that bugger, he said that the whole coastal region is on a red alert for the Tsunami threat (some earthquake in Indonesia) so Pondy is not advisable (darn!). this is when I started seeing the plans falling apart like a raft made out of twigs… I called Keeny again and asked his opinions and suggestions; his response was amazing "dude, I just want to ride, anywhere or anyhow". So I pulled out the internet database again and started rummaging the possible places in the radius of 500Kms.
Hampi was the next decided destination, but like always a new situation arose… Keeny didn’t have his camera this time and he doesn’t ride to any ‘good’ place without it… must admit; he is a pretty good photographer also! (Checkout is work at http://keeny.smugmug.com/ ) So the next option was Hassan where we can go to Belur/Halebid which is around 250kms. The plan was set and we decided that we’ll leave for Hassan on Saturday morning.
I guess early Friday, I got a call from Keeny that he is planning to get the rear crash guards fixed on his bull before we leave and to be honest, I wanted to get some auxiliary lamps fixed for the December stint. So we decided that Saturday we will invest in getting all these gizmos on the bikes and leave on Sunday early morning. The meeting was planned for 10:45 am Saturday morning (my time) and we finally managed to meet up at J.C.Road at around 12:30 (Keeny time)J . one of my colleagues, Gauravdeep also had decided to join in this shopping spree since he is new to B’lore and a proud owner on a new electra standard (right-shift gears) we landed on J C Road and started looking for the headlamps, alas Saturday being the GaneshaChaturthy, most of the stores were closed. The store that Rocky Da and Lohit had suggested was apparently closed and we landed in a completely different place; we were not sure if we wanted to pickup the lamps that this guy here showed.
We just looked around and came to Sandhya (the one stop shop for all Bullet accessories) picked up the crash guards for Keeny’s and Gaurav’s bulls… I was all impressed and all set with those, but not sure if my wifey will be able to sit on the bull with these things hampering her leg space. Anyways, after the shopping, we went to the headlamps guy and got 4 headlamps, 2 for the ‘redeye’ and the other 2 for ‘irony’ went back to the mechanic who had fitted the crash guards on the bikes earlier and got the lamps fixed. Must say, that the bike looks royal after the extra fitments! Anyways, this took up most of Saturday and we decided to go to Saleems’ garage (he is the mechanic I got introduced to with Rocky da) wanted Saleembhai to check the wiring and also check if our bikes were all set to go out on the open roads for a long run…
He gave us an A-Okay by 8pm. We started celebrations with beer and more discussions on the route… by now the routes had been changed a gazillion times and none of us were clear as to where we wanted to ride the next morning! I guess we had decided for Mandya – some heritage town that Keeny had heard about and on route Mysore.
At 1 in the morning, I got a message from Gauravdeep that he is dropping out of the ride as he had a bit too much to drink and was not feeling well… Sunday morning 5am I called Keeny expecting him to sound groggy and giving some silly reason to not join in, but to my utter surprise he was all fresh and sounded really charged to go!
We met in front of Nimhans, Keeny as always was a bit late, but thankfully this time I waited only 10minutes J he had his colleague as his pillion (sort of role reversal) I was the one who usually showed up with a pillion and the others were solo bikers! His friend was a pretty enthusiastic bikerchic (this term is usually reserved for my wife) I could see that she had the spirit for biking and didn’t complain like most other women I’ve rode with till now…
We started towards Mysore (honestly no destination in our heads) stopped at Kamat’s for our breakfast, spent a good 40 minutes (or more) there and then started back on the way, Keeny suggested that he would like to explore Mandya (not exactly sure what, but the town intrigued him) we started riding and I for a change was the lead rider… the ride was awesome, thankfully not much traffic on the roads and the weather was just awesome! We could see mist covered mountains (well actually hills and hillocks ) and a slight drizzle on the way, after a few kilometers I realized that Mandya was left behind a long way and we were already nearing Mysore! I pulled over and asked Keeny if he wants to turn back or keep on going? He was cool with the idea of going wherever! So we kept on riding… around 20kms later, I saw a signboard that said that ShivanaSamudram was around 70Kms away on the left turn… we took the left and started on the road.
This road was like a dream! Absolutely no traffic, all straight road, and you can see it merging into the horizons… this stretch of road will stay in my memory for a long time now… the loud thumps of my RedEye, the straight stretch, the lush greenery all around and us riding into the nothingness to the nowhere…
After a while we started hitting bad stretches of the good road, it turned so bad that for one point it was only slush and sludge and no proper road! I kept cursing under my breath as I could feel the slush splashing all over my bike and making it look more like a disaster than the sexy beast she was! But we kept on. On the way, I stopped by a gas station and filled her up all the way! With the full tank of gas, she was all set to prove her worth all over again!
We kept on going and finally hit the Simsha water plant; the waterfalls were only a few kilometers from here, the roads actually led us straight to the falls… if it was not for the railings, we probably would’ve taken the bikes all the way to the base of the falls.
Stayed here for a while, I smoked a victory cigarette and we all stayed there for a while, had some tender coconuts and Keeny tried his hands on the ‘masala gooseberries’ was pretty tasty must say!
After a while, we started on our way back… I noticed on the way that there was a different route (via Kanakpura) back to Bangalore. So we decided to go this way… BIG MISTAKE!!!
The road that looked pretty un-trodden, empty and smooth suddenly turned out to be the off-roading highway to hell! The tar was completely nonexistent and we had crater sized potholes all the way! This was some project that the state government has started a few months back and decided to make the place better! (I guess they just forgot about this stretch of land) for almost 25-30 kilometers and a lot of aching backs and butts, we got back to relatively better roads, stopped over at Kanakpura for a chai and a well deserved butt break and started back again.
By now, I could sense Keeny’s frustration as I was doing steady 80-90s and a few stretches of 100kmph while he was used to faster speeds on his beast. So I could see him come all the way to my rear bumper and then slow down again since we had decided that I was the lead. (Sorry dude, you would’ve cursed me enough I know J )
After a while we finally reached Bangalore, took the route to BTM and stopped at the parathaguy near my place (he makes some of the best parathas!) had a pretty heavy lunch and then we split. I came home, thanked the beast for its awesome performance and promised it a longer ride soon…
A few things I must say that I learnt…
if you want to ride, just ride, don’t make plans and don’t wait for people to join in. its eventually the spirit of riding and not gathering people together…
if people decide to drop out, don’t over react; it’s a matter of their choice and taste, they wanna ride, good if not, good for them!
Ride at a speed that you are comfortable with, don’t ride because the guy in front of you is ripping or the one behind you is too close
Remember, it’s a ride and not a race… not with your group, never with others!
Enjoy the ride, love the challenges and changes of terrain… its all a moving picture for you
Well, enough gyan from me and a really long droning story, but had to do it!
Cheers!
plans and rides... don't actually work!
Ah the joys of riding solo! This was my first solo ‘long ride’… I’ve ridden till now with my lovely wife as the faithful pillion and never knew how it feels to push the beast on those open roads at full throttle! So when the wife decided to go to Ahmedabad for a few days, I started planning for a really long ride, something that will satisfy my appetite for the open roads and also to start preparing myself for the really long December ride.
The original plan was to ride till Pondicherry on Saturday morning and come back to B’lore by Sunday evening so that I can unwind through the night and be all fresh and new for the coming hectic work week… then Ajey my buddy from SB suggested trip towards Waynad, the lovely place in Kerala where the roads are smooth like butter and the twisties that can make you puke… I talked about this to Keeny (another buddy from SB) who had decided that he also wanted to do a long ride before he goes to Delhi for the last weekend of this month.
We started preparing for this and I got all the route info (like always) to prepare myself mentally… on around Wednesday Ajey called again and said that the roads to Waynad might’ve been washed off due to the heavy rains that this region has been facing since a few weeks. So Keeny and I made a few calls and decided to get back to the original plan of Pondicherry… we called up Ajey and told him about this… but all the curses to that bugger, he said that the whole coastal region is on a red alert for the Tsunami threat (some earthquake in Indonesia) so Pondy is not advisable (darn!). this is when I started seeing the plans falling apart like a raft made out of twigs… I called Keeny again and asked his opinions and suggestions; his response was amazing "dude, I just want to ride, anywhere or anyhow". So I pulled out the internet database again and started rummaging the possible places in the radius of 500Kms.
Hampi was the next decided destination, but like always a new situation arose… Keeny didn’t have his camera this time and he doesn’t ride to any ‘good’ place without it… must admit; he is a pretty good photographer also! (Checkout is work at http://keeny.smugmug.com/ ) So the next option was Hassan where we can go to Belur/Halebid which is around 250kms. The plan was set and we decided that we’ll leave for Hassan on Saturday morning.
I guess early Friday, I got a call from Keeny that he is planning to get the rear crash guards fixed on his bull before we leave and to be honest, I wanted to get some auxiliary lamps fixed for the December stint. So we decided that Saturday we will invest in getting all these gizmos on the bikes and leave on Sunday early morning. The meeting was planned for 10:45 am Saturday morning (my time) and we finally managed to meet up at J.C.Road at around 12:30 (Keeny time)J . one of my colleagues, Gauravdeep also had decided to join in this shopping spree since he is new to B’lore and a proud owner on a new electra standard (right-shift gears) we landed on J C Road and started looking for the headlamps, alas Saturday being the GaneshaChaturthy, most of the stores were closed. The store that Rocky Da and Lohit had suggested was apparently closed and we landed in a completely different place; we were not sure if we wanted to pickup the lamps that this guy here showed.
We just looked around and came to Sandhya (the one stop shop for all Bullet accessories) picked up the crash guards for Keeny’s and Gaurav’s bulls… I was all impressed and all set with those, but not sure if my wifey will be able to sit on the bull with these things hampering her leg space. Anyways, after the shopping, we went to the headlamps guy and got 4 headlamps, 2 for the ‘redeye’ and the other 2 for ‘irony’ went back to the mechanic who had fitted the crash guards on the bikes earlier and got the lamps fixed. Must say, that the bike looks royal after the extra fitments! Anyways, this took up most of Saturday and we decided to go to Saleems’ garage (he is the mechanic I got introduced to with Rocky da) wanted Saleembhai to check the wiring and also check if our bikes were all set to go out on the open roads for a long run…
He gave us an A-Okay by 8pm. We started celebrations with beer and more discussions on the route… by now the routes had been changed a gazillion times and none of us were clear as to where we wanted to ride the next morning! I guess we had decided for Mandya – some heritage town that Keeny had heard about and on route Mysore.
At 1 in the morning, I got a message from Gauravdeep that he is dropping out of the ride as he had a bit too much to drink and was not feeling well… Sunday morning 5am I called Keeny expecting him to sound groggy and giving some silly reason to not join in, but to my utter surprise he was all fresh and sounded really charged to go!
We met in front of Nimhans, Keeny as always was a bit late, but thankfully this time I waited only 10minutes J he had his colleague as his pillion (sort of role reversal) I was the one who usually showed up with a pillion and the others were solo bikers! His friend was a pretty enthusiastic bikerchic (this term is usually reserved for my wife) I could see that she had the spirit for biking and didn’t complain like most other women I’ve rode with till now…
We started towards Mysore (honestly no destination in our heads) stopped at Kamat’s for our breakfast, spent a good 40 minutes (or more) there and then started back on the way, Keeny suggested that he would like to explore Mandya (not exactly sure what, but the town intrigued him) we started riding and I for a change was the lead rider… the ride was awesome, thankfully not much traffic on the roads and the weather was just awesome! We could see mist covered mountains (well actually hills and hillocks ) and a slight drizzle on the way, after a few kilometers I realized that Mandya was left behind a long way and we were already nearing Mysore! I pulled over and asked Keeny if he wants to turn back or keep on going? He was cool with the idea of going wherever! So we kept on riding… around 20kms later, I saw a signboard that said that ShivanaSamudram was around 70Kms away on the left turn… we took the left and started on the road.
This road was like a dream! Absolutely no traffic, all straight road, and you can see it merging into the horizons… this stretch of road will stay in my memory for a long time now… the loud thumps of my RedEye, the straight stretch, the lush greenery all around and us riding into the nothingness to the nowhere…
After a while we started hitting bad stretches of the good road, it turned so bad that for one point it was only slush and sludge and no proper road! I kept cursing under my breath as I could feel the slush splashing all over my bike and making it look more like a disaster than the sexy beast she was! But we kept on. On the way, I stopped by a gas station and filled her up all the way! With the full tank of gas, she was all set to prove her worth all over again!
We kept on going and finally hit the Simsha water plant; the waterfalls were only a few kilometers from here, the roads actually led us straight to the falls… if it was not for the railings, we probably would’ve taken the bikes all the way to the base of the falls.
Stayed here for a while, I smoked a victory cigarette and we all stayed there for a while, had some tender coconuts and Keeny tried his hands on the ‘masala gooseberries’ was pretty tasty must say!
After a while, we started on our way back… I noticed on the way that there was a different route (via Kanakpura) back to Bangalore. So we decided to go this way… BIG MISTAKE!!!
The road that looked pretty un-trodden, empty and smooth suddenly turned out to be the off-roading highway to hell! The tar was completely nonexistent and we had crater sized potholes all the way! This was some project that the state government has started a few months back and decided to make the place better! (I guess they just forgot about this stretch of land) for almost 25-30 kilometers and a lot of aching backs and butts, we got back to relatively better roads, stopped over at Kanakpura for a chai and a well deserved butt break and started back again.
By now, I could sense Keeny’s frustration as I was doing steady 80-90s and a few stretches of 100kmph while he was used to faster speeds on his beast. So I could see him come all the way to my rear bumper and then slow down again since we had decided that I was the lead. (Sorry dude, you would’ve cursed me enough I know J )
After a while we finally reached Bangalore, took the route to BTM and stopped at the parathaguy near my place (he makes some of the best parathas!) had a pretty heavy lunch and then we split. I came home, thanked the beast for its awesome performance and promised it a longer ride soon…
A few things I must say that I learnt…
if you want to ride, just ride, don’t make plans and don’t wait for people to join in. its eventually the spirit of riding and not gathering people together…
if people decide to drop out, don’t over react; it’s a matter of their choice and taste, they wanna ride, good if not, good for them!
Ride at a speed that you are comfortable with, don’t ride because the guy in front of you is ripping or the one behind you is too close
Remember, it’s a ride and not a race… not with your group, never with others!
Enjoy the ride, love the challenges and changes of terrain… its all a moving picture for you
Well, enough gyan from me and a really long droning story, but had to do it!
Cheers!
The original plan was to ride till Pondicherry on Saturday morning and come back to B’lore by Sunday evening so that I can unwind through the night and be all fresh and new for the coming hectic work week… then Ajey my buddy from SB suggested trip towards Waynad, the lovely place in Kerala where the roads are smooth like butter and the twisties that can make you puke… I talked about this to Keeny (another buddy from SB) who had decided that he also wanted to do a long ride before he goes to Delhi for the last weekend of this month.
We started preparing for this and I got all the route info (like always) to prepare myself mentally… on around Wednesday Ajey called again and said that the roads to Waynad might’ve been washed off due to the heavy rains that this region has been facing since a few weeks. So Keeny and I made a few calls and decided to get back to the original plan of Pondicherry… we called up Ajey and told him about this… but all the curses to that bugger, he said that the whole coastal region is on a red alert for the Tsunami threat (some earthquake in Indonesia) so Pondy is not advisable (darn!). this is when I started seeing the plans falling apart like a raft made out of twigs… I called Keeny again and asked his opinions and suggestions; his response was amazing "dude, I just want to ride, anywhere or anyhow". So I pulled out the internet database again and started rummaging the possible places in the radius of 500Kms.
Hampi was the next decided destination, but like always a new situation arose… Keeny didn’t have his camera this time and he doesn’t ride to any ‘good’ place without it… must admit; he is a pretty good photographer also! (Checkout is work at http://keeny.smugmug.com/ ) So the next option was Hassan where we can go to Belur/Halebid which is around 250kms. The plan was set and we decided that we’ll leave for Hassan on Saturday morning.
I guess early Friday, I got a call from Keeny that he is planning to get the rear crash guards fixed on his bull before we leave and to be honest, I wanted to get some auxiliary lamps fixed for the December stint. So we decided that Saturday we will invest in getting all these gizmos on the bikes and leave on Sunday early morning. The meeting was planned for 10:45 am Saturday morning (my time) and we finally managed to meet up at J.C.Road at around 12:30 (Keeny time)J . one of my colleagues, Gauravdeep also had decided to join in this shopping spree since he is new to B’lore and a proud owner on a new electra standard (right-shift gears) we landed on J C Road and started looking for the headlamps, alas Saturday being the GaneshaChaturthy, most of the stores were closed. The store that Rocky Da and Lohit had suggested was apparently closed and we landed in a completely different place; we were not sure if we wanted to pickup the lamps that this guy here showed.
We just looked around and came to Sandhya (the one stop shop for all Bullet accessories) picked up the crash guards for Keeny’s and Gaurav’s bulls… I was all impressed and all set with those, but not sure if my wifey will be able to sit on the bull with these things hampering her leg space. Anyways, after the shopping, we went to the headlamps guy and got 4 headlamps, 2 for the ‘redeye’ and the other 2 for ‘irony’ went back to the mechanic who had fitted the crash guards on the bikes earlier and got the lamps fixed. Must say, that the bike looks royal after the extra fitments! Anyways, this took up most of Saturday and we decided to go to Saleems’ garage (he is the mechanic I got introduced to with Rocky da) wanted Saleembhai to check the wiring and also check if our bikes were all set to go out on the open roads for a long run…
He gave us an A-Okay by 8pm. We started celebrations with beer and more discussions on the route… by now the routes had been changed a gazillion times and none of us were clear as to where we wanted to ride the next morning! I guess we had decided for Mandya – some heritage town that Keeny had heard about and on route Mysore.
At 1 in the morning, I got a message from Gauravdeep that he is dropping out of the ride as he had a bit too much to drink and was not feeling well… Sunday morning 5am I called Keeny expecting him to sound groggy and giving some silly reason to not join in, but to my utter surprise he was all fresh and sounded really charged to go!
We met in front of Nimhans, Keeny as always was a bit late, but thankfully this time I waited only 10minutes J he had his colleague as his pillion (sort of role reversal) I was the one who usually showed up with a pillion and the others were solo bikers! His friend was a pretty enthusiastic bikerchic (this term is usually reserved for my wife) I could see that she had the spirit for biking and didn’t complain like most other women I’ve rode with till now…
We started towards Mysore (honestly no destination in our heads) stopped at Kamat’s for our breakfast, spent a good 40 minutes (or more) there and then started back on the way, Keeny suggested that he would like to explore Mandya (not exactly sure what, but the town intrigued him) we started riding and I for a change was the lead rider… the ride was awesome, thankfully not much traffic on the roads and the weather was just awesome! We could see mist covered mountains (well actually hills and hillocks ) and a slight drizzle on the way, after a few kilometers I realized that Mandya was left behind a long way and we were already nearing Mysore! I pulled over and asked Keeny if he wants to turn back or keep on going? He was cool with the idea of going wherever! So we kept on riding… around 20kms later, I saw a signboard that said that ShivanaSamudram was around 70Kms away on the left turn… we took the left and started on the road.
This road was like a dream! Absolutely no traffic, all straight road, and you can see it merging into the horizons… this stretch of road will stay in my memory for a long time now… the loud thumps of my RedEye, the straight stretch, the lush greenery all around and us riding into the nothingness to the nowhere…
After a while we started hitting bad stretches of the good road, it turned so bad that for one point it was only slush and sludge and no proper road! I kept cursing under my breath as I could feel the slush splashing all over my bike and making it look more like a disaster than the sexy beast she was! But we kept on. On the way, I stopped by a gas station and filled her up all the way! With the full tank of gas, she was all set to prove her worth all over again!
We kept on going and finally hit the Simsha water plant; the waterfalls were only a few kilometers from here, the roads actually led us straight to the falls… if it was not for the railings, we probably would’ve taken the bikes all the way to the base of the falls.
Stayed here for a while, I smoked a victory cigarette and we all stayed there for a while, had some tender coconuts and Keeny tried his hands on the ‘masala gooseberries’ was pretty tasty must say!
After a while, we started on our way back… I noticed on the way that there was a different route (via Kanakpura) back to Bangalore. So we decided to go this way… BIG MISTAKE!!!
The road that looked pretty un-trodden, empty and smooth suddenly turned out to be the off-roading highway to hell! The tar was completely nonexistent and we had crater sized potholes all the way! This was some project that the state government has started a few months back and decided to make the place better! (I guess they just forgot about this stretch of land) for almost 25-30 kilometers and a lot of aching backs and butts, we got back to relatively better roads, stopped over at Kanakpura for a chai and a well deserved butt break and started back again.
By now, I could sense Keeny’s frustration as I was doing steady 80-90s and a few stretches of 100kmph while he was used to faster speeds on his beast. So I could see him come all the way to my rear bumper and then slow down again since we had decided that I was the lead. (Sorry dude, you would’ve cursed me enough I know J )
After a while we finally reached Bangalore, took the route to BTM and stopped at the parathaguy near my place (he makes some of the best parathas!) had a pretty heavy lunch and then we split. I came home, thanked the beast for its awesome performance and promised it a longer ride soon…
A few things I must say that I learnt…
if you want to ride, just ride, don’t make plans and don’t wait for people to join in. its eventually the spirit of riding and not gathering people together…
if people decide to drop out, don’t over react; it’s a matter of their choice and taste, they wanna ride, good if not, good for them!
Ride at a speed that you are comfortable with, don’t ride because the guy in front of you is ripping or the one behind you is too close
Remember, it’s a ride and not a race… not with your group, never with others!
Enjoy the ride, love the challenges and changes of terrain… its all a moving picture for you
Well, enough gyan from me and a really long droning story, but had to do it!
Cheers!
Monday, July 09, 2007
Here is the long awaited review from me for the Cramster Riding Gear that I picked up…
For starters, I’ll remind you all what I had bought, I had picked a K2K riding Jacket for myself, a Velocity riding pants, a pair of MX2 gloves and the Dyna riding jacket for the wife…
Yesterday I went to a ride to Hoganekkal with my Silver Bulleter mates Ajey, XH and Keeny. This ride was basically to test the riding gear I had picked up, when I picked up these things I was very skeptical about the quality of the goods and kept thinking if I had paid a lot… but my thoughts changed after just one ride!
Fortunately or unfortunately I got to test the gear in all the ways I could think of, in just one ride! And I did become a loyal fan of it! How? Read on… Those of you who have ridden to Hoganekkal would know that the ride is pretty picturesque and the road offers pretty sweet twisties. Since I was riding with a pillion and a full tank, I couldn’t take too good judgments and managed to crash the bike at 70KPH, the fall was actually pretty scary, we skidded off the road onto the rock wall. The armor in our jackets took almost all of the impact of the fall and the abrasions, and the knee guard on the riding pants and the added padding took most of the bike’s weight. I was pinned down under the bike with the entire weight of the bike on the knee but didn’t feel a thing… must say that the jackets and the pants saved us!
The fall was not fatal but if it was not the gear it would’ve cost us a few broken bones. So on the safety front; I’ll give the gear a full 10/10.
Now the second part, on our way back, we faced pretty bad rains, here also the waterproofing of the gear was great! Didn’t feel a bit of the rains, not even the moisture inside the gear! So for the waterproofing also I’ll give the gear a full 10/10.
The MX2 gloves fit just perfect (just like a glove) on my hands, and the breathing vents in the fingers kept my palms very cool and dry.
For starters, I’ll remind you all what I had bought, I had picked a K2K riding Jacket for myself, a Velocity riding pants, a pair of MX2 gloves and the Dyna riding jacket for the wife…
Yesterday I went to a ride to Hoganekkal with my Silver Bulleter mates Ajey, XH and Keeny. This ride was basically to test the riding gear I had picked up, when I picked up these things I was very skeptical about the quality of the goods and kept thinking if I had paid a lot… but my thoughts changed after just one ride!
Fortunately or unfortunately I got to test the gear in all the ways I could think of, in just one ride! And I did become a loyal fan of it! How? Read on… Those of you who have ridden to Hoganekkal would know that the ride is pretty picturesque and the road offers pretty sweet twisties. Since I was riding with a pillion and a full tank, I couldn’t take too good judgments and managed to crash the bike at 70KPH, the fall was actually pretty scary, we skidded off the road onto the rock wall. The armor in our jackets took almost all of the impact of the fall and the abrasions, and the knee guard on the riding pants and the added padding took most of the bike’s weight. I was pinned down under the bike with the entire weight of the bike on the knee but didn’t feel a thing… must say that the jackets and the pants saved us!
The fall was not fatal but if it was not the gear it would’ve cost us a few broken bones. So on the safety front; I’ll give the gear a full 10/10.
Now the second part, on our way back, we faced pretty bad rains, here also the waterproofing of the gear was great! Didn’t feel a bit of the rains, not even the moisture inside the gear! So for the waterproofing also I’ll give the gear a full 10/10.
The MX2 gloves fit just perfect (just like a glove) on my hands, and the breathing vents in the fingers kept my palms very cool and dry.
There are a few suggestions though that I can give to KJ about the gear, the ladies jacket doesn’t sport any sort of air-vents or airflow system. That was the biggest complain of the wife during the ride that she was feeling a bit suffocated, so probably for the next lot that you bring out, you probably would want to keep this part in mind! J And the second thing I’d suggest is to bring in a few riding pants for the women also (you already got one prospective buyer here)! I walked off unscathed from the crash but the wife did sport a slightly bruised knee. So this is my bit of the review for all of you, my net connection at home still doesn’t work so you’ll have to wait for the pictures of the gear and how it saved us!
BTW, those of you who still are riding without proper riding gear, make sure you get yourself some decent jackets and pants; you never know when your bike decides to drop you off it
P.S. on a different note, my special kudos to XH, I’ve been with him on 2 rides so far and appreciated his riding style and a few special peculiarities that I noticed that I thought I’d share with you all…
- He always does a small praying gesture before he starts any bike, pretty neat to pay your respects to the machine you ride and the almighty!
- Till now, I’ve noticed XH always stay close to the newbie riders of the group, be it me or Keeny, he was always not too far and kept an eye on us.
- When I crashed, he was the first person who was at my aide and made sure that we are okay. Somehow, this gesture reminded me of the mother hen who tends to her chicks and makes sure that all of them are safe and around!
- The XH is not only an XH but probably one of the guys who knows if the bike (and the biker) are okay just by the sound of it!
Cheers mate! this post is just for you :-)
Monday, June 18, 2007
RED - EYE
I got my beast - the ‘red-eye’ on Valentines’ day this year… since the day I’ve got her, I kept bragging about the looks of the TB, the thump of an RE and the sheer power of the bike and how ‘heavy’ it is for sissy guys…
Well, last Friday was the day I had to eat my words!
We have very limited parking spaces in the office I work, and if you are not lucky enough and on time, the parking lot usually gets filled to the brim and then you got to park your bike out in the sun, on the mercy of the passersby. Last Friday my ‘monster-in-law’ was visiting us and I had to go to the airport relatively early in the morning with the wife to pick the old lady up see that they reach home safe and then come to work. Well, thanks to the ‘perfectly timed’ schedules of the airlines and the amazingly smooth traffic on the Bangalore roads, I reached my office around 2hours late! And guess what? The parking lot was full! Even the external parking spaces were full! I finally had to leave the bike on the side road completely unattended eating dust and sweating in the sun…
The entire day while crunching numbers I kept worrying about the bike sitting out in the sun, call it instinct or the sixth-sense I kept feeling very uneasy about my bike the whole day… in the evening around 8 I decided to leave for home and meet the mom-in-law for the first time in Bangalore to leave a good impression in her mind about me… I run out dust my bike and start up her meaty engine, the thumps cooled my head quite a bit and I rode her off out on the main road and then disaster strikes!
The rear tyre was flat and it felt like I was riding in wet concrete drying fast… this was my first puncture on the TB and I was slightly unprepared for this! It was too early for a puncture, the bike was only 5months old, run under 4000kms and I always keep the tyre pressure checked. But all that is pointless… I had a flat and I had to get this fixed! I check my watch again, not too late to find a puncture repair shop and just get it fixed right-away. I get off the beast, keep the engine running and in the 1st gear while I pushed her (a trick I learnt while in school on a much lighter luna) but the 200kilos drain your energy too soon! When the evening is too humid and you’ve had an exceptionally long day, sweat drips too easily and irritation becomes second nature…
Anyways, I tow the bike for 20minutes out of the campus and ask the security guard if there are any puncture shops where I can get the bike fixed, he told me about the Hero Honda showroom on the main road just a few hundred meters ahead, I towed the bull to the showroom and park her up near the service station entrance, now excuse me bragging but a bull looks ROYAL amidst those sissy little HH bikes! The showroom guy told me that they don’t do punctures but apparently there was some small puncture shop on the other side of the ring-road in one of the bye lanes… my dilemma was how to take this 200kilo beast to the other side past the dividers and the median in this rush-hour traffic? I turn on the headlamp and the turn-signal and push the bike sluggishly across the road to the divider, found a slightly lower part and revved the engine real high so that the front tyre jumped across, the trick was to get the rear tyre over! It was really scaring, the sounds the tyre made while crossing over but after 4-5minutes of struggle I managed to get the bike on the other side. There again the towing started afresh, once I entered the bye-lanes I asked the locals there for the puncture shop, one of the enthusiastic kids there decided to escort me and the ‘red-eye’ to the shop… made me walk for 10 more minutes and then we reached the alleged ‘puncture shop’ it turned out to be a small time garage who didn’t have the puncture repair kit! He told me to go further 1km and I will find a tyre repair shop there… whew, by now, I was sweating quite a bit and was feeling a bit dehydrated (hazards of s sedentary work life) anyways, I finally managed to reach the tyre shop only to realize that it was a wheel-alignment shop and not a puncture repair place… the guys working there saw me and were quite amused to find a hefty looking guy all drained in sweat and pulling on the beast, completely out of breath… they told me to go onto the airport road where I was bound to find the puncturewallah at a gas-station, only problem is that it was around 1.5kms and I already had towed the bike close to over 2kilometers…. What to do? I pushed my babe further on towards the gas-station… finally, well after 9pm I reached the gas-station completely drained and breathless even to speak! I just signaled the rear-tyre to the puncture shop guy and sat there for a breather… after around 5 minutes I got my breath back and was able to talk to the guy, he said that the shop is past closing time and he will return the bike only the next morning! Darn, all this circus and then wait? I requested and literally begged the guy to fix the issue then and there, after 15minutes of haggling and a promise to pay 20bucks extra on his tab; he agreed to fix the issue immediately.
This is when I realized that my wallet was completely empty! I forgot about the money I gave the cab guy in the morning to drop my wife and her mum, and hadn’t done a refill! I went around looking for an ATM to draw some money, thankfully by now my guardian angels were back from their break and I found an ATM not more than half a kilometer away… took some cash and bought a bottle of cola to replenish my system of the water and sugar that I had lost over the last hour. I went back to the puncture shop to find the guy still trying to pull the tube out of the tyre to check the status, luckily there was only one really messy puncture on the tube which the guy fixed in less than 30minutes, upon finding the reason for this really nasty gash on the tube, he came across a U-clip lodged deep into the tyre like a knife! The culprit was successfully removed and placed in my pocket to remind me of the experience in the future. It all cost me around 30bucks 10 for the puncture and 20 that was promised earlier.
After the whole episode I realized that being a biker is not all about how you ride the bike all the time but how look all the different adversities head on in their eyes. It’s about grabbing your life by the handlebars and being able to sort the issues out without getting all worked up and stressed out. There has to be equilibrium between your bike’s weight and your stamina to push it in similar situations… I learnt it the hard way that it doesn’t take too much to be prepared for situations to arise and how to keep a cool head when the situations finally arise.
Bikers usually are portrayed as big, bulky surly guys who scare most of the ‘common’ crowd on the roads. But, I guess, bikers are polite, courteous and very helping people! They do learn out of their experiences how to keep their cool and be humble and have humility. Someday, I’ll start growing grey hairs and I’ll also be one of the wizened bikers who have enough experience on and off the roads to sit and talk with you for hours together on different subjects and still not tire you down.
Thanks for reading, ride safe and always wear a helmet! You might not get a spare for your head.
Well, last Friday was the day I had to eat my words!
We have very limited parking spaces in the office I work, and if you are not lucky enough and on time, the parking lot usually gets filled to the brim and then you got to park your bike out in the sun, on the mercy of the passersby. Last Friday my ‘monster-in-law’ was visiting us and I had to go to the airport relatively early in the morning with the wife to pick the old lady up see that they reach home safe and then come to work. Well, thanks to the ‘perfectly timed’ schedules of the airlines and the amazingly smooth traffic on the Bangalore roads, I reached my office around 2hours late! And guess what? The parking lot was full! Even the external parking spaces were full! I finally had to leave the bike on the side road completely unattended eating dust and sweating in the sun…
The entire day while crunching numbers I kept worrying about the bike sitting out in the sun, call it instinct or the sixth-sense I kept feeling very uneasy about my bike the whole day… in the evening around 8 I decided to leave for home and meet the mom-in-law for the first time in Bangalore to leave a good impression in her mind about me… I run out dust my bike and start up her meaty engine, the thumps cooled my head quite a bit and I rode her off out on the main road and then disaster strikes!
The rear tyre was flat and it felt like I was riding in wet concrete drying fast… this was my first puncture on the TB and I was slightly unprepared for this! It was too early for a puncture, the bike was only 5months old, run under 4000kms and I always keep the tyre pressure checked. But all that is pointless… I had a flat and I had to get this fixed! I check my watch again, not too late to find a puncture repair shop and just get it fixed right-away. I get off the beast, keep the engine running and in the 1st gear while I pushed her (a trick I learnt while in school on a much lighter luna) but the 200kilos drain your energy too soon! When the evening is too humid and you’ve had an exceptionally long day, sweat drips too easily and irritation becomes second nature…
Anyways, I tow the bike for 20minutes out of the campus and ask the security guard if there are any puncture shops where I can get the bike fixed, he told me about the Hero Honda showroom on the main road just a few hundred meters ahead, I towed the bull to the showroom and park her up near the service station entrance, now excuse me bragging but a bull looks ROYAL amidst those sissy little HH bikes! The showroom guy told me that they don’t do punctures but apparently there was some small puncture shop on the other side of the ring-road in one of the bye lanes… my dilemma was how to take this 200kilo beast to the other side past the dividers and the median in this rush-hour traffic? I turn on the headlamp and the turn-signal and push the bike sluggishly across the road to the divider, found a slightly lower part and revved the engine real high so that the front tyre jumped across, the trick was to get the rear tyre over! It was really scaring, the sounds the tyre made while crossing over but after 4-5minutes of struggle I managed to get the bike on the other side. There again the towing started afresh, once I entered the bye-lanes I asked the locals there for the puncture shop, one of the enthusiastic kids there decided to escort me and the ‘red-eye’ to the shop… made me walk for 10 more minutes and then we reached the alleged ‘puncture shop’ it turned out to be a small time garage who didn’t have the puncture repair kit! He told me to go further 1km and I will find a tyre repair shop there… whew, by now, I was sweating quite a bit and was feeling a bit dehydrated (hazards of s sedentary work life) anyways, I finally managed to reach the tyre shop only to realize that it was a wheel-alignment shop and not a puncture repair place… the guys working there saw me and were quite amused to find a hefty looking guy all drained in sweat and pulling on the beast, completely out of breath… they told me to go onto the airport road where I was bound to find the puncturewallah at a gas-station, only problem is that it was around 1.5kms and I already had towed the bike close to over 2kilometers…. What to do? I pushed my babe further on towards the gas-station… finally, well after 9pm I reached the gas-station completely drained and breathless even to speak! I just signaled the rear-tyre to the puncture shop guy and sat there for a breather… after around 5 minutes I got my breath back and was able to talk to the guy, he said that the shop is past closing time and he will return the bike only the next morning! Darn, all this circus and then wait? I requested and literally begged the guy to fix the issue then and there, after 15minutes of haggling and a promise to pay 20bucks extra on his tab; he agreed to fix the issue immediately.
This is when I realized that my wallet was completely empty! I forgot about the money I gave the cab guy in the morning to drop my wife and her mum, and hadn’t done a refill! I went around looking for an ATM to draw some money, thankfully by now my guardian angels were back from their break and I found an ATM not more than half a kilometer away… took some cash and bought a bottle of cola to replenish my system of the water and sugar that I had lost over the last hour. I went back to the puncture shop to find the guy still trying to pull the tube out of the tyre to check the status, luckily there was only one really messy puncture on the tube which the guy fixed in less than 30minutes, upon finding the reason for this really nasty gash on the tube, he came across a U-clip lodged deep into the tyre like a knife! The culprit was successfully removed and placed in my pocket to remind me of the experience in the future. It all cost me around 30bucks 10 for the puncture and 20 that was promised earlier.
After the whole episode I realized that being a biker is not all about how you ride the bike all the time but how look all the different adversities head on in their eyes. It’s about grabbing your life by the handlebars and being able to sort the issues out without getting all worked up and stressed out. There has to be equilibrium between your bike’s weight and your stamina to push it in similar situations… I learnt it the hard way that it doesn’t take too much to be prepared for situations to arise and how to keep a cool head when the situations finally arise.
Bikers usually are portrayed as big, bulky surly guys who scare most of the ‘common’ crowd on the roads. But, I guess, bikers are polite, courteous and very helping people! They do learn out of their experiences how to keep their cool and be humble and have humility. Someday, I’ll start growing grey hairs and I’ll also be one of the wizened bikers who have enough experience on and off the roads to sit and talk with you for hours together on different subjects and still not tire you down.
Thanks for reading, ride safe and always wear a helmet! You might not get a spare for your head.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Running on 'empty'
just heard an awesome song that reminded me of the feel of riding wild and free on my beast... chasing the horizons and claiming more and more of the land that i run... well, here is the song. its called Running on Empty by Jackson Browne
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one
I don’t know where I’m running now, I’m just running on
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I’m running behind
Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don’t know when that road turned onto the road I’m on
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I’m running behind
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I’m running behind
Everyone I know, everywhere I go
People need some reason to believe
I don’t know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that’ll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don’t know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I’m running behind
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I’m running behind
Honey you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I’d love to stick around but I’m running behind
You know I don’t even know what I’m hoping to find
Running into the sun but I’m running behind
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Calvin and Hobbes
i've always been a BIG fan of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. like every other guy, i can relate to Calvin so much!!! some of the things i've actually in my childhood...
anywys, i found one of the poems appearing in the indispensable Calvin and Hobbes which i just wanted to share with you... so here goes...
I made a big decision a little while ago.
I don't remember what it was, which prob'ly goes to show
That many times a simple choice can prove to be essential
Even though it often might appear inconsequential.
I must have been distracted when I left my home because
Left or right I'm sure I went. (I wonder which it was!)
Anyway, I never veered: I walked in that direction
Utterly absorbed, it seems, in quiet introspection.
For no reason I can think of, I've wandered far astray.
And that is how I got to where I find myself today.
Explorers are we, intrepid and bold,
Out in the wild, amongst wonders untold.
Equipped wit our wits, a map, and a snack,
We're searching for fun and we're on the right track!
My mother has eyes on the back of her head!
I don't quite believe it, but that's what she said.
She explained that she'd been so uniquely endowed
To catch me when I did Things Not Allowed.
I think she must also have eyes on her rear.
I've noticed her hindsight is usually clear.
At night my mind does not much care
If what it thinks is here or there.
It tells me stories it invents
And makes up things that don't make sense.
I don't know why it does this stuff.
The real world seems quite weird enough.
What if my bones were in a museum,
Where aliens paid good money to see 'em?
And suppose that they'd put me together all wrong,
Sticking bones on to bones where they didn't belong!
Imagine phalanges, pelvis, and spine
Welded to mandibles that once had been mine!
With each misassemblage, the error compounded,
The aliens would draw back in terror, astounded!
Their textbooks would show me in grim illustration,
The most hideous thing ever seen in creation!
The museum would commission a model in plaster
Of ME, to be called, "Evolution's Disaster"!
And paleontologists there would debate
Dozens of theories to help postulate
How man survived for those thousands of years
With teeth-covered arms growing out of his ears!
Oh, I hope that I'm never in such manner displayed,
No matter HOW much to see me the aliens paid.
I did not want to go with them.
Alas, I had no choice.
This was made quite clear to me
In threat'ning tones of voice.
I protested mightily
And scrambled 'cross the floor.
But though I grabbed the furniture,
they dragged me out of the door.
In the car, I screamed and moaned.
I cried my red eyes dry.
The window down, I yelled for help
To people we passed by.
Mom and Dad can make the rules
And certain things forbid,
But I can make them wish that they
Had never had a kid.
Now I'm in bed,
The sheets pulled to my head.
My tiger is here making Zs.
He's furry and hot.
He takes up a lot
Of the bed and he's hogging the breeze.
I don't remember what it was, which prob'ly goes to show
That many times a simple choice can prove to be essential
Even though it often might appear inconsequential.
I must have been distracted when I left my home because
Left or right I'm sure I went. (I wonder which it was!)
Anyway, I never veered: I walked in that direction
Utterly absorbed, it seems, in quiet introspection.
For no reason I can think of, I've wandered far astray.
And that is how I got to where I find myself today.
Explorers are we, intrepid and bold,
Out in the wild, amongst wonders untold.
Equipped wit our wits, a map, and a snack,
We're searching for fun and we're on the right track!
My mother has eyes on the back of her head!
I don't quite believe it, but that's what she said.
She explained that she'd been so uniquely endowed
To catch me when I did Things Not Allowed.
I think she must also have eyes on her rear.
I've noticed her hindsight is usually clear.
At night my mind does not much care
If what it thinks is here or there.
It tells me stories it invents
And makes up things that don't make sense.
I don't know why it does this stuff.
The real world seems quite weird enough.
What if my bones were in a museum,
Where aliens paid good money to see 'em?
And suppose that they'd put me together all wrong,
Sticking bones on to bones where they didn't belong!
Imagine phalanges, pelvis, and spine
Welded to mandibles that once had been mine!
With each misassemblage, the error compounded,
The aliens would draw back in terror, astounded!
Their textbooks would show me in grim illustration,
The most hideous thing ever seen in creation!
The museum would commission a model in plaster
Of ME, to be called, "Evolution's Disaster"!
And paleontologists there would debate
Dozens of theories to help postulate
How man survived for those thousands of years
With teeth-covered arms growing out of his ears!
Oh, I hope that I'm never in such manner displayed,
No matter HOW much to see me the aliens paid.
I did not want to go with them.
Alas, I had no choice.
This was made quite clear to me
In threat'ning tones of voice.
I protested mightily
And scrambled 'cross the floor.
But though I grabbed the furniture,
they dragged me out of the door.
In the car, I screamed and moaned.
I cried my red eyes dry.
The window down, I yelled for help
To people we passed by.
Mom and Dad can make the rules
And certain things forbid,
But I can make them wish that they
Had never had a kid.
Now I'm in bed,
The sheets pulled to my head.
My tiger is here making Zs.
He's furry and hot.
He takes up a lot
Of the bed and he's hogging the breeze.
Monday, May 21, 2007
finally! i start...
After months and months of procrastinating and contemplating on whether it is really needed for someone like me to blog… I decided like every other blogger, WTF? Lets just do it and we’ll see where it leads to…
Usually, after thinking all the crap above, it leads to no where… and I keep beating around the bush and running round in circles. But, I am clear this time, I want to blog and stay consistent at it. No matter what, I will blog and eventually improve at it J
Okay, so for today’s blog, I’ll just put in the ‘trip story’ that I had submitted at the Royal Enfield Website to get it published. It’s a pretty interesting read and you can view it on this link
http://www.royalenfield.com/app/IN/trip.asp?sID=16796
Date April 28, 2007
Place: Bobby da dhaba (Bangalore)
Time around 8:30pm
Here we are, 4 of us sitting and gobbling down the delicious Punjabi cuisine at ‘Bobby da Dhaba’ at the Gurudwara in Bangalore, talking about how life has been, what all changed after being married and sharing stories about each others’ lives in general. Suddenly, a crazy thought creeps into my mind, Tana and I’ve been planning to go to the Big Banyan Tree and the Manchanbele reservoir since sometime now. So I throw in the topic of biking to this place in the discussions and it was well accepted. Strangely Mitten and Aparna both were pretty thrilled with the idea! In fact, Aparna also complained that after the stint to Nandi Hills, Mitten hasn’t actually taken her out of B’lore at all. So it’s decided that we did a nice coupling ride to the Banyan tree and the reservoir the next morning.
Date: April 29, 2007 (Sunday) 8:00am
Place: Bharat petrol bunk on Kasturba Road
After prepping themselves and the bike for the ride, both Mitten and Aparna gave a thumbs-up for the ride. Tana, I and the bike were all geared up and well prepared already! The Cramster tank-bag was stuffed with all the necessary documents, maps, basic Kannada speaking guide, water bottles, camera and some other mishmash of things, just in case!
We started the ride through really bad traffic on the Mysore road, all the way till after Kengeri, and then suddenly the roads strangely started looking bigger, better and the vehicles lesser! Now was the time to twist the wrist and let the bull run free and let it feel its power and freedom on the open roads. Sadly I had to keep in mind that Mitten and his wife were part of the ride and time to time I had to peep into the rearview mirror to make sure I see them there. We took the right turn from the Kumbalgod Junction and the scenery changed drastically! The 4-lane expressway suddenly turned into a 2-way motorway with enough potholes and bumps that all your breakfast will be digested in no time but the thumping bull was enjoying the roads! I guess the gas-filled shocks would’ve taken a very bad toll but we riders found the ride pretty smooth with its own ups and downs.
After over 6kms of a very patchy road we finally reach the banyan tree. The morning was pretty bright and the bike shined and glinted like a precious jewel in the sunlight. Darn, I just couldn’t take my eyes off her there! My wife has finally come to a term that for me the ‘bird of prey’ is the ‘first love’ when we are out with it.
The ride after the banyan tree to the reservoir is sheer ecstasy! The road looks more like a well paved dirt road; the landscape shows the promising hills with pretty small villages and the people there! Oh, what do I tell you about them? Never seen a more enthusiastic crowd to guide us to the reservoir. Whenever we took a wrong turn, there’d be a few people shouting for us to stop and show us the correct way, strangely everyone knew that we were en route the reservoir! This part of the ride is the most awesome! The road sloping down, the lake glittering in the sunlight below and the road taking sudden turns leading all the way to the water! It’s one of the prettiest sights, the bike just sitting there resting on the banks of the lake. We decided to do a little photo-op there and in less than 30 minutes we were again ready to head back to civilization.
But not the same route this time! We enjoyed the ride on the dirt roads so much that we just had to ride a bit more, so it was decided that we would take the byroads going through the villages towards Sudhanhalli Circle, this was the first time when the bull actually ran wild and free on such a terrain and I could feel the excitement and the glee in the bull’s heart. Those steady thumps, the fresh air on the face through the visor and amazing landscape, what more can a biker ask for?
After a while and a couple villages and settlements later the dirt road turned into a well paved, newly layered tar road. I still don’t remember where exactly these transitions on the road happen, but it was pretty smooth and very picturesque! Have you ever experienced complete silence with no sound around but only the thump of your royal beast and a steady speed? I guess this is what they call the feeling of Zen and motorcycle riding.
Now we started noticing a lot of mango fields alongside the roads, and being a crazy kid at heart I just thought of my childhood days, slingshot in my shorts and running around the mango plantations of Gujarat, for a second I missed it so much that I had to pull the bike over and jump into the field to do a bit of mango stealing. Sorry guys, I am not trying to promote kleptomania or suggest stealing to you all but those mangoes on the trees were just begging to be plucked! I took around 4-5 mangoes from a tree and Mitten took 3-4 from the other, while we were still smiling in full glory showing off our spoils, we saw the farmer running to us from the other side of the field! Man, that was a close call for me, stuffing the mangoes in the cramster, starting the bike and getting out of there in a flash was just awesome, just sheer pleasure and a bit of adrenaline!
Anyhow, the roads eventually merged onto the Bangalore-Mysore expressway and we realized that we came out over 30kms ahead of the Kumbalagod Junction. This was a good chance to do a few speed bursts and take the bull over 100kmph a few times on the almost empty roads.
Bidadi marked a breakfast stop, we had the famous ‘thatte idli’ there and then started again on our way back to B’lore. The beast is just amazing on the highways! Never felt safer on any other bike at the speeds of 90and beyond! It just rolls steady assuring you that nothing is going to go wrong as long as you are with me.
Kengeri brought back the traffic and in no time we were back in B’lore. Upon reaching MG Road; Mitten, Aparna and their Boxer (who bravely tried to keep up with my beast) were visibly tired and shaken up with the ride, decided to split, go home and sleep. Tana, I and the bull were still hungry for more. We rode around town for a while and then finally decided to go home.
Pulled in the bull in the parking lot and thanked it for such a smooth and trouble free ride! Tana also has started liking the bull now; she said that she couldn’t wait to get on the bull again to go for another ride soon. The bulls sit there as of now smiling at me and taunting me to take life by the handlebars and go for a long ride again!
The people involved: Mitten Patel, his wife Aparna and his Bajaj Boxer (who now wants to retire), Me - Love Joshi, my wife Tana and the ‘bird of prey’ who wants relatively longer rides the next time.
N.B. on a different note, I am now talking to Mitten and trying to convince him to buy a RE for himself and cross over to the fun side of life.
Usually, after thinking all the crap above, it leads to no where… and I keep beating around the bush and running round in circles. But, I am clear this time, I want to blog and stay consistent at it. No matter what, I will blog and eventually improve at it J
Okay, so for today’s blog, I’ll just put in the ‘trip story’ that I had submitted at the Royal Enfield Website to get it published. It’s a pretty interesting read and you can view it on this link
http://www.royalenfield.com/app/IN/trip.asp?sID=16796
Date April 28, 2007
Place: Bobby da dhaba (Bangalore)
Time around 8:30pm
Here we are, 4 of us sitting and gobbling down the delicious Punjabi cuisine at ‘Bobby da Dhaba’ at the Gurudwara in Bangalore, talking about how life has been, what all changed after being married and sharing stories about each others’ lives in general. Suddenly, a crazy thought creeps into my mind, Tana and I’ve been planning to go to the Big Banyan Tree and the Manchanbele reservoir since sometime now. So I throw in the topic of biking to this place in the discussions and it was well accepted. Strangely Mitten and Aparna both were pretty thrilled with the idea! In fact, Aparna also complained that after the stint to Nandi Hills, Mitten hasn’t actually taken her out of B’lore at all. So it’s decided that we did a nice coupling ride to the Banyan tree and the reservoir the next morning.
Date: April 29, 2007 (Sunday) 8:00am
Place: Bharat petrol bunk on Kasturba Road
After prepping themselves and the bike for the ride, both Mitten and Aparna gave a thumbs-up for the ride. Tana, I and the bike were all geared up and well prepared already! The Cramster tank-bag was stuffed with all the necessary documents, maps, basic Kannada speaking guide, water bottles, camera and some other mishmash of things, just in case!
We started the ride through really bad traffic on the Mysore road, all the way till after Kengeri, and then suddenly the roads strangely started looking bigger, better and the vehicles lesser! Now was the time to twist the wrist and let the bull run free and let it feel its power and freedom on the open roads. Sadly I had to keep in mind that Mitten and his wife were part of the ride and time to time I had to peep into the rearview mirror to make sure I see them there. We took the right turn from the Kumbalgod Junction and the scenery changed drastically! The 4-lane expressway suddenly turned into a 2-way motorway with enough potholes and bumps that all your breakfast will be digested in no time but the thumping bull was enjoying the roads! I guess the gas-filled shocks would’ve taken a very bad toll but we riders found the ride pretty smooth with its own ups and downs.
After over 6kms of a very patchy road we finally reach the banyan tree. The morning was pretty bright and the bike shined and glinted like a precious jewel in the sunlight. Darn, I just couldn’t take my eyes off her there! My wife has finally come to a term that for me the ‘bird of prey’ is the ‘first love’ when we are out with it.
The ride after the banyan tree to the reservoir is sheer ecstasy! The road looks more like a well paved dirt road; the landscape shows the promising hills with pretty small villages and the people there! Oh, what do I tell you about them? Never seen a more enthusiastic crowd to guide us to the reservoir. Whenever we took a wrong turn, there’d be a few people shouting for us to stop and show us the correct way, strangely everyone knew that we were en route the reservoir! This part of the ride is the most awesome! The road sloping down, the lake glittering in the sunlight below and the road taking sudden turns leading all the way to the water! It’s one of the prettiest sights, the bike just sitting there resting on the banks of the lake. We decided to do a little photo-op there and in less than 30 minutes we were again ready to head back to civilization.
But not the same route this time! We enjoyed the ride on the dirt roads so much that we just had to ride a bit more, so it was decided that we would take the byroads going through the villages towards Sudhanhalli Circle, this was the first time when the bull actually ran wild and free on such a terrain and I could feel the excitement and the glee in the bull’s heart. Those steady thumps, the fresh air on the face through the visor and amazing landscape, what more can a biker ask for?
After a while and a couple villages and settlements later the dirt road turned into a well paved, newly layered tar road. I still don’t remember where exactly these transitions on the road happen, but it was pretty smooth and very picturesque! Have you ever experienced complete silence with no sound around but only the thump of your royal beast and a steady speed? I guess this is what they call the feeling of Zen and motorcycle riding.
Now we started noticing a lot of mango fields alongside the roads, and being a crazy kid at heart I just thought of my childhood days, slingshot in my shorts and running around the mango plantations of Gujarat, for a second I missed it so much that I had to pull the bike over and jump into the field to do a bit of mango stealing. Sorry guys, I am not trying to promote kleptomania or suggest stealing to you all but those mangoes on the trees were just begging to be plucked! I took around 4-5 mangoes from a tree and Mitten took 3-4 from the other, while we were still smiling in full glory showing off our spoils, we saw the farmer running to us from the other side of the field! Man, that was a close call for me, stuffing the mangoes in the cramster, starting the bike and getting out of there in a flash was just awesome, just sheer pleasure and a bit of adrenaline!
Anyhow, the roads eventually merged onto the Bangalore-Mysore expressway and we realized that we came out over 30kms ahead of the Kumbalagod Junction. This was a good chance to do a few speed bursts and take the bull over 100kmph a few times on the almost empty roads.
Bidadi marked a breakfast stop, we had the famous ‘thatte idli’ there and then started again on our way back to B’lore. The beast is just amazing on the highways! Never felt safer on any other bike at the speeds of 90and beyond! It just rolls steady assuring you that nothing is going to go wrong as long as you are with me.
Kengeri brought back the traffic and in no time we were back in B’lore. Upon reaching MG Road; Mitten, Aparna and their Boxer (who bravely tried to keep up with my beast) were visibly tired and shaken up with the ride, decided to split, go home and sleep. Tana, I and the bull were still hungry for more. We rode around town for a while and then finally decided to go home.
Pulled in the bull in the parking lot and thanked it for such a smooth and trouble free ride! Tana also has started liking the bull now; she said that she couldn’t wait to get on the bull again to go for another ride soon. The bulls sit there as of now smiling at me and taunting me to take life by the handlebars and go for a long ride again!
The people involved: Mitten Patel, his wife Aparna and his Bajaj Boxer (who now wants to retire), Me - Love Joshi, my wife Tana and the ‘bird of prey’ who wants relatively longer rides the next time.
N.B. on a different note, I am now talking to Mitten and trying to convince him to buy a RE for himself and cross over to the fun side of life.
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