We humans are animals! and some of us insects! and I am not saying it in a derogatory way! Its the characteristics which are common and are hard to ignore!!!e.g.
Most drivers in India are like Bees, and in the west are like sheep!!! Try to visualize any road from the top… and what you would see is a pattern within the patternless driving… one car moving from one lane to the another trying to occupy the space which just got freeed, while the space also seems to be moving from one lane to the other! The red lights and the toll gates, putting a break to the bees, I mean, cars, and then suddenly the same patternless pattern repeats! I would love to study these patterns from a chopper and make drawings out of them! Also a lot of drivers remind of the game road-rash!
Now why the west is like sheep! because they usually move in a lanes! irrespective of how long the lane becomes!
Chuck it!!!! I do not want to think about the fact that getting about 6-7 hours of sleep these days is a luxury, thanks to the bucketloads of things that are happening in my life currently!!! I however feel very sad that Jas was here in India and I was not able to give her anytime. I am really sorry Jas!
Pa, on my request, found the weights that have not been used for the last 3 years… Loads of dust, coupled with rust makes them look sad, but they still weigh the same 🙂 and a bit of cleaning and oiling the bolts would make them work just right! the first step to some light weights happened today in the morning! good!
Am trying to figure out how to make time for some photography or related work… I have not been able to edit a single photo in about 2 months! There is no mention o a quick Jaipur trip on my blog or my flickr page! and there are atleast 30 odd photographs that I still need to transfer to my laptop! Am thinking of giving photography a break for a while and restart afreash sometime in future! Knowing myself, I would not be able to stay away from it for long!
Am also doing very exciting things at work! Very new to me and probably a unique role otherwise too, and there are times when I struggle because till the time I do not know which side the shore is, I do not really like to swim! And this time around, its wide open spaces all around for now! Lets see how things shape up with time!
The Beat is running very fine!!! Its still extremely silent after 2000kms on the dash! I love the way this car moves around in slow traffic, quick response time, decent airconditioning, sharp turning radius and comfortable sitting, make this a good city car! and I am realising that driving a sedan in city traffic is not really worth it! so hatchbacks its going to be for me in the city!!!
Here is a song that I have been listening to and enjoying since my college days, and I am still very very fond of it, me being able to sing it decently being one of the few reasons for it as well!
There is something called an Earth Hour tonight!!! We all are supposed to switch off the lights between 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm!
I am wondering, with summers coming there would be a lot of unwanted earth hours and even earth days making summers the earth season in a lot of Indian homes, thanks to the electricity department!
Also this earth hour, I feel makes more sense where there is no switching off of the lights 24 hours a day! When I was in UK and US, most malls had all their lights on 24X7 irrespective of the day of the year! I think they should switch the lights off more often than just one hour an year anyway!
Do I still need to switch off my lights? I guess I will if there is no good movie on the TV!!!
From now on, I would call every power cut “Earth Time”
You can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he drives on the road!I was told this sometime in 1999, when I had taken a lift from Mayur Vihar to Pragati Maidan and then the gentlemen went on to talk about some of the drivers and how they were handling their vehicles on the road… It was a very interesting 30 minute discussion, and the thought has been there in my mind ever since! I notice how people handle and drive their vehicles, and map it back to how they are, including myself.
My theory is that while you are at the steering wheel, over a period of time you are driving with your sub-concious mind. This is the reason why the clutch, the gear shift, the horn, the dipper, the brake, the accelerator seem to be working together seamlessly while you become a part of the car, in a way!
And if my way of driving has to tell anything about me, it is that….
1. I have stopped rushing into a lot of things… an empty road does not mean a hard press on the gas!
2. I feel very contented with where I am, I see the road ahead and am more than willing to take the journey, and I see the rear view mirror to see the distance I have covered
3. I still get very annoyed at displays of irresponsibility and recklessness. I think Angry is a more appropriate word!
4. I am agressive in my approach
5. I do not get bothered by the surrounding noise. Even if I do, it takes a while for it to get to my head. Mostly I am involved in my own thoughts for the noise to be irritating
6. I like to give way and be patient.
7. I like to be protective and possesive of the things in my perimeter.
8. I hate being judged because of a few instances. Observations, alright! Judgements! get lost!
9. I do not mind changing pace depending on the situations… I do not have not go at the same speed always, and its ok to slow down
10. I ENJOY where I am!
Most of these seem to be hovering around the same point! interesting!
I am really looking forward to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and looks like they started one year too early!!!
Suresh Kalmadi and Mike Hooper have started the first game, India and most politicians are world champions at… the Blame Game!!!
In the first round, Mike Hooper warms up to the press in a conference and tells in detail about all the plans and that he was optimistic about the completion of all preps before the games… and a day later, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi plays his side of the game by throwing allegations at him and telling us that he has request that he be removed!! “Offence is the best defense, I remember”
And then the semi-final of the game where Mr. Hooper is giving an interview, and is stopped “on camera” from doing that! Stunning display of offensive techniques by Lalit Bhanot! In his words, “ If Mike Hooper has to respond to anything, he should respond at home and not in HIS (Lalit’s) office.“. Check out the video here if you have not seen it yet. In this video, the way Lalit Bhanot looks when Mike is asking him something, it is so clear that he does not have a fkking clue as to why he is asking Mike to stop the interview, but that he just wants him to stop!!!! what losers!!!
My take, this is something that will carry on for about a week while it only gets worse!!!
I really want Delhi to be prepared for the games, but am also afraid, rather have a very strong gut feel that the preparations are highly inadequate and all of this is being done just as a run-up to the truth about how fukked up the planning and execution has been for these games!
I still hope the games can happen when planned! Maybe someone needs to read through why projects fail and make error corrections before its too late… or is it already!
I have always believed that Doctors have a profession that is noble, and selfless. I still believe it, however there are incidents that shake that belief.
And one such incident is what you see below in the presentation… Please do take out time to read through…
NOTHING, and I mean nothing in this world beats the romance of clicking B/Ws on Film… was going through Aro’s Picasa stream today and found this picture of mine…
Though the picture is very badly processed, there is something about it that I like… I guess the grains more than anything !!!
This is from a day when we had gone to Chandni Chawk just to have breakfast.. Nigodi Poodi and Bedmi Halwa (you saw a picture of it in the previous post; another picture in this post too)…
How many politicians have condemned this? Are we counting?
How many channels have this as the breaking news? Are we counting?
How many hours of effortless masala story we are going to see on TV now? Are we counting?
More than 5 cities in the last one year AND Counting !!!
Looks like we are inviting someone for their capability demonstration in blasting bombs in the least complicated way !!!
Come to a city, plant the bombs, blast them… kill a few people too.. and leave some live so that they can be pulled out before the entire system is questioned… and move to a new city !!! Simple !!!
We are counting !!! We will keep counting !!!
The saddest part is that its some people from us only who felicitate this, and its people from us only who suffer…
Its a fact that dealing with someone else’s issues can be a burden for us individuals more often than not… Over a period of time, we gather more issues that we can ourselves handle, our work, our individual lives, our own social circle (however big or small that is) and ityadi ityadi… and to add to those if someone comes and starts talking about his/her own issues when you are least interested, it only irritates you more !!! Its advisable to be practical and deal with your own issues instead of expecting someone to listen, understand or for that matter even care about it!!!
Having said that, let me digress from the topic for my own selfish reasons…It was kinda interesting driving for no reason yesterday night… I was under speed limits, driving in proper lanes, listening to my favorite (well for the benefit of not having the real favorites, lets call the current ones favorites) songs, and just being !!!
Finally reached Arobindo’s place and stayed put there… Helped !!!
The second fridge at Aro’s place, now being used as a repository for Music and Video.. The perfect energy savers !!!
Woke up on time, slept again… went out for another drive 🙂 and this time on the new 6 gear, two wheel Hercules Bike we had recently bought for him !!! and Aro here won a contest of sorts !!! of having more gears with him !!!
Pretty hot outside, but the spirits were as high as the temperature to ride the bike…
My car has just 5 🙁 and his cycle has 6 !!! Darn !!! I lost !!! But never mind, for some reason he has decided to treat me to Dessert Course in a 5 Star next Saturday. Wonder what got into his mind, but I don’t really mind till I get to eat !!! Suggestions please !!!
Later I added all my car + Bike + scooter Gears and tried to win the contest back, but I still lost as he said that we were now talking about maximum gears in one vehicle !!! Darn again ! Never mind !!!
Critical Balance…
I also have a dim-dimata hua thought around cycling which would take me from Delhi to Vrindavan or maybe beyond on Cycles some day !!! It needs to turn into reality soon…. It sure will…
This cycle was there at the shop where we got the tyre pressure fixed…
I left post afternoon as he was having his team lunch at his place, and I was in no mood to speak much !!! On my way back, I again was driving around randomly… enjoying the Delhi roads at my own pace… My car is running out of fuel and I should have taken a specific route to reach the pump, but I don’t know why I went into the other direction and forgot all about the fuel !!! Cha !!! never mind… I took a pit stop at India Gate to make a few new friends… Let me introduce them to you before I finito the post !!!
A vendor at the India Gate…
I kinda liked that tree on the bike 🙂 This is when Pankaj decided to jump in and added life to my picture 🙂 very naughty guy !!!
With friends around, its difficult to make a portrait 🙂
But we can still manage something 🙂
And the whole gang here … Pankaj, Kuldeep, Subhash and a few more :)… They sell variety of stuff at the India Gate… do say a hi when you see one of them sometime 🙂
Every wanted to be in the picture 🙂 and Pankaj as usual at his naughty best !!!
And sincere thanks to Indian Ocean, Sukhvinder Singh, KK, and a few more to be with me throughout !!! 😛
Oh… I am getting out of Delhi tonight !!! any suggestions? So far I have just thought of reaching the ISBT and taking a bus towards somewhere !!!
This year’s Auto Expo (one of the exbitions that I love to love) looks like one of the more practical ones in the last few years…
Two things that I have been following and am happy about are…
1. The cheaper Car – Nano… The claims are that it costs a lakh, however when you add things like road tax, insurance, a few accesories etc this should be around 1.25 on-road for the base model… not bad at all for a 33bhp 600 odd cc engine… I think this should be a very practical buy for city driving… The only thing that will keep me away from it would be the poor Tata build quality in cars… except the Safari, the plastics of most cars are cheap, and they can start rattling in about 6 months of regular usage… Indigo is a delight to look at, and has one of the best ACs that I know of in Sedans in India, however the sound that it starts making after a few months is something that is a big put off… Ankur now has a Safari and I am really looking forward to some first hand reviews from him…
The sad part is after I have driven the FIAT, the build quality of almost every car that I have been into seems inferior…
2. The new SUMO… relabelled as the Sumo Grand… though the looks seem to be coming a lot from the LandRover, minus the headlights which still have a dated feeling… the first looks at the SUV made it look impressive… again.. the TATA build quality is something that I would really like to consider before I would recommend this to anyone… Mahindra seems to be much better in their engine refinement and the quality of the vehicles when it comes to a comparision between the Sumo and the Balero and the Scorpio and the Safari…
But with this new good looking Sumo, and the “I so want it but cannot afford it” Safari, things might be a li’il tough for Scorpio and likes…
Another news that I have been waiting for was the launch of SKODA Fabia… Its a premium hatchback, which personally makes a lot of sense to me, and comes with the SKODA tag… needless to say the safety, reliability, build finish and quality are the things that you can assume coming with this car by default… Not sure how successful it would be though in the very cost concious Indian market… We are not too keen on paying a premium for a smaller car which comes with added benefits… If the Fabia 1.4L Diesel engine delivers like the much higher and bigger Octavia does… they already have a customer in line for the car !!!
Honda also had on display the Honda Jazz which is a sleek looking 5 door hatchback… Another car to look forward to in terms of reliability and performance…
Oh, and yes I also saw a few pictures of the new Suzuki Dezire… the sedan version of the SWIFT ( which is a nice car) but Dezire is one of the most stupid looking cars that I have seen in recent times… Looks like there is a competition of sorts about who makes worse car backs between Mahindra Logan and Suzuki Dezire…
All in all, this looked like a good beginning for the potential car buyers, and people who are looking at decent upgrades for their existing vehicles…