Back Into Biking

I'd decided not to bike in life again.

Not too good was my biking experience considering the 2-3 accidents I had,  2 of which could be fatal-the one we-my brother and I had at Munnar and the one I had at Kolenchery. God saved me from danger in both cases. While the former had been due to my mistake, the latter happened to be from others' carelessness. Anyway, I found the fact - Biking Is Dangerous - and 10 times so when you're in Kerala. My mind made calculations and work-outs this way and that way, and finally decided on quitting biking. That was about 2 years ago.

For quitting, I had to sell my bike. I tried for that. Not too late, my Honda CBF150 (the 'Unicorn') was sold, with the credit of some 68000 odd kilometers on its odo. It'd done a very good service to me, that too without demanding too much for maintenance or fuel expenses or almost any complaint at all - and what more, the depreciation was just INR 12500 for 2yrs 8 months and 68000 kilometers. That's very decent, I see. Anyway, I lost him.
And thus did I bid goodbye to biking. Or so I thought.

Facts of life nailed deep into the wheel of time hesitate to fade out by the brushing of small decisions and shallow dedication of this poor and powerless man. It was poverty - or what we call the 'lack of money' - that made me buy a bike again. I was tired of borrowing, and EMIs.

My new buy was a 1yr 9 months old Black Hero Honda Karizma ZMR-one of my dream bikes. It hd clocked just less than 8000kms, and without any accidents. Mithu and I went to see the bike at Indiranagar, Bangalore and the same day decided on buying the bike, as  it was a good deal. The next day we paid 75000 Rs and took it home. And thus starts my life on bike - again.

Money facts of life...

Money comes, money goes. Mortgages remain.

Customer satisfaction - Software Service Companies in India

Our customer likes pumpkins. So we decided to fill the new Financial Analysis application UI with pumpkins.

A few of the things which happen daily here...

. Sun rises in the East.
. Petrol price increases.
. Another central govt politician accused of Rs 2000 Cr. bribes
. 4 members in a family dies in road accident.
. CM must quit: Opposition
. Expressway a blow to the ecology: Studies
. PWD announces potholes on roads are due to rain
. Kerala minister calls opposition leader 'Hippopotamus'

Safety Begins at Home...
And Ends with Tippers :)

One Family . . Blow Horn . . One 'Chiled'

Driving in India makes a complete man. In Kerala, a perfect man.

Truly. You could learn everything if you don't mind spending a few hours regularly on Indian roads - walking or driving, or still better, riding a two wheeler. If you feel you don't have the time to do so, welcome to Kerala, for a crash course.

The faster, the better. We choose the latter.

If you want to learn what's dictatorship, watch a tipper for a while - if you can manage to. Making way for itself, respectful of no one who comes along is part of their duty.

If you haven't learned of 'hereditary dictatorship' in your political classes, watch for a private bus to pass by, followed by a Kochi city service bus. You've now learned it exempli gratia.

If you want to learn how to take chances, watch for two-wheelers here. Close your eyes if you find anyone going without a helmet. That's called 'idiocy' on wheels.

If you want to learn whatever family planning schemes India has implemented or proposed, miss no comments written behind National Permit trucks.[One Family . . Blow Horn ... One 'chiled' , We one..Stop..Ours One , We Two ..NP.. Ours Two,... ]

Don't forget to call God in emergency times, you'll be well-taught to do so, if you could read the 'Daivame...' written at least at two places on every load carrier in Kerala, including those killer tippers.

If you find it difficult to believe power 'breaks', read what's written behind mini-trucks and ambassador cars.

Interested in Romantic poetry? Watching rickshaws is your job for the day, to see what’s written on their mudflaps.

To see how bribery works and bribers don’t, just have a look at the roads in Kerala. It’s not because people not paying taxes, but the taxes we pay are going to individuals, through the government methods and institutions.

And to find how daylight robbery works, go to any petrol bunk you see around, and ask for petrol price of the day.

Sophistication Counts. Unfortunately

Maybe it's so childish or thoughtless saying it'll work, but I feel it'll. So I'm putting it out here.

2 weeks ago I read in newspapers about the fire accident in the Carlton Towers, downtown Bangalore, along with photos of people peeping out through windows, because the building was filled with smoke. They couldn't breath. Some left their lives due to suffocation, burns and some by falling on the ground. Some jumped from the 6th floor, to their death. A few of the daring among them tried to tie their shawls to the window and get down through it.

I don't know if the building had safety systems to be used in case of such emergencies. If not, why didn't they install any? that too I don't know. But I know a method, which can save many lives in such cases, which would have saved most, or almost all the lives of those died in the Carlton Towers last week. It's not costly or rare, nor is it difficult to install. No maintenance needed either. All it lacks is a bit of 'sophistication'.
They call it 'rope'.

If they had a good rope kept somewhere in all the floors, the victims could simply tie it to the window or a pillar in case of such an emergency, just as how they tied the shawl to the window, and come down through it, in case they can't use lift or staircase or any other system inside the building. Anyone can simply tie the rope on a window, and come down it. Maybe it'll hurt your palms a bit. It may make your skin a bit reddish. In my opinion, it's better than being burnt in the safety of the building.

And then, you may say it's not a good idea to come down supporting your weight by holding a rope, from maybe 4th or 6th floor. I agree. You may say, 'for us it'll be ok, but for women and the weak it'll be difficult'. But if I remember right, even women jumped straight down to the street, or tried to come down through the shawl tied to the window of the 5th floor. You know it's much easier.

It's not easy to come down through a rope from tall buildings, but then it's better than jumping down from the same, or eating smoke. I sincerely think it's a nice idea as a last resort. And I wouldn't hesitate coming down through a rope, be it from 10th floor, if the building is on fire, and there is no escape through inside the building.

I'd have kept in my cupboard a good, strong rope, had I been in any floor above 2nd. For my safety, at least, if none else agrees with me. One day or the other, we'll have to die. That's for sure, but what I feel is being burnt is not the best method for it :)

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A-Star - it it really so?

As far as the styling of the A-Star is concerned, I don't daresay it's bad. Neither do I deem it good from all sides. What I feel is like they had a review after the basic shape of the car was built, and the design team had indeed done a good job. But the reviewer wanted the front of the car to look better. So he asked them to add more beauty to the front. But all the beauty they had been allowed to use on the car had already been spent on it. So what they did was to take off some from the back and add it to the front. So they got a front which is absolutely striking to look at, and a rear which is just plain ugly. The side profile demonstrates their sincere effort in merging both. I would've liked it better, had they made the rear window a bit more bigger - at least Swift big. Anyway it's only as ugly as the rear.

If, by any chance, the A-Star gets a break down, their owners will sell them at once, because if they try to push it to the nearby workshop, while doing that, they'll see how the car looks from behind, which is horrible. And with the A-star, Maruti seems to be so confident that the owners will never have to push it. So the owners will not see their cars from behind. And it's going to work, till they notice that the name of the ugly car that goes in front is 'A-Star'. Which will never happen, because noone dares to have a second look at it from behind :)

But they say the engine is very peppy, which can stretch a litre of fuel to about 19.6 kilometers. This level of resource squeezing is usually found only in Indian Software companies. And as the end result, what they have made is one of the most fuel efficient petrol cars in India. And it's a lightweight aluminium engine. Again, it's not my choice, because it is a 3-cylinder engine, which I'd accept but had it been 15 years ago.

I hate SUVs. Though some people call 'em 'cars'

I'd buy one, had I been a Real Estate agent, because for a few lakhs, I'd be getting more Real Estate, I'd be getting more floor area, more shopping space etc. These are concerns, usually in the minds of real estate agents or a home buyer. Not a car buyer in any imaginable sense to me.

Anyway, they have some peculiar advantages of their own. If I bought one,I'd be carrying more metal wherever I'm going, I'd be seeing truck drivers searching for cushions to put on their seats, to match my driving height, I'd be seeing more people moving out of my way, I'd be safer when I hit others. I'd be happier keeping my car on weigh bridge than on a road because it's where I can prove my car has something more than my neighbor's, I'd be... like that.

Those SUV owners live in a world a few centuries ago, when there were no roads or bridges. I'm quite sure that many of them had in their minds a concern of safety in case of a crash, when buying their cars. It's a known fact that SUVs crash easier than sedans, because they don't have proper control once they go to the other side of 160. But they say it's safer than a sedan, once it crashes somewhere. So they are surely gonna crash it, just because they bought it to crash. And if they don't crash, the few extra bucks they spent for purchasing the obese, unmovable automobile will be wasted, and the extra gallons of fuel they've been spending in moving the most reluctant of things, will be for nothing. The more they think about this, the more they want to hit someone who doesn't have similar huge automobiles as theirs.

But I agree one thing: It's one of the best ways to mock the government. It's like saying " See what I'm driving on the roads made by you". Wish the govt would ever mind that! If I were the ruler here, I'd have had given a serious thought why these many people are using SUVs on my roads. And I'd immediately give orders to mend the roads everywhere in my country. I think our govt is not that good.

Last day I saw a BMW X5 on the NH - 49. I followed it for some time on my bike. I couldn't help thinking good of him would it be, had he driven through the nearby bushes and wastelands, since his 4X4 is capable of doing that, and with the help of his SUV friends, he could try to shape an impromptu answer for the perennial question of road infrastructure development in our hyper crowded state. Way To Go !!! :)

The myth called Roads in Kerala

And finally, I'm about to start writing about something that doesn't really exist in my perspective -
'Roads in Kerala'. After driving a few tens of thousands of kilometers
through the roads in middle Kerala, I fail to convince myself there are proper roads in my state.

Some say ours is the state with the best road network in India. I'd in some way agree with it. In 2 ways -to be precise. It's a big net in which many of us, including me too, have been trapped, and there's always some work going on, either a water connection or some cable works.

But consider puzzles. The more complicated it is, the better it is said to be. If you can solve it in 2 hours, you'd say 'an average' puzzle, if you can solve it in one day, it's 'a bit complicated', and if you can't solve it at all, you can say it's a 'superb' puzzle. or say it's like what we call 'roads' in Kerala.

But whatever, it should be agreed that it is we mallus who have the most homely feel
while on the road. You can see people discussing all things under sky, freely standing in the road, especially in junctions. The buy and sell cows, they fix marriages, they plan the future of their children, all standing on the tarmac, just because they feel so homely while at it, unknowingly though it can spoil their future in a split second. If you feel that's not so, just take your bike and wander through the streets in any of our roads - best between 5.00 pm and 7.30 pm. Lucky you are, if you hit less than 5 of them a day.

A few weeks ago I saw in the newspaper, the road accident statistics of our beloved state - around 40000 accidents, and around 3900 deaths - in a state the size of a cucumber!. Being a biker who rides around 80 km per day in those busy hours, I was sort of surprised. Though a bit in the other direction as you might had been. Just 40000 accidents! in a state where around 30 million people who literally lives on those 'networks'. In a state where rich people think "I'm rich. So I can do whatever I want" and those who are not so just don't care anything about others drive, or more harmfully, that they need space.

Have you had a single journey through our network of State / National/ International highways without suddenly finding a careless driver changing lanes talking over phone, in front of you? Boy, this is Kerala. This is God's own country. Or 'God's my own' country. Or otherwise, 'Road's my own' country. Ya. It's that bad. Can't help saying.

I lost track of the number of times seeing some drivers asking others " What you are
doing, yaar? Are you crazy?" just because the latter was faster, though the reason for all the fuss was that the former chose the wrong lane while, say, entering to the main road from a pocket road. He has the everyday justification that he was slow. But that is not what was expected of him. Keep the rules. Be careful. Be anticipating about what can come in your way. And that's it. According to me.

Smoking? it's for the brainless

In cars, a coolant liquid is made to circulate continuously around various engine components, since you start the engine, till you turn the ignition off. This is to cool the engine and various mechanicals working at unimaginable speeds, which produce huge amounts of heat by friction. This is just the best method used now, too cool the engine. The coolant is always in contact with the cylinder surface, so that all the heat produced is absorbed by it. But the coolant liquid, which does all the cooling for the engine, is never let inside the cylinder. Because it is never the right method to cool an engine, and you’ll invariably break the engine if you let a few drops in.

There are certain similar cooling mechanisms in human beings as well. Bathing once or twice a day has been proven to be enough to keep our body temp down enough. Or taking the other way, to keep our body warmer we can go for hot bath or steam bath or whatever, but none of them will keep you warm for one whole day, because that is not the method to do it. The right method is to wear some clothes which will prevent you from being bitten by the cold. There are some other methods also; some of them are good, and some, really bad. One of the worst of them all is to pass some fumes, or smoke through all the possible paths in our body just to get warmer, or to get something else they feel is good, but in fact is as noxious as drinking ditchwater. They say it is fun, making some fumes by slowly burning some harmful nicotine [oh why, of all, that?], and like a tired steam engine, spit out the same smoke which went inside, minus the amount of smoke that got smeared inside the lungs. We see them doing it at bus stops, railway stations, airports, and seemingly everywhere, standing proudly, doing this, which I always feel is like calling out ‘I am a fool. See I am a fool. Is everyone seeing? I am a fool’. It is like pouring coolant inside the engine cylinder -which is obviously, very, very wrong.

I agree, it was the same God who made the lungs, and the smoke. But never were they made for each other. It is good for firemen to practice smoking, so that they can have a homely feel even in their highly risky fire accident situations, but if I were one of them, I’d prefer standing near a campfire all the day, instead of swallowing poisonous smoke. But for common men, it doesn’t make any deal of sense in doing so. After all, it doesn’t give you any sort of real pleasure or prestige or strength, or anything to the fair side of death.

Our Unforgettable Munnar Trip . . .

It was planned as a quick trip to somewhere in Munnar. We-my brother and me, started at noon[as you see, we were pretty late] from Muvattupuzha, on my Honda CBF 150, and in less than an hour from there,started enjoying the photoshoots and the winding roads of NH-49 through the hills of High Ranges. It was one of the best roads to go, I'll say. Mostly traffic-free, and smooth, and curvy as well. We really enjoyed the same. Before 4 O' clock, we were covered in fog, thanks to the rain and start of winter. We could hardly see more than a few yards, and lights from ongoing vehicles were seen at times, through the fog. They were having a tough time, though we were enjoying every bit of it. Even the inconvenience was loved, because it was in Munnar, and such fog was a bit uncommon in our place. We kept our cam from drenching in the rain, and let ourselves enjoy the shower. We continued our journey through the curly roads through the tea estates of Devikolam, on the way to Bodimet, giving no rest to our mouth and camera.

Soon, we had to return, as it was nigh on 7, and we packed the camera and started downhill, through the dark and silent curves of the western ghats. We stopped for a tea, at a roadside shop near Adimaly, to warm-up our chilling body. Then again , we continued-our unforgettable journey.

I continued my aggressiveness on the curves on the way to Neriamangalam, and - it didn't last long, because somewhere near Cheeyapara waterfalls, while negotiating a curve, the bike went out of the road, and we both were airborne, for a split second. It was not a very serious accident - just another mistake by a not-much-practiced biker. But the worst thing about the same was the location where it took place. It was at a sharp corner in the ghats, on the way to Neryamagalam from Munnar - deep inside the forest, that too, at night. The Almighty God sent his help when noone else could, and we both landed between the pavement and the woods. Praise to God! Had it been a few feet ahead or sideways, we - my brother and me would be " Two youngsters missing" for one day and "dead bodies of the missing tourists found in the depths of high ranges" the next day -to the newspapers and people around. I am very thankful to my God for His mercy and care to us, which He unmistakeably shew on us that night - because of which alone I am able to write this.

Dedicating myself and everything I have, to my Lord Jesus...