Bangalore-Kochi-Bangalore on Enfield Bullet

With wife away at her hometown and an upcoming four day weekend, could not resist the temptation to ride down to my hometown-Kochi from Bangalore on my newly acquired second hand (fourth actually) Enfield bullet. A few words about the machine - 1999 make, single cylinder, 350cc,18bhp, cast iron engine, classic thud thud :). Read more about this bullet version here. http://www.royalenfield.com/app/IN/Products/Bullet350.asp

Got it serviced a day before the journey from Teknik Motors on CMH Road run by Anand. The mechanics there does appear to know their job well, though the service centre itself appear a bit disorganised. It was the best thud thud ever after the service. Anand did give me a few tips for the upcoming 1100km (550kms oneway) trip including varying the throttle frequently, 10-15min stops after a 100kms and the very much required confidence to get me going! For that matter, I could not think of a better way to build confidence with the bike rather than get going.

May 01, 2008 - 04:00AM
Packed the shoulder bag light with a couple of tee-shirts and two bottles of water. Made sure that the shoulder straps of bag was extended to its limit such that it would 'sit' just behind me. The bike-start routine went perfectly well and here I was thumping down the Hosur road. The engine seemed to get more smoother once it covered a few kilometers and heated up. Down the road, the engine seemed to thud perfect when the speed was maintained between 55kph-65kph. At this speed everything appeared to be just in sync - the bike, the road and the rider.

It is interesting to note that the 50kph average speed was maintained throughout the entire trip through Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Erode - Palghat - Thrissur - Angamaly - Kochi route, with 10min breaks after each 100kms. Enjoyed the gazes on the bike while on road and the intrigued bike queries from the locals during the breaks. It definitely is easy to make friends while on a bull. The hotel waiter at Salem wanted me to take a few hours of rest in the a/c room with a cool drink since this road trip did not make sense to him.

Loneliness took over when travelling across the Coimbatore bypass. Perhaps it was the boring dry landscape and the many cars that overtook you. But then, the idea behind bullet is the systematic thump, speed and patience. It is a different matter that most of the time you manage to overtake these cars down a few kilometers when they slow down behind a convoy of trucks.

Around 400kms, the end of my spine started to pain unless I kept adjusting my seating position. Thankfully, the numbness of my bottom appeared to subside at each break. The breaks are crucials not just for cooling down the bike, but also to make sure you gulp half a bottle of water to prevent dehydration. Another advice for prospective riders is to use a hand-glove unless you want to get the darkest tan (read black) ever.

I was home at Kochi for the evening tea and had completed 550kms in 12hrs. Not bad considering the innumerous breaks. To think about it, my best timing in my car was 9hrs without a single break and my usual Bangalore-Kochi car trip takes 11 to 12hrs with two or three breaks.

The return journey on May 04 was more easier since I started early from Kochi and missed the infamous Kerala traffic . The rattling sound from the back of the bike did worry me; before I figured out the loose bolt which held the chain cover. Tightened it at Avinashi and it was beautiful thud thud time again. Made it in 11.5hrs back to Bangalore. I did not feel the tiredness this time, but felt more confident with the bull.

The consistent and reliable performance of the bike through the 1100kms needs to be noted.
Moves you. Literally.

Court's Take

Few of the court observations from today's 'The Hindu' newspaper.

Only Centre can end Kannur violence, says High Court

While requesting New Delhi to act at Kannur, the court said, “all-party peace missions are nothing but a hoax to hoodwink the fickle-minded public.” and “All political parties there seem to freely indulge in the cult of violence.” True indeed. The court appears to have the same mindset of the general public.

The fellows engaging in these activities in Kannur appear to be of the same kind, no matter what the color of his flag - zero principles, no clues to why this is happening other than that they could not resolve the allegations verbally. This leaves the public as idiots and the sufferers.

"Do not treat anonymous letters as PIL" says Supreme Court

A matter which could have got resolved at the High court itself I believe. Supreme court had to confirm that anonymous letter cannot trigger investigations. The case in concern being the anonymous PIL filed at High court against Divine-Retreat-Centre, Thrissur. The High Court judge appears to have ordered independent investigations based on this anonymous letter. Why? Perhaps the Judge knew the anonymous ...

High Court directs DGP to initiate action against DSP, SI

If you thought that the registered police case getting closed this quick (in a matter of hours!) was the efficiency of the police department, you got it wrong. It appeared to be a case of police in hands with the culprits, leading to High court wanting actions against them.

Plea to decommission Periyar dam rejected

Court says - “all your concerns will be taken care of in the suit” .

Classic case of one case overriding another case. The 100yr old dam is in more than one news. On one side we have an NGO asking to decommission the dam since its too old and the related dangers it pose. On the other side, we have TamilNadu filing a case against violation of some water conservation Act and requesting that the dam operations be stopped temporarily. Court believes that the two cases can be clubbed together to reach a final verdict. Hmm.

Hope

Anyways, the words from the courts does appear to make sense most of the time in this odd democracy. With a more or less functional Judiciary, guess we still have hope.

Predicting the future - Dilbert

“The Dilbert Principle: People are idiots.”

Just finished reading Scott Adams - Dilbert - 'Predicting the future', wherein he predicts the future about varied things using humorous logic. The context is mostly set in Dilbert's office space and talks how we would finally harness the stupidity around us. Does make your mind tingle even though its a light read. This smart fellow is ranked 21 in the global ranking of business thinkers.

The last chapter of this book is totally different in that he keeps humor aside for a moment and questions the various explanations of stuff around us and introduces to an interesting concept called affirmations. I had to re-read this chapter thrice to get the gist of these things ; quite thought provoking.

Double Slit Experiment - Basically showed the interference of light waves when passed through a sheet with two slits. Initially demonstrated in the 19th century, Scotts version talks about the interference getting affected when we start to record things. Wish I could see this in action/video.

Affirmations - This one is interesting. This talks about how you could achieve nearly anything if you write down your need 15 times on a piece of paper everyday. It does not matter if you believe in it. But as per Scott, it would finally just work out! Weird. You might want to check out the chapter on affirmations in his book "God's Debris"

I think he is making an Induhvidual out of me!

Weather man

Its getting hotter by the day, but what got my attention was the weather forecast for Bangalore City in 'The Hindu' newspaper today (Page 3). It went "A fresh cool morning. A bright sunny day...." for today and "A charming morning. A dry sunny day. The clear night is likely to be comfortable." for tomorrow.

I dont know why, but I like this guy. He sounded just out of England and different.

Tom - 'Morning old fruit. What a charming morning.
Charles - 'Morning young Tom. It indeed is sweet. A perfect day for scroll by the woods.
Nitin - Easy for you blokes; I have to catch the Infy bus at 7!

Revisiting Malayalam

For all Keralites ('mallus') lost in the routines of life in a different culture, my best advise is to keep in touch with the malayalam'ness ('malayalitham') by reading the numerous malayalam books and short stories. Not knowing where to buy good malayalam literature out of Bangalore, it was a pleasure to see the book seller on train. I presume this guy works for DC/Current books directly as he did not look like the normal vendors you see on the Indian trains.

For better or worse, I studied Malayalam only until my 4th standard and thereafter it was just Hindi, Sanskrit and English as languages while at the Naval Public School. Of the three books I bought, the stories by M.T Vasudevan took me over completely. The description of emotions and the narrative writing of the day to day life was just at its best. There were more than one instance wherein I re-read the stories just out of sheer joy in reading them. These guys rock.

Effectively, this means I have more Malayalam writings to catch up; the ones I left behind since my school days. Here are the sites I now frequent :

http://www.dcbooks.com/
http://puzha.com/
http://indulekha.com/

Any good suggestions on books and writers are seriously welcome.

Wrong gate

Ever wondered what happens to a intruder who came in through the wrong entrance ? Ask me. It was a normal day and a normal routine, but this time my BMTC bus turned right before reaching the ITPL main gate. This meant, I have a rather long walk to the main gate. It could be easy to just walk through one of the side gate, I thought. At least , we did come out for evening tea by another gate on this side.

There stood the first gate full open without a security person in sight. Good for me, though I did have my identity card hanging down my neck just in case. A couple of strides into ITPL and here comes our dear guard asking me to walk back and take the main gate. No way mate..I don't want to take the long route now that I am quite 'in' ITPL. Guard not amused, while I walk ahead to my office building.

In an instant , here comes another guard (backup I believe) walking just behind me. He asks about my company , my name and the identity card. But he does not want to leave me. The escort continues until the building lobby at which point I did thank him for his escort. Not over yet. Someone on the other end of his walkie-talkie want to talk with me. Sure.

The new guy (must be a manager - no uniform noted) wants me to detail things until now , my name, company etc etc.. I provide him my identity card so that it would easy for both of us. Another security guy walks in and wants the details. No mate, I don't want to repeat the story again. Which is exactly what I told him.

Oh no...its the walkie-talkie of the manager this time that is cracking. The supervisor (one level up) want to meet me! Oh God. After a brisk walk with the manager, we meet the supervisor. He doesn't initially want stories, but talks about the security in place at ITPL and finally asks me what happened. While the stories move slowly with me filling in the gaps, the first guard too join us. I ask this guard where exactly he stopped me - outside the gate or while I was inside ITPL. Must be the two tier of managers standing next to him which made him answer "outside". Sadly, that was not right. Anyways, our dear supervisor takes control of the discussion and summarises that I should have walked back when the guard asked me to. Perhaps yes. For counter argument , I ask him to either put up a no-entry sign or put a guard AT the gate. Team Dispersed.


Whats observed:
1.) Security, just like any other Indian firm is hierarchically organised, while the top managers do not wear uniforms.
2.) The process is not too smooth. There is haste while too many fellows try to take control of the situation.
3.) Do what the guard ask you to do. Unless, you want to blog the experience.
4.) The guards do not understand English, which could frustrate you.
5.) Overall though, the security team appears to do their job effectively.

Recipe - Fish curry (Kerala)

Thought I should start blogging few of my experiments in the kitchen which went right (things that tell me it went right - tongue says its good, the vessels get empty soon , the stomach doesnt complain even 8 hrs after consumption and most importantly, I live to blog this)

All good. Now for one of my recent experiment which I had wanted to perform since long - Kerala style fish curry (red) with tamarind. The one which every mallu should be familiar with - the one your mom or wife cooked each day and you ate. This time, I took over the kitchen with much anguish to my wife. Its a different story that the taste of these dishes cool her down ;)

Things you need:

Sliced fish pieces (preferably seer or pomfret) with the skin removed - 1/2kg
Red chilli powder - 3 tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tablespoon
Pepper powder - 1/4 tablespoon
Fenugreek powder - 1/4 tablespoon
Ginger garlic paste (dabur works for me) - 4 tablespoon
Curry leaves - around 8 leaves chopped
Mustard - 1 tablespoon
Cooking oil (coconut oil preferably) - 4 tablespoon
Dry tamarind - 4 or 5 medium pieces
Salt - to taste
Water - 5 cups (we need to sink the fish the first time we put them in)

Getting there:

Though its best to cook this in an earthenware which appears to change the taste tremendously, you might as well cook it in any of the medium sized kadai/vessel you have. Heat the oil till it smokes a bit before you put the mustard in. Mustard usually burst quick if the oil is hot enough and all of them turn silent once they are done with their bit of bursting. Its now time for the ginger garlic paste to make their sounds and they take around 3 minutes to calm down. They usually turns light brown at this point.

Put the red chilli powder , fenugreek powder, turmeric powder and pepper powder into the mustard+garlic paste while bringing the flame a notch down. Once you get the smell of the hot chilli powder in a few moments, its time to pour in the water and up the flame. Layer the fish pieces into this water base and let it come to a boil.

When the water is boiling good, put the tamarind pieces, curry leaves and salt. Leave the vessel closed and on medium flame for another 10 mins.

Once you start to get the smell of the cooked fish across the room, you would want to lower the flame such that the gravy thickens to your liking. Be careful not to overcook the fish in this case - you definitely want the fish to retain its shape while serving.

All good. Its time to experiment your food on anyone around. If you did follow until here, you have in vessel an authentic Kerala fish curry. Simple ain't it?

Bangalore BMTC - A different route

Travelling by the local bus is not what anyone might want to do in Bangalore. But, the hectic car drives and the resulting frustration everyday led me to try the bus experience first hand and it definitely was different from the expected.

The dents, the rather frequent verbal fights, the unstopping honks and the resulting agony every day had reached the peak last week when I decided it was best to try the local buses. This meant making sure I got off the house with my wife each morning such that she could drop me off at the nearest bus stop (about 2 kms away). All good; she didn't appear to mind.

'305' BMTC was the first bus which came around in under 5 minutes of the wait. Hai! empty seats all the way! Surely, it could not be this easy a travel? In fact it got better. Once you made yourself comfortable, you had around 30 mins of total free time which could be spent on anything from reading books, more sleep or just watch the fanatic car owners drive by. Peace reigns while thoughts take a different route when thinking about the rather active life around you. You start to observe the fellow passengers and the local life you see outside. You start getting the odd feeling of being one among them, though the language still appear to be a barrier. A smile appeared to bring down the strangeness before you kicked off your local language skill with the youngster beside you.

It was still better when you travelled after the days work. This appeared to be one great place to unwind each day. Thankfully, I appeared to find a free seat each time and settle down soon. The only cause of worry was the 2 km walk from the bus stop to home in case my wife had left her office earlier (could she not wait a bit longer ?!). But then, I could always take the auto-rickshaw if the walk got too tiring.

This travel has got more to offer while bringing down the traffic & pollution and peace at home & work. In total, you are exposed to a new world of life which you would have never imagined during your ritual honks and curses. This bus travel has a lot to teach everyone and think.

The man with the lantern - a short story

The walk was around nine furlong away and Thomas ettan wanted to get there before the 9pm movie. Hard luck, I thought. He must have had at least two servings of full plate rice with the usual delicacies which Amma made. Personally, I hated this walk trips from one house to other; perhaps they would not have done this if my Mom and her siblings stayed a bit further away from each other.

"Look out for the weeds down here" shouted ettan. He was the man with the light and our guide for the night. He appeared to have changed from a brother to the lead when amma gave him the larger-than-life lantern. He knew that he was the responsible and his stern voice now appeared to confirm this. I would have reverted with a "Yes Big-Boss" if he wasn't in charge today. Everyone seemed to obey him.

I could have travelled back by the 6pm bus with Uncle, but then I would have missed this beautiful view. The houses with lanterns far across the horizon appeared like fireflies, while the only sound other than ettan was the field-crickets. It never looked this beautiful in the broad daylight with tens of men in loincloth across the fields.

There was nothing consistent about the pathways here in Haripad. If you got lucky, you get to walk on these pavings built centuries ago by some considerate. If you are left behind the pack in this pitch dark, you could end up knee deep in clay or left in the thorns. The beautiful lady in white Saree with long hair which Akki used to be afraid of, was a different story altogether. "Nearer,My Lead, to Thee" for the moment; I thought.

Most of the days, us kids had to sleep at our uncles place since there wasn't any place at his sister's. Moreover, this ensured that he got his dinner packed in plantain leaves from Amma everyday, delivered efficiently by the kids. We loved this job and to see his face when he received the packet from ettan. "Did Sethu come your way today ?" he would ask indirectly to find whether any fresh fish was delivered today. This assured him of a fry to go with his brand.

It wasn't until Akki started with the song that ettan's mood lightened and he took the song ahead. It didn't matter that he couldn't sing. We loved our lead and his song. It was sometime after the third song and giggles that we heard the bark. It was Kichu, our favorite dog who came first running towards us. Ettan had lead us home once again.

Someday, I would be the man with the lantern.


translations/characters
ettan = big brother
Amma = Mother
Akki = Younger sister

Walk - a short story

He had begun to like this English weather. Though he missed lying in the scorching sun back home in India, there was something exotic about walking in this weather. He enjoyed strolling in the drizzle in his rather over sized Barbour and his favourite handled umbrella. Though it was the middle of the noon, it appeared more like the late evenings in Kochi.

Today he felt like visiting his old mate, Matt who sold burgers by the dock. Without the bike, it was going to take him around an hour to get there. Perhaps a quick drop at the local on the way back; he smiled at the thought of it. Nothing better to complement the weather than a warm Guinness at the old bell inn.

Though there was an air of uneasiness about the lonely pathways, he had got accustomed to this. Predictably, Jim was the first guy he came across by the docks since he started from his small apartment at the quaint stokebridge maltings; an 18th century maltings converted into flats. Jim was always around feeding the pigeons at the dock bridge on a good weather. With no pigeons out in the wet, Jim had settled in his humble shed by the river Orwell. A bit too much of the Ale on Jim, as he could see.

Time appeared to stand still when he walked through these paths; there stood Wolsey gate with a great story to tell. History stays still; he thought. Back by the calm Orwell and no sign on Matt, he headed towards the boats. Chris should be on his boat; has been a a while since he met Chris. Chris should be back from his round the Island trip now that trawling has been banned for the season. Yup. There was his boat and he could see his shadow by the mast. Chris always had a story to tell; some about his family back in London whom he dearly missed and sometimes a bit of history. Always interesting. Especially after a shot of whisky. Perhaps someday he too would travel round the world in a boat with all the time to himself like Chris.

With enough time spent he decided it was best to leave Chris on his own. For the quick walk back, he took the unpaved paths now all sludgy by the rain. At this moment, the only thoughts were the caskets of beer at Old Bell Inn.

Pratibha Who?

Pratibha Patel? Tried googling for her? Try hard. Other than the various allegations and scams, you wouldn't find anything worth mentionable about her. Sadly, this lady is the UPA nominated presidential candidate. The detailed wikipedia entry too does not bring out any great achievements in her name. She appears to have been in the news for the wrong reasons all the time. Just another Indian politician with the right amount of allegations and scams; from purdah controversy, bank scam'S, murder allegation against her brother and her role in helping him out among others. Nice!

To summarise her profile, her loyalty to the Gandhi family during her half decade political career appears to have paid off more than once. Pratibha appears to have made the right political choices and has definitely climbed the political-ladder right!. The question to ask here would be - if you start your political career now, stay loyal to Sonia and other bigwigs in the lead now, have your list of successful scams, can you become the president of India in another 50yrs? Perhaps!

Have we run out of clean candidates who has had some achievements? Why would be want a candidate like Pratibha for the President's role? An office where greatest thinkers/leaders/achievers of all times like Dr.Rajendra Prasad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, K.R Narayan, Dr.Abdul Kalam have occupied, definitely needs a great candidate.

In Bangalore - Live, not Survive

Everyone appears to just about survive. It appears the car drivers earn Rs3000/- per month whereas his employer usually earns anywhere between Rs50000 and Rs200000 per month. Strangely, the driver appears more in control of his life. Nearly every IT professional seems to be struggling with life and stress. Life for these fellows revolve around the work, the pay, the savings, the luxury s/he is experiencing - the house, the car. The materials.

We should have treated the work and the materials as just another part of the life. Work should have revolved around life and not the other way around. How did this happen? We, the middle class appear to be molded into the "better job" philosophy, sadly. Is this the reason no IT professional ever complains when she stays until 1am fixing the last of the previous days bugs? Don't let the work drive you - you just lost your life.

Change
Everyone want to break free. Unless you realise that life is not all work, there is no way you could peep into the other side. Only if you start thinking & reasoning philosophically. For a start, read the Geetha in addition to the Grisham's and Dahl's. Ponder over what Geetha is trying to convey and not just its literary meaning. Dedicating yourself into one interest area should make you realize about life outside the work. Each interaction with a fellow human itself leads into more insight and by itself should be treated as an experience.

Crucially, keep the other thoughts flowing. You just might get an answer to live the life rather than just the routine surviving. That's why they said "Higher the thoughts , simpler the life"

Barber shop in Bangalore - Would we ever rise ?

The visits to the local barber shop back in Kerala is usually an experience with the local gossips, the blaring radio and talkative barbers.

The trip to the nearest barber shop here in Bangalore had been rather a disgusting affair. If you ignore the lumps of hair lying around the shop, you might adjust to the one hour you spent there.

But, what struck me was the armpit shaves after the haircut. Its weird to watch guys dressed up in their best of denims and apparels lifting their shirts off for the barber to shave their armpits. That's Gross! What have we come to? Not sure why the barbers even do this ! Can't the barber association just decide that they would not do this henceforth ? All barbers, please respect your profession and yourself!

Compare this with the local barbers (hairstylists) abroad - you have scheduled time slots when you can visit them and they command respect for their profession. Out here, they appear to be treated like slaves.

Guys, get a disposable shave-set available off the counter at most medicals and do it yourself in the privacy of your bathrooms please!

Why AirDeccan makes sense

Travelling in the low-cost airline is not quite an experience you could write about. But then, the Air Deccan flight does make sense since its primary objective is to take you from point A to B, which it does good (if you ignore the many delays and the odd rumours surrounding it - from engines switching off during flight and the cold air blown into the plane before take-off since there is no air conditioner. sic).

A few stuff which you might notice:

No helping ground staff: You don't get helpers while boarding any bus. So why here? Its quite obvious on where to go next. If in doubt, 'ask' seems to be the logic.

No seat numbers: The immediate problem with this is the rush in getting into the carrier bus which takes you to the plane and the final rush before getting into the flight. Though this process by Deccan might sound a bit primitive, it is not so if the passengers themselves were a bit more polished.

No free refreshments/snacks : Yes, you could have charged more to serve more. But, we should be able to adjust; since if you are really hungry, you could always buy your food! The purpose/effectiveness of serving food in other airlines appear to keep the passengers engaged; most of them feel irate after sitting down for a while doing nothing. No wonder this pilot announced arrival at the destination 20 min's prior to actually getting there.

But then, they could definitely have served free drinking water. A 500ml bottle cost you Rs10/ in-flight. To think about it, the poorest of Indian would treat you to a tumbler of water anytime! (perhaps its a bottle of water the Deccan's common-man had in his backpack )

No hype/glamour experience - No tight short skirted air hostess with heavy make-ups, no in-flight video/audio (unless you count the pilots announcements), no heavy western accented and tight lipped staff.

Overall, the airlines is definitely trying hard to make air-flights accessible to the common-man and perform the job of carrying the passenger to their destination.

Perhaps, it /was/ an experience to write about.

Remember those days?

The many visits from far and near, neighbours and relatives, vendors and friends is a routine familiar with most of us at our homes back in Kerala. Wonder how the next generation would get to know about the many wonderful experiences we had...from the sprawling acres to explore, the 'discoveries',the variety of mangoes, the ponds, the paddy fields, the gossips, life, the church goers, fishing, the bath by the well, the odd games we played, the explorers. Oh God, what a life we used to live.

What an experience we had - a novel. Perhaps we would return another day.