Its been a long time since I wrote.. perhaps 2 months or more. Life has been pretty much the same, nothing exciting or worth mentioning in the blog. To kill boredom on a lazy sunday afternoon, I couldn't find any other hot and happening topic to blog about now, so I decided to do an ownership report on my (now 1 year old) Hyundai Accent.
It has been almost 1 year now since I got the Accent (October 2008). It had run somewhere around 18,000 kms when I purchased it. In 11 and a half months, I have added 11,000 km more to its age. The odometer stands at 29,200 km now. The car has been mostly glitch-free and running like a new machine for all I care. But then again, as any 3 year old car (now 4 years) does, this one has started showing signs of age now with a few minor issues popping up time and again.
The battery had been running low ever since Jan this year and the service technician assured me during the routine checkup in Feb, that he had topped up the distilled water and checked the acid levels and they were fine. Starting problems were cropping up sometime after July this year, soon I find out that they were caused by a burnt out Starter Magnet. Meanwhile the weak battery was dying down gradually with every drop of juice extracted, and this was evident from the slow cranking I experienced during cold starts. It finally conked out earlier last week, at an odd time too- when my family and I went out for dinner! My parents were in the car fortunately and with some help (read as pushing), we managed to push-start the car and reach home that night.
Some time earlier this year, my parents and I had been to a wedding and I had parked the car in an empty site next to a wedding hall. It had been pouring heavily that night. After attending the wedding, the headlights simply refused to switch on during the return journey. After a couple of unsuccessful prods at the headlight lever, I was forced to drive with the fog lamps as replacement. A visit to the service center the next day solved the problem- a faulty headlight Relay Switch. In June some time, one fine morning the ABS self-diagnostic notification light started flashing on the dashboard LCD a few times (much to my horror!) but it was discovered to be a problem with the sensor and not with the actual ABS system (thankfully!!). No more glitches have been experienced except for a burnt right side indicator switch in April which made the right indicator blink once in every 250 milliseconds instead of once every second! The tyres have been replaced to fully tubeless ones now so I can drive in peace without having to worry about punctures. Also, I have replaced the stock engine oil (Servo premium mineral oil) to Mobil 1 fully synthetic performance engine oil (Mobil1 SuperSyn 10w30). The engine and gearbox have become silky smooth after the switch to Mobil1. But the additional expense has drilled a hole through my pocket.
Model - 2005 Hyundai Accent GLS 1.6 DOHC ABS
Color - White
Voluntary modifications / changes made after purchase :-
Stock tyres have been changed from 175/70R13 tubed ones to Bridgestone 185/65R13 tubeless (still haven't been able to get rid of the stock rims.. need to upgrade to alloys as soon as possible)
Stock Halogen 75W lamps changed to Philips Xtreme Halogen series lamps
Stock Air filter changed to K&N Free flow Air filter
Stock Oil filter changed to K&N Gold Oil filter
Stock Exide battery changed to Amaron Pro
Engine oil changed from Servo mineral oil to Mobil1fully synthetic performance engine oil (SuperSyn 10w30)
Servicing jobs done after 30,000 kms of running :-
Air-Conditioner coolant replacement
Engine coolant top-up
Wheel balancing and alignment check
Interior vacuuming and Exterior cleanup
Teflon coating
Underbody anti-corrosion coating
Engine assembly anti-corrosion coating
Spark plug replacement
Inner wiring replacement
Battery replacement
Clutch & Engine overhaul
Starter Magnet and coil assembly replacement
Headlight relay switch replacement
Timing belt replacement
No body changes / damages /scratches experienced at all (touchwood!)
Total servicing expenses incurred till date = Rs. 15,000/-
Pros-
I loved the torquey yet refined engine.
The silent & sophicticated sedan can turn into a raging bull at the slightest nudge of the throttle pedal. Switching on the additional load of the A/C does not seem to reduce low-end torque
Superb passenger comfort with minimal vibrations. Excellent damping
Sound insulation is perfect. Hardly any sound enters the cabin with all windows up.
Although low in stance, it offers superb driving posture and comfort. I did not experience any cramps even after 5-6 hours of continuous driving.
Powerful A/C and defogger. Cools the car within a few seconds, even during peak summer afternoons.
Well sorted gear ratios. I never need to make frequent gear shifts. I am somehow always in the powerband and rarely need to downshift to regain lost momentum.
Reliable as hell. As long as I get it serviced regularly, I don't need to bother about any problems
Handles better than the swift.. much better..
Cons
Although powerful, I feel it is not exactly one of those cars that can be used for racing / rallying even after extreme modifications.
The brakes lack bite. The ABS helps a bit during wet braking but that's about it. Nothing to write home about.
The steering lacks feel and feedback. It feels too light and unresponsive.
Dashboard looks too old-fashioned with the dull-grey plastic interiors looking totally out of place. Cockpit lights provide good contrast though with light green and red backlit displays.
With 5 people in the car, expect the underbody to occasionally scrape against speedbreakers and potholes.
Rear seats cannot be folded down to increase boot space, something that is found in most modern sedans today.
Fuel Efficiency performance-
City- 10-11 km per litre with a/c, 13-14 kmpl without a/c Highway - 15-16 kmpl with a/c, 17-18 kmpl without a/c Fuel used - Shell Premium Unleaded
It has been a great car to own and drive around. Hyundai's servicing has turned out to be very pricey. Apart from the significantly higher costs for spare parts and the labour itself, trivial issues like washing and polishing the car cost a whopping 1,000 Rs. ! Interior vacuming costs another near 700 bucks. Compare this with Maruti who charge you 100 bucks for wash + polish regardless of the model. Apart from the minor glitches that came to light, nothing much has changed. I have added a few performance enhancements and modifications, all of which seem to have fitted well. I want to get my hands on a good aftermarket Reverse parking sensor . I had it in the Swift and parking in crowded areas and parking lots was a breeze. Now with this additional rear boot and no parking sensor assist, I have to be extra careful.
Overall, a no-nonsense, amazing and very pleasant car to drive. I haven't really done many long distance trips with the Accent. I will be embarking on the first long one to Pondicherry this coming weekend. The 800 km drive (to and fro) and a stay at the attractive, little coastal capital of the former medieval french colony sounds like a nice weekend getaway.
Looking forward to many more years of reliable service from the Accent :)
June 23rd saw every other news channel broadcasting this in their 'Breaking News' section - "Bajaj launches fastest Bike in India". If you were wondering if this was the Kawasaki Ninja finally making its way to Indian shores, you will be disappointed. Although not as exciting as the Baby Ninja, this product and the entire period associated with its launch, has been an exciting wait (for this new bike) for most biking enthusiasts in the country. Everyone who ever wanted to buy a premium sport-bike offering in the country around this time of the year, waited eagerly for the launch of yet another masterpiece by Bajaj Auto, the 2009 edition of the Pulsar 220 DTS-i... Yes you read it right. The 'F' is finally out! which simply means that the latest version is no longer 'DTS-Fi'. It has been 2 long years since the Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi came out, sometime in June '07, and Bajaj has been working on this DTS-iversion ever since. Have a look at the pictures of the new 220.
Black styling further enhances the killer and macho looks of the P220
New chrome tank decals take styling to the next level
I've always been a fan of Bajaj and the constant upgradation processes it puts its bikes through, at least once in a year or two. Unlike Hero Honda, Honda or Yamaha who are content with calling a new stickering job as an 'Upgrade', these are really performance upgrades by Bajaj.
The Hero Honda Karizma remains how it was, when it was launched 8 years ago. I think our kids and grandkids would probably grow up with the same version of Karizma with more sticker upgrades. With a Karizma 'R' launched as an upgrade after 5 years (only the 'R' sticker added), what next? maybe the Karizma S and Karizma T (with different sticker styles and orientations). Hero Honda does have majority of the Bike market though. They have built up reputation for outstanding after-sales service, which is why you would still see roads flooded with 100cc commuter bikes, most of them being Hero Honda Splendors and Passions. The Splendor and Passion bikes have so many variants that I doubt the salesmen in the showroom themselves are able to memorize that information to explain to customers. Splendor, Splendor Plus, Super Splendor, Splendor NXG, Passion, Passion Plus,... blah.. blah.. They are so desperate to sell their bikes that they have lately started using odd color combinations too. Ever heard of bright Red-colored rear shocks?? (yuck!!) (for the HH Hunk)
Their advertisements make no sense at all. Remember that ad with the 'blind' Pankaj Kapoor approving of his son's choice of bike. The son wrings the throttle in Neutral and the bike engine revs up.. Pankaj Kapoor says "Zyaada Power Hai isme" (any bike will produce more sound when revved, more sound doesn't mean more power output... someone teach Hero Honda this!!).. LOL! And have you seen even dumber HH ads more recently with a jobless Hrithik Roshan taking revenge on some thugs by kicking slush and mud in their faces using his bike's tyres!! (referring to the Karizma ad) What a skill to develop, seriously! I wouldn't mind doing that in the rainy season to some of the traffic law-flouters and maniacs on the road who dare to cross my path ;-)
Quite frankly the japanese have disappointed here in the Indian bike scene. Honda is content with the Unicorn as its prime offering (Honda will probably keep bragging about unicorn's mono-suspension for the next 20 years while other manufacturers eat up all the sales with better bikes and features). After a lot of criticism for selling a 'primitive' and plain-jane Unicorn for nearly 4 years, they struggled long and hard just to bring out a pair of skinny tyres and black alloys for the Unicorn's first (and probably last) upgrade. They are content with just catering to the Activa and Dio customers. They brought out another bike called Shine or something similar. Whether it shone in the market is another question. I'm not sure how many people even heard of it. Then there is the CBF-Stunner. It really stunned me with its Ugliness!
Yamaha was almost dead and asleep till 2008, producing bikes like the Alba and Crux. It wasn't a sweet ride for them until they launched the YZF-R15. That is an awesome machine, and an adept track tool. It handles in a manner unmatchable by other bikes. The refinement is simply superb, technology is miles ahead, chassis is super-lightweight enabling it to literally fly, and it is able to take on competitors with much more engine displacement in the belly. But the seating position in the R15 is very, and i repeat, VERY uncomfortable for tall riders. Hardly 2 mins of riding and I begin to get backache. Not to forget, the R15 I feel is overpriced at 1.2 lacs on-the-road. In my (humble) opinion, the only reason the R15 sells so much is - it is the only Fully faired bike in India. Few people who buy the R15 actually buy it for the performance or biking aspect. They merely want to show off with a Yamaha R1 lookalike at 1/10th the price of the R1. THAT fully faired look of the R15 is its USP!
Yamaha started taking away some of the market share of the Pulsar 200 and 220 DTS-Fi (the then most powerful bikes). The FZ-16 is an awesome looker, a naked bike which started creating waves too (like its brother the R15), in the 70k segment (I am somehow not a fan of Naked bikes). However, of late Yamaha has made no changes or upgrades. All they do is take the FZ-16 / FZ-S, make absolutely no changes except for a mere front fairing, and re-christen it as the 'Fazer'. Wow, Yamaha! Way to go!! With loads and loads of racing expertise, this is what you bring over to India, well done!! (bast**ds)
Suzuki made a somewhat low-key entry into India. It launched a useless, dated bike called 'Heat'. The Heat never really heated up to the competition. Originally targeted at the rural market, it failed miserably. There was also another 125cc commuter called the 'Zeus' whose 'Gear indicator' was touted in their ads to be the 'most advanced technology'. The Zeus did manage on the volumes front, but not to Suzuki's expectations. Suzuki have just recently launched the GS-150R which seems to be a good buy in the 150cc category but as of now, sales seem very dull. Again, another japanese top-gun who is just happy selling a 125cc scooter called 'Access' (similar to Honda's strategy with the 110cc Activa / Dio scooters).
The japanese trio currently in India have launched their 1000cc+ offerings but because of the 110% government customs duty on imported vehicles, few performance bikers can actually afford them. Suzuki has the GSX-R1300 Hayabusa at 13 Lacs, the GSX-R1000 at 11.5 lacs and a cruiser called Intruder at 12.5 lacs. Honda has the CB1000R and the CBR-1000RR Fireblade at 12.5 lacs each. Yamaha offers the YZF-R1 and the 'torque monster' MT-01, both priced at 11 Lacs. So if you have the money and you are passionate about biking, you can still go for any of these! ;-)
I am not a fan of TVS so I am not going to say much about them. All I know about them is - they make some gaudy yellow and orange candy-colored bikes called the Apache, the Apache RTR160, RTR160-EFi, Apache RTR-180 and the RTR180-EFi. They may be awesome track machines but they are again, outright uncomfortable for tall riders. To be frank, all of them look the same to me and I cannot differentiate or identify any of those variants from the others. It is a bit like how the Skoda Octavia, Laura and Superb (old versions) were. All 3 looked strikingly similar but one was priced at around 14L, one at 18L and another at 24L. Where the hell was the price difference going into??!!
Anyway, back to my initial topic. The Pulsar brand name has been around since 2001 when they first came out with two models- the 150 and the 180cc offerings. UG1 (short for UpGrade) was released 2 years later with a bikini fairing and a new headlight assembly, plus most of the minor glitches of the first version were corrected. UG2 saw the 150 and the 180 getting new alloy wheels, wolf-eyed head lamps and some more problems corrected. UG3 saw the pulsars carrying around the first digital instrument clusters on Indian 2 wheelers, not to forget major swingarm changes, black styling for the 180, performance improvements, meatier tyres and new exhausts. '07 also saw the launch of the Pulsar 200 DTS-i (I was a proud owner of one :-) ) and the Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi (couldn't afford it :-( ). The P220 was the king of the road back then. It was one of the first bikes to come out with a fuel injected engine, the FI system being supplied by Delphi ever since. They were the first to come out with tubeless tyres, oil cooling, self-diagnostic engine testing mechanisms, digital speedos, gearshift lights, backlit switchgear, rear disc brakes and O'Ring chains. The P200 did lack low end grunt I must admit, but the P220 was brilliant. At 94 grand on-the-road, it was definitely more value for money than what the R15 is today.
By the end of 2008, Bajaj began to slip down on the sales chart and it had to play its trump cards really well now to be able to get back on track. It was no longer in the dominating position it was in earlier, with the FZ-S and the R-15 eating up its sales. Bajaj has really played a cunning game now. They had already announced a '1 bike launch every month' policy that would see their position improving in the market. They brought out the UG4 variants of the Pulsar 150 and 180cc models and started aggressively marketing those and the XCD-135 DTS-i. Their final target for upgrades would now be the ultra-premium offerings - the P200 and P220. That Delphi Fuel injection system on the P220 that I mentioned earlier, costs around 12-13k. So what did Bajaj do? They needed volumes to get back on track. They cut the Delphi system, created a new product called the 'Pulsar 220 DTS-i' (now you know why the 'F' went out) and will sell it at 13k lesser. With a carburettor anyway doing the job of the FI system (albeit not so efficiently as that ECU brain), it is a superb bargain. In my opinion, Bajaj has not done the right thing by going back in time to an older carburettor technology, ditching the Fuel Injection system. On the brighter side, they re-tuned the engine, worked on the swingarm to enhance handling, revamped the console dials, revamped the stickering with really cool-looking 3D chrome decals, introduced black styling for the engine and alloys, put in golden colored disc brake calipers, fixed the (earlier model's) issues with the rear disc brake, added stickier soft compound MRF radials to enhance road grip and improved the clutch and gearbox to elevated refinement levels unheard of till now.
Assuming you are curious, here are the technical specs and highlights of the upgraded '09 Pulsar 220 DTS-i. Expand / Zoom into the picture to view the specs of the new bike.
Pulsar 220 Technical specifications
Apart from those miscellaneous improvements over its predecessor that I mentioned, power has been beefed up by 1PS, torque is slightly increased to 19.12 Nm as well. It uses the largest ever carburettor for 2 wheelers in India!! 0-60 kmph acceleration now comes up in under 3.8 seconds, 0-80 in under 5 seconds and 0-100 kmph comes up in under 10 seconds. It tops out at 145 kmph which is the maximum ever for an Indian bike. No wonder then that it earned the title of the 'Fastest Indian'! But then again, speed is not the only thing about this beast. It is going to be an all round performer that will quite honestly, decimate the opposition.
With such a killer product and a killer pricing (of 70,000 ex-showroom Delhi) on their hands, they (Bajaj) would have to make amends to their product line-up to avoid self-destruction of their own sales. With the P220 DTS-i priced dangerously close to the P200 DTS-i, would it make sense to retain the P200? No, it wouldn't justify those separate production lines and their costs. So out went the P200 :-( And what about its older brother- the P220 DTS-Fi?? Its fate still hangs in the balance for now :-( but for the time being, it will continue to co-exist in showrooms with the P220 DTS-i.
The P220 DTS-i launch came as a shocker. Anyway I had gone to the Bajaj Probiking showroom today morning to take a test ride of the new P220. After a long wait, I got to test ride the machine and after persuading the staff guy who accompanied me, rode it for a longer time and route than the usual test rides that the showroom gives to potential customers. I must say a lot of it has been changed and improved, not visually but internally, and it can only be felt when you ride this beast. The riding position is a little more comfortable than the previous version (which was itself near-perfect in ergonomics). The faulty rear disc brakes in the previous model are now rectified and the front provides good feedback. Acceleration is satisfactory and gearshifts are silky smooth now thanks to the improvements. The engine is quite smooth and refined compared to my old 200 DTS-i. After a delightful test ride at Khivraj Probiking, Kasturba Road, and a heavy lunch (Junk food!!) in the adjoining Mc.Donalds joint, my saturday was done!
Just in case you want to know more about the Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-i, a detailed review and road test by Zigwheels (by renowned auto journalist Adil Jal Darukhanwala) is present in this link
The new television ads of the P220 ('Fastest Indian') really don't look that good. The ad seems to focus more on some stupid bank robber for 90% of the ad's duration, with the last few seconds showing the bike and nothing being shown about its performance or power. I loved the earlier 'Pulsarmania' and other Pulsar ads for their stunts and weird ideas! :-)
See the new P220 'Fastest Indian' ad here
And here's a video of my favourite Pulsar ad till date- the Pulsarmania ad
Kudos to Bajaj for making such a brilliant machine and enabling so many performance seekers to be able to afford it! This will be the next market smasher from Bajaj and I am really sure Yamaha's sales will take a beating in the months to come. Bajaj has played a devlishly cunning scheme with this move, and it will see itself regaining lost territory in the premium segment, due to this new launch. This will send the other manufacturers scurrying for cover, and perhaps to the drawing boards to prepare plans to come out with a more competent and all-round product and manage to challenge this amazing piece of machinery by Bajaj.
From a 'small- time manufacturer of Autorickshaws and Chetak scooters' in the late 1990s, to the company which is today, spearheading technological innovation and affordable performance in sportbiking (and in India is miles ahead of the so-called 'experts' in bike and racing technology- read as Yamaha and Honda), Bajaj Auto has come a long way in the past decade or so under the leadership of Rajiv Bajaj, the young (MBA-from-Harvard) entrepreneur who knows and understands the needs of the biker youths in the country. Maybe Yamaha and Honda aren't interested in the Indian biking scene so they never bother to bring in good products (barring the R15). Either way, Bajaj Auto has managed to make all the big-names in the industry bite dust and do it continuously too, each time a Bajaj bike's UG variant is launched with more performance and visual upgrades. They are now a big and powerful name, owning stake in Austrian sportbike manufacturer KTM, and the world-renowned Ducati too! A partnership with Japanese racing legends Kawasaki could only mean that the best is yet to come from Bajaj. The next 2 years would see a lot of launches of imported products, quite a few of them being premium ones by these reputed manufacturers (excluding Ducati since that would be too pricey for the Indian market)
All in all, India's fastest Bike ever (145 kmph top speed) truly rocks!!! That's the end of this post.
A former Bajaj-hater, (pre-2004) converted to one of their Die-hard fans KK
I was shocked this morning to hear the news- my friend messaged me with a link to a news site which read "Pop King Michael Jackson no more". I thought he was joking but further googling brought out the truth. He really had died... of a cardiac arrest which was so sudden and unexpected, that I am still finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that he is not alive any more.
Possibly one of the greatest musicians of all time, he will be remembered most for his exceptional music, for inventing the art of Break dance and for all the charitable works that he participated in. Truly a legend in the music industry, he has smashed all records for musicians - he is the largest selling artist in the world (more than a billion copies of his albums sold), the first black musician to bring out music videos, he has won the largest number of grammy awards (13 in total), 3 of his albums are voted amongst the best music albums in the world, he has stayed within the top 10 musicians consistently for almost 25 years (his songs were always within the top 10 on the Billboard US countdown), and he is also the largest earning musician (grossed more than half a billion dollars in his entire career). Add to this record list some electrifying dance moves and you have a total entertainer for whose concerts, the tickets were sold out faster than we could blink an eye.
Although he has had his fair share of controversies with his visual appearance, his on-off marital partners and a few molestation charges, that is part of his personal life and none of my or your business to bring into discussion.
I can never forget Michael Jackson, the artist. He is one of those artists whose songs I can never get bored of, because he has the knack of singing every song differently. He could sing Rock, Pop or Soul and yet make it sound so authentic. Also, he is one of the very few artists, whose each and every album has ALL the songs written with complete meanings for the lyrics, a different tune and a different approach (unlike our music directors who blindly copy someone else's tunes). He used to compose every song by himself, practice it a million times to achieve perfection (one of the reasons why his albums used to release only in an interval of 5-6 years). Not to mention, his music videos all have a touch of uniqueness within them and of course, there were always the electrifying dance steps to keep your eyes glued to the screen in awe of that massive dancing+singing talent.
As a person, he was supposed to be a very gentle human being, completely down-to-earth and always ready to help all who approached him. He has donated money to charity in countless figures.. so much that he eventually went bankrupt. Most of this charity was done for uplifting the living conditions of people in the flood and drought-stricken under-developed countries in Africa. Some of his videos such as "Man in the mirror", "Heal the world" and "They don't care about us" are based on those people and their sufferings. He even formed an association of American music artists called "USA For Africa" and their combined work helped produce a few chartbusters on the Billboard, all of whose proceeds went to those charitable trusts. More recently, even when reeling under bankruptcy, he took a huge loan and kept continuing to fund his charitable organizations in underdeveloped Africa and South America. Such was the greatness and selflessness of this chap!
He not only dedicated himself to these works of charity, but also to preach awareness on global issues such as Global Warming, the plight of near-extinction of Killer whales and Deforestation. Tracks like "The Earth Song" were meant to bring out these issues. He wrote a few other songs which highlighted the then plight of discriminated Blacks in the world and the songs preached equality and termination of racism in all forms.
Rarely do you see a star nowadays who is so talented (in fact multi-talented), yet so down-to-earth, does so much for the needy people of the world and takes up social and environmental issues. Most of today's "stars" just concentrate on making money for themselves, and landing a plum film offer in Bollywood/Hollywood.
I grew up watching Michael Jackson videos on MTV every evening, back in those days when Jackson was at his peak (the early and late 1990s) and I can never forget some of his songs and their music videos constantly at the #1 and #2 positions every week on the Billboard countdown, for months together. It has been a great 30 years of his entertaining era, from 1979 to 2009. I wish he could have completed what would have been his last and final Live Concert at London in July 09. Ironically, he passed away less than a month before that happened, and that too while rehearsing his famous dance steps that he would have performed there.
As I currently watch the Michael Jackson tribute show on VH1 now, I still can't somehow bring myself to terms with this massive loss to the music fraternity. As a huge, huge MJ fan, Thank you Michael Jackson, for these 3 decades of all those wonderful, entertaining moments and songs. Rest in peace! You always were, and always will be the undisputed 'King of Pop' !
It's been a while since I last wrote. Not much has happened, at least nothing interesting. There was this activity that was pending since many months (at office). A few of my over-enthusiastic colleagues were curious to visit the Nokia manufacturing facility at Chennai to get a real view of how Nokia's cellphones are manufactured (all the steps from A to Z). The request was finally approved by the head honchos at my office and those at the Nokia factory. Since my team has almost 30 members, everyone could never agree on any single day to visit. Finally 10th June was the day when most (read most, not all) colleagues were fine with the visit. 10th June was a wednesday... I really didn't like the idea of returning by an early morning train on thursday and coming to office completely fatigued and worn-out but I didn't have much choice :-( . Since we were paying money from our own pockets, we decided to stick to a tight budget (I was hoping for a company-paid Free Flight to Chennai by Business class ;-) ). Also, we were not booking for any rooms since that would overshoot the budget and prolong the time spent there. We were leaving Bangalore in the morning and returning home the next morning!
The train was scheduled to leave Bangalore by 6.30am (Lalbagh express - chair car). A few of us (including me) who live inside the city, boarded the train at the Majestic railway station. The rest of us boarded the train at KR Puram since that was closer to Whitefield where most of my colleagues reside (due to the proximity to the office). I was travelling out of Bangalore by train after a long time - more than a decade in fact. This was the first time I was visiting Chennai and I was pleasantly surprised to find that 100% of the track between Bangalore and Chennai has been electrified.
What I was disgusted about during the Bangalore-Chennai journey, was how some people used the train to get to their destination without even buying tickets. They just boarded the train at small stations where the train stopped for a few minutes, stood for half an hour since they obviously didn't have any seats, and got down promptly at their destination stations and walked away. Most of these offenders were not from the labour class (although some part of them were of that class). They were decently clad in formal attire. Some people even had the audacity to sit in the passage between the seats. No one could get up from their chairs and move!! The amount of civic sense (or rather, the lack of it) that we Indians have is appalling, especially so in trains. And not to mention spitting out of the window, eating breakfast and throwing the used paper plates and washing hands outside the window. Do these clowns realize that the train travels at around 100kmph and at that speed, dirty water becomes a fine sewage spray for the innocent guy at the next compartment putting his face at the window and appreciating the outside scenery? and by the way crumpled plates provide for a nice Slap when it hits your cheeks at that speed if you are watching at the window. So why do these people offend so easily? Are they sadistic? No. It's just that when you get hit by dirty water or paper plates, you won't know who threw it- the guy behind you or the guy behind him or someone else. So they know they won't get caught. And yeah- it is easy to just reach out and throw the paper plates out of the window than go searching for a dustbin, right?
One of my colleagues next to me said "What more can you expect from a second class train?" and I knew he was right. All of these offenders should be fined heavily but alas, there are no such rules. I wondered where the TT went. He got in at the Bangalore Cantt. station and checked OUR tickets (people who were sitting in the seats) but why could no one monitor those hundreds of dastardly people who got in and out later without tickets? The train looked more like a BMTC 201 bus with the amount of people standing. Looks like Indian Railways has a long way to go in terms of improvement. They need to know that "perfect" trains like Rajdhani express and Palace-on-Wheels aren't the only trains in India. And instead of arguing over the ban of Coca-Cola and pepsi at Railway stations and replacing aerated soft drinks with Lassi and butter milk, let the railway ministry concentrate on more important issues like these. We will at least move another step towards civilization.
Aside from the topic of inefficient train management, let me get back to my original topic. We reached Arakkonam at around 10.45am. This place is around 40-50 km from Chennai. The Chennai heat hit us as soon as we got down from the train. We had hired a bus to pick us up from the railway station and take us to the Nokia factory. The bus was Air conditioned and most of us dozed through the 1 hour journey to the factory. After reaching the factory by 12 pm, we were served complimentary lunch. We completed the factory visit by around 3pm (I cannot divulge details of the visit for confidentiality reasons) and left the place by 3.30 pm. All I can say is, it was a thoroughly memorable visit.
We had booked the return tickets for Mysore Kaveri express which was scheduled to leave Chennai by 9.30 pm. Since we had the whole evening left, we headed towards Chennai city and our next stop was at Besant Nagar Beach. This was already pre-planned and most of the members had carried along a change of clothes, lest we got wet in the beach (which most people intended to do anyway). After crossing a narrow alley with a disgusting, nauseating odour of fish(a tiny fish market), we managed to reach the entrance to the beach. Our plan was to complete the beach outing by 7 pm, have dinner and then leave for the railway station.
We spent a good 2 hours on the beach. Some people ventured into the sea. Some others went horse riding, the rest took photographs or just chose to munch some snacks at the beachside stalls (me included in the latter category). After a plate of delicious Bajji/Bonda, Channa Dal Bhel puri and Peanut Bhel puri, my stomach was almost full. I had not brought any change of clothes either so I went for a small walk along the coast just for the feel of it. The beach was quite crowded that evening and the usual variety of crowd you can expect at beaches, were visible- small kids playing cricket, couples enjoying cozy moments together, foodies gorging happily at the snacks' stalls and families who wanted to have an evening outing, with the father/mother teaching their young kid(s) to stand still or swim when the tide washed ashore.
Behind the beach just a few hundred yards away was where I spotted the fishermen colonies. The identification never took long. As I was approaching a particular side of the beach, suddenly the stench of rotten fish became unbearable, I could see garbage strewn all along the place, and stray dogs moving around. Small huts where these fishermen obviously resided were abuzz with activity, presumably with the womenfolk cooking that night's dinner, small kids playing outside the huts and the fishermen themselves were busy sorting out their fish (whilst smoking beedis) after returning on their boats with that day's hard-earned catch. Being a vegetarian, I am not a big fan of edible fish or inquisitive about how they are caught from the sea. I could not bear that stench any longer and decided to return the way I came, making a beeline towards where my other colleagues were. On the way, I was little too over-confident about the position of the tide. I ventured closer towards the coast to take some good photos. For a minute my concentration was lost and the next tide hit me instantly, wetting the lower 1/3rd of my trousers and flooding my shoes and socks with water. I regretted not having brought my change of clothes :( My shoes were waterproof and dried almost instantly. For the socks, I had to borrow a table fan that a nearby corn vendor was using to get his charcoal to burn properly (read as a Gadi selling Muskin jola for you kannadigas). After drying the socks for 15 minutes with that table fan, some of the moisture was still there! :-( We moved out of the beach at 7 pm.
Besant Nagar Beach, Chennai
Yours truly, at the Chennai coastline
It was now time for us to go for dinner. 90% of my team were non-vegetarians, and most of them wanted to try the popular Chettinad cuisine which is supposed to be a set of Tamil-nadu style spicy non-veg dishes. They found a "good" Chettinad hotel near the beach and settled down there. We vegetarians were outnumbered!! We were just 3-4 of us and we wanted to join them but that hotel had only "Veg Salad" listed under vegetarian section!! So we went to another hotel called "Murugan's" which is supposed to be famous for Idly, Sambar and Vadas. After a simple and light helping of 2 Idlies and a Vada with some tasty Sambar, and a dessert of a "by 2" sweet pongal, we completed our dinner and waited for the others to join us in the bus. We reached the Chennai central railway station well within time and the train left Chennai by 9.30 pm.
In the sleeper coach, I had the middle berth to sleep on. Much to my dismay, because of my height my feet were jutting out of the berth almost by a foot when I slept and people passing by were mumbling and grumbling about my feet touching their heads. To make matters worse, the guys at the bottom berth were some strangers who wanted the windows closed for some strange reason. And so with a lack of oxygen and a few hundred curses by passersby, I spent an almost sleepless night till around 3 am. My colleagues who stay at Whitefield, got down at the KR Puram station at around 3.30 am. The train finally reached the Bangalore station at around 4.15 am. We had some difficulty negotiating with the pre-paid autorikshaw drivers over the fare. All said and done, I was at home by 5 am. My head was aching and my eyes were burning by now because of the lack of sleep. I hit the gym and did my hourly quota of workout from 5.30 to 6.30 am. I applied for sick leave that day and relaxed for the whole of that day. I in fact slept for much longer than what I would have on a normal night ;-)
I am writing this post on a Monday, taking rest after a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable trip to Bandipur and Wayanad this weekend. 7 of us (our BMS group) set out for a fun-filled (Extra-Long) weekend from April 30th to May 3rd - Vinay, Vinay's brother Abhiram, Ajay, Ashwin, Mahesh, Sandeep and myself. Since May 1st was a Friday (and a public holiday), most of us applied for leave on April 30th to extend the trip to 4 days. May 4th was rest-day at home, for recuperating from the tiring treks and long (and painful) journeys in the cab. I have almost recovered from the body-ache and fatigue by oversleeping, and this is when boredom is killing me. And since I have nothing else to do now, I thought I could as well blog about the entire experience.
The entire course of our trip was divided into 4 days.
Day 1 and half of Day 2 - Bandipur
Day 2.5 to Day 4 - Wayanad
The start of the trip - Day 1
Everyone was in full enthusiasm in the early morning. All of us got picked up at our houses by 6 am and we hit Mysore road by 6.15 am. From then on we stopped to stretch our legs at a couple of places, once at a petrol pump when the Cab driver wanted a fill of Diesel and another one at a highway Chai-wala to have a cup of tea. We then proceeded to Maddur where we stopped at the famous Mylari Hotel for breakfast by 8.30 - 9 am. We had a stomach full of Sagu-Masala Dosas (speciality here - instead of Potato Curry inside, there is a Sagu filling) and Idlys and Vadas. Our next stop was at Nanjangud to stretch our legs. Also, there is a famous temple at Nanjangud which we visited for a couple of minutes. It is a really beautiful and age-old temple with lots of devotees flocking there by the hundreds. After some cool and natural Elneer (coconut water), we left Nanjangud and headed towards Bandipur, taking the Mysore - Gundlupet - Bandipur road. We stopped for directions a couple of times, but once we saw the signboards of Country Club Bush Betta (the place where we stayed), we were on track and reached our destination by 12 pm. We checked into our cottages, changed into swimwear and rushed to the swimming pool to beat the sweltering summer heat. After an enjoyable two hours in the pool, we headed to the restaurant for the simple, yet-tasty lunch buffet.
Breakfast at Mylari Hotel, Maddur
Beating the heat in the pool
Post-lunch we relaxed in our cottages watching TV till the wake-up call came from the club guys for the evening Jungle Safari. This was the first hands-on Safari for most of us (in an open jeep barely meters away from the wild animals) and we were all hoping we could see some Tigers or leopards crossing our path. The Safari was from 3.30 pm till 7 pm- nearly 3 and a half hours in the jungle. The Deer are as common in Bandipur, as what stray dogs are in Bangalore. We saw many herds pass by us frequently. We also got to see herds of Bison, a couple of wild boars, barking deer, Langurs, peacocks, Elephant herds, a Mongoose and lots of rare birds in the forest. The Safari ride is something I will not forget- a truly breathtaking experience in the forest. The guide who was driving the Safari vehicle was pretty informative and patient, explaining about where in the forest he could find specific animals, time and again warning our over-enthusiastic and noisy group of friends to stay quiet lest we scare away the animals ;-)
Spotted Deer in Bandipur - a common sight
Making our way through the forest path
We got back to the camp at 7 pm and chilled out at the club, playing indoor games such as Table Tennis and Snooker. After 2 double games of Table Tennis, the other friends continued the doubles games but Sandeep and I got bored and had a game of Snooker, which we ultimately abandoned when we got the aroma of the evening dinner from the adjacent restaurant ;-) All of us were tired and hungry after an eventful day. After a very heavy dinner (cursing the club for the ultra-spicy food that evening) we retired for the day.
Snooker Time!!
Day 2 - The end of the Bandipur trip - Wayanad beckons
We woke up to screams of camp guys and sounds of a Forest jeep rushing through the narrow forest paths. Our curiosity led us to see what was going on- we saw a herd of elephants thrillingly close to our row of cottages, right behind the fences of our Club area. Everyone wanted to get a closer look at the herd. The animals were frightened to the core, and rushed back to the jungle. We climbed an old, deserted Watch tower to get a better aerial view of the proceedings. After this small incident, we had our morning coffee/tea and set out at 6.30 am for a small walk-cum-trek with a camp guide inside the forest. We spotted a small herd of elephants near a water hole, feeding on the adjacent trees and plants. After quietly taking a few photos, we walked along a small lake and a cliff which runs alongside the length of the lake. The Club guides prefer to call this a natural Dam for some reason!!! maybe to hype it up. Apart from a full grown reddish-black centipede, there were no more wild animal sightings for us that morning- just a few paw-marks of a leopard, an adult bear and the claw marks of a peacock that the guide showed us on the muddy path.
The 'natural dam' we saw during the early morning trek
We returned to the club by 8.30 am and played cricket in a mini-playground for about 2 hours. By 10.15 - 10.30 am, we had breakfast, packed up and checked out of the club by 12pm. We left Bandipur, our next stop was Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta - a famous temple atop the hill. You can reach it by taking a deviation on the Bandipur - Gundlupet stretch of the highway. We wanted to visit it more for the scenic view from the top, and to spot herds of elephants on the hills (which we ultimately did) during the hill climb. Initially a few of us (including me) were hesitant to visit this place as we thought it would eat up time and spoil our trip itinerary by forcing us to skip future spots for that day. However, the visit was thoroughly worth the time we spent. Vehicles are allowed to climb till the top so there was no need to trek. After a heavenly 1 hour on the top, we descended and stopped at Gundlupet to draw some cash for our expenses from the lone ATM. We then had lunch at Udupi Upachar, the only (decent-looking) restaurant. The food was pretty bad, plus we got free cockroaches in the Curds cup that we ordered. After a brief altercation with the hotel manager, we proceeded on our journey to Wayanad, Kerala.
Mahesh, Ashwin and myself sharing a joke in Country club
The view from atop Gopalaswamy Betta
As soon as we entered the Kerala forest region, we began to spot wild elephants in the forests next to the roads, and got down on many an occasion to take photographs. We had to wait for a frustrating 1 hour at the Karnataka-Kerala border (the Kerala RTO checkpost) to get a tourist vehicle permit for our cab into Kerala, which we spent enviously watching private vehicles zooming into Kerala (white-board vehicles do not need any permit). By the time we actually reached Wayanad, it was around 5 pm. We asked passersby to help us out with directions to our next visit - Banasura Sagar Dam (supposedly the largest naturaldam in the world). We reached Banasura Sagar by 6 pm, spent an hour at the beautiful place and headed to Mananthavady where we had booked our rooms- Hotel Brahmagiri to be precise. It was 8 pm by the time we made our way through the endless curving and twisting (but lush green) roads of Wayanad, checked in to the hotel and settled down.
NH 212- dense forests on either side of the road
Banasura Sagar dam at Dusk
The dinner at the ground-floor restaurant was pretty average- nothing to brag about. In fact the service was hopeless. Our order arrived 2 hours after we placed it. The waiters were hardly conversant in any language other than Malayalam- which made life difficult for us when we wanted to ask for or tell them something. In fact we faced this problem throughout the trip in Kerala, not only with the waiters and bell boys but also the passers-by when we asked for directions to places. I was always under the impression that Tamil and Malayalam are very similar. Being a tamilian I tried to converse in Tamil, but they hardly understood anything and neither could I make out anything said in their language :-( Coming back to the hotel, The only guy who knew English was the receptionist (fortunately). For all this they claim to be 3-star which I seriously doubt. Room service was prompt and on-time. The rooms were well maintained, but for one room which was stinking of naphthalene balls and another room which had some smoker previously using the room (residual smell of tobacco). Our complaints saw the hotel guys rushing to disperse the smell, armed with Deodorant spray cans but the Naphthalene ball smell unfortunately returned to haunt me through that night :-(
After that long dinner, we all returned to one of our rooms to catch the IPL action live on the TV set. I retired for the day halfway through the match. That was about Day 2
Day 3 - More of Wayanad, Kerala- truly God's Own Country
Our plan was to cover 3 places that day - Soochipara falls, Pookot Lake and Kuruva Island. After an average breakfast at the Hotel, we left for Soochipara falls by 8.30 am. We took around 2 hours to reach the place. The roads make their way through some exotic Tea estates which made for awesome scenery all through the journey. By 10.30 am we began the climb from the top of the hill to the waterfalls at the foot of the valley. We spent around an hour in the waterfall and climbed back up, huffing and puffing all the way. After a refreshing drink of cold water, we headed towards Pookot Lake, our next destination. This place was more commercialized, with boating and many shops selling Spices, 'Forest Honey' and many more local handicraft works.
Soochipara Waterfalls
Tea Estates on the way to Soochipara Falls
Pookot Lake - a very calm and serene place
One word about all these places - they all charge money around Rs. 20 to 25 per head but these places are well maintained by the Govt. authorities. The boating ticket counter had a long queue which meant we would only get our turn 2 hours later so we ditched the idea and just strolled around the lake to get some good pictures to take back home. After this place, we left by 2 pm for Kalpetta (one of the main towns in Wayanad) in search of a good restaurant for our lunch. We stopped at Hotel Haritagiri- once again the food was of horrible quality, overpriced and arrived an hour late. After waiting for an hour, imagine having to drink cold tomato soup with no bread crumbs in it, veg. Biryani in which the rice and masala was not properly mixed, Gobi manchurian which had so much garlic in it that it could have been renamed to Garlic Manchurian!, curd rice with loads of green chillies and very less curd and Peas Pulao with no green peas!! And yes, everything is served cold here! :-( Later we got to know that Hotels Brahmagiri (where we were put up) and Haritagiri are from the same "Soorya" chain of hotels- no wonder then that they were so similar in service!
Post lunch we left for Kuruva island on the other side of Wayanad (very close to our Hotel in Manathavady). After an hour-long drive we reached it with great difficulty (as usual). The authorities of Wayanad need to take a serious look at putting up signboards properly. Most of the times the passers-by try to be helpful but you end up going around in circles if you follow their directions- 2 people never give the same directions to a particular place. Sometimes signboards will tell you to take a right or left turn to a particular place, but ironically the signboard will be located after you pass that turn.
Once we reached the place,we found that we had to wade through 2-3 feet deep river water to reach the island, situated about a 100 meters away from our side of the shore. The island itself is not very big- just about half or 3 quarters of a square kilometer in area. It is uninhabited, harsh and has really dense vegetation, almost like a rainforest. The only company you can find here would be a few centipedes, millipedes or worse, leeches; not to mention, a few snakes here and there. We spent around 2 hours in this place. There was a raft ride on the river but by the time we reached that side of the island, it was 5 pm (and closing time for the island for the day). We waded back across the river and walked up the hill to our cab, sweating bullets all the while. We played '20 questions' along the way back to the Hotel that evening, to pass time through the hour long journey in the cab. As soon as we hit the main street of Mananthavady, all of us went shopping for some Kerala delicacies- a.k.a Banana chips, Jackfruit chips, Banana halwa, wheat halwa and coconut halwa. Heaving the massive (yet deliciously smelling) carry-bags we returned to our hotel.
Left with no other choice for dinner, we chose the same ground floor restaurant again. This time though, the service was fast, very fast. Instead of 2 hours, they took 1 and a half hours! What's more- they even served hot water instead of cold (in summer). I played it safe this time around and had a simple meal of veg. fried rice that night. Once again IPL kept us occupied till late at night. I had hit the sack early and dozed off by 10 pm while the rest of my friends watched the entire match.
Day 4 - End of the trip and back to our concrete jungle- Home Sweet Home!
We woke up pretty early in the morning, got ready by 7.45 and checked out of the hotel by 8.30 am. After loading all the luggage into our Tempo Traveller, we left for Edakkal Caves. This is one of the most popular tourist spots in Wayanad. Vehicles are allowed only till a particular point. From there, we had to park the vehicle and climb up the hill. We had an alternative- there were two to three jeeps ferrying 8 people at a time but we had to wait for our turn after paying 70 bucks. Mind you, this was Day 4 of the trip so almost all of us were tired. No one wanted to take the path walking. Finally after reaching the entry of the caves, we started our climb up the mountain. The caves were beautiful, and at one point we saw the age-old carvings on the rocks inside the caves- the authorities said the carvings were made in an era as early as 1000 B.C. Also there is a point where 1 huge boulder sits in between 2 other boulders creating a small gap through which sunlight streams in- it is this point which gives this place the name 'Edakkal' - which literally means the 'Stone in between' in Malayalam. At most places the steps are quite unevenly placed and there is only place for 1 person at a time. This meant having to wait for quite a long time at various points for one-way traffic to pass, more so because it was a crowded sunday with lots of people visiting. After reaching about 3/4th the distance, the climb became steeper and a bunch of us gave up and took rest on some nearby rocks while the adventurous ones in our group continued till the top. They joined us in about an hour, and we began the descent. All of us shopped for spices in a shop at the base of the Edakkal hill and then left the place. So much for Edakkal Caves
Inside Edakkal Caves
We decided to stop for lunch at Sulthan Bathery (a small town on the highway between Karnataka and the entry to Wayanad). We were already overshooting the budget and decided to stick to some simple South Indian restaurant. We soon found one which served us the ever-popular South Indian Thali. The food was simple and cheap, yet pretty decent here. After lunch we stopped at our final destination- the ruins of an ancient Jain temple near Sulthan Bathery. This was supposed to be constructed in 1000 A.D and was also being used by Tipu Sulthan for storing his war weapons and ammunition. The temple has been abandoned ever since. This visit marked the close of our stay in Wayanad. Though we had two to three more places in our original itinerary such as- Kanthapara waterfalls, Chembara peak and Meenmutty falls, we had to abandon plans of visiting them due to lack of time. I wish we had got one more day but alas, that was not to be.
We set course for Bangalore, leaving Wayanad at around 2.30 pm. We passed through endless kilometres of the Highway NH 212 (Mysore-Gundlupet-Wayanad). By now, everyone was dozing in the cab and all the excitement was over :-(
The ruins of the ancient Jain temple
We stopped at a place between Nanjangud and Mysore to quench our thirst with coconut water. After that our next stop was at Maddur- Tiffany's restaurant to be precise. After buying a few Maddur Vadas we continued our journey to Bangalore. We stopped again at Mc.Donald's and had quite a sumptuous dinner. The Bangalore-Mysore highway was packed with traffic- to my disbelief it had more vehicles than what I see on the Outer ring road in Bangalore. Not surprisingly, we were delayed by this pile-up near the NICE road entry. We fortunately took a detour and hit Kanakapura road via NICE road, and entered Bangalore near Anajanapura by 9 pm. Now as each one's house approached, it was time to say goodbye and experience the monday morning blues compounded with the post-trip blues :-(
The biggest fan of Mc.Donalds! - Ashwin
I will end my post right here. After an eventful 4 days, I now need to get some rest at home because I am back to office on Wednesday. Quite frankly I will end this post because there are other priorities now- I have to go and munch on Banana chips and wheat halwa- let me hope the stocks last at home for another 2 days ;-)
