Coorg trip travelogue (02/04/10 to 04/04/10)

It's been quite a while now since I last wrote. Blame an overdose of work at office for my lack of posts on blogger for the past 5 months. A vacation was long overdue for quite a while now. Our gang wanted to go for an ad-hoc trip over the long weekend on April 2nd (being Good friday), 3rd and 4th. This time we thought we must avoid the regular lodges and resorts and try something different and better. What better than a traditional coorgi (not sure if its supposed to be spelt as coorgie or coorgy ;-) ) homestay? This was an ancient house called Ashok Bhavan located in madikeri town, about a furlong away from the famous viewpoint, 'Raja Seat'. It was the only place we could manage to find accomodation in, after a previous booking at an estate was goofed up the homestay owner and allotted to someone else. The plan was to go by 1 of our own cars, owing to the convenience and the opportunity to experience the challenging ghat-section driving that the area is so famous for. However what was supposed to be 5 participants became 6. That outnumbered the seats in our cars; we were forced to hire a Toyota Innova since that would guarantee an extra degree of comfort as opposed to other cabs, not to forget the same comfort and luxury as any of our private cars that we initially planned to take (hyundai accent/honda city).

Day 1 - Kushalnagar Buddhist monastery / Dubare elephant camp / Abbey Falls / Omkareshwara temple / Raja Seat / Madikeri town visit

We were supposed to start pretty early from Bangalore on friday. The plan was for all of us to get picked up one-by-one at our respective homes, fill the car fuel tank up with diesel and leave bangalore by 4am. However that was not to be. The cabbie whom we had hired was foolish enough not to inform us about the depleting diesel levels in the tank and to our horror, we found the car stuttering to a standstill just outside my friend's house (after picking up everyone else, that is). Then there was a half-hour drama with 2 of us having to rush to the nearest petrol pump with a 10 litre can and trying to wake up irritated pump workers to get them to help us. Finally the fuel was brought, filled and we were off on Mysore road after this early morning fiasco. The driver more than made up for his folly by maintaining a constant 100-110kmph on the Bangalore-Mysore expressway. We crossed Maddur at 6 and reached Mysore at roughly 7.30am. We stopped at Indra's for breakfast. The only flip side was having to wait for half an hour till 8am for the restaurant to begin operations!

A view from the Bangalore-Mysore expressway at sunrise

A short break on Mysore road

Breakfast time at Mysore - Waiting for the restaurant to open

After breakfast, the next route was to take the Mysore-Hunsur-Kushalnagar highway. After roughly 90km, we came to our first itinerary location - the buddhist monastery at Kushalnagar. There was some kind of Tibetan refugee camp over here. The Buddhist monastery is okay for a half an hour stop, not more than that in my opinion. There is nothing spectacular about it, except for the brief glimpses of buddhist culture and architecture that you get to view here. There were a few geese and turkeys being reared in a garden outside the monastery and that was about it.

At the buddhist monastery

The idols inside the monastery

The time was almost 11am. Our next target was Dubare elephant camp, especially after one of our friends who had been there earlier kept hurrying up scaring us that the place would close down by noon! This place required us to take a deviation from the main highway for about 15-20km. It is a small, man-made island located around 200 metres from the mainland, which can be reached by wading through the 3-4 feet of shallow water. Not that any of us bothered to take the trouble though. There were motorboats ferrying tourists to and fro for a nominal sum. We preferred this over the former method. At the island there is nothing much to do, except for watching a huge board which displays all kinds of trivia you would ever want to know about the elephants they rear and domesticate in Dubare, from the elephants' ages to their heights and weights. There were elephant rides being organized, from an elevated platform to alight / board the elephants. We went for an elephant ride, only 4 adults allowed at a time on 1 elephant. Not really worth the amount that they loot you there for a 50 metre-long ride and back.

View from the island at Dubare

One of the elephants being bathed in the afternoon heat

The next stop was at the homestay itself. We had some trouble locating the place and the friendly caretaker (resident at the homestay) was kind enough to come to Raja seat (which is pretty close to the homestay) and escort us from there. The house in itself was very rustic and traditional. The furniture was pretty bare-bones, the flooring was old fashioned red-oxide and the doors were all made of solid wood. However there was an old television set in this place, fitted with Tata Sky connection. That was all we needed at nights, quite obvious with this IPL fever at its peak in April. After checking in and freshening up, we were served a simple yet sumptuous coorgi-style lunch by the caretaker, Mr. Ravi. It was homely and devoid of any artificial substances. All vegetables were home-grown organically. Needless to ask, after the tiring travel ordeal and the sumptuous lunch we all settled in for a brief nap till early evening.

Ashok Bhavan - the homestay

We left the homestay after 4pm for a close-by sightseeing place, Abbey Falls. This being a popular tourist spot, it was no surprise that we were greeted by hundreds of similar fellow tourists on the same mission. The waterfall had almost dried up in this sweltering summer heat and there were only a few trickling streams of water to give it the presence of a 'waterfall'. The area has been cordoned off by the authorities to prevent tourists from getting into the water there, supposedly due to surprise water currents causing a few calamities last year. After a few moments of exploration with our newly purchased DSLR cameras and a few photos later, we decided to head towards another landmark in Madikeri, Omkareshwara temple. Not that any of us are religiously or spritually inclined at our young age, but the temple is supposed to be hundreds of years old and is known for its architecture. Originally not in our itinerary, we visited this place at the insistence of our homestay's host. A few minutes was all we spent over here. It was already dusk and we decided to proceed to other places on our itinerary.

Abbey Falls dried up during summer?

The prehistoric Omkareshwara temple

The next landmark was Raja seat. This is a hyped-up location. It is just a viewpoint from which you can have a breathtaking glimpse of the entire Brahmagiri hill range which encompasses the Coorg region, but nothing more. Of course, there are the usual signs of commercialization- the entry tickets, well maintained lawns and flower gardens, musical fountains and the like. The Musical fountains started at 7pm and we were forced to wait till then. Time to take out our the SLR cameras again and fire away to glory. Some of the fountain shows were spectacular, albeit repetitive. It was getting close to 8pm after all the fountain shows concluded so we decided to have dinner at Madikeri town, which was just a few minutes away. We had our dinner at Hotel Athithi Veg. which looked like the only decent place on the street. The waiter took our order, came back 10 minutes later and said those dishes weren't available! We chose alternate dishes and 10 minutes later he again came back with the same reply! After a lot of fretting and arguing with the waiter we finally got to eat disastrously sour curd-rice, half-cooked fried-rice and gobi manchurian which was so artificially red in color, it looked like it had been garnished with Asian Paints royale finish! A visit to a neighbouring juice shop brought down the thirst and the flying tempers. We were soon on on our way back to the homestay, and settled down to watch IPL on TV. This brought an end to Day 1 of our trip.

Musical fountains at Raja Seat

More musical fountains

Day 2 - Bhagamandala / Talakaveri / Cheluvara falls

On day 2, three of us woke up early and decided to head out to Raja Seat at daybreak, assuming we could get a clear sunrise view to photograph. My friend and I even took along our cameras' tripods to get the setup right and capture as much of the sunrise as was viewable. To our dismay, it was cloudy and the sun wasn't visible in the horizon. After around an hour of taking in the fresh early morning breeze and a brief stroll in the adjoining park, we headed back to join the others who were still asleep!

The view from Raja Seat at dawn (sadly it was cloudy that day)

Raja Seat gardens

Some more flora at Raja Seat

After a lip-smacking breakfast at the homestay it was time to head out to our next destination - Bhagamandala. This place, called 'Triveni Sangama' is significant for the fact that 3 rivers meet here and then head down towards tamilnadu as the river Cauvery. From Madikeri, it was around 45-50 kms of ghat section roads so we took close to an hour and a half to reach this place by 10am. Apart from a few eateries and a prehistoric temple there was nothing here of scenic interest, to our disappointment.

Bhagamandala - the base of the hills

From there, we headed towards Talakaveri, the birth place of the river Cauvery. It originates in a natural spring on a hill. The spring has now been commercialized and converted into a temple, as you would expect. There are stairs from the temple to the summit of the hill which you could climb if you feel really adventurous. We walked barefoot to the hill-top on the scorching concrete steps and were literally sprinting to avoid our feet getting burnt! It was a really hot day and we were all sweating bullets by the time we walked back to the air-conditioned confines of our Innova in the parking lot. We stopped on the way back from the hill at a shop named 'Coorg Spices' selling obviously spices, honey, honey jam, home-made chikki and similar things. After a ton of shopping at this place, we resumed our descent back to Bhagamandala. Lunch was completed at one of the eateries. The food was the regular south indian meals, you can't expect too much in these areas ;) A couple of my friends who had upset stomachs after the previous night's dinner at the infamous hotel Athithi, decided to settle for tender coconut instead of eating something again!

Talakaveri, the birth place of river Cauvery

After lunch and a few enquiries for directions with other cab drivers who had stopped in the place, we proceeded to Cheluvara falls which was located around 30km from Bhagamandala. Bad roads and sudden, unexpected heavy rain caused some delay, but we weren't complaining. The wet roads with the greenery-filled coffee and pepper estates on either side made Coorg look more beautiful after the showers than ever. After rain stopped, we took a break and stopped to take photographs of the superb location. We managed to reach Cheluvara falls by 5pm after quite a tough time of searching around. There were very few signboards directing us here. There are no steps leading to this waterfall. You have to trek roughly around 200-300 metres down to this place. The just-concluded rainfall had made the terrain extremely slippery and I had quite a time getting down here, what with that mammoth SLR camera bag to lug around. There were a few tourists here, mostly techies from Bangalore ;) We managed to spot a rare water snake near the bank area. There was also an adventure camp on the top of the falls, with enthusiasts doing a backward rope-climbing down the falls. I am not sure what that is called, perhaps 'Rappelling'. After spending an hour here, we headed back to Madikeri town.

Rain drenched roads along the way to Cheluvara falls

The plants receive a much-needed shower in the summer

Cheluvara falls

A close up of the waterfall in motion

One of my friends had fallen sick with acidity and an upset stomach and we dropped him at the homestay before heading to a restaurant near Raja Seat, this place was called 'Raj Darshini'. It was a decent place with better ambience than Hotel Athithi. It resembled the service-sections of namma Bengaluru's umpteen 'Shanthi Sagar'(s). We ordered a full course meal and the food was quite satisfactory, the only bad thing being the very late service, which was no surprise considering that the place was choc-a-bloc with tourists. After dinner, we had to pay a visit to the doctor with our sick friend for his treatment. Another tiring and eventful day came to an end with some more IPL action on TV before we finally retired to bed.


Day 3 - Virajpet / Irupu Falls / Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary / Mysore / back to Bangalore :)

Day 3 was already here. One of my friends and I had a lot of fun waking up the others in the morning with sadistic methods, including playing the irritating IPL tune next to their ears, to smacking them with the morning newspaper roll to sprinkling cold water on their faces ;) After getting ready, what awaited us was a delicious coorgi breakfast of Kadubus and Sagu. Post-breakfast, we left the homestay at around 10am after settling the dues and over-tipping the hospitable host Mr. Ravi for organizing everything well. After a short break at Virajpet, we proceeded along the Virajpet -> Nagarhole -> Mysore route. The roads were disgusting. Cars with low-ground clearance will take a mammoth beating if they ever venture on this stretch. I could imagine what could have happened to our cars had we actually gone ahead with our previous plan of bringing along our road-hugging, ultra low-stance sedans, a.k.a the accent/city ;-)

Wanting to stop at Irupu falls required us to take a de-tour from the main highway and re-join it at some place later on. Irupu falls was probably the best maintained place in my opinion, with ample parking space, pay & use restrooms, an eatery, a restaurant and adequate signboards directing you to the place. After paying the entry fee, we had to take a 700 metre pathway through the forest to reach the falls. The path is made up of concrete steps with lots of benches to sit down and take rest along the way, lest you feel tired. A small stream runs through the forest along the path making the whole walk very picturesque. Making this place more accessible obviously means it would be crowded. There is a platform where tourists can take bath below the falls. I thought this should have been avoided; the water in that area was frothing due to the soap/shampoo usage and the entire area was littered with plastic bottles and biscuit packets, etc. It was sad to see human interference plaguing this otherwise beautiful place. We were done with this visit by around 1pm. We resumed our journey to Nagarhole forest.

A stream that runs beisde the path, all along the way to Irupu falls

Picturesque setting with a stream in the middle of the forest

Irupu Falls in all its glory

We failed to find any restaurant along the way from Irupu falls to Nagarhole. This meant having to skip lunch and settling for some junk food, snacks and leftovers we still had in our car. If you plan to visit this place, be sure to carry your food along or else don't plan this place during mealtimes. There is no restaurant in sight for the entire stretch, and the ones that exist only serve pork :-( We entered Nagarhole forest after checking in the vehicle details at the forest department checkpost. The rule here is to not get down from the vehicle at any point inside the forest for safety reasons. The authorities have setup cameras all along the stretch and you will eventually be penalised heavily at the exit checkpost. We managed to spot lots of deer and langurs but nothing more than that.

Making our way through Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary

We stopped at the sanctuary office to find out if we could get jeep safari rides into the forest but there were only Safari buses available (akin to the ones at Bannrghatta national park) and those have mesh windows and coverings so it was impossible to get good snapshots of wildlife with the obtrusive mesh. Meanwhile, a stag had strayed into the parking lot and was enjoying the attention it was receiving from all the tourists ;-) It was 2.30pm in the afternoon. After deciding to skip the bus safari ride and continue the journey instead, we completed the close-to 80km ride through Nagarhole forest and stopped again at the exit checkpost. Much to our amusement, what looked like a bunch of drunk, spoilt college kids/brats were held up there for stopping their cars and getting down in the forest ;-)

Guess whom we met in the Nagarhole forest department parking lot ;-)

The road less frequently travelled

A bison who didn't like being disturbed at lunchtime

We took the Nagarhole - Hunsur connecting road and this stretch was very well maintained. Our innova kept up the pace with constant speeds of 100-110kmph. Within no time we crossed Hunsur and headed towards Mysore city. After a suggestion from one of us, we decided to stop at Hotel Siddhartha, Mysore at around 4.30pm for a late afternoon lunch or early evening supper, whatever you could call it. After stuffing ourselves with idlis, dosas, gulab jamuns and bajji-bondas, we entered the last leg of our trip journey- the Mysore to Bangalore drive. There were no more breaks after that and we covered the 130km distance in close to 3 hours, despite Mysore road being fully crowded. It actully resembled my Home-office commute along outer ring road than a highway!

We reached Bangalore via the NICE road - Kanakapura road connection and it was time for everyone to say goodbye and alight at their respective homes. A long weekend and a fantastic holiday had come to a close and it was back to our concrete jungles, the 3-walled cubicles and routine techie life once again :-)


KK

Relio Quick Auto Mall: A damp squib!

I was a little surprised to see an advertisement in the newspaper some time last week, about a new automobile exhibition 'Relio Quick Auto Mall' in Bangalore between the 13th - 15th, to be held in palace grounds. After all, Bangalorean auto buffs aren't really lucky in this department. All we get is a painfully boring 'Vaahan Yatra' every year.

I have been visiting Vaahan Yatra ever since its conception way back in 2002, hoping that every year it would get better with more attractions for us enthusiasts but it is always the same old stall layout. The location would either be at palace grounds or KTPO, Whitefield. To begin with, there will usually be a few local car dealerships who set up shop- Maruti, Tata, Toyota, Hyundai and Honda showcasing their already-on-sale-in-the-market cars. If you are really lucky you may find a couple of german carmakers strutting their stuff- BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes.. but mind you, NOT ALL of them will be there! The tata guys would have hired some MC to keep blabbering something on his mic regarding some contest and he would keep giving away prizes to whoever answers his questions about some tata car's specifications (dumb publicity!). A car customization + modification company would have displayed a bunch of hot modded cars with hot looking babes to match ;) (perhaps the only decent stall). ICE equipment (In-Car Entertainment) and alloy wheel manufacturers' stalls aren't uncommon. In the 2 wheeler department, the standard companies would be there. The japanese bike makers would have displayed their superbikes - the Hayabusa by Suzuki and the YZF-R1 by Yamaha. People hound these stalls and try to get pictures of themselves sitting on the bike or their children seated on the fuel tank, either way it is annoying for people who want to get a decent look or photo of the bike (alone!). Towards the end of the row of stalls, a few would have on offer car/bike polishes, shampoos and lubricants. Not to forget, a few stalls who sell 20-30 Rs. keychains and stickers of any reputed company you want. Harley Davidson, Porsche, Ferrari, Yamaha, BMW, Suzuki, Audi... You name it, they have it! Well. that summarizes it all I guess, about the 'exhibition'.

The Eye of the Beamer (BMW 5 series)

I never expected anything apart from the usual layout but wanted to have a look anyway. So I dragged 2 of my friends along to this place on a rather gloomy sunday afternoon. We went there at around 2.30pm. While the usual car manufacturers' stalls were there, there were no modified cars, no ICE stalls, no aftermarket accessories except a stall which sold Motul lubricants! What was different this time was a small display of Vintage beauties. There was a huge array of vintage VW Beetles. There was also a cute current generation Beetle on display.

A current generation Volkswagen Beetle


The row of vintage VW Beetles on display

No Yamaha this time, just Suzuki displaying their trademark power monsters - the GSX-R1300 Hayabusa superbike to complement the M1800 Intruder and the Boulevard cruisers. The layout in itself was quite small- indicating a lack of participation by most companies.

A Suzuki Hayabusa on display.. the big daddy of superbikes

Suzuki Boulevard - a Mammoth 1800cc Cruiser


One of the many vintage beauties displayed

There was a stunt show outside. RJ Prithvi (popular RJ from Radio One) was compering the event here. They had placed a small concrete road of perhaps 50 metres length. Hundreds of people thronged the place to get a view of the stuntmen and their crazy antics on their machines. What I was surprised to see was a bewildering lack of safety measures. None of the stuntmen wore any kind of protective riding gear while performing. All of them were dressed in loose T-shirts and 3/4ths! What audacity to perform bike stunts in public without even wearing protective gear. Some of them weren't even wearing helmets! Added to this was the lack of any kind of barricade separating the crowd and the bikes. Had any stunt guy lost control and fallen, the bike would be catapulted straight into the crowd! I call it sheer stupidity. I wonder how the organizers allowed such risk without taking any precautionary measures. That said, most bikes were refurbished Yamaha RX100s and the stunts were limited to Wheelies on the RX 100s. After a while it started to get boring. All they did was wheelie the RX100s to and fro across the stretch. I expected much better stunts, perhaps Rolling stoppies, burnouts, 360- burnouts, human compasses, etc much like what we see on TV in the bike advertisements.

Adjacent to this was a book exhibition which was much, much more crowded than the auto mall. There were some really good titles on display and great discount prices (announced right from the billboards kept outside) which ensured that a huge number of people were drawn inside. After making our way through 350-odd stalls in the book expo and coming out of the stampede, we headed home in the evening after a brief stop at Malleshwaram to munch on some chaats. That's about all that happened this sunday. I hope that one day, we Bangaloreans get to see something like the massive Delhi Auto Expo that happens every year.

KK

1 year Ownership report - 2005 Hyundai Accent GLS 1.6

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 Mobil1 fully 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 :)

KK

Welcome, India's fastest pair of wheels!

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-i version 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

http://www.zigwheels.com/Reviews/Road-test-Bajaj-Pulsar-220-DTSi/Pulsar_220_20090622-1-6


The official website for the Pulsar 220 is

http://www.p220thefastestindian.com/

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

Farewell, King of Pop!

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' !

MJ Fan for life,
KK

A hurried visit to Nokia's Chennai Factory

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 ;-)

The next day, it was back to work as usual

Until my next post, so long
KK