6 Reasons why Bikers are worse than Geeks!!!

1.       A geek will run you through books and web pages – a biker will run you through dust and smoke!

2.       A geek will really know where he is going – a biker most probably won’t!

3.       A geek will always play safe – a biker will always play, safe or not!

4.       A geek will never get his hands dirty – a biker knows exactly how to get them dirty!

5.       A geek will have a perfect closet – a biker won’t even have one!

6.       A geek will be out of place at a social do – a biker will still be searching for a place!

The Duster that does not bite dust!

You are up early in the morning, driving a nice compact SUV towards the wilderness and it starts raining. You venture deeper into the sea of bright green on the narrow internal roads of the Western Ghats and you come across a small off-road trail – the one that’s disappears into the woods just to peep out above the tree-line on the hillock yonder. You sit up in your driving seat, gripping the wheel hard. The boulder patches, running streams and slush fields are running in a loop in front of your eyes just like the breaking news reel on our TV channels. It just makes you want to go in and take the plunge! What a dream!

Here in India, such dreams seldom come true. You are left wanting your little SUV to have a four-wheel-drive system, so that you can just hit off the trail just for the heck of seeing where it goes. But now that I am writing about it – yay – I have lived this dream. Yes, I was previewing a compact 4x4 SUV, the Duster AWD from the French manufacturer Renault, on invitation from the team at Blogadda. Being an automotive fanatic, I had been tracking the Duster since its global launch under the brand Dacia. As the car was being launched in India, Dacia had already built a Dakar spec Duster with a high performance engine and an effective four-wheel-drive system. I had been waiting for this car since at least a year and now that I got a chance to lay my hands on it, I was quite excited.

The test schedule for the day was planned really well as we drove off from Pune city towards Lavasa getting to drive the car on the highway as well as on narrow country roads filled with pot-holes and the challenging twisties of the Mula and Mutha Ghats. The Duster has always been a great handler. If you could live with strictly plain interiors and some weirdly positioned switches, you would love this car. This probably is one of the best handling cars to be launched in India for people who can spend about a million bucks and a bit more.

The second leg of the test drive was something that I had been a dream for quite some time. I got to hit a long 5 km off road trail. As I was leaving tarmac, I offered my prayers to the Gods of Speed – Hanu Mikkola, Ari Vatanen, Sebastien Loeb et al – and let all the 110 horses go! The ESP light blinked frantically on the dash as the wheels kept spinning on the loose gravel. The car lunged ahead with zest. I was really surprised by the composure of the Duster. It always had the right amount of driver aid kicking in to keep the car in check. The Torque-on-Demand and the ESP work in great unison letting even novices cruise through the obstacles. The car is quite capable of handling a 30-35⁰ incline on a dirt road even when it is raining! 

After some water crossings and more broken tarmac, we could finally hear our stomachs calling for food.

The last leg was the drive back to the Courtyard Marriott where we had been hosted by the extremely friendly and hospitable team of Blogadda and Renault. I took it easy on the way to feel how the car would feel in real world. As I ran in 2WD mode, the Duster just ate up all the road undulations. Being an automotive engineer, I have an idea of how difficult it is to get a car to ride like that at low speeds and also hold corners at high speeds.

It had been a fun day, the exact kind of a getaway I was planning for – a good road, a mad location and a crazy car – it doesn’t get better than that for someone who has more gasoline and oil in his veins than the blood corpuscles. It turned out to be the one of the best ways I could have celebrated Independence – the freedom to hit that unknown trail which I would probably have turned away from for the lack of choice!

-          - This blogpost is written as a part of the #DusterAllWheelDrive event by Blogadda and Renault India.
--         - For further details about the Renault Duster AWD and any other car please log on to CarWale - The biggest Automotive Website in India

The ‘CAAAAR’MA : Nissan Sunny

Nissan made Sunny to be the dream car for Indians, bigger and cheaper. My first glimpse of the ‘New Sunny’ was the rear end and I said, ‘Hey, Baby Teana !!!’. The nice curvaceous back end with swept up tail lamps look good. The car is long and has a rich feel to it given by the subtle strokes of chrome. The front look can be said to be docile as against the ‘Aggressive’ looking cars of the segment. The body has a distinctive and a broad shoulder line. The stance was nice and not low, very efficient on Indian roads.

Keyless entry, grace XV variant, I entered into the Sunny world. Space was overflowing. If you thought Tatas did a hell of a job with the Manza, the Sunny is going to make yours jaws drop. The interior is bright and sleek. The plastic quality could have been better but the fit and finish matches the Japanese élan. The dash is huge but sleek. The circular theme of the overall design is evident. The climate control, integrated music system and other functional buttons are strategically placed and are discreetly spaced for un-inhibited use without taking your eyes off the road. The instrument console is stylish with the chrome rings and has a nice mix of digital and analog meters.

The diesel engine came to life with the gentle push of a button and settled immediately to idle. The sheer length of the car came into perspective when I had to reverse her out of the tight parking space. It sure seems like a MUV from inside. On the open road, the car has a nice presence, good riding height, elbow space, seating comfort, thigh support, smooth clutch, nimble brakes and more than a 100 horses under the hood. The steering is just near perfect with the weight responses on corners and ease on the straights. It tends to roll over tight turns and high-speed lane changes, given the size of the car. The engine performs enthusiastically from over the 1500 rpm to 3500 rpm mark, below which it feels a
bit sluggish (typical diesel) and above which the cabin noise starts moving up.

The suspension setup is just in place for typical Indian ride. After the slow speed stiffness, the car feels absolutely at home. The Sunny is planted right up to 140 kmph. The wind noise, though, creeps in after 80-100 kmph. The car has good bump absorption with almost no pitch or yaw, courtesy the long wheel base that matches a Civic. The Sunny takes a big leap towards the cliché ‘Affordable luxury’.

That takes me to the USP of this car, leg-room. Pull the front seats as far as u can and still you’ve got space good enough for a 6’2” guy to sit comfortably. As experts say, it has got leg-room more than a Merc E-class! With the retractable armrest, the car is cozy for 5 hefty adults. The sloping roofline means a more slant backrest that may be uncomfortable over long tours. The smart and efficient system of routing cool air to the rear seats gives the passenger that extra bit of indulgence. The door knobs are one of their kind and nicely blended into their design. You may take some time to get used to these.

With the Nissan diesel, economy is never an issue and so is the build quality. Also, Nissan ramping up the dealer network over the country, customers eyeing an budget up to 8-9 lacs, have got a
CAAAAR to buy!!!!

Blood Shackles

The right to live life on your terms is something that you should be born with. It is okay if I have to be fed, to be held, to be taught till I grow up or when I grow old - but- I still have the right to live my years of independence with my choices.

It becomes even more difficult when the people who 'own' you can not just let go. There is a reason why all these family soaps have run for ages. It is the battle for control, the tactics and the strategies to cripple your target into submission that are formulated, executed and revered.

'Family' - the concept - has its origins to ancient civilization and is still a consequential part of society all over the world. Family, if you go very basic, is group of individuals staying together to help each other survive. Add love, compassion to it and things like rights and duties emerge. Emotions are an integral part of the human psychology and hence with more emotions into the mix, the complications multiply.

The definition of Family has changed over the years due to continual exposure to this deadly mixture of complicated emotions called relations. This has led to concepts of moral liability or emotional ownership that in turn have made this cordial in-habitation a ghastly affair. 

The individualism has been lost in this congregation of egos and expectations. The identities have either been lost or are so blurred that 'identity-crisis' sounds like a primordial definition. These people with identities in 'no-man's-land' are highly susceptible to influence -good or bad. 

The solution to this is not breaking the shackles and walking away. Giving back the help you got when you were incapable is your moral responsibility and you can not shrink away from it. The catch here is having the choice to give it back in the way you prefer!

Dribble Drabble Wibble Wobble....... Thud!

Shards of Flesh

The grass seemed greener, the sky blue felt richer, the moon glowed brighter. Everything fell into place. Nothing could go wrong. Being on cloud nine. the universe revolved around a single sun. The abundant mirth of tiny things, the sequence of mischievous winks, the shivers of those tender touches.

What an illusion!!!!

Happiness - FTW 

Happiness is that random fantasy in life created to make you want it, want it so bad that you end up being unhappy for the most part of your life.

What if we could just ignore the existence of happiness? Would that make our life easy?

What is happiness? Happiness for me is the emotion that arises when your expectations are matched by the event. It is that feeling when the people around you match your expected frequency. Happiness is achieving something further than your expectations.

Lord Krishna in his unfathomably deep philosophy ‘Bhagvad Geeta’ says ‘Do your deeds and don’t expect any results’ which kind of matches in here. What if you never expected anything out of anything you did? You could never be unhappy!

So, why should we not fuck this shit and not bother about anything, just do our stuff and leave it all to the so called Almighty to keep the balance skewed!



The Evil Within!

I am not the one you thank
I am not the one you want
I am not the one you think
I am not the one you wish
I am not the one you dream
I am not the one you feel
I am not the one you love
I am the one who killed your dove!!!

Rock Bottom

There are moments in your life when you want to run away from everything. There are moments when you would be unnoticeable. That you just want to be forgotten like the floods that rocked us a decade back or like the bullets Kasab sprayed. There are these moments when you think you have actually hit rock-bottom.

That brings me to ‘rock-bottom’. How would I define rock-bottom? I don’t really know! Is it something that you reach when you have failed miserably or is it something that you did not account for? Rock bottom, for me, is that ocean trench you never fathom. The deeper you fall every time, you think you have hit the sand and you try and get up and fight back until the next time when you know that this time it is surely deeper.

That is surely depressing. Depression is probably an expression of knowledge that the trench is much deeper than what you thought. And that, according to many ‘gurus’, should be enlightenment. Enlightenment or self-realization, probably, is knowing where exactly you lie amongst the co-ordinates of the universe.

Expression is to exhibit. Exhibitions are to be seen carefully to understand the thought behind the charade. And sometimes the fascia is cleverly painted to work exactly the other way. The mind is a processor of a trillion thoughts at a time. Some are known while most are just there and to be paint one like that, you need to be focused.

Focus is the key that mostly unlocks success. But is it success that keeps you away from hitting rock-bottom? Or is it that you are always on the sand bed, devising criteria in your head that become the ladder you would want to climb out to be a success?

My date with a SuperModel!

I couldn’t sleep that night – I was nervous. I was supposed to spend a good lot of time with this beauty tomorrow. You know you have to prepare a lot for a date and I did not want to goof up for the zillionth time. I know bikers are dim-wits but I was hell bent on getting this one right – you don’t get such chances every other day right?

They said she is bad-ass, but, I still went on reading about her. Frankly, it was seemed as if I was going for a lot more than I could handle. Her very potential and its enormity got to the nerves of even the best – and I am just a mere mortal – a beginner. I needed some sleep. You don’t want to go red-eyed and yawning half through the day. I somehow close my eyes trying to fend away the thoughts. I knew it would be a long tiring day ahead and I should be at my best to even be considered – forget making even an impression.

There she was, dressed in bright sparkling green mixed well with touches of black. Her eyes were big and focused. Her voluptuous curves were to die for and not even the cork-screw¹ could match the mix of their diversity and insanity. Her stance was well spread and planted, just like a predator preparing to pounce. Spell bound at her first sight, I could not decide if I was in awe or love!

I started the day with my poker face – holding my nerves - trying my best not to blow it. Surprisingly, she turned out to be sweet-tempered. Beyond her daunting façade, she was actually very easy to get along. As the day progressed, the grin on my face started getting wider. I was getting in to my element and pushing myself to go further and at the same time probing cautiously. The catch is not to get over-ambitious and rub her the wrong way lest you get thrown out.

But then, I had my set of charms too! Soon, she started loving the way I was treating her. (You have to learn these things over time or you end up alone on some bed²). It is real fun when you meet ‘someone’ new and you know that ‘someone’ is certainly out of your league and you still prod on that treacherous path trying to win over. In spite of a string of failures under my belt, I always look out for another opportunity to get it right.

By the end of the day, I was pretty much there. I knew how far to go (and it wasn’t even getting her miss a beat). I knew I was doing my best as we floated around, cutting through the crowd. I wanted to go unspotted, but then, with someone like her, you are going to get noticed. And when that happened, I absorbed every bit of the lime-light in the most gentlemanly way I could.

It was evening and she had to go back and I could not stop myself from being sad. I was just getting to know her and probably needed some more time (count them in years) to get into her league and I knew we would have a ball together. As I left her, I was engrossed in thoughts – thoughts about life as such (No - I am not going to cry).

Ta-da!!! Happy realization! 

I agree that super-models are something you always aspire to have. But then, what is the point if you cannot savour the company – except that you have something to boast about! (It’s a different case for the ‘experts’). For somebody like me, it would better to date the girl next door while I inch my way up to the ‘expert’ league. I am certain it would be a lot more fun!

PS : All this while I was talking about the lady in green – the Kawasaki ZX14R – the mothership of motorcycles across the globe!

1 – Cork Screw : Laguna Seca

2 – Hospital Bed