Indy-hai-hum

What is the first thing- which comes to your mind when you heard a loud - "INDIA"
Tri-colour
Cricket/Sachin Tendulkar
क, ख ,ग 
Parliament
Delhi/Bombay (i m in full rights for using that vintage name of city)
dark wheatish ill-nutrition-ed adults in white shirt and dark trousers
geo-graphical map of India
PAK/POK (quite possible hugh?)


as an Indian -  any of the above could come to your mind as first thing.
And the irony is, this first thing only comes to our mind only when we heard INDIA on a louder note.
This thing never comes to our mind, as a second thought. Never we think of this, when we are glazing at the stars, with a glass of milk(rural) or beer(urban) OR relaxing on the couch OR just awake and waiting for bed tea with a sutta(bachelor) or bachcha(long married) in our hand.
This second thought - has become the priority for every Indian all through his/her life.
Be it, Naukri, Chhokri, projects, papa-mummy, aunty, didi, dost, dost ki girlfriend etc etc.
But this is the life. And you know why - coz we have been thought to live everyday. The moment we are admitted to school, we are forced into an army - an ARMY of RATS. And from there on we all are part of a Rat Race. We are always taught- expalined-frightened- terrified -- by our Parents, Teachers, Elders, Uncle,Seniors - ki boss --bus kuch saal ki mehnat, fir toh aaraam hi aaraam hai.

Kya karega saala - no one in the country dares to go beyond limit.....
No one is bothered, what n how the Gen-nex will take from this.....
Still there are few, who dare to do that - But they are in wrong profession. :(


A government comes into power, and it starts 100 of new schemes n projects, to gain what??
a re-gain of power in elections for a decade or 2.
Few Genius, start an agitation against them, but it again takes a decade or 2, to reach and atleast make people aware - ki hum bhi isi country mai rehte hai.....haa morcha dilli mai sambhale baithey thay abtak. It again takes them a decade or 2 - to come into power with full majority. And once in power- they swear-in, shift to their official bungalows, and after giving 100+ interviews on national TV, for atleast half a decade- they try to empower the public - by scrapping all those 5 -6 decade old plans and introducing new ones.

In this shift of governance period, a man just born is about to retire from his job- which he never wanted to do, or atleast for so long.
What can you expect from a person, living in such a world.
What can you expect from his/her children.

Every thing is done in the name of em-powering the common man or the people of a community.


Ye ho gayee baat politics ki----

Lets take a dig at movies:-
 If the newly released-Aamkha starrter 'PK' is made TAX FREE, then i swear Paresh Rawal-starrer-2012 flick-'OH MY GOD' should have been made mandatory to watch- wo bhi -'MooFT'-'MooFT'-'MooFT'.

The worst, 1 must dislike about PK - the movie as a commercial business works on a double standard way. The Moral of the film is -'do not believe blindly'
AamKha, R.Hirani and ViViCho are raking in moolahs on the model, against which the film has been portrayed.
The movie,which is an avg entertaining one,(copied story+same old junky jokes+below par music+overrated n overacted characters) which can be easily watched @ Rs. 60/- (including snacks) is asking upto a Rs.1600 PVR Director's Cut Vasant Kunj Sunday night show ticket to PK. WTF??
If we are talking about good cinema, then 'PK' stands nowhere as compared to OMG.(which was also based on a Gujju play-KANJI V/S KANJI but was converted into a much better and realistic cinema).

Ye to wohi baat ho gayee, jitna M.C. Mary Kom ne lifetime mai nahi kamaya utna....PiggyChops ne Mary kom pe based ek movie kar ke kama liya. 

Sports:-

Although Hockey was the National Sports of India since long, Cricket was a religion.

almost 5 decades of Indian - children, youth, adult, Senior citizen was spent in watching cricket, or willing to meet his/her fav cricketer once in a life time or adoring thier children to be a good cricketer( esp batsman).

The cricketers and few clubs/boards earned so much money, that a dog fight came into spot light in front of whole nation. Suddenly, like politics, the phase was shifted and the long pending National Sport and/or other sports start getting thier dues.

A hockey/football/kabaddi player who was retired 2-3 decades before, could do nothing to hold his/her tears. What was his fault, if he was a pro-sportsd person in 80's instead of 2020.

World Organizations- origin and nomenclature.

ABN AMRO - In the 1960s, the Nederlandse Handelmaatschappij (Dutch Trading Society; 1824) and the Twentsche Bank merged to form the Algemene Bank Nederland ( ABN; General Bank of the Netherlands ). In 1966, the Amsterdamsche Bank and the Rotterdamsche Bank merged to form the Amro Bank. In 1991, ABN and Amro Bank merged to form ABN AMRO.

Accenture - Accent on the Future. Greater-than 'accent' over the logo's t points forward towards the future. The name Accenture was proposed by a company employee in Norway as part of a internal name finding process (BrandStorming). Prior to January 1, 2001 the company was called Andersen Consulting.

Adidas - from the name of the founder Adolf (Adi) Dassler.

Adobe - came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the houses of founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke .

AltaVista - Spanish for "high view".

Amazon.com - Founder Jeff Bezos renamed the company to Amazon (from the earlier name of Cadabra.com) after the world's most voluminous river, the Amazon. He saw the potential for a larger volume of sales in an online bookstore as opposed to the then prevalent bookstores. (Alternative: It is said that Jeff Bezos named his book store Amazon simply to cash in on the popularity of Yahoo at the time. Yahoo listed entries alphabetically, and thus Amazon would always appear above its competitors in the relevant categories it was listed in.)

AMD - Advanced Micro Devices.

Apache - The name was chosen from respect for the Native American Indian tribe of Apache (Indé), well-known for their superior skills in warfare strategy and their inexhaustible endurance. Secondarily, and more popularly (though incorrectly) accepted, it's considered a cute name that stuck: its founders got started by applying patches to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'a patchy' server â€" thus the name Apache.

Apple - for the favourite fruit of co-founder Steve Jobs and/or for the time he worked at an apple orchard. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computer if his colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 p.m. Apple's Macintosh is named after a popular variety of apple sold in the US. Apple also wanted to distance itself from the cold, unapproachable, complicated imagery created by the other computer companies at the time had names like IBM, NEC, DEC, ADPAC, Cincom, Dylakor, Input, Integral Systems, SAP, PSDI, Syncsort and Tesseract. The new company sought to reverse the entrenched view of computers in order to get people to use them at home. They looked for a name that was unlike the names of traditional computer companies, a name that also supported a brand positioning strategy that was to be perceived as simple, warm, human, approachable and different. Note: Apple had to get approval from the Beatle's Apple Corps to use the name 'Apple' and paid a one-time royalty of $100,000 to McIntosh Laboratory, Inc., a maker of high-end audio equipment, to use the derivative name 'Macintosh', known now as just 'Mac'.

AT&T - American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation officially changed its name to AT&T in the 1990s.

Bauknecht - Founded as an electrotechnical workshop in 1919 by Gottlob Bauknecht .

BBC - Stands for British Broadcasting Corporation.

BenQ - Bringing ENjoyment and Quality to life

Blaupunkt - Blaupunkt (Blue dot) was founded in 1923 under the name Ideal. Their core business was the manufacturing of headphones. If the headphones came through quality tests, the company would give the headphones a blue dot. The headphones quickly became known as the blue dots or blaue Punkte. The quality symbol would become a trademark, and the trademark would become the company name in 1938.

BMW - abbreviation of Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Factories)

Borealis - The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis, is the celestial phenomenon that features bursts of light in colourful patterns dancing across the night skies of the north. Borealis, inspired from the shining brilliance of the Northern Lights, was formed in 1994 out of the merger between two northern oil companies, Norway's Statoil and Finland 's Neste.

BP - formerly British Petroleum, now "BP" (The slogan "Beyond Petroleum" has incorrectly been taken to refer to the company's new name following its rebranding effort in 2000).

BRAC - abbreviation for Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, world's largest NGO (non governmental organization). It works in development programs around the world.

Bridgestone - named after founder Shojiro Ishibashi. The surname Ishibashi (??) means "stone bridge", i.e. "bridge of stone".

Bull - Compagnie des machines Bull was founded in Paris to exploit the patents for punched card machines taken out by a Norwegian engineer, Fredrik Rosing Bull.

Cadillac - Cadillac was named after the 18th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe , sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan. Cadillac is a small town in the South of France.

Canon - Originally (1933) Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory the new name (1935) derived from the name of the company's first camera, the Kwannon, in turn named after the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy.

CGI - from the first letter of Information Management Consultant in french (Conseiller en Gestion et Informatique).

Cisco - short for San Francisco. It has also been suggested that it was "CIS-co" -- Computer Information Services was the department at Stanford University that the founders worked in.

COBRA - Computadores Brasileiros, "Brazilian Computers", electronics and services company, was the first state-owned designer and producer of computers in the 1970s, later acquired by the Banco do Brasil.

Coca-Cola - Coca-Cola's name is derived from the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring. Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the 'K' of kola to 'C' for the name to look better.

Colgate-Palmolive - formed from a merger of soap manufacturers Colgate & Company and Palmolive-Peet. Peet was dropped in 1953. Colgate was named after William Colgate, an English immigrant, who set up a starch, soap and candle business in New York City in 1806. Palmolive was named for the two oils (Palm and Olive) used in its manufacture.

Compaq - from "comp" for computer, and "pack" to denote a small integral object; or: Compatibility And Quality; or: from the company's first product, the very compact Compaq Portable.

Comsat - an American digital telecommunications and satellite company, founded during the President Kennedy era to develop the technology. Contraction of Communications Satellites.

Daewoo - the company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means "Great Universe" in Korean.

Dell - named after its founder, Michael Dell. The company changed its name from Dell Computer in 2003.

DHL - the company was founded by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom , and Robert Lynn , whose last initials form the company's moniker.

eBay - Pierre Omidyar, who had created the Auction Web trading website, had formed a web consulting concern called Echo Bay Technology Group. " Echo Bay " didn't refer to the town in Nevada, the nature area close to Lake Mead, or any real place. "It just sounded cool," Omidyar reportedly said. When he tried to register EchoBay.com, though, he found that Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, had gotten it first. So, Omidyar registered what (at the time) he thought was the second best name: eBay.com.

Epson - Epson Seiko Corporation, the Japanese printer and peripheral manufacturer, was named from "Son of Electronic Printer"

Fanta - was originally invented by Max Keith in Germany in 1940 when World War II made it difficult to get the Coca-Cola syrup to Nazi Germany. Fanta was originally made from byproducts of cheese and jam production. The name comes from the German word for imagination (Fantasie or Phantasie), because the inventors thought that imagination was needed to taste oranges from the strange mix.

Fazer - named after its founder, Karl Fazer.

Fiat - acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Factory of Cars of Turin).

Fuji - from the highest Japanese mountain Mount Fuji .

Google - the name is an intentional misspelling of the word googol, reflecting the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available online.

Haier - Chinese ? "sea" and ? (a transliteration character; also means "you" in Literary Chinese)

HP - Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.

Hitachi - old place name, literally "sunrise"

Honda - from the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda

Honeywell - from the name of Mark Honeywell founder of Honeywell Heating Specialty Co. It later merged with Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company and was finally called Honeywell Inc. in 1963.

Hotmail - Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for Hotmail as it included the letters "HTML" - the markup language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing. (If you click on Hotmail's 'mail' tab, you will still find "HoTMaiL" in the URL.)

HSBC - The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Hyundai - connotes the sense of "the present age" or "modernity" in Korean.

IBM - named by Tom Watson, an ex-employee of National Cash Register. To one-up them in all respects, he called his company International Business Machines.

ICL - abbreviation for International Computers Ltd, once the UK's largest computer company, but now a service arm of Fujitsu, of Japan.

IKON - copier company name derived from I Know One Name.

Intel - Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore initially incorporated their company as N M Electronics. Someone suggested Moore Noyce Electronics but it sounded too close to "more noise" -- not a good choice for an electronics company! Later, Integrated Electronics was proposed but it had been taken by somebody else. Then, using initial syllables from INTegrated ELectronics, Noyce and Moore came up with Intel. To avoid potential conflicts with other companies of similar names, Intel purchased the name rights for $15,000 from a company called Intelco. (Source: Intel 15 Years Corporate Anniversary Brochure)

Interland - a web hosting provider formally known as Micron Computer, Inc. which was named either after Internet Land or the combination of the largest acqusition it performed, Interliant with the word Land.

Kawasaki - from the name of its founder, Shozo Kawasaki

Kodak - Both the Kodak camera and the name were the invention of founder George Eastman . The letter "K" was a favourite with Eastman; he felt it a strong and incisive letter. He tried out various combinations of words starting and ending with "K". He saw three advantages in the name. It had the merits of a trademark word, would not be mis-pronounced and the name did not resemble anything in the art. There is a misconception that the name was chosen because of its similarity to the sound produced by the shutter of the camera.

Konica - it was earlier known as Konishiroku Kogaku. Konishiroku in turn is the short for Konishiya Rokubeiten which was the first name of the company established by Rokusaburo Sugiura in the 1850s.

Korg - Formed from the surnames of the founders, Tsutomu Katoh and Tadashi Osanai, combined with the letters "rg" from the word organ.

LG - combination of two popular Korean brands Lucky and Goldstar. (In Mexico publicists explained the name change to the public as an abbreviation to Línea Goldstar Spanish for Goldstar Line)

L'Oréal - In 1907, Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, developed an innovative hair-color formula. He called his improved hair dye Auréole.

Lotus Software - Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from 'The Lotus Position' or 'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation technique as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Lucent Technologies - a spin-off from AT&T, it was named Lucent (meaning "luminous" or "glowing with light") because "light as a metaphor for visionary thinking reflected the company's operating and guiding business philosophy," according to the Landor Associates staff who chose the name. Source: Design Management Journal 8:1 (Winter 1997).

Lycos - from Lycosidae, the family of wolf spiders.

Mazda Motor - from the company's first president, Jujiro Matsuda . In Japanese, no syllables are ever stressed and some inner syllables are virtually skipped. Thus, Matsuda is pronounced "Matsda". To make the name fly better outside of Japan, the spelling was changed to Mazda.

McDonald's - from the name of the brothers Dick McDonald and Mac McDonald, who founded the first McDonald 's restaurant in 1940.

Mercedes - This is the first name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who worked for the early Daimler company around 1900.

MGM - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was formed by the merger of three picture houses Metro Picture Corporation, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Goldwyn Picture Corporation in turn was named after the last names of Samuel Goldfish and Edgar and Archibald Selwyn.

Micron - computer memory producer named after the microscopic parts of its products. The official name was Micron Computer, Inc. Since, the company has become Interland, a web hosting provider, after selling/spinning off its RAM division and closing down its computer division, licensing the name. The company is now headquartered in Atlanta.

Microsoft - coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.

midPhase - the post-dotcom era gave using the .com in a companies official name untrendy. A new dotcom company may be named traditionally, in midPhase's case it was named midPhase Services, Inc., the midPhase stands for Middle Phase, or middle of the road.

Mitsubishi - The name Mitsubishi (??) has two parts: mitsu means three and hishi (changing to bishi in the middle of the word) means water chestnut, and from here rhombus, which is reflected in the company's logo.

Motorola - Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company (at the time, Galvin Manufacturing Company) started manufacturing radios for cars. Many audio equipment makers of the era used the " ola" ending for their products, most famously the "Victrola" phonograph made by the Victor Talking Machine Company. The name was meant to convey the idea of "sound" and "motion". The name became so recognized that the company later adopted it as the company name.

Mozilla Foundation - from the name of the web-browser that preceded Netscape Navigator. When Marc Andreesen , founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace the Mosaic browser, it was internally named Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer, Godzilla) by Jamie Zawinski.

MRF - Madras Rubber Factory, founded by K M Mammen Mappillai in 1946. He started with a toy balloon-manufacturing unit at Tiruvottiyur, Chennai (then called Madras). In 1952, he began manufacturing tread-rubber, and in 1961, tyres.

Nero - Nero Burning ROM named after Nero burning Rome.

Netscape - named by first marketing employee Greg Sands, in a panic when the University of Illinois threatened to sue the new company for its original name, Mosaic. Netscape then paid Landor $50,000 to design a logo.

Nike - named for the Greek goddess of victory.

Nikon - the original name was Nippon Kogaku, meaning "Japanese Optical".

Nissan - the company was earlier known by the name Nippon Sangyo which means "Japanese industry".

Nokia - started as a wood-pulp mill, the company expanded into producing rubber products in the Finnish city of Nokia. The company later adopted the city's name.

Nortel - The Nortel Networks name came from Nortel (Northern Telecom) and Bay Networks. The company was originally spun off from the Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd in 1895 as Northern Electric and Manufacturing, and traded as Northern Electric from 1914 to 1976.

Novartis - after the Latin expression "novae artes" which means something like "new skills".

Oracle - Larry Ellison, Ed Oates and Bob Miner were working on a consulting project for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project was Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all questions or some such). The project was designed to help use the newly written SQL database language from IBM. The project eventually was terminated but they decided to finish what they started and bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS engine. Later they changed the name of the company, Relational Technology Inc, to the name of the product.

Pepsi - Pepsi derives its name from (treatment of) dyspepsia, an intestinal ailment.

Philips - Royal Philips Electronics was founded in 1891, by brothers Gerard (the engineer) and Anton (the entrepreneur) Philips .

Qantas - From its original name, Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services.
Red Hat - Company founder Marc Ewing

Bombay Bangalore Biking

The year 2012 was very lucky for me when it comes to riding on my enfield. I was really excited on every trip I did… be it Nashik/Shirdi, Lonavala, Boisar etc….. but the one which I was awaiting was Bombay to Banglore on NH4. I had travelled the route by car 3~4 times since Nov2011, when I first went to Bangalore for Metallica concert. I loved everything about the trip, the roads, the roadside joints, the views, the city, the city pubs and ofcourse Metallica. I was so in love with the Bombay –Bangalore( or rather Mumbai-Bengaluroo) road trip that I anyhow wanted to cover this trip riding.

I had pre-plans of visiting Bangalore with family, so got my tickets booked for 18^th Nov in Puducherry express. But it was a Blackout day in Bombay in respect to Bal Thakre’s demise. The central suburbs of city esp Dadar was jam packed with supporters and I had to catch my train from Dadar. If I would have been alone, then anyhow I would have reached my train easily, but with family around I hardly take any chances, so I cancelled the train tickets and at that moment I decided its gonna be a bike ride upto Bangalore as 10days leaves were in my hand and there could be no better time to do this.

PC was also interested in joining me on his R15, but he was conditional that this could be done only after 26^th and I tried but could not moved my leaves ahead. So decided to go on alone on my bull. AD was last minute addition as pillion and we were all set to leave early morning by 5 AM. But as usual we overslept and I got up @ 6.30. Called AD immediately and asked him to get ready in half an hour. I reached his place by 7:15 and we left at 7:45 from Malad. I knew we were late as our target was reaching Bangalore within 24 hours. All 3 times we went by car earlier we reached within 18 hours. So I thought 24 hours on bike will be good enough. By 9 we were crossing Panvel, got some fuel in the bike and moved on. I was feeling hungry but AD was insisting to keep moving as far as we can go so we went on. By 10 AM we crossed Lonavala and came to a halt at 10:30 at Kamshet, at a place called TONI DA DHABA. The place was really good with Ostrich and EMU’s and lot of birds inhouse. We had solid Aloo Paratha and egg bhurji in reakfast followed by excellent tea served in big beer glasses. I love the tea only when it served in such big glasses. They were also offering EMU egg omlette costing 1800 bucks which was way beyond our budget. BY 11.30 we left from there and I became the pillion then. Pune city was nearby and we sort of got lost in the city hush-bush. Everyone kept us telling keep on moving till the time you reached Dange Chowk and from their you have to divert for Satara Highway(NH4). The 15 kms ride took more than 40 mins and then we came back on loving roads of Pune-Satara highway. The scenic journey begins from there, and so is the main journey.AD was razing the bull at its max. Considering we left at 8 AM, our target was to reach Satara by 2 PM, but at 2 PM were still 100 kms behind the target. By 4 we reached Satara, and I was continuously getting calls from office as 1 task was pending from my side and the deadline was the same day. Those 4~5 hours were most bad part of the journey. I was carrying my laptop and i-net dongle, but I was not getting internet network at most of the highway points. In all this complexity we slowed down a lot. We even halted at many places to check if we get network here. Half hour of our journey was so that i was riding pillion with my device ON and resting on my lap. We were behaving like Telecom Testers checking for signal strength across the road. Finally i gave up and sped our way to wards Kolhapur/Belgaum. Next 125 kms we covered in 2 hours and it went dark. No sign of sun means no much of riding left for the day.  I personally do not favour riding in the dark. But as AD supressed we kept moving but at a slower rate this time. By 10.30 we reached Hubli/Dharwad belt, and were full of hunger. Bad thing was everything was closed and we were finding it difficult to get a piece of bread. It was like the same scene happening when you are low on petrol and no sign of a pump anywhere. Even if you see one its always on other side of the road. NH4 has still to develop its signboard/signalling methodology for the drivers/riders. You will mostly realize there is a petrol pump down the elevated road you are on and there is no possbility of U. We after running for 10 kms stoping and asking every roadside villager possible, for any late night food show, finally found one newly opened Bar(named as '???' Resort and Club) at 11:00. The place was cozy and full of southee drunkards. Food was cheap and OK.

1mutton +1chkn fried rice with 1 OldMonk +1Aquafina = 275 rupees. :)

We enquired with them if they provide any rooms, but sadly they showed us the way ahead.

Again we kept moving for 10kms asking any passerby(hardly there were any left now) and came at a TOLL plaza. Asked Toll wala  + auto wala but no one guided us properly as it was late in the night. It was past 1 AM. Finally we approached a CHAi wala at the same TOLL for some information. He said for anything to get we have to off track in the HUbli town and 'TRY' over there OR he showed us some of his iron benches on the backside of his stall and gave us option to rest there till early dawn. AD liked the idea and we 'rolled' on the benches. The benches were like just imported from Antartica. Tiredness took its Toll on me and i went into sleep in next 10 mins. AD parked the bull next to my bench and tried adjusting on it. I opened my eyes and it was 4:45 AM. Chilling breeze was blowing over us and it was difficult to keep your self stretched, so i got up and tried to contract myself as far as possible. AD was also trying the same. This was the most freezing moment of the journey. Again the chai wala came to rescue with our favourite black tea. At that moment we were having 2 roads to choose from - Pune-Bangalore hway OR via Mangalore.
We decided to keep moving on the Hway. The journey for 2 hours was quite grilling due to no proper sleep, freezing early morning winds, heavy tummy etc.
We kept moving in the search of a good restaurant/Hotel where we can freshen up if do not get a chance to bath, have good breakfast and then leave for onward journey. We hardly get anything..... we stopped at a highway side 'janta' restaurant, did our daily routine and loaded some Dosa+cofee.
At this stage AD was half dead and i was wondering what to do next. Due to improper sleep, we were having a good morning. Somehow after 2-3 hours we decided to move on. And we kept moving(with hardly any breaks) till we reach Bangalore by 5pm. On seeing Bangalore (50kms) we were like so happy that we simply ignored the difficulties we faced in past 1and half day. The dream ride of riding more than 1000kms came true and it was so exciting for me i cant even explain here. It was the feeling for which we had planned this whole trip. Reaching Bengaluru from Bombay wasn't a difficult task...there are so many options: Fly, Train, Bus, Car........ but on a Enfield..... that too your first long ride! I can t explain what i have got here. It was one of the most sweet feeling i have through my rides.
BY 5.30 PM we entered Bangalore, but were only able to reach BTM by 9.30PM...thanks to welcome rain(2 hours non-stop) and evening traffic of Bangalore city.
OUr friends in Bangalore were more happy than us for this milestone(somewhat) and they expected us to sleep for unlimited hours but...we were unstoppable....as soon as we all gathered, we started the party and it went till 5 in the morning. I donno if it was the happiness of the ride and/or meeting old pals....all our tiredness/illness vanished and we partied whole night.
1 week the same routine was followed of partying here and there in Bangalore.
I finished my pending work, in the week and decided to move back to bombay on the same bull.
AD left for Mangalore as he has some imp work there and AB who was on business tour in Coimbatore, joined me in Bangalore as even he wanted to have fun of this bike ride.
We did the same routine of leaving early morning(6AM) but could only leave city after 7.30 as Bangalore roads are bit confusing for me and early morning you wont find many people(for directions) on road like Bombay. We had good journey although your seats become more painful this time, so its advisable to have good-soft-cushioned seats on long rides.
First day we reached Kolhapur by 7pm and decided to take a halt as we knew not much distance left for next day. This time we stopped at the first lodge we spotted on the highway (just opposite to McDonalds on the Kolhapur Hway). One of our friend who has transport business and is frequent on Bombay-Kochi (NH17) hway met us at midninght at our hotel, we had good smoke session there but Hotel guy destroyed it saying the main gate cannot be opened after dark as it no city hotel but a hway one and there are many hway dacoits here. Next day we over-slept and by the time we left hotel it was 11AM. We were short of time and for reasons our bike was not performing well like it was on the Bombay-Bangalore journey. I doubt that it needed 1 service or oil change in Bangalore but we didn't go for it. We just topped up engine oil(that too we used 15 50W rating oil which i later found was not advisable for Enfield(Electra). 20 50W would have been best, but the store guy in Bangalore convinced us to use 15 50W. @#*&^$^*%$&^ to the shopkeeper.
By 4.30 we crossed Pune and reached Lonavala. We were struck by the awesome evening climate of Lonavala and we halted there for almost 2 hours. We left Lonavala by 6.30 and there was this moment we had a thought - "yeh journey kab khatam hogi?" By 8.30pm we reached our home and there were many friends waiting(with Beers in hand) for our welcome. I quickly had 2 cans and left for home as i was missing home a lot. Rested whole night, had a good sleep...thanks to those 2 quick cans. Next day i got up and felt like no problem physically but mentally i was high........... iss bike ride ka nasha hi kuch aur hai!

Bombay to Hubli -590 kms in 14 hrs
Hubli to Bangalore - 425 kms in 12 hrs(longer due to Bangalore rains and traffic)
Fuel consumed = 2200 INR

Bangalore to Kolhapur - 605 kms in 14 hrs
Kolhapur to Bombay - 405 kms in 10 hrs
Fuel consumed = 2700 INR (due to wrong engine oil) 
So Always use oil which is mentioned in user Manual

for photos, people roads.....CHeck out this video :- 

Goa: a peaceful trip in South

This time we had plans to rave GOA!!!!! But to do things different as we ALWAYS do we chose travelling by KONKAN TRAINs and explore South GOA - CANACONA.

We catched konkan kanya exp from Dadar at night and reached Madgaon next day morning.

From there we took 3 bikes on rent. 2 of it was Honda-Activa and 1 was Honda-Dio. Its always advisable to choose gearless bike unless you have long travelling plans. Our aim to get the bike was to only reach Palolem easily and while coming back  we had the train to catch from Madgaon so returning would also be easy. For 3 bikes we paid 2000 for 3 days. We paid 2k at once so no deposit was charged.

Next hour we reached Palolem. On the way we saw many places(esp restaurants) worth visiting so had plans while returning, which never succeeded by gods grace.:)

At Palolem we stayed at a known place 100 mtrs before we enter the beach. It was my first visit to Palolem and I liked the smoothness in the place. The place is less crowded, no loud music, the sea is too calm. But everything comes with price. I am not being racist here, but to my observance people of Palolem love $ and L  more than 2. At many places, shops locals wont allow Indians even to stand for a minute. That happens for sure if your in a group esp when all stags. But who cares……..

We were there and with our own plans. First day we tried Sea Kayaking and it was an amazing experience. In the beginning I was a little frightened of kayaking in the sea….but once I entered on top of kayak it felt les frightening and more of adventure. We kept on moving deep inside the sea….there came a point when the beach almost vanished from our vision. We did kayaking for almost 2 hours and it was fun. We decided to come back the next day…..but couldn’t. The party kept on playing whole night. 

In Goa, you wont find any late night outlets but there was this place in Palolem….. Cocktails & Dreams….which was busy and rocking all night. We even saw a little fight between 2 firang groups. 

In north Goa I have never seen someone stopping you while carrying your own liquor but this was the thing in South. At CnD there was this guy-krishna….who got irritated on us while we were holding a bottle of whiskey when we entered the place. We assured him that we wont use it as we cannot even throw it. He insisted that he will keep the bottle with him, which was very weird. We tried many things from the Menu there but believe the place was happening but not the food and prices. We asked him what food is famous here- he adviced lot of things including Tandoori……we ordered Tandoori and it was the only good thing they had. 

By the time we left it was 4 in the morning. We gave a good tip to that guy- Krishna and then he offered us that tomorrow if we want to carry their own bottle we can, if he gets the same tip again.

But were not having any plan for re-visit.

We decided to have a visit to another beach- Agonda and Cola. And those beaches were as beatiful as Palolem. If you are searching for utter peace in Goa....Agonda is the place where your searh ends. White sands, beautiful coast line, blue water and no one around. During off season its sometime difficult to even get a water bottle at Agonda its so isolated. We spent all day there with bud and UNO cards. we were only able to leave once the sun was set.

Saturday night we went for Palolem’s famous “SILENT NOISE”. Although we reached a little early, hence there were not many people around. We decided to leave and come back to main beach area and explore something much better. We settled at other restaurant next to CnD, but it was only open till 12 midnight. Initially even they hesitated but later allowed our own drinks and the prime focus was on food that night. We tried lot of things there and we kept the party On till 1 AM. Next day morning I got up early as one more round of kayaking was on the target but we couldn’t manage time and were running late for the return train in the afternoon. One of the bikes petrol got over just we were about to reach Madgaon. Somehow we managed to reach station just 5 minutes before departure of train. Jan-shatabdi express is the best train between Mumbai-GOA. We took the train by 1:30 in the afternnon and by 11:00 PM we were at dadar stn, finishing yet another enthralling journey of GOA.

Head count – 5

Days 3

Expense – 25000k (approx)

PALOLEM is the most serene but happening destination of South GOA.

Moral of the story: GO GOA. 365 days a year. 

sacsim: Memoirs: Mumbai - Malshej Ghat

sacsim: Memoirs: Mumbai - Malshej Ghat

Memoirs: Mumbai - Malshej Ghat

Leaving early was as usual on top of our agenda! But …….we were on time….Indian Std Time.

Friday afternoon we were on top of luck by getting bookings in MTDC resort. By late night through some flash arrangements, we got 2 vehicles booked, against the earlier decision of reaching there by ST bus/ bikes.

Left NKP by 9.15AM……..had to pick up 3 more guys from Bhandup/Thane and we were too stucked in busy lanes of Bhandup. Apart from some old artistic buildings and elephants wavering on the road the journey was not happening by the time we stopped at a liquor shop. After some long and unhealthy discussions we picked 3 Whiskey+1 Vodka+1/2 Rum and few beers for the onward journey. As soon as we left Thane, both the vehicles were racing wildly. It was neither official or unofficial race…but guys sitting inside were cheering aloud, whenever 1 crosses the other.

The Nashik Highway is one of the better roads around Mumbai. This was the time I missed my bike first.

We halted at a fuel stn to fill it up, got some stuffs from store to make our raat-rangeen!

Our spirits were high So was the speeds of both vehicles. As soon as we left the highway and took a right to enter Kalyan, the speed was brought down due to busy Sunday noon. Everyone from Mumbai/Thane was travelling and so was Kalyan. More than vehicles it was local ‘janta’ on the road! Somehow we managed to pass that stretch and were running amidst lush green roads.

Good thing we were not expecting traffic any further, atleast before Malshej

Bad thing…No rains yet! L

Sun was taking its TOLL….by 1 PM we halted at a place for lunch. Name of the place was too long to mention here….but the food and service was worth!

2 Chicken Handi +x number of Sev Tomato and few veggies + 4~6 rice + 3~4Dal fry+ x Roti + n Bhakri + xⁿ Chaas resulting in total bill of 2100/- including 1 box of packaged water bottles, gave us a refreshing break at a stealing price.

Now our aim was to reach Malshej Ghat asap. The high standing veteran mountains, with tops intermittently visible between foggy clouds was giving us a cold chilling inside the bone. The first view of these high old mountains always gives me a apprehensive feeling. Its hard for me to digest the fact that mountains so huge, so hard, still so beautiful and solid, have been cut through for the passage of humans. What if they decide to give back what they get from us?

This place is one the places that make a memorable mark in your memory forever! Its always been a pleasure to visit this place.

And by the time were on the Ghat, looking for a perfect spot…… rain was falling chama-cham cham!

It wasn’t so rainy here in the ghats, you can make it out  through the count and intensity of the falls.

It was by 3:30 we were on top at a favourite place of mine….where you could enjoy an isolated fall.

All 14 of us were on the top, eventhough the cops standing down were alerting us thru whistles and instructing to come down….but who cares! We follow a lot of rules in city….let me follow the nature here! After level 1 hike but headed for level 2, although that was not a good idea as the path was too steepy and muddy, and due to lack of rains there was nthing much to do above.

I still can feel the locks around my thighs due to steep hikes. After hours of cold/warm session we headed towards MTDC resort, as it was getting a little darker and also raining heavily by that time and that whole area was covered with fog. Cops started shouting at everyone….to shopkeepers to close their shops….public to run away with their vehicles. It was like doomsday is here…..so run as far as you can!!

The hill station of Malshej ghat is managed by MTDC, which has the best possible location all over Maharashtra but services are not up-to-mark. There is no other accommodation point all over the GHat aart from MTDC. Also not much transport facilities are available here in Malshej Ghat. So when its dark you are like lost in here…..The mountains are so big….but due to poor visibility you cannot move much around. We decided instead of having dinner at the same place, we will go to a local dhaba/restaurant.

Which we found after running down some 5-6 kms (1 or 2 kms as per AG) towards Junnar.

The place was so-so….so was the food……we had a great time……..time was the only restriction!

One thing I admire for this place being very honest with prices………unlike  commercial hills such as Lonavala/Matheran……where you have to burn the pocket for sufficing your desires.

We were really having a good time…with all the music on guitar by KS and vocals by everyone! The only problem was restaurant owner was not enjoying it, due to closing time of 11 PM and we were high on spirits and less on food orders.

While going back to hotel, we found our driver is too high and out. Another guy……drop us till the hotel in his vehicle…….and thank god our driver was too drunk and not drunk in limits….coz someone with unknown limits and high spirits cannot drive at this place at midnight when there is no visibility. By no visibility I really meant no visibility even at a distance of 2 feet. By the time I came to the room, some were already dead for the night in their beds. Others have their own agendas………..left liquors, music, cards……….

We even had a guest…. Constable Rahul Bande….age 26…..married @23….joined the force@ 22……. Likes vodka…..with water, was on night duty at MTDC and was looking for a place to sleep. [that all was his self explained biography]. We had 25 beds to sleep……and we were only 14…..so space was never a problem…..we could have accommodated more 10 like him!

After some rounds of dizzy flash……we went outside…..nothing was visible…….. there were still people around the gate…… playing music in their car systems. Had a good walk round the resort and came back to room……time for every one to sleep! Morning I got up at 7…….no hangover ….i was fearing due to lack of sleep, but it was good climate that saved me……. Outside people were walking around and some were getting ready for onward journey or site-seeing! Then I found that our toilet/bathroom was open to all…… and I was in Q…….but I did it, and came back into bed. Next time I opened my eyes it was 10.30AM….and I was feeling fresh for another day out. BY 12 we checked out of resort……… cell phone of ST was missing and we reported that to reception as we were also in doubt due to common toilet scenario……..but it was found later in one of the bags.

After checking out we went straight to a lake…………. the road was not good to reach there but The spot was excellent……there were few day party makers already enjoying at the lake side…..and it was a perfect destination for such thing. From this point we started our journey back on track, but as soon as we came at 1^st waterfall…..all we could see was immense crowd……..traffic jam was the outcome. Few of us got out of the car and started walking on the road…….with a quick dip in the falls wherever liked. We walked almost for 2~3 kms….with people all around us…some standing…some dancing…some sleeping on the road……. Traffic jams were getting longer-n-longer….it was all fault of fallen road cliff, only half the road was left…so only 1 side vehicle could paas……But walking all that was really greatful and enjoying for stags like us….with readymixes in our hands……..hot corn ready to serve…….and the windy rain giving you no chance to stay dry. I was carrying an umbrella this time……coz it has been my experience that if you are going home next day….considering the post effect……try to stay as dry as possible…..from outside as well as inside! So I was only enjoying the ‘greener side’.

Photo courtesy:  Debmalya Mukherjee

AC and AG were the most excited about the falls……..and there was something about the falls today….which wasn’t yesterday. It seemed intensity of falls was directly proportional to crowd………. Lot of people were in the falls…on the road….over the top…..down there….up there but still there was place for more and more people to accomodate. Also monsoons are good to spot the flamingoes in Malshej Ghat.  Once the waterfalls were gone….we were still walking down the ghat…….at last we came where our vehicles were parked but no one was willing to leave this place so early. Music was played at full volume there and we were dancing beside the road. By the time we left it was 4.30PM. The cars were again on full rampage while coming back.

On our return journey we again halted at the same good restaurant………and had a sizzling snack session

This time it was…..kanda Bhajia+  Missal +wada-ussal+ x chai+ n chaas …….and we were all charged up again……..to go back home………taking back lot of memories of good moments……lush greenery…….thrilling waterfalls…….exotic nature trails………….

Place: Malshej Ghat

Duration: 1N/2D

Headcount: 14

Expenditure: 25k (approx)

Satisfaction: priceless

Memories: unlimited

Lonavala on Royal Enfield 350

Riding to a ghat….high altitude…on my enfield was always a wish for me.

And this Sunday-8^th July2012…wish came true. It was swapnil who was more interested in going to Lonavala but his choice was his bike-New Splendor pro. But when he came in the morning and we were only 2 of us(as 2 more gave us a ‘taang’), so decided to take this on Enfield instead of Splendor. We were running late, so in hush-bush…I picked up my debit card…put on my jeans..T-shirt and a wind-cheater and left around 8 AM.

After reaching highway I realized I m not having my License….Swapnil said he has his own…whts the use? I hardly give my enfield to anyone that too on such a lovely ride. I told him…..Lets see…..

By 9 we were at McDonalds for breakfast.Had hot egg muffins there.

At 9.30 we left, By the time we reached Khopoli….the scenery around got mesmerizing. I was realizing that this is gonna one of the best bike ride I ever had till now!!

Long wet roads with lush greenery around and Mountains on both sides with their peaks lost in fog.

Old Pune highway is much enjoyable than new (expressway) one. I love it, everytime I come here.

In no time we reached near Khandala ghat….swapnil was continuously asking me to be pillion but I was actually avoiding him. I had a thought of giving him the bike on return journey.

Riding on the ghat was immensely difficult…atleast for me….first time rider on a ghat!

Changing gears, holding clutch, applying brakes on curves………with views worth dying around you, makes it a heavy ride  for the bike with a pillion. I could smell the sizzling clutch plate……anyhow we crossed khandala ghat and entered Lonavala. By the time we reached Lonavala…..things had gone wrong for my clutch……I cdn’t change the gears. And the bike went off…. O! shit…what now….was my reaction.

But luckily it was the Kumar resort junction where swapnil was about to meet his friend who came all the way frm HYD to Lonavala( crazy…isn’t it) for a day picnic.

So I pulled my bull and parked it in left lane…near the ‘ice cube’ spot. I realized what my bike needed is---- rest.

Then we were roaming in and around town….sometimes walking and sometimes with 2 pillion on the bull.The climate there was typical a hill station. It was Raining anytime anywhere…. With smoky clouds all over.

Roaming on bike in lonavala or nearby spots is troublesome on weekends due to enormous traffic.

The situation is like if you miss a turn, you wont dare to take a U and go back!

Noticed a good Maharashtrian restaurant this time named …………….Gajali….although we spent sm time in the restaurant but did not have food there……we had some further plans.

By 3.30 we decided to leave Lonavala and rush back towards Bombay (I luv this name and it will necer change for me).

As soon as we cleared Khopoli and were about to reach panvel, we faced multiple rounds of heavy rains.

By the time we were mid Panvel, we were a bit of shivering, as were all wet. I was worry abt the bull.

While on our way back we halted at Panvel…..had some hot food there…. The restaurant was ok….food not great…… alcohol=doubtful nad place too short of staff…. On enquiring we got to know that half of the staff is ill and is sleeping upstairs.

Anyhow we completed our evening meal….and left quickly for home. By 9 I ws at home and ws feeling very pleased and a bit tired due to lack of sleep.