Do you have balls

In Bangalore most of the discussion revolves around traffic & weather. While weather is beyond our control, traffic is. While we just talk about traffic, how many actually have the balls to do something?

1. Erratic cab drivers. How many employees of IT/ITES companies have the balls to tell the driver not to drive rashly or not to honk excessively? I have personally seen many of these cab drivers drive like as if they are the only ones on the road. There are many times when cabs overtake me even on a 2-lane road completely ignoring the vehicle coming in front of them. When the vehicle in the opposite direction is close enough they switch the indicator and move in front. They are not even bothered about incovinience caused to the vehicle behind.

2. Erratic private car drivers. Many of private car employ drivers to transport them from one place to another. Not many have the balls to instruct their drivers to drive properly and not cut between vehicles.

3. Erratic driving. How many amongst us have the balls to drive safely and treat other vehicles with respect. And the honking part, its such an irritant.

4. Erratic autorickshaw drivers. For them they are the law. They will squeeze in wherever and whenever they want. Any argument with them is inconclusive due to the unity among them and the support they would get from the bureaucracy.

Personally I consider talking about traffic a waste of time due to factors mentioned above. When one is not perfect, he/she doesn’t have the balls to complain. Unless the entire vehicle community is reformed there can never be a change. And the change has to come from within.

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Groundnut Seller

This groundnut seller at Sony World Junction, Koramangala is pretty strange. This photo was taken around 10:00pm. He sells fried groundnuts at the bus stop and bus commuters while waiting for the bus do not mind taking a Rs.5/- worth of groundnuts from him. The groundnuts given in the paper cone, the commuters after eating throw the cones on the ground.
This seller when he is closing down his business and getting ready to go home, was collecting all the paper cones. I was really impressed at first sight that he is doing such a good social service, collecting the paper waste and putting it inside dustbin.
Unfortunately, it was not to be so. He collects theses paper cones for re-using them!! Reusing the paper cones is not a bad choice maybe…

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A decade in Bangalore

3rd Jan 2002, I entered Bangalore from a town Trichy where I was doing my Master of Computer Applications at Regional Engineering College (now National Institute of Technology). I joined i-flex Solutions Pvt Ltd then as an intern.

10years later am not part of i-flex Solution. I thought a lot as to how to define my 10yrs from then to now. I sat down to choose 10 photos to denote 10yrs. The conditions I put for myself were:

1. I should be there in the photo.

2. I should be able to tag myself with those photos.

3. All the photos should be taken inside India.

The most difficult part was finding photos where I am in front of the camera. The second is to choose just one photo from each that I can tag myself. The third was of the so many which ones should I leave out and which ones should I choose. I wanted every other photo out there.

After all that difficulty I finally made a collage of 10 photos that would define me today, 10 years after I walked into Bangalore.

I would tag myself today as a Traveller, Cyclist, Runner, Software Engineer, Chess player.

In these 10 years I refound my chess playing skills while the rest I explored and found to be what I can be best fitted to.

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Dominos Pizza – See the dough

Near Graphite India at Whitefield, Bangalore many visit Domino’s Pizza outlet for quick lunch. Have you ever thought whether the dough is clean, dust free, germs free. Ever wondered if there is a quality control measure for this?
Take a look at the photo, the dough is kept open and after we enter they are hurriedly being closed. Still open is open they are not brought in air-tight containers. For the amount we pay for each pizza we do not deserve such kind.
The crates are kept in the open under the staircase where when one walks lot of dust can fly over.

Quality Control

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Bangalore 2 Chennai

Till about 2-3months back I was not in for riding long distances in a single day. Reason: One cant enjoy the beauty of surroundings. Finally I changed my decision since it was a ride to Chennai. We had few like minded guys in office from SAPRoadies group. We did not want a big number so kept the entire to a short group.
Last week, I was completely not in best of shape. Forget cycling, even getting up and going to office was a big challenge. Fever kept coming & going & coming & going. No food was going into my body. I started losing weight. People were asking all questions, I just kept quiet. No idea what to say and what not. Tried putting up smiling face but the body ache & hunger pangs showed it all over my body & face. When I did want to eat, it was a difficult slow motion job. It did look at some point of time that I would not be able to even pedal cycle out of my house. The only thing that kept me determined was this was a plan we had made together and so I should be there.

Riders: Venkat, Amol, Karthik & Myself — from SAPRoadies. Shyam (my bro), Anand, Ram.
Vedula on bullet as support.

30th October 2010, few hours of sleep. Final bag packing done and all saddled up. My bro (Shyam) & myself left house at around 2:45am. We were waiting for his friend who was delayed due to some reasons. Finally we all met at Silk Board junction and when we finally left that place it was after 4:30am. A clear delay by more than 1.5hrs. The outside temperature nor the body was warmed up, cycling towards Electronic City itself looked difficult. Slowly as pedalling was progressing at steady speed, the body started getting into a rhythm. Though it actually looks tough terrain from Shoolagiri to Krishnagiri, its not all that tought. Kepp changing gears, focus on the road and before you know you have reached Krishnagiri. Thats when we halted for our breakfast. No fancy big hotels, just roadside dhaba’s. Eating in big hotels is typically not my style and they take long time.
In cycling long distance every minute counts. Even now I was not able tp eat comfortably. It took a while for me to drown few idllis. Post breakfast, while Ram was showing signs of discomfort, I could not see anything. All I saw in front of me was the road and only thing I knew was keep cycling. we made efforts not to get on top of bridges, whereever & whenever possible. A halt for tender coconut water about 50kms after Krishnagiri. And again we started cycling.
When I reached Ambur for lunch I was surprised that I was the first to have reached. Of course I did not see anyone crossing me. I had taken a short detour but still others were behind me. It was not that I had cycled at great speed, others took some breaks and time-outs while I did not take any. I also did not feel for eating anyway my stomach was not in best of shape too. Just a plate of curd ride took me about 30mins that too I did not finish the plate.
Due to not eating in last days and too many tablets my acidity was increasing. Got couple of gelusil tablets and it helped.
At this point, other 3 wanted some sleep post-lunch. We 4 decided that we had anyway lost some time so no point in wasting anymore. There was slight drizzle on the way. All the time post lunch till Vellore there was just one thot on my mind. It was rains & cycling.If it rains heavily then I cant see, I was contemplating the moment. And in thinking about rains I did not feel anything about cycling to Vellore.Luckily it was not raining when we reached Vellore. Amol & myself had a quick decision to continue. Venkat looked to have knee pain but was determined to continue further. Same was the case with Karthik. The other 3 (Ranm, Anand & Shyam) wanted to halt at Vellore for the night. The worst part of the journey was hunting for dinner before Kancheepuram.
What we could also notice was our speed was going down. We didnt stop but short halts were increasing. Tiredness was beginning to show in the conversation. Here a stop, there a stop. And we 4 always kept to being together. Definitely not safe in night time.

Finally after more than 21hrs being on the road and spending more than 15hrs cycling, we turned into Chennai. The bright statue of Dr.Ambedkar showing direction. And yes, we did it. We checked ourselves into Hotel Vaithee Park in Poonamalle. And with that marked end of another event. Need to plan next soon.

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Cycling and Camping

Two days into my new road bike BSA Kruze, I was into my first ride. A weekend ride which included camping and destination Billgundala, a forest area near Hogenekkal. Anita, Sandeep, Ann, Venkat, Amol, Vinay and myself. We all met @ Silk Board junction, Bangalore and set off on the trip, luggage loaded on to our cycles.

We took an alternative route to Kannakapura Road, thanks to my suggestion and it was one of the longer routes that we took. In what was supposed to be a max 2hrs ride to Harohalli for breakfast @ Jayarams, turned out to be a 3.5hrs ride.
On Bannerghatta road, we asked people for directions and went around the national park crossing the CRPF training center. Up and down bad roads finally we reached Kannakapura road. This route was very scenic and a good beginning but not when we had planned for long ride. And when we reached Jayarams there was no breakfast left. Finally we did manage to find an alternative place for breakfast which otherwise would have probably been my last minute in the world!!
Post breakfast it was only about 80 – 100kms of riding to reach our destination. Little did we know that we would not make it. We continued on same manner pedalling, stopping, pedalling, stopping. Lots of big climbs up and rolling downs. Am always afraid riding down the hill.
With a new bike, the fear was even more with bad roads. Whenever there was pothole and my cycle went into it, my heart would stop for a second. Whether my heart stopped or not, I had to stop my cycle since my bag fell down from the carrier. With many breaks, we finally reached Hunsunahalli by eveing 5:30pm. A distance of 40-50kms from Harohalli. And we decided to call it a day after few kms at a school surrounded by fields.

Few villagers came over to enquire, they offered accommodation for the ladies, we filled our bottles of water in the village, had a good chat with them. Our dinner was packaged food of cup noodles and ready-to-eat.

Next day morning was a lazy rise and slowly the sun was beginning to come up. this was not good signs unlike the previous day when the sun never came out of cloud cover and troubled us. One round of breakfast at the village and chat with them again when we finally left it was 8:00am. About 2kms from where we halted for night was the TamilNadu border. Though people speak Kannada more fluently, they are part of TN.
To Anchetti and then to Denkannikottai. The stretch to Denkannikottai was a real killer. We climb up and up and up, it never seemed to end. Finally when it ended we were almost on top of the hill. Like this I dont remember how many hills we went up and down.
And then lunch @ Shankar’s Cafe, Denkannikottai. Some time of rest under the trees and we started off again. When chatting with Anita & Sandeep, somehow got me thinking. And I decided to cycle from Attibele to home rather than take the bus with Ann. Later even Ann got convinced to ride all the way. The main attraction was we would have done about 200kms.
And yes, marking in Google Maps the entire distance from home – home shows 205kms.
The route that we went on finally:
Koramangala – Silk Board Junction – Bannerghatta Road (unexplored @least by me so far) – Kagalipura – Harohalli – Hunsunahalli – Anchetti – Denkannikottai – Attibele – Sarjapura – Koramangala.

Very very scenic route all along. Steep uphill climbs and steep rolling downhills. Maybe I should have calculated how many times we went up and down. Amazing, cordial villagers. People gave us water and salt when we asked for. They allowed us to sleep at the school for the night. They were willing to have a conversation to know more about us and share about themselves.
At some places, when you meet some people, you dont need to say anything. They will start from your bike to where you are going to and coming from. All you got to do is nod your head and move on.

From the past I know if we dont reach destination as per plan because of me, then its a blessing in disguise. Well the disguise itself was disguised, nothing to prove this time around. Such kind of trips are a load of fun.
For photos:
Anita’s camera
Ann’s camera
Venkat’s mobile camera

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Bangalore – Srirangapatnam on Cycle

Kaveri Trail Marathon, few runners from my company SAP were planning to run on september 19th. Three (Amol, MJV, Raghav) first timers in this trail, of which two were running half marathon for first time. All part of our internal community for running and cycling “SAP Roadies”. What was seeded at an random coffee discussion, changed to why not cycle and cheer these runners.

Short postings internally finally we were 8 of us. Venkat took care of logistics, Karthik took care of support vehicle arrangement and my bro (Shyam) joined in. 9 of us.
September 17th was little tough for me in the evening. I went to friends place to pick up a cycle for my bro and urgent office issues. Slept by 12:00am September 18th and up by 2:45am. 5:00am finally we left Silk Board junction and cycled non-stop. With no lights it was pretty difficult at stretches where metro construction was happening. We were heading towards Harohalli.
@ Harohalli ask for Jayaram’s mess. Dont miss “upma + sambhar” combination. While we had some off-roading plans, we decided against it considering that there were few roadbikes with us. And in general, few first timers too.

The stretch till Channapatna was amazing. Nice greenery, cool breeze, sun not being harsh on us, fields, lakes, real uphill climbs, down slopes. We stopped at very few places for photo shots. Frm Channapatna we took more time to reach Srirangapatnam (almost 7hrs) then what we took to reach Channapatna itself (about 5hrs). The last 60+kms was bad on the main highway. Not again, anymore.

We had one dropout at Maddur. At Mandya my backpack was giving pain on my back and shoulders, gave it to bro who put it on his carrier and then we both raced down to Srirangapatnam the last 20kms.
In almost entire journey I stayed behind with my bro making sure everyone was there and also didnt want to tire myself much.

Finally we reached Balaji Garden Resort. And I remember we spent only few hours there. Rest all @ Young Island Resort.

Final route: Bangalore – Harohalli – Kanakapura – Kavanapura – Huchayanna Doddi (nice big rocks at this place) – Channapatna – Maddur – Mandya – Srirangapatnam.
Total distance: Approximately 100miles +/- 2miles.
For Garmin analysis click here.
For all photos from my camera click here.

Important lessons:
1. For touring purpose, no backpack. Have a luggage carrier. (Preparation for TFN)
2. Ride your own cycle, never take from others.

A special mention about Amol who not only cycled 100miles but also ran full marathon at KTM.

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Delhi 2 Bangalore

For the first part of the trip from Delhi towards Leh, click here & here & here & here.

13th August, I took my bike to Gurdial Auto Works @ Karol Bagh in Delhi for a quick service before I start on my trip down till Bangalore. The mechanic fixed new clutch plates, cleaned the decompresser, cleaned the carburettor. Filled up some more engine oil.

He: acha hua aap idar aagaye (Good you came here)
Me: kyon (why)
He: Bangalore me koyi dang ka mechanic nahin hai (there are no good mechanics in Bangalore)

After all servicing and payment. He was of the opinion that I shouldn’t ride till Bangalore since my vehicle drinks lot of oil and there will be short circuit. If its 200kms or inside Delhi city its ok, not otherwise. You need to change piston rings, get a new bore and fix it.
If he is the best mechanic in India then am the best bullet rider in India. For such a situation of vehicle I managed in the end to ride 2600kms without any issue. Am not the best rider in town and so he is not the best mechanic.

This is something I have noticed of many Punjabi’s that I have met in my journey’s. No doubt they are very friendly and affectionate and with lot of passion. But some of them have this attitude that Indians are good for nothing. They only thing they are good is in producing kids. Everyone except them are dumb and they are the best. They are proud to talk about themselves and show what they have done in the past.

After all the servicing, in the evening we walk down to have chaat and yes we had it. Little did I realise that that was the starting point. Within time my stomach got upset and my system got screwed up badly. I was unable to eat any further anything and dinner was just curd rice.

Delhi to Jaipur: 14th August:

Route: Once you leave Delhi head towards Gurgoan and continue on NH8. There is lot traffic in this stretch. 270kms approximately.
After crossing Gurgoan, there was huge pile up of vehicles and I hustled my way through all vehicles. In this my bag got stuck to side of truck and fell down and side part was torn off. I put the bag back on carrier and fastened it. And squeezed my way through. This was for a distance of 20kms and reason an accident.
Further down when I was riding inside Rajasthan, my bike suddenly stopped. I tried to start and it refused. I understood what the problem was. I pushed my bike for 3kms, yes with all the luggage and all alone. Luckily found a garage where there were servicing trucks and jeeps. I stopped, crossed over and asked for electrician. I told him the problem after initial reluctance agreed to help me out. I told him the steps and the soldering of the wire connected to ignition coil had come off. This was soldered and he refused to take money.

He: Aap se paisa nahin loonga (I wont take money from you)
Me: kya baat karthe ho (what are you saying)
He: Aap pareshani se mere paas aaye (you came to me in distress)
Me: tho (so)
He: Aap ki madad karne se dil kush ho gaya (my heart feels content in having helped you)
Me: thank you

Inside Jaipur I asked an auto guy for way to hotel and suddenly one guy pounced out and offered to take me to hotel “Hotel Sanu” near the market place. He wanted Rs.20/- and bargained and later gave him that for bringing my luggage into the room.

Jaipur was not the same. There are petrol stations just outside the Jaipur gate and there was nothing pink about the city. Get out into the side streets there is garbage all over and smells so yukky.

Jaipur to Udaipur: 15th August:

I wished the Hotel Sanu receptionist (guy from Orissa working here) since it was Independence Day and he didn’t even acknowledge. It seemed as if independence was immaterial to him. JAI HIND.
Route: From Jaipur continue on NH8 in the direction of Ajmer. Before Kishangarh take a left turn into NH79A. Few kms down it joins NH79. From Chittaurgarh it joins NH76 and into Udaipur. 415kms.
The ride was awesome. I met bus full of Gujarati’s near Kishangarh and talked to them. Moment I started talking, all the guys inside the bus were around me. One rushed to get me tea and poori. Another gave me tips on the route. They were so happy and they felt it was an honour to talk to me. In reality I felt the other way around. Such a sharp contrast between Delhi and these people. They all waved me goodbye and waited till I started on my journey.
Udaipur looked to be more beautiful city than Jaipur. Little smaller and cleaner. I checked into “Hotel Gokul Palace” near the bus stand. Always bargain for better room prices. Do not go by what they quote. It was damn hot during the entire day. Today I managed to have a meal in the noon and my stomach was still upset.
Next day I woke up early in the morning around 5:00am and went into the old parts of town in the direction of city palace. The houses, the lanes, the lake all actually give a feel of Venice. Its for no dumb reason that Udaipur is equated to Venice of east.
There are lot of shops catering to the Western tourists. Gives a feel that many travellers here are either from Europe or Israel.
My stomach started to give me problems again forcing me to return to the hotel. After a sound nap when I woke up it was raining heavily. Rest of the day I was forced to remain indoors. And I couldn’t take a walk again to have a look inside the City Palace.
Sankalp is a South Indian Restaurant and going by the crowd here, looks like people like South Indian food especially dosa and idlli. This is priced on the higher side and is definitely not a value for money restaurant. They do have branches in lot of cities around Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Udaipur to Daman: 17th August:

Route: NH8 from Udaipur till Mumbai via Ahmedabad and Vadodara. Alternatively one can head towards Godhra and reach Vadodara. There is an expressway from Ahmedabad to Vadodara but this is only for cars. At Vapi turn right to Daman. Turn left and you are into Silvassa another Union Territory. 640kms.
Though we call Daman & Diu, both are seperated by a distance of 300kms on road. The other way is through sea.

The stretch is pretty scenic and earlier day’s rains just enriched the greenery. The roads have been laid by cutting through the mountains and this is pretty much evident. Kids walk long distance to go to school. Not much traffic on Rajasthan side. One guy who walking to work stopped, talked to me and even explained a bit of his work too. Another on cycle waved to me and wished me. Everytime I stop my bike for a break there will be kids around eagerly waiting for me to take my camera out and click their pictures. Of late I stopped clicking pictures of these kids except on occasions.
Once I cross Rajasthan into Gujarat there is lot of traffic. People in both these States of India are very friendly. “Athithi Devo Bhava”.
The entry to Daman is not what one would expect. There are no roads and only gravel. A left turn would take you to Moti Daman and continuing straight would lead to Nani Daman. I stayed in Nani Daman at “Hotel Holidays”. Not the best of hotels. But everywhere I could bargain for a lesser price. I would not recommend this hotel though. I found about three cockroaches in the room. Hopefully nothing beyond that.

Following day woke up early as usual to the sound of water only that it was raining. Slept again and when I went for breakfast around 9:00am it was still raining. Its amazing feeling to watch rain with glass of tea in hand. And drops of raining falling on you flowing with the wind. After watching the rains for 1hr nothing much to do but to retreat into the bed. When the rain did stop I took my bag and went walking around the town. Man, it was humid aggravated by the rains.
Moti Daman is very quite place compared to Nani Daman. The entire population of Moti Daman resides inside the fort. The inside of the fort is designed in such a way that entire town would be inside. Properly planned layout of residential area, police, court, hospital. A visit to Jampore beach is a must. Walking around the fort is not all that good idea with the area being 36000square meters. Maybe someday when it is not raining I would return to this place to walk around the entire fort.
There is a fort in Nani Daman which is very smelly inspite a church being inside the fort. Devka beach is not as beautiful as Jampore. Nani Daman is more noisy. I had planned for some sunset shots but it started raining again in sometime, forcing me back to room.

Daman to Bangalore: 19th August:

Route: Reach Vapi and get onto NH8. Continue on NH8 till Godbhundar. Turn left into Thane and proceed towards Kalwa Bridge. Turn right after that towards Panvel. Its one straight road. Finally turns left into NH4 towards Pune. Do not leave NH4. Cross Satara, Kolhapur, Belgavi, Hubbali, Davengere, Chitradurga, Tumkur.
Distance: 1250kms. Travel days: 2 Night halt: Gold Star, Kolhapur.

NH8 roads towards Mumbai have been damaged due to rains and fresh laying is also happening. The traffic is also heavy that its not a fast moving highway. Godbhundar is signified by a very big river that flows out there. With good amount of rainfall and raining at that time of travel it was a magnificent view. It looked really majestic.
On reaching NH4, bikes are not allowed on expressway so I continue on NH4 and at Lonavala for few kms one would get onto the expressway and have to leave at the Lonavala junction. Since this was the first time on this highway for me, I was confused when I got into expressway and did not know how to get out. I see an luggage carrier auto in front of me. I go by his side and stop him.

Me: Expressway me kaise aagaye, nahin aane ka (How did you get into expressway, you are not supposed to come here)
He: {gets tensed and thinks am an officer} nahin saab galti se aagaya (came into this by mistake)
Me: bahar kaise jaoge (how will you go out of expressway)
He: saab udar poochoonga, galti ho gayi saab (i will ask there, mistake happened sir)
Me: ok

Then I also got to know how to get out of the expressway into NH4 again and I continued my journey. From Kolhapur after night’s sleep finally my stomach seemed to be doing better. Almost 6 days of being upset made me lose appetite and managed with just a meal a day.
And I met Nash of IndiThumpers who was riding solo to Velankanni. We both continued on the journey together. Between Davengere and Chitradurga construction activity is still ongoing. After Tumkur, got into Nice Road to reach Bannerghatta Road much faster and avoiding all the traffic.

Upset stomach did not mean that I missed good food on the way. Kichadi and kadi in Rajasthan. Dokhla in Gujarat. Poha and vada paav in Maharashtra.

Click here for photos.

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Road Trip 2 Leh

No road trips for this year so far. Been quite period so far. Couple of short rides to Ooty, Coorg. And finally am on a road trip. Not to forget Make Your Trip in March this year.

And finally am on going to be on my motorbike. Tonight I pack my bags and head to Chennai on KSRTC bus. Tomorrow after brief check-up we leave in the night by train to Delhi. Our bikes would travel with us. From Delhi we ride to Leh via Manali. The tentative plan includes Nubra Valley. Once back in Delhi.
Am riding down to Bangalore through Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, Pune.

Looks like a good road plan??

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Encounters on the road – 5

This incident happened on 17th July 2010. After fixing new tyre & tube for my cycle I was pedalling towards Malleshpalaya through inner roads from Marthahalli.
There was a motorbike which turned in and after 50meters he skid & fell down. Few others ran towards him, I pedalled faster. Gave him water from my bottle, cleaned his wounds and some to drink. Few others picked up his bike, made him sit down, enquired.
Apparently a beetle was on the road and he did not want to run over it. Applied brakes and too much of front brake made him skid and fall down. Lucky for him, and it is good to meet such guys who care about. His intention was really good.

The worst part of the story was there is a house next to the point where he fell. The guy came outside saw what happened and after few seconds went inside and locked the door.
But there were other good people around. One guy even said few nice words and thanked GOD that nothing big happened.

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