Weekend ride to Munnar

We planned on a weekend trip to Munnar for the Oct 2nd weekend. Manu, Appu n Divya travelled in Appu's car, while I hopped on my Royal Enfield.
my main agenda of the trip was to test my bike and my fitness level!!
Appu had booked 2 rooms in Munnar through a local friend. Having decided to leave early on saturday morning, manu n I stayed at Appu's place, while Divya cooked an excellent dinner.
All set, we just realised that we didnt have alchohol. Being the 1st of the month, no supply in kerala and saturday being Gandhi Jayanti, we were doomed. Having just returned from bangalore that morning, i was already feeling very tired. While Divya was preparing dinner, we drove around the whole city looking for any sale of liquor and finally returned home past 10 pm in vain.
After a heavy dinner we slept at around 1 still hoping we'll be up by 6 atleast. Being a holiday none of us wanted to rush it...Up at 9, we three guys were ready in half an hour, while the lady of the house came out at 10:30 am....Had breakfast at Indian Coffee House, while still trying our luck with the spirits. nope!!

Stopped by at the petrol station and hit the road finally at 11:30. unfortunately we had to slow down before Muvatupuzha, where a religious procession blocked the roads for half an hour.Reached Adimali by 2:30, where a friend promised to deliver the 'parcel'..still no luck!

Stopped for food at Adimali where all 4 of us had a silent lunch, disappointed that we wudnt have any liquor for the evening...
the fun begins now. closing in on munnar the ride was getting more exciting for me..
wet, winding roads and hairpin bends broke my back at every turns, while i cut through the descending mist. the visibility was less than 5m and the headlights/fog lights was my only sign of opposite traffic.
My agenda for the trip was partially fulfilled, and i was in high spirits already...

On reaching the , only to find that there were no rooms vacant..great!as an alternative they took us to an annexe, which looked like a side y joint. Appu tried calling his friend, who never really tried to help, while divya was ready to head back to cochi....

Our trip seemed to have taken a full beating, starting the delay, to the lack of alchohol and now no place to stay. I tried contacting a friend of mine to see if he could help us and luckily he found us an awesome place which had 2 suite rooms at very affordable pricing..our balconies overlooked a lovely stream...

the group was getting cheered up now and after a hot bath we head to the town..i must mention here that it wasnt a great idea to travel to munnar on a public holiday, since the town was jammed with tourist buses and other vehicles. and dont forget the rains here!!

we finally managed to buy some rum and vodka which were exorbitantly priced and head back to rooms.
The spirits complimented the excellent weather, accompanied by decent food....after all of us got high we still managed to go for a drive looking for elephants (which was a very bad idea) and some liquor ofcourse. hit the bed by 3 i guess?

had breakfast and went to madupetty lake, were another traffic snarl greeeted us. saw a couple of trained elephants which looked under-fed.

Checked out from our hotel and dined at a Jain/Rajasthani/Gujrati/Marwari restaurant. left munnar by around 2:30 and headed straight to Cochi. I had to take a break after the hills, since the fingers on my left hand had gone numb. There was no looking back after that, hit our destination non-stop, reaching cochi by around 5:30. On my return journey rains were pouring down like crazy and I was completely soaked. but then there was no point in stopping, since the rains werent goin to stop completely.

Having tested my bike, it was a highly satisfying trip for me...now i know what has to be tuned in my bull and me...;-)

Trip Statistics:

Cochin to Munnar - 138km+145km (to and fro)
Roads- Good in parts to worse
Weather Conditions- incessant rains

Shall meet you soon with a longer ride...
until then, happy riding!!!

Travelling on a motorcycle around the country

Imagine a life not worrying about time, no boss to answer to, no schedules to meet, no phones to answer, no targets to meet, no EMIs or credit card bills to worry about.
You can do all what you want...visit your friends whose marriages u missed, visit your cousins, catch up on movies, catch up on reading, most importantly- Wake up late in the morning and sleep until ur content...

Isnt that we call Utopia??

Finally the decision has been made...

I QUIT!

If you had noticed, I started this blog named 'Motorcycle Diaries' 3 years ago, hoping that one day I could emulate 'Che's journey (ofcourse not the political side). The Time is NOW...

Come this December you'd find me doing all the above...;-)
Ive planned to hop on my Royal Enfield travelling through the vast stretches of the countryfrom South to West to North and East on an unplanned trip, with only the direction in sight.

With no paticular agenda, ive decided to just keep riding and stop at friends & to-be friends places  wherever possible..not sure if it would be possible to pitch tents in remote villages/forests (not keen on getting harrased by the cops).

The whole idea sounds exciting and honestly i really dunno what to expect.
If you are planning to go on a ride during the same time, Id love youto join me in any of the legs of the tour.
Pls drop in your contacts, ill get in touch asap.

Others are most welcome to chip in with your ideas/advice/experience/thoughts on the unplanned journey!

Cheers

Rajini Jokes

Although Im a big fan of the SuperStar, I must appreciate the creativity of those who've scripted these one-liners. The collection found on IBNLive are broadly based on the jokes on Chuck Norris. Have Fun!!!

Rajinikanth will attain separate statehood in 2013.

Rajinikanth doesn't move at the speed of light. Light moves at the speed of Rajinikanth.

From the most common bullet jokes - the action superstar splits a bullet in two to kill two villains at one time - to killing the Dead Sea, Rajinikanth quips have found their way into Indian popular culture, irrespective of geographical boundaries.

Rajnikanth can divide by zero.

Rajinikanth can slam a revolving door.

Rajinikanth destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.

Rajinikanth has counted to infinity, twice.

Rajinikanth once got into a knife-fight. The knife lost.

Rajinikanth never wet his bed as a child. The bed wet itself in fear.

There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Rajinikanth lives in Chennai.

Rajinikanth does not own a stove, oven, or microwave, because revenge is a dish best served cold.

Rajinikanth knows Victoria's secret.

Water boils faster when Rajinikanth stares at it.

Rajinikanth kills two stones with one bird.

Google won't find Rajinikanth because you don't find Rajinikanth; Rajinikanth finds you.

Rajinikanth can answer a missed call.

Rajinikanth can speak Braille.

Rajinikanth can dodge Chuck Norris' roundhouse kicks.

Rajinikanth calls Voldemort by his name.

Chuck Norris once met Rajinikanth. The result - He was reduced to a joke on the internet.

Rajinikanth’s calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd, no one fools Rajanikanth.

Rajinikanth grinds his coffee with his teeth and boils the water with his own rage.

Rajinikanth once ate an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink.

Rajinikanth doesn’t wear a watch. He decides what time it is.

In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Rajinikanth could use to kill you, including the room itself.

Rajinikanth knows what women really want.

Rajinikanth doesn't need a visa to travel abroad, he just jumps from the tallest building in Chennai and holds himself in the air while the earth rotates.

Archaeologists unearthed an old English dictionary dating back to the year 1236. It defined “victim” as “one who has encountered Rajinikanth”.

There is no such thing as global warming. Rajinikanth was feeling cold, so brought the sun closer to heat the earth up.

Rajinikanth's first job was as a bus conductor. There were no survivors.

Wakka Wakka

Hi...

Am back after a long time, cant believe its been nearly 6 months..
Not that i was too busy to write, laziness the main culprit!!

What better way to start than a few scribblings on the FIFA World Cup 2010...
Just like millions of others football fans arnd the world, ive been waiting for this grand event for quite sometime now. We are already into the third week of the tournament and i must say that there have been a few surprises.

To start with, the winners and runners of the last edition have been kicked out in the 1st round, not sure when was the last time this happened...France paid the price for unprofessional, lacklusture, stupid footbal and they thoroughly deserved to go out. I've been praying for the exit of Italy for a long long time now, having shattered the dreams and achievements of my fav footballer Zidane during the worldcup in Germany in 2006. plus they brand of footbal is so boring and uninspiring..

I was just wondering what would the Irish be thinking?? having lost out on the 32nd position to france through a "hand goal" by Henry, its mustve really pained them to see their replacements go out of the tournament so meekly!! 

There were two contrasting statistics which anyone wudve noticed during the first 2 rounds of the league phase.  One- the 5 South American teams topped all their groups respectively and two- all african teams fared very badly (apart from Ghana though).

A couple of surprises too- Germany losing to Switzerland and Spain's defeat to Chile..

My favourites- Argentina followed by Spain and then Germany.

My fav stars - Messi, Torres, Muller, Osil

Who do you think is going to win this world cup and the gold boot & golden ball award goes to????

Experiencing a new city

After 10 days of hectic travelling, finally managed to park my rear side at home this weekend!

A grossly mismanaged project took me to Coimbatore few days ago. although ive had short aquaintances with the city recently, this time it was an extended stay (i think 4 days felt like ive know this place for ages)!
Wasnt prepared for the pleasant surprises in store for me..For a start the hotel i checked in (Aar Vee) had a very modest facade, but 
Rooms- Neat and very well equipped *****
Room Service- Very Good ****
Food- havent had such wonderful idlies in a long long time. Filter Coffee at its best! *****
Tariffs are a bit high, but I guess Coimbatore has always been a place for the above middle-class clan.

I love the thamizh spoken here..sounds like music to the ears (atleast mine)..always thought kollywood exaggerated the kovai dialect in all its movies..to listen exactly the same language was wonderful.
auto drivers are friendly and a bit laid back for sure.

the biggest surprise for me was the traffic management..handful of cops (young girls resembling NCC cadets) manning traffic signals, control the pedestrian movement impeccably. As a guy ud think its easy to cross the roads by not paying attention to these young ladies. gross misjudgement!! A middleaged man next to me was trying to cross the road inspite of seeing the rushing vehicles.there was a loud shriek from the opposite side and the man actually froze thinking he'd be convicted of murder if he dared to take another step..Wow, this was a very new and exciting (yes u heard me) xpreience for me!! As my auto stopped at a traffic signal, another girl in kakhis walked up to a guy in a moped to ensure tht he wore the helmet which was parked on his handlebar. Imagine a similar scene in chennai...the pot bellied cop wouldve extracted atleast three rupees and 50 paisa from the motorist.

Finally I had to take my client for dinner and I chose Residency which I was told has the best restaurants in town. The name of the restaurant was Afghan's Grill (attached a pic from the web). Ambience was wonderful and the service great..the crowd was great too.

On the whole, I think Coimbatore is definitely on the list of top 3 cities tht id like to live in.

Borrowed this video from another person's blog...really hilarious one!!



Enjoy maadi!!

Avatar-my xperience

The name has been on everyone's lips since the past couple of weeks..finally i managed to watch it yday.
One of the main reasons id been waiting to watch it in Sathyam/Inox was like everyone i was attracted to the 3d version. But Unlike others rather than the movie i was more eager to wear the 3d glasses.
I can vividly remember the number of spectacle pairs i broke as a kid watching the iconic 'My dear Kuttichathan'.. when i got my hands on them yday i grabbed them like an over xcited brat...wow, it was travelling down memory lane! Wearing the over-sized pair of 3d glasses and annoying ppl arnd me jus bcoz it doesnt fit me...being such an attention seeker(back then), how i made sure i got 3 new pairs within the first half of the movie...

How innocent and fulfilling life was back then! Hmm....
Anyways coming back to the subject, Avatar came across as a breath of fresh air entertaining wholesomely. I know the visuals and the colours in the movie hav been reviewd and wowed a brazillion number of times..i wonder y ppl are not talking abt the compassion and the empathy displayed towards fellow living species. The movie is so very touching (u dont hav to be a weak soul to feel so).
one other aspect tht i liked is JC's witty take on the US army and intelligence who blow things out of propotion and create a rucus over nothing. Their prejudized decisions kill them finnaly aka vietnam war aka gulf war (bush jr).
By the way did JC name his movie based on indian mythology?

Is Gandhi more violent than Hitler??

And that's the paradox of cinema, the paradox of belief. We don't simply believe or do not believe. We always believe in a kind of conditional mode. I know very well it's a fake but, nonetheless, I let myself be emotionally effected

 Heard of the name Slovaj Zizek?
The man is in India currently and has already courted controversy for saying that Gandhi was more violent than Hitler..
Shocking?? What he means by violence is the persistence of Gandhiji which drove the Brits crazy...anyways thts for another debate!!

Slovaj Zizek is a pro-communist philosopher living in the West, who firmly believes that Capitalism will kill the world. Its funny that the Slovakian

loves Hollywood and is also a vocal supporter of the american film industry. He has now come to India to understand Bollywood and also look at the effect of industrialization on the common man.

Zizek firmly believes that India is much better placed than China due to the fact that our neighbour is growing into a monstrous capitalist..

A recent conversation with a Chinese delegation gave me some interesting hindsights of their believes..
My amiable chinese friend mentioned the fact that the only reason they have grown/growing at such a a rapid pace attributes to the absence of religion in their culture? another shocker??
Yes! Since they do not believe or practice any religion, the only thing that they think about is money...every single chinese, young or old, is looking at diff opportunities of multiplying the buck..
those who've been to Vegas will submit testimony to this...the slot machines are always occupied with chinese octogenarians, while the blackjack tables are mobbed by young Chinese execs.

Coming back to Zizek, he's planning to write a book on India and Bollywood..research underway!! if you hav anymore info on the philosopher pls feel free to share the same!!

Screwing the Other Guy

For those who've follow the Devil's Advocate on CNN-IBN, this paticular episode would be thoroughly enjoyable..the articulate Mani Shankar Iyer takes the devils's seat grilling the "Obnoxious" Karan Thapar as described by the interviewer..

While I've embedded only the first video,  3 other  clippings complete the interview. See each one of them if you are one of those who'd enjoy Karan Thapar getting royally screwd..there are moments wher the interviewer and the interviewee swap roles (due to the familiarity), but on the whole the former Sprots minister does a commendable job in ridiculing Karan Thapar..

Laya Project

Laya Project’s musicians are the people of coastal and surrounding communities in the 2004 tsunami-affected regions of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar and India.
This production is based on regional folk music traditions, recorded and brought back to the studio to create a composition that mixes and enhances the original recordings, and embarks on a musical journey crossing borders, while preserving the music of the people.
The Laya Project is a personal and collective tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, and is dedicated to the survivors of the 26th December 2004 Asian tsunami.

The composition above is called Tapatam, by a group of South Indian artistes living along the coastal areas of Nagore, Naggapattinam, Traquelabar, Vandavasi, Kanyakumari, Manuppadu, Kovalam, Adhimalathura and Paniyur Beach. The producers created a mobile studio by removing their car seats and powered them with the car batteries..

Various instruments used include the Nadaswaram, Tavil, Tabla and Mohrsung. The combination of the percussion instruments, nadaswaram, mohrsung and vocals create a splendid composition..


Switch off the Lights, Shut ur eyes and listen to the full version of Tapatam in a 5.1 audio system...believe me u wudnt stop replaying the record for another 3 times atleast!!!

The sad part is that as usual, only foreigners appreciate our indigenuos talent.....

Whistle For your Beer

Read an article recently on a strange beer drinking ritual..
In old English pubs, beer was served in Ceramic Cups/Mugs which had a whistle baked on the rim of the mug or in the handle itself....
One jus had to whistle thro' it for a refill. Therefore whenever people went drinking they would "Wet their Whistle"!!
Imagine having the same system in our country. Along with the whistle an amplifier will have to be complimentary..