45 litres of 97 Octane petrol, Cold air induction and 4 hours to spare

Its all abt driving.
Its all about enjoying a drive and a sunday morning - the chilly winter types ..

I would have prefered to stay in my bed and sleep till 9.00 .. but somehow, i was just charged up about this drive thingy. So i went .. i went all alone ( nothin great actually but might sound crazy ).. to Lavasa city. It should have been a 120 Km drive in toto but My great knowledge of roads added another 120 Kms to it and thus odo reading jumped from 21010 to 21270..

those curvy roads are something to die for.. and taking on the curves at speeds of 70 -80 gave me experience of a life time -- and a lesson too... :D .. well doing a 360 turn un-intentionally gives you a hell lotta kicks ;) but doing 90 kmph on a curve is not advisable with car running 175 profile at rear ..

boy was that drive fun ?? hehehe.. i am gonna give it one more shot -- this time with my new camera :) so that should be more fun... and a whole lot of photographs.

Inspiring story

ok this is in a bit of hurry...
today afternnon, watching Discovery channel or Nat Geo.. am not sure about the channel, i came across a story of certain CHRIS MOON.
this guy, working in a medical unit with UN in Combodia, was captured by the Khmer Rouge ( spellcheck ) regime. These people are infamous for their behaviour with prisoners. A very common practice was to take all the belongings and shoot down the captured person..
Somehow, Mr. Chris Moon managed to convince these SOBs to let him and his 2 mates go after 4 days of hard travel in worst areas of combodia .. ofcourse under Khmer rouge control.

In these 4 days, death was the only thing on Chris' mind. His skills of negotiation won him 3 lives and freedom.

now the bad part :
5-6 years later this Chris guy was sent to Mozambique in Africa for a very dangerous job of Landmine detection and De-activation. On a normal working day, an undetected mine blew off his leg. His right arm had to be amputed because of the injuries it had sustained. Now, survival back on his mind, he fought back with the incident and today,he is very much alive.

Any normal person could have stopped moving around and sat back home thinking about the past and singing self praise. Mr. Chris stood up on this and with help of medication, a hell lot of determination and technology. He got himself a robotic arm and a robotic leg ( i dont know proper words ... sorry for that ) and now he runs Cross - Desert Marathons for the Disabled. A remarkable event he runs eveytime is a 7 -day run through 7 deserts and as far as i think, he must have won atleast 2-3 times.

Now thats what i call can call a real HERO.
Kudos to Chris Moon !!!!


A little update : googled for Chris Moon - he appears to be a motivational speaker in UK - well worth the work .....

well ... this can happen only in India ..!!

Last week's been pretty much of ups and downs for the Indian cinema fraternity.
3 very big heroes... 3 very big incidences.... and all of them bad.

yeah.. firstly its our muscle boy.. Salman khan.
He was arrested on the charges of hunting down a Chinkara - an endangered species of deer, way back in 1998. The case has been going on for a freakin 8 years, with actor not turning up in court lot of times. As the court found him guilty of the charges, a 5 yr sentence was slapped on him, So the police arrested him on Monday 10th April 2006. now that move is made after 8 years of a very complicated legal battle in the courts of Jodhpur.
IMHO this was a very much deserved sentence for Salman..
now the worst part : when he was released on bail ( a very much expected event : i can guess what pressure the Judge for the case must have been through .. ) , there were celebrations by his fans across the country. when he reached mumbai, his fans gathered outside his house fired crackers, played dhols and what not, as if he was a war-hero... To top it off, Mr. Salman Khan danced with his fans ... aahh... great heroes !!!!

the second person is Mr. Rajkumar : a super popular hero from south. The same actor kidnapped by Veerappan.
As far as my knowledge goes, Rajkumar was known as the big B of south ... rather a greater figure than big B. I have always heard about him from the workers on my site and always in high regards. I have even seen 2 of our watchmans performing Puja on his photos......
Sadly this great man died on 12th april 2006. What his fans did after their hero's death, left me totally baffled. Bangalore almost came to halt because of the angry fans.. Fans angry because of their hero's death !!!! now this really can happen only in India ...

the third person i must mention here is Mr. Amir Khan.
yep - its a very unlikely name to take with above incidences but what Amir Khan did, really sets him apart.
He simply went to the place where people against Narmada Valley Project are protesting in form of fasting and satyagrah and declared his support to their demands. another thing he mentioned was the Bhopal gas tragedy. What he said and did was nowhere related to any political party.... Now as a result of this, workers from some party stopped screening of Amirs movie RDB. Now thats the treatment one gets if he tries to change something bad in this country.... it should be noted that Amir did not take any names in the press conference nor he expressed any support towards any political party... so in my opinion, there wont be some other motive behind all this. and what he gets in return is a 20 minute slot on every news channel and a stopped movie screening.

Now what the hell are we up to ??
burning down cars on a hero's death, dancing after another hero is released from jail and stopping movie screenings after the hero of that movie extends his hand to some people fighting for a cause ......
if this carries on ...the RDB way is not far away....

this one's almost a continuation to the post about favourite songs.
On & On - by Jay Sean - one of my top 20 list...
who says rap songs are all about gangsta life - just  check out the lyrics of this song ...
i find the song quite close to life ( may sound a bit aged - but thats how it makes you feel.. )


On 'n On

Thinking bout all of those days I left behind
Nowadays it seems I'm watching life just pass me by
The world is spinning beneath my feet at an unforgiving pace
And I, I just find myself falling victim to the chase

If only I could take it back, to the days when I was younger
Then maybe I would cherish that moment I grew older
Finally I understand that time won't wait for no one (no no no)
I can't live in the past

On N on, on N on, it don't look back (people move)
On N on, on N on, they won't look back (and thought I've moved)
On N on, on N on, I won't forget
What it took to get me here,
How much I sacrificed

Maybe I allowed myself to be consumed
Turned my back on what once the only life I knew
Too busy loving me to notice everything had changed
and I've come to realise that nothing ever stays the same

If only I could take it back, to the days when I was younger
Then maybe I would cherish that moment I grew older
Finally I understand that time won't wait for no one (no no no)
I can't live in the past

On N on, on N on, it don't look back (people move)
On N on, on N on, they won't look back (and thought I've moved)
On N on, on N on, I won't forget
What it took to get me here,
How much I sacrificed

Now I see, that on the road that I chose
I can't leave, when the weakness begins to show
Finally, I just gotta let it go

On N on, on N on, it don't look back (people move)
On N on, on N on, they won't look back (and thought I've moved)
On N on, on N on, I won't forget
What it took to get me here,
How much I sacrificed 

hats off to JS - too good.

a few favourite songs ....

had a little conversation with dad about my favourite songs - actually it started off cos i was playing some good Linkin Park in my car - really loud and dad was with me ;)
Got a bashing for such a loud system and all ... but further the whole scene drifted towards me and dad discussing our favourite music .. so here goes my list :

English :
linkin park : breaking the habit, in the end, numb, one step closer, its going down - man these guys really rock
enrique iglesias : Hero - original, addicted - original, sad eyes, dont turn off the lights..
santana: all the songs - especially Oye como va & black magic woman --- superb !!!
MLTR - almost all songs
james blunt: good songs -i like So late jimmy and you're beautiful
from hiphop stuff the list would be endless but few worth mention :
riders on the storm
freek a leek - i know its not pure hiphop
yeah by usher
i can fly - r kelly - awesome song
rewind - craig david - superb mix of techno tunes !!
desert rose - sting
sultans of swing, heavy fuel , money for nothing - dire straits
yellow submrine - beatles


... will add hindi some other time so keep visiting....

would you dare ?

was watching Swades on PC..
a thought sprang up in my mind...

2 movies : Swades, Yuva

2 questions :

1. Would you dare something like SRK does in swades ?? leaving a good job in US just to get back here.. i know lot of people have done it..but would you ??
2. Would you dare something that Vivek Oberoi does in yuva ?? i haven't known anyone who secured admission in US or UK and then turned it down... guys come on ...

I wanted to add Rang De Basanti to this list with another question... but i did not - it gives an easy way out : Finishing the system... which is not the solution for sure.

Audi TT !!!!!

yeah... drove the TT some days back.
My my.. a cute little sports car with a peppy 1.8 Turbo charged engine. I wont go into the history of how i ended up driving it..
That car is a stunner for sure. The Audi marketing guys came down to our site with the car. Silver blue in colour, sporting no extra packages ( which would have been great ) Smooth curvy body - damn sexy looks i must admit.
Engine kicked alive with a distant purr of the turbo - revv it to 4000 RPM and you can feel the genes of a potent sports car.. well driving it was pretty easy as the ususal nips are placed where they should be. Took it to NDA road - 0 to 100 was in about 10 seconds on empty stretches. But forget speeds - if you want all heads turned on to you - just rev her upto 6000 rpm - i did that and boy !! she makes some serious noise !!
Sadly i couldn't take her on highway - i would have loved to check acceleration figures and of course the Top speed...
All in all - not Worth 45 lakhs even after i enjoyed every bit of it... 1.8 litre engine - turbocharged to 150 bhp - naaahh...... i could get 2 Octys with some serious modifications to engine, in that pay-packet !! But as another friend suggested - buy the TT 1.8 model - get custom remaps for the ECU - the total goes upto 55 lakhs with some minor changes in the car - you will get 225 bhp Audi TT.....
but at the same time you end up with Void Warranty - worth the risk ???
NEVER !!!

Instead - go for a Skoda Octavia RS - put in some decent ICE , Get the engine modified to 3rd level --- all this totals to Rs. 20 lakhs.
Remaining maoney - save it - cos you'll need it for the Petrol ;)

As the Marketing guy from Audi said - TT is the fashion accessory for women ( of course RICH ) in europe .... I couldn't agree more !!!!



ICE - in car entertainment.

Raj Thackerey

well it sounds like a pretty controversial topic to start off my blog but its worth it i guess.
Raj Thackerey - the name has it, the person has it, but will it help ?? i am talking about the charisma that ' Thackerey ' tag...
To start off - yeah - he has a similar working style to that of one Mr. Bal Thackerey - the Hindu Demigod in words of Rajdeep Sardesai. But does it help in these times ?? In my opinion, it wont, beyond a certain extent.
When Mr Bal Thackerey started his political career ( i doubt it was a career - it was a passion that he extended towards all the maharashtrian people ) times were pretty different from what they are right now. South indians coming to mumbai for work and settling down, forming their exclusive lobbies in the companies et al. that was the time when most of marathi families in mumbai were employed in the mills - and as the closing down of these mills started, it was difficult for these families to get other jobs due to lack of ( proper ) education and the drive to excel in the other fields .

At times like these, a person stood up for his fellowmen - and people did follow.

Today, the complete picture stands changed -Frankly speaking its not that bad a situation for us, Marathi people.
So comparing Raj Thackerey to Balasaheb Thackerey is pointless. To start off good with the new party, Raj needs to emotionally attach to people of Maharashtra - So if he copies some antics of his uncle - its all expected and accepted ( as everything is fair in politics ;) ). And on a frank note, the media - electronic as well as paper - have built up such a hype about all that went on for last 6 months in Shiv Sena, the whole matter now stands too big to bring it down.

Another thought that pops up in my mind - when Maneka Gandhi chose not to work for the Congress party - was it talked about at this level ?? Well - just a thought as i havent seen the newspapers from those times...

As this game of politics advances to its next level at BMC elections - lets hope for the best .....

Last few weeks have been the best time of my college life i should say. To start with, my birthday party got a bit costly for myself ;) ( though resulting in a dreadful pennyless week ). Further came the last month of college ( well.. almost the last month ) and so full on TP started off.....movies, lunches, general hangin out.. et al
And now with the exam staring down at us :: all that remain are the submissions .. QS not yet started, Transportation engg. - 6 pracs remain to be performed, DHS - no comments :) , Project work piling up...... holy cow - WTF am i doing here ???? i feel like i need just a day to get these things done - and i have already wasted my sunday + monday on roaming around .....
With this Goa trip coming up on 30th, i dont think i'll make it in time ....
Hope to get it over with soon..

Aah... finally !!!

Now i could not stop myself from writing a blog for myself...
Hope you guys enjoy whatever gibberish i put in here..


cheerio !!