All for dopamine: Lonavla

Somehow, life had lost it’s meaning. It all boiled down to that substance of my brain: Dopamine.. Docs say this substance; or rather lack of it is capable of tipping you off the cliff of sanity. Of late, monotonous incidents were controlling my life. Lest I fall victim to some chemical locha, I knew I had to get away. Fast.. Away from the city, far from the maddening crowd, from the dog eat dog world..

Easier said than done. The challenges were plenty. Assignments apparated from nowhere, dark clouds threatened and no company was to be found for this short trip. And of course, there are battles in your head to keep your dreams alive. In the end, it was just me and my faithful machine..

At 8, the dark clouds chose to give us a break from the seemingly perennial rainfall. The window of opportunity did not last long and the rain Gods were at it again an hour later as I exited the city of dreams. Once the Parel bypass was reached, the treat began.. This was when my lungs screamed out in joy, my eyes soaked the lush green surroundings and the grey skies and my spirit soared. The highway presented a decent tarmac and allowed 3 digit speeds. The precipitation continued though the intensity dropped in a while. Besides the oil sump, the water helped with the cooling and I had no qualms revving the engine hard. Since the Mumbai- Pune expressway does not allow bikes, I stuck to the NH-4 and had birds, trees, some obscure towns and the hum of the motor to keep company.. Though the wet tarmac kept the engine cool, my body begged for mercy and around 10am & I made a stop for a cup of hot coffee. Thereafter, rains kept away for a while and the cool winds helped me dry up in a while. I made a stop at Khapoli to visit a forgettable waterfall.

By 11, I had managed to beat the traffic at Lonavla and headed towards Bhushi dam. Yes! The maniacal traffic at Lonavla comprised of desperate Mumbaikars eager to get away from the city. To be honest, the rush continued upto the waterfall and the dam. Though the drive was thrilling featuring steep roads and numerous hair-pin bends, the wannabe people were bugging. Cars with people seated on rooftops or sticking out of windows are a permanent feature here.

Having heard wonderful stories of the road to Ambey Valley, I decided to push my luck and continue with my quest for beauty and peace. And bingo!! In no time, the crowd disappeared, the forests thickened and the roads remained brilliant! The dimensions of time and practicality were lost somewhere in the bliss. The engine roared, the air became purer and my spirit soared. I reached the starting point for the trek for Korikad fort and the Ambey Valley city soon thereafter. The hills at Korikad were in the greenest form and lack of company meant that I’d have to come back here sometime in better numbers. Ambey Valley was a treat again and so was the adventure camp established nearby. ATV’s are quite prevalent here.

How did I feel? Great indeed.. But as the wise have stated: sometimes the journey is the destination..

The return journey was a treat again. My feet never touched the ground; I hummed along with my machine: “Singing here we go again…”

Mumbaikar's day out..

The city of Mumbai: There have been more ordeals than niceties since I came to this city. I’m still to absorb the extent of open drains, flies, the cost of living and the filmy people.. Here goes an interesting nothing in my life:

Boarding the local was a fight. It always is..

I made sure I was surrounded by the experienced ones. Their instructions were engraved in my memory. Somehow the word ‘push’ was the most prominent of all. Then the train arrived. I made little progress until I pushed with all my might. The proceedings of those few seconds remain a bit sketchy in my memory but I was happy to have accomplished the mission of boarding the train. My friends soon reminded me that the war was not over yet. I still had to fight to avoid being thrown out at the subsequent stations. As the train moved, things fell into place: gaps were filled, peace was restored. At the next station, another scene of havoc transpired. Peace was restored thereafter. The pace with which the Mumbai traveller transforms from war-peace-war mode is astounding. During one of the peace sessions, I looked around at the faces. They revealed nothing. Happiness, pain, joy, suffering: if there was any, they’re surely good at concealing it. I continued and I noticed one middle aged gentleman in the corner seat.

Even though our conversation had not started yet, I pitied him already. My sympathy had a lot to do with my experiences with insane rentals, cost of living, travelling in Mumbai etc. I made some personal assumptions about his earnings and his lifestyle (a sick thing to do I know; God forgive me). A little casual math told me that things may not be very comfortable for this gentleman here. Some small talk initiated our conversation. The moment the first words came out, they shattered all my assumptions.

He was happy!! His voice made that clear. Somehow, this does not seem right.. What about my sympathies? This fellow left no room for my generous offerings. What about the way the city breaks bodies and minds? How can this gentleman survive? I was to find out soon.

As the conversation progressed, I was to find out that our Mambaikar had his ways to take on whatever the city threw at him. That he had managed to get a seat had something to do with his strategy of ‘reverse journey’. Our protagonist travels in the direction opposite to his destination and gets off at the last stop. Here, he catches the empty train headed to his destination. But doesn’t that mean losing a lot of time everyday. Not to forget the futility of covering some stations twice? “So what? I have a seat, don’t I?”- he chimes. Wow, I should have asked him to help me out with my little problems as well. This guy seems to know it all. Now I could recall some other stories as well. I remember commenting to a corporate hot-shot: “You travel 4 hours a day. And if it rains, God save you! Don’t you ever wish to move out of the city?”.

“ I keep pillows and a lot of reading material in the car” he stated matter of factedly. “And if it rains, I have slippers and a raincoat in the boot. I abandon the car and catch a train”. If you explore, I’m sure you’ll find a lot of stories in these lines. The show must go on. A lesson in patience and perseverance to be learnt here. Whatever the city throws at you, your attitude prevails.

I was still thinking of the psychology of Mumbaikars. Don’t they ever feel cheated by the city of dreams? All the hardships and there was still something in the local traveller’s tone. Now I finally got it!! Pride. That’s what struck me in the local train Mabaikar’s tone. Pride.. This gentleman was proud to be the breadwinner. Proud to be a part of Mumbai. Proud to have made a mark, to have survived in the city. It will take a long time for me to comprehend that.

They say the city grows on you. Well, you know there’s one fellow who wishes the process would speed up..

Bangalore to Mumbai: Day 1

The question I am asked repeatedly is ‘why a bike?’ There are plenty of buses and trains to take you there in lesser time..

The answer to that one is that at some point in your life there is a realization. I have been pondering on the great Indian philosophy of ‘work hard and emerge victorious’- where the emphasis is on the ‘work hard’ part. Now from my experiences, I beg to differ. There are some things that are just hard wired in your brain. Accept reality: you might be bad in some stuff but might be decent enough in something else. Efforts to improvise your weaknesses may not yield the desired results. On the other hand it might be a good idea to focus on stuff you are built for.. That gets me to the point that there is something with driving/ travelling hard wired in my brain that gives me unparalleled happiness.

Now that I was relocating, the idea of giving my vehicle to transporters so that they can deliver it to Mumbai in a pitiable state did not go well with me. Our gang’s last experience featured a punctured fuel tank, a broken fender and a seriously dislocated carburettor (read: someone was trying to steal fuel).

And I love seeing my country. The colors, the people, the climate, vegetation: I love experiencing it all. In that regard, a bike takes me closer to the elements than a car.

The start was sloppy. I managed to hit the roads around 6:45 am. By the time I was out of the chaotic Tumkur road, it was 8:15. After the Shivagange turn, I saw a CCD coming up and decided to stop keeping in mind that this might be the last decent washroom I’ll get (I was proven wrong later though..).

Progress remained sloppy. I was enjoying the surroundings at my pace. I stopped repeatedly take pictures, make phone calls and even to scratch my head! At around 10:30, I was in Chitradurga. From the elevated road, you can see the walls of the Chitradurga fort. Sadly, I was unable to capture it thanks to my camera’s resolution and limited zoom capabilities. The other interesting things around Chitradurga are the wind farms. They are everywhere in the hilly region and paint a lovely picture of ‘India shining’..

By noon, I was nearing the city of Davangere. Just three dogs and two cows seen in the 300 Km stretch. Now that’s a number we Indians can live with J. This region marks the advent of heat. I was missing Bangalore more and more. The highway beyond Davangere is still not complete and the elevated roads will take at least a year or two to be complete. In the stretch up to Haveri, speed fell numerous times and I was stuck at both the railway crossings. Beyond Hubli, things were lovely once again with a panoramic view and some hills and dense vegetation. I crossed Belgaum around 4pm and had started contemplating on moving ahead to Satara instead of the planned stop at Kolhapur.

I stopped at a fuel pump somewhere after Belgaum and struck a conversation with a truck driver. I asked him about the condition of the road and how long it’d be to reach Satara. After our jolly talk, he concluded it would be 6 hours before I reach the outskirts of Satara. I politely told him to get a better truck and I was sure the distance of 240 Kms could be covered in half the time provided the road conditions remained the same.

Entering Maharashtra marked the end of the great Indian joy ride. The winds were getting a bit annoying. The bike had to be banked by a degree or two to counter the force exerted by the wind. For a moment the thought of uneven tyre wear thanks to a long slanted ride came to my mind; but I rubbished it soon enough.

Reached Kolhapur around 6pm and stopped at the Mc Donalds out there. This was definitely the worst Mc Donalds I’ve been to. No queue, no water in the loo and the staff trying too hard to sell you something you don’t want. My experience with Maharashtra was turning out to be not at all pleasant.

I was done munching by 6pm and decided to head towards Satara. The traffic was pathetic and comprised of a rich variety (cattle, tractors, autorikshaws, etc). I reached Satara at 7:45 beating complete darkness by a minute or two. Getting off the highway before dark is vital according to my rule-book.

I found a pretty good hotel somewhere near a place called S.T. Stand. Behold, this is an important place to be remembered as it is the only part of the town blessed with a tower holding of 4 street lights. I was welcomed by a grumbling fellow who wanted to murder me since I could not reply in Marathi. Anyway, after dumping my bag, I headed to the famed S.T. Stand. After exploring the small town city centre, I headed back to the hotel. The gujju thali for 80 bucks sounded promising. And it turned out to be a treat.

In all a majestic day. The only sad fact was that the mileage figure was not very flowery. The bike guzzled a little less than 21 litres for the 770 KM run which turns out to be 37 Km/Litre. That proves that this gearbox is better off cruising on state highways where speeds range from 60 to 80Km/hr than revving hard to keep speeds of 90-110Km/hr. Also, age takes a toll on everything. This loyal motor has served 27000Km’s consistently returning a mileage of 40-45 Km/L. I guess an overhaul is due in some time.

Bangalore to Mumbai: Day 2

I was exercising early in the morning when the sun abruptly disappeared. I ran to the window. Surely, there were dark clouds headed in my direction. I got ready quickly and was on the highway by 7:45am.

I studied the sky. The clouds were coming in from south east. So technically, I could outrun them as my destination was North West. I opened the throttle and cruised along. Mind you, this is not one of the roads where you can have those conversations with yourself. Philosophy will have to make way for caution keeping in mind the numerous rikshaws, tractors, etc..

If the winds yesterday were termed as annoying, today they were threatening. I saw a Maruti 800 sway furiously as it passed through a gap in the hills. Along with the driver, others following it were also visibly shaken. Speeds were reduced immediately. The struggle of lighter bikes such as the HH splendors and the TVS Victors was also quite apparent. The riders could be seen being suddenly pushed violently by some invisible forces time to time. Well, having a heavier vehicle: be it a non 100Km/L one is not that bad after all.. And this also factors in for the not so great fuel efficiency yesterday. Though at this moment, I seriously wished I was riding an Avenger. The numerous rides on Gogo’s & Vikram’s machines have instilled a lot of bottom heavy, low riding, splendid cornering memories. If I were to wage a war against the winds- Avenger would be the bike I’d choose.

There is a lot I could write about the wind as this was my first revelation with it’s power and continuity. After I finished the 5 hour journey, I noticed that my arm sockets were hurting pretty bad. I am familiar with the dull ache that comes in after a long ride, but this was different. And then I realized the difference between yesterday and today was quite clear. Yesterday was a 13 hour drive with occasional 2-3Km/hr side winds while today; although just a 5 hour ride featured continuous head on brutal winds..

The tunnels before Pune turned out to be interesting. I saw a tunnel coming ahead and thought “Tunnel! Nice! Sunglasses.. um.. Uh oh.. Tunnels and glasses don’t go well together”. I blindly followed a car ahead of me which was kind enough to switch on it’s tail lights to guide me. The first tunnel had no illumination and no board to declare it’s arrival; so be careful.

I crossed Pune around 10:15 and now I had to stay on the govt. maintained NH-4. The much celebrated Mumbai-Pune expressway does not allow bikes. Heights of stupidity! You can allow slowpoke cars like Matiz, alto, A-Star but not a 2 wheeler capable of outrunning them all. The NH-4 is in pretty good shape upto Lonavla and Khandala. Beyond Khandala, the markings mysteriously vanish and take you on and off the expressway as well. Khandala provides a view of the valley which I think is overrated. Today, I could see hundreds of vehicles clogging the expressway. Irony isn’t it? Everyone in Mumbai seems to trying hard to get out of the city while I was the sucker heading towards Mumbai.

The clouds closing in from the South East caught up with me and sprayed some rain. This was to be repeated an hour later in Mumbai as well.

I saw a board at a crossing in Panvel stating that Mumbai was still 50+ Kms away. However, direction was conveniently not mentioned. Just to confirm, I stopped and asked “Is this the way to Mumbai??” The fellow to whom the question was addressed was visibly insulted. “THIS IS MUMBAI!!” came the reply in an icy tone. Not to offend our desi ‘THIS IS SPARTA’ hero, I re-phrased my question and asked him directions to PrabhaDevi/ Siddhi Vinayak temple. After Navi Mumbai and the Eastern Expressway, I was able to recall the roads and was at my destination by 12:30..

The conclusion brings us to the question that many people may have in their minds. Is Bangalore - Mumbai or a Bangalore – Pune ride doable in a single day? On a bike? Yesterday, my answer would have been ‘probably’ or ‘I honestly don’t know’ for a Bangalore- Pune ride. However, after my experience with the NH-4 of Maharashtra my answer is ‘please avoid such a stunt’. The 770 Km ride yesterday was a pleasurable experience with sparse and organized traffic of Karnataka. The 300 Km odd ride today witnessed a lot of tractors, pedestrians, bullock carts with a majority of illiterate/ junglee drivers. Attempting to cover this leg late in the evening yesterday would have been not such a pleasurable experience. It would also mean unnecessary pressure. At the end of the ride yesterday, I could feel my senses dulling and the concentration level dropping. So riding a clearly annoying traffic in such a state of mind is questionable. In case you are a seasoned rider and have a better ride (Ninja/ Harley??), you could cut down on time a bit and make it to Pune.

A good car, a disciplined start at around 4am should get you to Mumbai the same evening.

Trip logs:

Distance covered :1073 Kms

Fuel used :28.1 L

Fuel Efficiency :38.1 Km/L

Toll paid : Rs 0.

Hee hee hee. I crossed at least 10-12 toll plazas.

@ Car owners: pity u! ;)

Here are a couple of old school rules of biking:

-Maintain a good relationship with your machine. I say this time and again: know your vehicle’s strengths and problem areas. Strictly operate within this range. For eg: the P-200 has a partial oil cooled engine. You can rev it hard but do not abuse it like a fully liquid cooled motor. I used the age old method of keeping my engine cool: taking a break after every leg of a 150km. Occasionally, I even sprayed some water on the fins. The instant vaporising of water with a fizz is highly gratifying. But be careful, don’t do this unless you know what you are doing. We don’t want water in the spark plugs. Neither do we want to promote rust on the hot exhaust pipe.

-Carry a tyre patch/repair kit. There were a couple of stretches where I couldn’t find habitation for 20Kms or so.

-Be aware of your own limitations. Follow a routine to exercise your back, legs and arms a couple of days before starting for a long journey. Most importantly, be aware of your state of mind. There is no bravery in subduing those apparent signals and continuing. If you find yourself switching lanes, indulging in unnecessary or risky overtaking and deviating from your cruising speed; it can’t be more obvious: take a break!

Go- Discover your country, and ride safe!!

Millenium Trilogy: The girl with the Dragon Tatttoo

Once again, we have a brilliant book with a lame name. Title should've been something better; something more poetic to do justice to this brilliant work by Steig Larrson. Män som hatar kvinnor ("Men who hate women" in Swedish). What did they have against the original title anyway?? It is overall a brilliant thriller with a unique mix of the classical and modern Europe. The book manages to give you a tour of the Scandinavia region, especially the small towns. In this case, the author creates a fictitous town called 'Hedestad' in Sweden.

Mikael 'Kalle' Blomkovist is like any other inquisitive lead character you would expect in a bestselling fiction. The interesting character here is Lisbeth Salander: the girl with the dragon tattoo. Eccentric yet human, dangerous but unsure, her ferocity and queer nature is mystic indeed. This asocial punk’s silence, the irrationality, the memory: it might just start freaking you out.

The translation from Swedish is decent enough and keeps you glued with the old and the modern mysteries. Got my hands on part 2: 'The girl who played with fire' and I know I'll have to get the 3rd book really fast..

Iron Man 2: I'm as confused as Mr. Stark

Let's start with the background first. I was movie starved, had heard great reviews from creatures overseas (read Vikram) and I had taken great pains to get a moderately priced ticket from Bangalore's movie goers' funds' embezzlement organization (the multiplex mafia). So the expectations were high..

And then the fall. Mr. Stark: the eccentric too cool guy, a mocking session with a senator, a drunk Iron man, the 'why is Col. Rhodes Iron Man's best friend??': and you lose count of the disappointing moments.

None of the bad guys manage to pose a credible threat. The Russian Ivan may be forgiven on some grounds at least: with a superb performance and some great effects with the electrified horse-whip.

The other bad guy: Mr. Hammer the competitor behaves way too silly to be taken seriously at any point of time. His main job is to be thrashed by everyone, be it some gorgeous reporter, the leading ladies and of course by Downey Jr. In spite of all his antics, he fails to make you smile with stupid comics and an irritating staccato.

Now the main problem: Downey Jr. I found him to be too jumpy to play the sober Holmes in his previous outing but the movie was a big hit anyway. Now that he’s been asked specifically to play the eccentric billionaire, he's gone overboard. Act way too cool, too fast, too erratic: It's a bit too much!

To summarize it, you go expecting an eccentric suave guy with a peculiar sense of humor of the likes of Bruce Wayne of Batman/Dark Knight. What you get here is a lot of jumpy creatures similar to the Transformers series..

Still I'll have to ask you to go and see the movie. It is a visual treat. The fight sequences: the bad guy cutting race cars, Rolls Ryce n all and of course: 'Highway to Hell' concluding the film. Worth a watch.

SuperFreakonomics

First things first. A big thanks to Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner for enlightening us with economics. More Importantly I should thank them for clarifying the myth that economics has to always be about money. It was a real treat seeing numbers and data from various walks of life.

Super Freakonomics lives upto the expectations of it’s prequel. It grand, slick, shocking and err.. freaky! Geo-engineering, truth about global warming, numbers to trace terrorists and monkey business (literally)- it’s got ‘em all. The global warming findings have invited a lot of criticism from various organizations and its worth to read and analyze from the stone hearted economists' (as they describe themselves: more than once) point of view.

The numbers presented here are minimal and to the point to ensure that number fearing people like me were glued. But the data, though limited is hard hitting. And the results are eye-popping.

This is a treat, whether you like economics or not. It certainly has the power to change your perspective. You might start thinking about reality, numbers and probability in your day to day activities.

Peaks, waterfall & an ancient temple!

There are some things in life that don't make sense. But they turn out to be the core reasons of your existence. Not that there's no sense at all; it's just that rest of the world can't see the reason behind that.

For some of us it's travelling, reading, watching a movie, photography, music, driving (that's me!!). And our moms won't necessarily have the same view about these wasteful activities. Yet, we indulge.. One such adventure coming up: starring four people of the travel category.

After planning for ages, we finally managed to zero in on a date and location. Thanks to advent of summer, there were only a few places that were worth trekking. So the surrounding places of Chikmaglur were targeted and Varun n Arun: both having visited these places already, would be our guides.

On a pleasant Thursday evening, Arun, Rajath, Varun n I were speeding on the Tumkur road. No, I didn't get to drive: the driver wouldn't give me the wheel and I forgot to get chloroform. The journey had a lot of music, munching and a Kannada movie. The Qualis had a DVD player & screen, but the only DVDs available were Mr. Rajiv's (our driver) choicest.

We reached our 1^st destination: Kalhatti falls at 4 in the morning. As the sun rose an hour later, we caught a glimpse of the pathetic guest house, the dismal waterfall and decided to leave. The next destination was the Kemmangundi guest house and thankfully, it turned out to be in a better state. Now that the biggest Indian tourism problem (read: finding a decent washroom) was solved, we had breakfast and started the trek to Hebbe falls. Now this is where nature offsets the gap created by infrastructure: or lack of it. The 13 Km terrain was quite treacherous and we did take a lot of shortcuts which presented more adventures.

The last 2 KM stretch involves crossing the stream thrice. Crossing water bodies never ceases to thrill. The water so clear: You could see rocks, fish and what not! Getting a view of the majestic waterfall was a reward itself and upon reaching we didn't waste any time in getting into the water.

I thought this was the most enjoyable time of the trip. Well I was to be proven wrong in some time. After stepping out of the water, we decided to head for another trail where 4X4's would be available to take us back. Tough Mahindra Commanders were found but sadly the money in our pockets could not match up to the drivers' demands. Now one guy in a pick-up offered to take us at half the price and we jumped at the offer. Though three of us would have to stand with his cargo (he'd pick that up in some time on the way), we were looking forward to the mini adventure.

We had a jolly ride until he stopped for his cargo. Surprise surprise: the cargo turned out to be chopped trunks of trees. Kindly note that I do not say chopped wood as I don't think it'd do justice to the massive blocks having volume almost equal to 1 Rajath.. We were informed to sit 'on top' of the cargo. Now sitting 'on top' of the cargo poses a greater peril than 'standing with the cargo'.

Soon the cargo and three of us were loaded (Rajath grabbed the cockpit seat). Now we started crawling on the terrain. Again, I am not using we drove on the road. Soon, we lost count of the number of near misses. Branches tried to scrape us. Tons of wood resting beneath us whomped our backs and bottoms. A live wire passed above us. Thundering clouds threatened to strike and set us on fire. All the while the vehicle tried it's best to throw us around. At one instance, the front tires could no longer hold and the front was lifted off the ground. The passengers sitting 'on top' of the cargo were asked to get off and stand on the hood to generate better traction. After fighting for our lives for the next one hour, we finally reached and jumped off. The smiling driver asked us if we had a good time and if we'd ever forget this drive. Silly question... The aching body parts kept sending signals to the brain: 'wouldn't trekking back have been less painful??'

Pain and thundering clouds did not deter us. We decided to trek to Z-point immediately. The narrow and steep trails challenged us all the way. But in the end we were rewarded with howling winds and a heavenly view.

The next day, we headed to Mulliangiri: the highest peak of Karnataka. Though they have built a road right upto the peak, Varun suggested we take the trail at the base of the mountain. A great decision! Took us almost two and half hours but again; anything for the panoramic spectacle.

We headed back after lunch and after an impulsive decision, decided to stop at the 11th century HaleBidu temples. You may detest photography or history, but you cannot help being amazed by this place. The sculptures can entice even the naive and artless mortals (I refer to my-self) and you can't help being awed at the rich history of our country.

As I said, I was a bit skeptic thinking about where we'll stay but in the end this fear is exactly what made this trip unforgettable. Not that we had to struggle a lot for a decent place.. It's just that since there aren't many places to stay around here; most of the population has stayed away and the place remains uncorrupted and pristine..

Do check out Arun's write up: http://arunmulbagal.blogspot.com/2010/04/beyond-this-horizon.html

The Maruti story

As many of you might have noticed, praise for Maruti products has been limited on this page. Some not so great Suzuki products are to be blamed.

But here goes a big salute to Maruti Udyog and the creators.. For what it did for the nation, how they changed the industry..

R.C. Bhargava has never got the credit he deserved. His efforts made Maruti and the indian manufacturing industry world class. However people have heard more of Mr. Khattar than him. Not that Mr. Bhargava is a media hungry fellow. On the contrary- his humble nature is seen in this book. In a book of 300+ pages, only a few lines highlight his own efforts. It's more of 'we' than 'I'.

The story is quite gripping when there are instances which suggest that the common man's Maruti 800 could've been the Renault R-15, Ford laser, Mitsubishi Colt, or a Rover instead had Suzuki not jumped in as the last moment collaborator and technology partner..

Quality for the common man: We all know Maruti operated in an era when the only competition was from aging Ambassador and Padmini. Maruti could still have been insanely profitable had the 800 been moderately better than it's competition. We car starved Indians would still have been happy. Yet the leadership team were obsessed wit the best methods of production and technology putting the Maruti products in a differnt league altogether.

PSU Challenge: While the government backed the project initially (thanks to Indira Gandhi's emotional links) and steamrolled many barriers for setting it up, political pressure posed many challenges. Keeping recruitment, vendor selection processes free from politicians' referrals was no easy task. When the management did not select a politician's relative as the vendor, they were rewarded with CBI enquiries, legal action, etc.

Revolutionizing the Industry: PSU's were the only option for fresh graduates and their inefficiencies are no secret. The new PSU called Maruti udyog changed the rules of the game. It became a benchmark for the private sector and in some way also led to its evolution. Sadly, while the private sector was ready to learn, other PSU's were not interested in these lessons.

The interesting aspect is developing the vendors: who till then were ill-treated by their customers (Premier and HM). The company undertook vendor development plans as a priority. It deserves credit for overhauling the entire production industry. Bharat Forge, Shriram, MRF are classic examples of cases where companies chose to cater to the revolutionary quality and are currently considered leaders in the world market.

The list is endless. I’d rate this book 9/10. A must read..

Toyota Fortuner: the ploy works

Being a bhp starved Indian, a big motor feel fascinates me. I refer to the instance when you rev the motor lightly and you can fell a big reactive force pushing the front end down by an inch. The big Toyota did just that and I almost jumped!

Heinous looks, a superb engine makes the Fortuner hell of a contender in the premium SUV market. Toyota has smartly given us the aging but proven Hilux (the veggie hauler of Asia) platform for the Asian markets and we see none of the Land Cruiser’s gadgetry coming in here. However, it has been proven that it beats the competition in every aspect; save off road. The good ol' Pajero is still the king there and surprisingly the timid X-Trail fares better in that department. But considering the Indian market: where SUV's are more of a status symbol and hardly 2% are used for the terrain they are built for, I would not ponder on that small fact. In fact, none of the products available are more of hauling trucks than proper off-roaders (The Endeavor’s built on the Ranger platform and not the F-150, the CRV is too soft and now we have a good looking Toyota built on a pick-up).

The sore point is that the Dashboard shares some components with the Toyota Innova. While quality is supreme, you can't digest the fact that you share stuff with a vehicle that costs half as much.

The 3 Litre engine does the job superbly. Toyota has smartly offered only this engine in India. The 2.5L (innova's) engine option is available in Thailand, Malaysia, etc but not India. A proven strategy to maintain a premium and exclusive feel for certain brands. Why, we haven't got the Corolla 1.6 (the real Altis) in India yet, or the Innova 2.0. I guess Toyota is smartly maintaining the 'luxury car' image to have the Corolla competing with the Civic which otherwise should be competing with the Honda City..

To sum it up, a really awesome vehicle with the main selling points being looks and ‘mine is bigger than yours’ mentality. Whatever it is, it has a direct hit on the Indian customer. The response has been so huge that Toyota had to close bookings. It’ll take a year to cater to the present orders..

The Homecoming:Genius is the word!!

The following line is what best summarizes Shashi Warrier’s latest book and will be etched in my memory for a long time:

‘I wonder how the fabric of my life came apart so quickly. It was a rich fabric, something I’d taken great pains and over three decades to weave. We might each recover individually, but the richness of the fabric is gone.’

These are the words from Javed Shariff, the protagonist of this remarkable story. The summary states that this is a tale of a family torn apart in the battle scarred valley of Kashmir. While the battered city of Srinagar and effects of terrorism and security are beautifully portrayed from the Kashmiris point of view, the beauty of this creation lies not in the plight of Kashmir but the crisp portrayal of human nature. How the strong, well travelled and successful 50 year old Javed is tested by circumstances. He has spent his life away from his home. Now that he has established an enterprise for his sons and saved enough, the tired soul wants to return home. However, the memories of the beautiful valley will have to make way for the military dominated Kashmir and the realities of life take a toll. A son’s betrayal, plight of grandparents, losing a trusted friend- all are a feature of the journey called life. You could associate it all to anyone, including yourself. The complexity of human nature is beautifully crafted here. Javed Shariff is still unable to hate the son who took everything away, understands the circumstances that have turned friends and family against him at trying times. With commendable strength, he treads on the path built on his beliefs; silently accepting jabs from everyone and sharing others’ problems.

The book is a big winner and has an impact thanks to the degree of realism. I would have attempted to draw parallelism with Khaled Hosseini’s Kite Runner initially but this creation leaves everything I have read far behind.

Nothing less expected from an author who travels the country on his motorcycle and understands human nature!!

Economic review: post Budget 2010

I am extremely happy that the budget this time has been armed with long term impact initiatives and the government had the courage to make a move that may not be politically rewarding. The good part was the income tax reduction which reappears (& is nullified) later in form of various cesses when people consume goods. The sore points amongst the general population are: withdrawal of tax breaks meant for the recovering economy (for the export sector, industries) withdrawal of subsidies in fertilizers and fuel. Jumping back to my perspective, people ask me why a die-hard petrol head like me is happy with the fact that petrol is getting dearer. After all, it has definitely taken a toll on my road trips and eventually my euphoria. However, I always found the subsidies on fuel benefiting the wrong category of people. Here’s a simple fact: the capital spent on fuel subsidy has been greater than the Nation’s health and education expenditure. While the latter are meant to benefit the masses, the petrol subsidies were predominantly enjoyed by the rich or the urban middle class.

Again an argument arises that this kind of subsidy saw a lot less of corruption than the state programs on health, education, the national rural unemployment scheme, the fertilizer distribution, etc. I was dumbfounded by this aspect initially. But with time, the Government has rewarded my faith with several other actions. The proposal of cancelling the subsidy on fertilizers and going ahead with a direct material distribution system is heartening. Such measures are bound to cut middlemen, replace cash flow with material flow and subsequently reduce corruption. In the same lines, a leader from the IT industry was invited to oversee the setup of the national-ID project. Once implemented, this system has the capacity to resolve a handful of issues. Fair ration distribution system, homeland security, taxation, the list is endless.

The Government’s latest fad of inviting renowned and proven industry veterans to optimize and create better systems has been taken positively by the society. My happiness knew no bounds when a high official from the centre invited a close relative to implement a new, better NREGS (rural unemployment scheme) system to improvise distribution and uproot corruption. It took some time to choose between the greener pastures of the corporate sector and the opportunity to serve the nation to make a bigger impact. Eventually the value of work won over the rewards (did the holy Gita have an influence here? We’ll never know!). Sustainable growth might well be an answer to a number of problems: unemployment, exports, wealth creation, security and even naxalism. Naxalism??!! Yes, Swami Ankleswara Aiyar convinced with his latest article linking industrial growth in Andhra Pradesh and drop in activities of anti-state elements.

On the darker side, the slow death of the Bt brinjal saddens me. God knows we badly need a second green revolution and time has proved that the politically safe- subsidy based system has failed us. With majority of the population still producing and sharing a small percentage of the GDP with agriculture, an overhaul is badly needed. If the current scenario prevails, we are encouraging the rural population to head for the already burdened cities. The concept of technology in agriculture could have been received better by petty politicians and activists who created a hue and cry on the Bt. brinjal without having any solid theory to back their opposition. To be honest, even I don’t like the idea of consuming hybrid vegetables but in the long run, I don’t see many other options.

As an economist aptly quoted: “Can sound economics go hand in hand with sensible politics?” Let’s hope for the best. We can only wait and watch.

Blowback: book review

What started as a promising new series and a discovery of yet another Indian author has let us all down in the third book. Lashkar was impressive: the Indian special forces taking down a crime operative in a critical operation in Islamabad. The action, strategy, politics behind a war: all were impressive. So in the third book, what went wrong? The story revolves around the reformed terrorist who infiltrates the IM for Force 22. That the author's marvelous creation: The Force 22 stand and watch like buffoons doesn't make sense at all. Moreover, the terror plans lack zeal and seem very simple. Again, the only frightening part is that you can picture all the events and imagine how simple it must've been to organize the blasts at Jaipur, Delhi, etc.

The author stated that he was under tremendous pressure to finish the third and the upcoming fourth installment. If that's what pressure did to him, I doubt if I'll be picking up the Fourth book..

Anyway, I would still recommend the first book to war strategists and action junkies.. http://lifeisanopenroad2me.blogspot.com/2009/05/indian-fiction-mukul-deva-to-rescue.html

Tale of two Fords

This article comes from my experience with the two Fords that I drove recently.

The first one was KT’s aging Ford Ikon 1.3 Clxi. An 8 year old vehicle, it has still aged pretty gracefully. Not like a Honda or Toyota but still decently. KT doesn’t bother to lock it as he feels no other creature can afford to maintain it or run it. He reckons the body has borne the onslaught of city traffic with a couple of nicks and scrapes; the only thing reliable about this car is mileage. Since day one, it has consistently given 7-8 Km/litre. However, I find a lot of other things built solid as well. I’ll get back to that later but at first let’s have a look at the issues present in the car. The most striking one is the engine dying whenever an attempt to accelerate above 2000rpm is made. Usually, this happens in 2^nd gear. I suspect that in all probability there’s a problem with the fuel lines or the delivery system. High revving proves that the filters are just fine.

Nevertheless, the engine sounds just fine. Another impressive thing to note is the rear suspension. Hyundais, Marutis: as reliable they may be; or Opels: as German as they want to be: cannot match the robustness of a Ford. Just recall all the aging Astras, Esteems, Accents you may have seen with a funny bent rear. A lot I’m sure. Load them a lot and the suspension takes a hit with time. Yet, KT’s Ford stood proudly: upright and attentive.

The second one was the Ford Fiesta 1.6. Relatively new; having served just 2 years, the expectations were high. And the moment I switched on the engine, a racy note greeted me. A marked improvement over its predecessor 1.6L (found on Ikon 1.6 and the old Fusion) instills a lot of excitement. Brilliant: beyond doubt. Torque could have been improvised as the acceleration still could improve to live up to the 101 horses. You have to think for a moment before touching the accelerator. The car pounces forward. With the superbly distributed weight, it seems all the more spectacular accelerating.

Now the problems started. The steering seemed to have a mind of it’s own. Sudden jerks tried to turn it by a degree or two. I know that’s hardly anything but this can be very painful on long drives. You could make out the rack and pinion system meshing on the teeth. Fluid leak? Electronic over assist? Can’t nail the problem.. The lights are operated by a knob rather than a switch. This has been very smartly hidden on the little space between the right of the steering column and the driver’s door. Dropping sarcasm for a while, I wonder why something so necessary needs to be so impractical. The label also said ‘hey! I have ABS!’ But in spite of all my efforts, I was unable to find the switch to disable it.

I suggested that the steering column be checked at the dealership and I see faces smiles morphing to frowns. Ford dealerships are a rarity in any city. Quality of service is not up to the mark and the whole affair is mighty expensive. Owners are also not happy that why after so many years in India has Ford failed to adapt to the right hand side drive? The indicators are on the right panel. Does it prove Ford’s apathy towards local markets? The Japs are ready to rebuild the instrument cluster for the Americans Nissans & Toyotas, then why can’t Americans serve the Asians better?

Point proven. Fords may not be necessarily reliable or top notch on the quality front. Yet, I love Ford. Not sure if I’d like to own one but I certainly respect it a lot. Hard to explain. It’s a lot of factors coming together: the history, the Mustang, value for money and the durability. Some might question the durability so let me be specific: I love the durability of the vital components that make a car. Both the Fords discussed here had superb engines and chassis. However, they were let down by other components. The real substance of a car is what Ford focuses on. Solid build, weight, apt cornering, well mated tyres are an integral part of the Ford DNA. Ford Mondeo: though a flop, is still considered the ultimate driving machine in the second hand market.

That is why I am confident that of the Detroit’s big-3, Ford will be the first to bounce back. While GM cars are feature intensive, they have to work a lot harder to get their engines right. Remember the Opel Corsa, the Aveo and even the new Captiva? Harsh engines screaming for refinement..

So here’s wishing the new Fiesta, the Figo and the new Focus platform the very best. May we see a lot of blue ovals in the near future.