My Bike – Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi

I have been really patient to write anything about my new bike - Bajaj Pulsar 220 FTS-Fi. It’s a long wait before commenting anything about it after buying it in November 2007. Now after riding on my darling for half a year I can certainly say it rocks!

It’s not the story about the technicalities about this bike or flaunting about the top speed touched or something like that (I will write separately for that;-)) but it’s just the story of how (finally) I bought it!

It was always my dream to ride fast and furious, roaring bike and owning one like that will be like ghee mein shakkar! Now for a middle class man like me, we have only one option Pulsar, a perfect blend of Style and Power. So when I thought of buying a bike I had no other choice but to buy a Pulsar! It was mid of 2006 when the thought got prominent as my bank balance started telling me that the day is not far away…



But suddenly there is a twist in the story. The mails of Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi started hitting the Outlook Mailbox and the bike was so attractive to get unnoticed. And in the meantime I went to USA so with some more money in my pocket the decision was simple. But still 90K? A daunting figure! I tried convincing myself saying come on its your dream bike (jiske sapane meine do saal pahele kabhibhi nahi dekhe the;-)) and onsite incentives are nothing but bonus meant just for your bike. These are all indications for the same. But Yep I am out of my dilemma. But is it still worth 90K? (Now I can say it really is). The answer was to wait for some time and get the feedback.

With days passing by in the New Year 2007 there still was no news of official launch of 220. There was just a test launch that happened and I was not ready to be a guinea pig. Mind you its not Hero Honda to be so sure of being a first buyer! And Bajaj proved it with some modifications later on in digital dials, disk brakes and some changes in engine too. But the wait was really getting longer with official launch of Pulsar 200 DTS-I happening out of the blues. Hey where is 220? Have they dropped the plan? Is it not good enough? Are there any problems? Why is it taking so long? And there were some news of XCD as well. Frustration started gripping! Panic! Should I go for 200? Hey I am waiting! Don’t you guys know that?

And finally the wait was over! Finally the bike was launched officially! But I waited for some more time for the bike to hit the roads and to get some feedback. And with positive feedback the day arrived. I went to pro-biking showroom on 24th October 2007 at 5.55PM (no I am not Subodh from DCH but who cares even if I behave that way after such a long wait!) and booked my bike after having a ride on dyno! BLACK BAJAJ PULSAR 220 DTS-Fi ! I am finally the owner of Pulsar 220! And from the day it arrived in my life it has been an indispensable part of my life!

Now I am just waiting to have someone to occupy my empty pillion seat;-).

Sketching – My Passion (picture blog with sketches)

Since childhood I have been very passionate about drawing and sketching and won many accolades for it too. But as life progressed I lost the touch and it all went into memory lane. And now I realize my mistake and how indispensable drawing is in my life!!!

These are some of the sketches which I will go through and will hopefully inspire me to keep going!

The first one is my most favorite watch! You won’t believe that this is the watch which I bought in my 11th standards and still using it on its first cell only. Can you believe 8 long years on first cell! Yeh toh too much ho gaya yaar! This drawing is done in my first year engineering and has faded its colors.



Now this one again from my engineering days, my first mobile! Took inspiration from the drawing of watch and that gave me back my confidence that still I have not just strong desire but strong good hands too for sketching!




While being in my last years of engineering got again completely out of touch and did some minute work but certainly not a noticeable one!

Now in Wipro Technologies and with 9 and half compulsory working hours left me hardly any chance to resurface my sketching abilities. But this is one thing which I certainly enjoy and can’t keep it away from me. So here I come with few creations - a butterfly and a colorful bird!




A colorful bird was a novice attempt to use color pencils directly and not to use pencil at all. And now looking at it, seems not a bad attempt!



Now I just hope to continue with my hobby and not to lose this touch ever again in my life! I will keep posting my new creations as and when I will do it!

Mind Game

This is a breathtaking story by an anonymous writer which will certainly shock you! Don’t miss to read it till the end, the story with full of twists and turns!

This was the Day.
Tony had been waiting for this day for his entire life. He had his share of sorrow all through his life but now the moment waited him which would change his life forever. He was 22 and had seen so much in these years. He never knew what a mother's warmth was. She died giving birth to him. Soon after her death his Dad started seeing other women. Tony hailed from a very rich and prestigious family with generations having served the poor through the medical fraternity. Everyone was a doctor or a PHD but not his dad. His dad didn't take up the medical profession, in fact never tried to earn a penny.
Tony had a lonely childhood until Jane entered his life. He could still remember the day when Jane moved to his neighbourhood. He had found a true fried in her. Jane's company covered all his sorrows, he stated smiling, laughing and more importantly enjoying his life. And now he was going to ask her to marry him. This was his last day of college and he had been preparing for this moment for a while now. He had visualized the scene a hundred times in his dreams." Will you marry me Miss Jane?" He had memorized this simple plain line.
As he was waiting for Jane in his garden he heard Uncle Jack calling him. Uncle Jack was the one who looked after him for all these years. Mr. Jack was a Psychologist. He was very dear to Tony. "Can I speak to you for some time, Tony?" "Now? Actually Uncle ..." Before Tony could complete his statement uncle jack said "Tony this is really very important. I always wanted to speak to you about this but was afraid. Now you are older and you will be able to understand..."
"What is it all about..." Tony asked with a tensed voice. "Not here... Let's go inside the living room and will have a talk there" Tony followed Uncle Jack into the cottage. Tony was very anxious and nervous. He had never seen his Uncle this way. "Tony before I talk to u about it please promise me you won't panic and whatever happens always remember that I am with you." "God! You are making me too nervous. Tell me uncle jack what is it about". Tony wanted to get through this as early as possible. "Jane must be waiting for me" he thought.
"Tony you need to keep your calm. Know it will be very tough for you to understand. Tony, remember the day when you told me about Jane moving to the cottage next to ours?"
"Is it about Jane...?" he shrieked, his heart was pumping fast...
"Listen Tony There is no one living in that cottage for years now..."
"Whhhat ?? How's that possible I have been there myself so many times....what are you talking about? I just can't understand"
"Please listen Tony. You were alone those days and were very upset with life. You didn't have friends then...You went through lot of things...You wanted to be happy but were unable to you didn't had anyone to talk to" Uncle jack moved closer to Tony and put his hand on Tony's shoulder. "And in such situations your brain plays bad games with you. You started imagining Jane as your friend...There is no Jane; Tony you are just imagining her..."
"Just just just imagining her...how can you say that ...I have touched her even kissed her cheeks. It's you who are crazy and not me..."
"Tony I know it's hard to believe this. But it's the truth. I always wanted to tell you this but you were too small to understand..." "No that's not possible.....you are lying ..." "No son it's your own mind lying you...please Tony keep your cool everything will be fine ...just trust me"
Tony rushed away from the living room. He ran to meet Jane in the Garden. But no one was there. He went to Jane's house hoping to find her there...he tried ringing the door bell but it didn't rang and how would it? The place was locked for 17 years now. He entered the Cottage through a broken window. Everything was deserted. The sofa on which he and Jane sat chatting for hours was covered with layers of dust...
He was almost crying now...he moved to the terrace to find the rose plant they planted together. There was nothing only some rusted furniture and dust. He went back Uncle Jack. "Son, I am sorry but you need to get out of this..." Tony couldn't believe what had happened to him. The girl who he loved the most and wanted to marry didn't exist. She was fake, a thought, and a piece of imagination....
It took around a month for him to digest his fate. He was finally recovering. And that day before going to sleep he took those tablets which he took for last 15 years. He always wondered why Uncle Jack kept giving him those tablets. Now he knew the answer. He was sick. Sick mentally.
As he was about to sleep he heard a knock on his door.
It was Jane.
"Jane you cant be here...you don't exist..."
"What's that? Is this some kind of Joke, Tony? I came here to say sorry. I had to leave that day without informing you because my mom died in a car accident...I tried to reach you but somehow I was not able to..."
"Noooo! This is not true" said Tony. "There is no one called Jane in my life...I know that now...Just get away from me... "
"What’s the matter with you Tony? I am Jane your sweetheart your love..."
"No that's not true...." Tony closed his eyes for a moment hoping his dream would end....
Jane held his hand....Tony was shivering he could feel the touch. His brain was playing Bad games with him he knew it.
"Come here my baby you are not well...you need some rest"
"Go away from me ...just go..." Tony was breathing high now...He tried keeping his cool and took a deep breath. He knew this would be over once he convinced himself that there was no Jane.
"Jane you are my imagination...I made you..."
"Tony you can't hurt me ...you love me so much ...we had such a great time together"
"No Jane, I had a great time with myself..." What am I talking! I am going nuts..
He rushed into the kitchen. He came back with water all over his shirt... He could still see Jane standing there...weeping.
He was well aware of the bad games of the Brain now. He went closer to her... "Jane I made you ...now I will destroy you..." Zap zap zap... three stabs...Jane was bleeding... Tony could feel the red liquid ...bad brain games he thought...
"Uncle Jack. Where are you? I am cured now. There will be no Jane from now on...where are you Uncle Jack?"
"There is no Uncle Jack. I wanted to tell you this... All these days..." Jane gasped.
Breathing her last breath!

Horn Ok Please

Today we are celebrating No Honking Day in Mumbai and it’s certainly a welcome move for a place where 1.5 million vehicles travel every day carrying 15 millions of population! This news struck all the leading news papers and media channels and I started pondering is it really going to make any difference? Let me share some of the experiences of my friends.

Sumit is just back from UK onsite after 2 years and hitting the roads of Mumbai for the first time and traveling back to Pune from Airport. Its 4 o’clock in the morning and the cab driver is driving at ease. All of a sudden one Innova comes across at around 100kmph changing the lane and in a flash his cab was almost out of the road trying to save their soles banging the horn aloud with no option left!!!

Sachin is back from US and this is his first day on road while going to office on his brand new Unicorn. While going to office on NH-4 a pulsar 200 cuts his road and bang!!! Here he blows his horn to the maximum!!! Does he have any option?

I do respect the decision taken of having “No honking Day” but is it really practical? Now will you fine a person for banging a horn in above cases? Is it justified? I strongly feel we should teach people how to drive and then teach them how and when we should use horn. This is the same case that while being abroad we do not spit on the road, put garbage on the road, etc but the moment we are back home we start doing the same. The attitude makes a difference. We need to change the attitude of people and things will be back on track. The day people start driving properly on road it will virtually eliminate the need for horns. But still to some extent this move of no honking day is certainly appreciable. Now for those who use horns to call there friends in their houses, to take out there frustration while being in traffic, who are so impatient that they cannot wait for the car ahead to move after signal turns green, who unnecessarily blows it to flaunt their custom made horns, etc penalizing them certainly makes perfect sense to me.

Anyway I am just back from outside and realized on the way that I banged the horn twice when people cut my lane. Then on the speed went to 20 and no horn at all…Let the bicycle overtake me I will not bang the horn. At least today!;-).

The majestic beauty called Niagara Falls

It was the time when I was in New Jersey, US a year back. It was my first onsite experience so I was obviously very ecstatic about it. So even before we left India we had jam packed schedule for weekend and nobody even bothered to utter a single work about the work we were supposed to do there. And as we reached there in September end it was already fall season and winter was about to begin. Rather people were saying we are having the extended fall this year and were blaming global warming for that. In US people have a single answer as global warming to every question. I am planning to use the same answer when my code will behave nastyJ.So, in our jam packed schedule the priority thing was obviously Niagara Falls. A tiring but much awaited whole weekend trip starting at early Saturday morning and ending at late Sunday night! As most of the things get closed due to snowfall in the NJ we were trying to cover as many things as possible. So even though it was hectic to go along with this trip we were not left with any other option. Anyway the trip started early in the morning at say 4.15-4.30AM. We all got ready by 5.15-5.30AM. Then we headed towards Red Bank station to catch the train towards 34th street Penn station in New York. We reached New York by 7.45AM and reached our destination Bowery Street in China town by 8AM. Here starts our trip officially.

It was a package tour from L&L Tours generally organized by and for Chinese people. So it was basically a bi-lingual trip (Obviously English and Chinese). Actually that made the trip all the more interesting. The schedule was to move from New York to New Jersey, from there to Pennsylvania and back to New York. If you are wondering why to travel so much instead of going straight a way from New Jersey then just to tell you this is the shortest path to follow. We crossed the Hudson River to enter New Jersey from New York while moving through small two lanes Holland tunnel named after Mr. Holland and which has no relation at all to country Holland. Our first destination was Thousand Islands.
Even though the name of the place is thousand islands actually there are 1764 islands with 2/3rd of them being on Canadian side and only 1/3rd of them on American side. Thank god we don’t need visa while being in water as we crossed the border and went to see some islands on Canadian side also. Great, Onsite in two countries at a timeJ. There are so many different types of houses, castles, light houses on those islands, most of them belonging to richest people in America and Canada. The fall season made it look all the more beautiful. I was really amazed to see the perfect blend of beauty of nature and human efforts to make it all the more beautiful. It was really a life time cherishing memory.
The next point was obviously the most awaited and most famous Niagara fall. Till the time I reached there I was not really ready to accept that I am going to watch the Niagara Falls with my own eyes. It was awesome! Really once in life time opportunity! The vociferous Niagara Falls makes you aware of its presence even from a distance. This is how we start our Niagara journey and then you see that mammoth beauty! Water falling from the top, unstoppable wind flowing sprinkling water everywhere, you are completely drenched into the water looking at one the finest creation of nature. You are taken aback by the site. You lose your existence and become the part of the picture. The picture you will never forget in your life. It’s imprinted into your heart, Forever!!!
We first went to the Goats Island to have a look at the Niagara Falls and then we went very close to the falls with the famous ride called maid of the mist. Although due to time constraints we missed Winds of the caves which literally take you below Niagara Falls. Niagara is basically divided into three falls – Horse shoe falls, American fall, and Bridal fall. Horse shoe which has almost 90% of water flow belongs to Canada and rest is of US.
Our next destination was Corning Glass Museum, world’s biggest Glass Museum. There they provide us with live demonstration of how to make glass products and tells us how many different types of glass are there. Do you believe there can be 65000 different types of glass present! Those are too many isn’t it? It was nice to see so many types of glass and so many things made up of glass. And you know something my best snap belongs to this section only and not the snaps of Niagara Falls! You can call me fool for that. I don’t mind.
So this is how the two days went and we hardly got some time to realize it. Time runs really very fast. We reached back New York by 9PM and started back journey to our Hotel in New Jersey with the warm memories of Niagara Falls and with the hope to see its night view sometime in future!