For the past week or so, I've been bitten by the bike bug. It must be the fact that my brain is now free from a bunch of issues relating to construction, renovation, carpenter, plumber, yadda yadda. Long story short, something else has caught my obsession, and this is it.

It's been years since I rode a bike. I rode one regularly to college.... my Hero Honda Splendor which was my trusted conveyance during my Engineering days. It was a new bike, just launched a few months before I bought it and went on to become one of the most successful products to be launched in the country. It was one of the first four-stroke bikes to be sold in India, and was as reliable as anything else you'd count on. It was light, handled really well, and most of all, it was pretty quick (at least back then). It also returned an impressive mileage and was easy on my student wallet.

I rode it everywhere.... cricket matches, pearl valley ... sometimes, I'd just ride it down a road with no destination in mind. I did this a few times when I needed to get away from it all. It maybe a cliche that bikes represent freedom, but it has to be one of the truest cliches ever. With your brain ringing with decisions, pressure and apprehension, the open road and the wind almost seemed to douse the fires burning in my head.

I bought it during my second year of Engineering - '95 methinks and rode it through into the first year of my work life '99. I then parked it for years in my garage while my first car was all I became used to.

I eventually sold my bike in 2007-2008, I can't even remember exactly when. She'd stood there all by herself and like every other bike, she wanted to run. My electrician Prasanth, wanted to buy it without thinking.... he said he was just happy that I had owned it and that he was sure I'd have taken good care of it.


More on my bike, what she represented, and where this thinking is at ...

Sooper

Sound like me?


..... According to Sanjeev... he does ....I'm going to agree heheh

Why I don't watch Hindi movies


I haven't watched Kambhakt Ishq nor did I ever intend to, but I happened to read this review on ibnlive. It's hilarious ... check it out.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/masands-movie-review-kambakkht-ishq-vulgar-offensive/96303-8.html


Honestly this has to be pretty similar to 70-80% of Bollywood's output. This is not a one-off blunder by an otherwise enlightened set of people.

I couldn't help smiling when the reviewer says that it is worrying that these films are going to have an audience... yes, they will make money and will do really well. They are not marketing blunders in the technical sense of the word. It's scary ... the stuff that ignites the imagination of so many souls in our country!


I remember the time I sat in Dhoom1 and was actually stupefied to see the audience in splits at the stupidest jokes.... "what the hell is this and where the hell am I?" I remember wondering!

Mind you, I think Slumdog Millionaire was tacky as a movie, and depressing as hell and totally unwatchable for a different set of reasons.... I can't fathom the awards and the adulation. Just so you guys don't accuse me of being biased on account of the makers nationality. Danny Boyle or Danny Denzongpa .... what the hell was the fuss all about?

Into the pool

Joined a swimming batch yesterday ... just awesome. I was, am and will always be a fish. Before God made anything else, I think he made water.

Wearing the Inside Out



...I murmured a vow
of silence, and now
I don't even hear
when I think aloud ...

" Wearing the Inside Out "
~Pink Floyd


what were these guys smoking? literally!!!

just amazing.