OF RED ROSES AND REJECTS

I happen to get a chance to drive two cars a Honda city ( the new old one that is) & Maruti Suzuki Baleno. These 2 cars are generally not compared but tell you wat these two cars would actually belong to the same group if Maruti hadn’t so “aggressively” cut the price of the Baleno. These two cars command a very unique position in the market, while the Baleno has been dropped like a hot coal the City sells like hot cakes.
The city is totally futuristic, at least in de looks dept., is wat many ppl say but in my opinion the front looks as if somebody kicked the bonnet really hard & the boot seems to be design afterthought. The interiors of the Honda are good but what were de engineers thinkin when they put such a fat A- pillar which has blind spots that would shame David Blaine at de vanishin act.
The Baleno is no looker either, its plain Jane looks never turned heads and probably won’t. Its interiors are of vintage pedigree of a bygone era. They still seem to have slider switches. The odometer and tripmeter haven’t yet caught up wid de digital age. The icing on de cake is probably de climate control unit on de top end models. Wow! Only the Swift is another car which is close by the price range which boasts one.
I was raring to have a go at de Honda city. I missed out on the older generation city and I sure wanted to make amends. Boy oh boy, was I disappointed & how the Engine is dull with almost no throttle response. The steering wheel is vague & too damn light to transmit any feedback. The car is more like playin on your comp wid de force feedback switched off. I think Honda is too much into virtual simulation and stuff, things just crept into de City project.
The Baleno has a fine Engine & a finer steering. It’s well weighted I cannot wonder wat it would be lik if de tyres were a lil lower profiled. As a car if you looked at it from an enthusiastic driver’s point of view it’s a stellar performer. The cars steering just oozes confidence into de heart and mind of de driver. It’s remarkably sensitive. The car bein a low rider has very minimal body roll. You could just close your eyes for a moment, imagine you are Schumacher or whoever your favourite car racer is, and de car wouldn’t disappoint you as the City would.
Agreed de city goes more kilometers per liter, the Engine is a refined one. It seems as though the Honda has been designed by ASIMO & it naturally chucked out de character that de old City had. The Baleno bein a great car doesn’t get the recognition it requires. To top it all if u look at de sales chart u would see de city probably outsells de Baleno one is to ten minimum. It seems ppl don’t lik any open exhibition of character. Oh dear Oh my! Wat is de world comin to??

Alex Zanardi- The fighter

Alessandro Zanardi born in Bologna, an f1 racer, a CART racer is one of the toughest customers one would ever see in the world. Not because he was arrogant or anything. He lost both, yes both his legs in a CART race in Euro speedway in Germany. As Alex Zanardi was exiting the pit lane he lost control and skidded onto the track were he was clipped by a fellow racer, Tagilani who was traveling at a speed in excess of 200 MPH. Alex Zanardi’s Legs were severed off in the accident leaving him amputated below the knee.
Alex Zanardi started his career lik any other F1 racer he raced GO-Karts then moving to Formula 3 then Formula 3000. He won on his debut in F3000, he was not only the rookie of the season, he finished second in championship that year. Ya some debut season right. Having attracted the eyes of several constructors in F1 he moved to f1 in 1991. He joined the Jordan team. He started two races with them. Occasionally filling in for others racers on the grid. He was then on the roster in the Lotus team. But when the team’s active suspension was voted out of Formula 1 the team lost the competitive edge. He failed to score a point that season. He switched to the CART racing series where he became an instant hit.
He was one of those guys who would do a ‘donut’ on the track after winning the race. He became a phenomenon there. He repeated his performance of being the Rookie of the year and also finished second in the championship. He was promptly brought back into the F1 fold by Sir Frank Williams. Williams were not competitive and history repeated itself, his season was not competitive, mainly due to the reliability issues of the Williams car. So he went back to his old job, CART racing. He was fighting his way up the grid when the accident occurred.
Most of them put Zanardi away, wrote him off. The fighter in him was in full frontal attack. He put on prosthetic legs went o rehabilitation. He passed out of rehabilitation in half the time the doctors expected him to. He not only did that he did something nobody would have imagined him to do. He wanted to be strapped in the race car and complete the rest of the laps in the Euro Speedway. He amazed everybody again by doing the remaining laps at race speed. . Imagine racing at full speed when you have prosthetic legs from knee down. The spirit of Alex Zanardi cannot be compared with anything on and off the race track.
. If any of you were wonderin where Mr.Zanardi is, taking his retirement. You are all proved very wrong by him. He is very much in the racing scenario. He races in the European touring cars along with Chris Goodwin of ESPN-STAR.. It is like u can’t keep this guy of a driving seat. He won races in touring car and celebrated his victories true Zanardi style wid ‘donuts’ Alex Zanardi’s autobiography is called “My sweetest victory”, a fitting title to the autobiography of a racer, a fighter. To the fighting spirit of Alex Zanardi then.

I understand LOVE

For a long time I couldn't understand why people could just flip backwards just because they have fallen in love with a person. They change ideas, the corner stones around which their lives are built are moved or worse demolished...They move heaven & Earth just for tryin to agree upon others ideals & you probably would know the stuff that comes next....
I have just found out why it happens and its so weird because I found it out by fallin in love ... I just fellin love wid an ANTIQUE BIKE if i may call it an antique or a derelict doesn't matter I just fell in love (looks don't matter right)...Its an Enfield Explorer not its macho sibling the Bullet...Before driving that bike i quite couldn't understand people drivin antique cars and people changin for women....Now I can proclaim to the world I DO.... I REALLY DO....Its just that they have that character whatever it is that the others don't....
The bike has a remaarkable character if you have watched the movie Gone in 60 seconds circa 2000 you would understand by what i mean by cajoling the bike to move....( No don't do this to me ..... no start .....start....) You would have to cajole her to move.... And when you are off you cannot be in a state of chutzpah that you have got her goin she would throw tantrums at you at the most inappropriate time....For example when you are pullin a calculated risk overatakin manoeuvre you cannot assume that she would shift seamlessly from gear to gear....The clutch would start to slip , the carbs will start sputterin for air or fuel as the mood maybe....When you try to kick the starter up without that specific touch she will start throwin up petrol in oodles all you have to do to remedy the cause is to cajole her to start...Once she has started no more throwin up she would be able to hold her drink...Will she go around corners ?? ya she will but you have to know an old bike means not so structurally strong as the presnt day bikes ,means she will flex... Its gratifyin that she is flexin everythin for you and that she might buckle or bend over just for you.....You will havwe to care for her, you can let her in the shine or in the rain for too long a time.... You will have to care for her like a baby or your girlfriend...The one main thing is that bike had never let me down when i had needed her the most she had always been ther for me....
So what is that that makes me ride around the town in a rickety rackety bike its that feelin that she's gotta mind of her own and will not like it bein bossed around...The other bikes are more disconnected ,the down to earth feelin that this bike has is completely missed.... You can almost do anything wid them and they would oblige just like a dunderhead who wouldn't want to try anything new....But i tell you guys this girl i.e. is if i can call her a girl has a mind of her own....She will do things you never thought you could given the right amount of cajolin...After all that I have told you you might have decided that nothing can be done wid this bike but believe me you can pop wheelies (the capacity of the engine being a mere 50cc for those its got the same capacity as that off a TVS 50 try poppin a wheelie wid that)...
This bike is more of a mistress than a wife she will do wicked things, throw tantrums you could never imagine and the worst she could ditch you just about anytime but that streak of character that unpredictability that has me on my knees....And I don't feel bad about it ....

Ayrton Senna - The Rain Master

Ayrton (pronounced Ayeerton rather than airton) Desilva aka Ayrton Senna, he was recommended to change his name just because 'Desilva' was a very common name in Brazil ,Senna being his mothers maiden name. When I was hittin my 3rd garde my uncle was a keen follower of F1 races so I would always watch races with him. There was this guy who burst his rear tyre in a race instead of stoppin the car he was drivin on 3 wheels, though this happen quite often I saw him do it first .. And i was like wow this guy is awesome.My uncle was also praisin him like, nobody has got the reflex time as he is and that he was really awesome in the wet weather condition.. I started hero worshipping Ayrton Senna Desilva . In 1994 May 01 he died in a race in San marino at a curve called Tamburello which was a lightning shaped very fast corner...Then I started collecting information about Ayrton Senna..
Born in Sao paulo in Brazil he started his racing career in the form most drivers do Karting he never won a karting championship which was his major grousing but that didn't stop him from trying he it seems would take time off from his more advanced levels of racing like Formula 1,3 just to get the world championship... What attracted most about him is his sense of kinship and his win at all costs attitude..Sid Watkins a very close friend of Senna and the neuro surgeon of F1 used to say that At one time he and Senna were travelling by car in ythe city and the doctor had been at the wheel during the course of the drive he had aske how he was driving to ,which Ayrton had replied that he was driving very carefully but he was very very slow ..The doctor not wanting to keep the master away from his duty asked Ayrtoon to drive during which he was confirmed that he had actually experienced the phrase heart in mouth
Senna it seems could be seen in Belgian Grand prix jumping out of his car helping Erik Comas, who had crashed heavily he stopped his car ran on the track hit the engine kill switch before the car started to burn. He was also seen helpin Alex Zanardi at the same place the next year when he had crashe and he could be seen helpin him out of the car When Ralf crashed in 2004 at Indianapolis we didn't see Michael running to see him let alone help him, when everybody thought he had had a very bad shunt and he wasn't even moving..
In the season 1990 in the championship deciding race between him and Alain Prost ,Senna requested the offricials to change the side of the track because he was at a disadvantage officilas didn't agree, during the race when Prost made a move on him at the same particular place he bumped him and won the championship while both the racers were out of the race... This nature of his was criticized as video game behaviour .. I was attracted to it...
He was asked on the day before the accident to quit F1 as it was getting very dangerous then by Sid Watkins ... He told him That he had started on it and would finish it...He started a driver safety committee off the track instead...Senna is known for his peculiar yellow coloured helmet it became synonymous with him..He still holds the record for the highest no. of pole positions 65 which Michael has managed to equal just now... He also has the record for the max no. of wins at a circuit 7.... When williams team with which he drove was completely on the backfoot with a badly performoing car and a young driver with a near perfect Bennetton ,Michael Schumacher was setting the race track on fire Senna had pole positions ... A particular writer put it very well "It would seem as though he had a covenant with God...From where he summoned those pole postions remains a secret between them"...He was the fastest driver during the qualifying runs...
It has been found that the safety car period had lowered the pressure in the tyre thereby losing downforce ... His car bottomed at the Tamburello curve which made a drastic loss in downforce or grip which Senna corrected by turning his steering, it seems he might have lived but for this mistake , his quick reflexes had cost him his life...
Am ending this article on Senna with the most famous and marvellous words of his "On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit and you go for this limit and you touch this limit and you think, ok, this is the limit. As soon as you touch this limit, something happens and you realise that you can suddenly go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and your experience as well, you can fly very high."

A glimpse of wats about to come

Its the start of the Formula 1 season and a few of us are all raring to see the racez to look at Alonso and Schumacher battle it out...If Kimi joinz the battle all the better....So lookin forward to a gr8 season...In the same mood I wish to start a series of all the greatest drivers and rid4ers the world has seen....Ur suggestions are most welcome....

Off I go on an INDUSTRIAL tour

It's a tradition in our col tat in the 6th sem everybody goez for an industrial visit populaly known az the IV. So we guyz went on a trip to Bangalore,Mysore,Ooty. It waz planned to be a 5 day trip but waz reduced to 4 days dropping one day at B'lore we were all shoutin lik hell to the dept. sec. tat he didn't negotiate it properly and b'lore waz the place were we could hav all the fun. Boy oh boy how wrong were we ! The trip started from col by buz to b'lore. It was gr8 fun dancin an shoutin in the bus in tat closed space. There were even a few pole dance performancez given by few guys (our bus havin no specimenz of the fairer sex).I lost my voice at abt 100 kms from the startin point and havn't found it yet. Well most of us ended tat way. We reached B'lore at abt 8 in the mornin. Not even one of us gettin more tha 2 hrz of continouz sleep. At b'lore we got ready for our only visit of the industry which lasted for a time lesser than the time it took uz to get to the place and i'm not goin to bore u wit the stuff they showed uz ( to be frank i don't even remember a word of it). Off we went to eat and when it was time for us to do anythin few of them chose to get a drink. Otherz went goin hither and tither. Next morn we left to mysore went on a borin visit to the palace and the gardenz for the nth time. We left for ooty early next day, reached there by afternoon went to pykara fallz and the usual placez.We were a raccouz crowd where ever we went. Imagine unleashin a group of 100 guyz among a handful of honeymoonerz being at their romantic best. All of them were eye balled and whooped at.At night we had a party typical ooty style by the camp fire most of the guys chose it to be the rite moment to get stoned and i mean real stoned.It was gr8 fun and odd ppl makin fun at themselvez. Most of the guyz chose complete strangerz to share their life story with. There was this guy who got really angry when people called him his nick name lik pottamuz instead of Mr.Hippopottamuz he was shoutin the same thin over an over again that ppl should call him by his full name and not shorten it. He was also shoutin in the middle of the road tat he and his girlfriend were gettin married in 3 yearz. There waz thiz guy who got so high he ended up callin the lady staff in the trip for a dance in which she iz supposed to go between hiz legz true carribean style.Here was a guy who was bitchin tat though he had got gr8 marks he wasn't selected for the interview he ended up huggin everybody kissin them and screamin I LOVE YOU this is why nerds aren't supposed to drink. And then there were the guys who wanted to give the camp fire a hug.One thing abt thiz thing iz the usual drinkerz were very sober.We came back from the trip at the middle of the night.It seems there is one more IV comin in the future hope its as rockin and fun as this.So cheers ppl and do ihera the clangin of glasses.

Rules of engagement

One of my friend fell in love he chose me to share his plans for their future... So I had to put up with his senti talk..He told me tat they had decided to part when their parents wouldn't agree to their love , ok people this gone be a little weird for some (atleast it was for me) , they had to maintain a minimum percentage in their academics or else divorce ,oops they weren't married yet , so its break up..What the...What happened to adages like all is fair in love and war..In for a penny in for a pound and stuff lik tat..They also agreed tat they wouldn't talk to eachother when they accidentally ran into each other they would behave completely decent and tat they would talk to one another based on the appoinments made..No appoinment...No Talkin ya like they were two ceo's talkin to each other...Both of them should have a very good job with a decent pay when leavin col ,I can live wit a part which would say they should wait until they would get a job but this was like completely weird (you probably know what i mean)..They should maintain a dresscode that is they should always wear formals no faded jeans no cargos stuff lik tat..When they didn't come out in the open abt their love that was one of the funniest parts suddenly one of them would say tat they haven't talked to the other for weeks while the other would say that he/she had talked on the previous date jus lik tat without the least provocation...come on guys if u are readin this think abt cordinated lying..Once they decided to take the bus from college together breakin all their ,i don't want to swear so ppl don't provoke me,rules they planned it lik it was a CIA mission to take down Saddam or Osama enter dude stage right enter dudette stage left look out for the guy in the red shirt take down that biker, no ppl you are not doin it right wat do they teach u at the farm these days ...Well i have only one thing to tell him ,which i told him "My friend ,they also serve him those who stand and wait" ...Though after seeing Transporter 2, i agree its got great stunts and Frank Martin(Jason Statham) rules pun unintended though ,its kind of cute to live life by the rules but ,i say this is too much guys...Lastly I would like to congratulate both of them for not breakin up and stickin to their rules and live in it that way.THREE CHEERS TO THEM hip hip hurray

Note to self

I was like down in dumps that's the rite expression i suppose...The reason being well actually i don't think ther was any reason wat so ever iyt happens u see...So for redemption i made a note more of a to do thing to get myself back on the track...The list went like this...
There is nothing like outdoors the fresh air and stuff likethat that ought to bring the Wordsworth in u, so get out and do something also it may help in my girth.I thought ok let me go jogging on second thoughts jogging is a bit too hard so i thought ok may be cycling.So this becomes to do number 1 GET MY CYCLE FIXED AND GO CYCLING DAILY UNDERLINING DAILY
Ok i thought one done next lets do something abt my studies may be so i thought wat is the latest funda for the nerds it was somethin abt a designing software that would make all other designing software obsolete just like that click..(you are supposed to click ur fingers and say oh)...So this becomes number two GET INTO DESIGNING SOFTWARE CLASS..
The last and not boring you with the oft quoted phrase, was maybe i would attend GRE class simple..This is three ATTEND GRE CLASSES..
So i made a note of all these things and on impromptu board sort of thing made from some large sheets salvaged from my study..

Not wanting to wait i wanted do things pronto so i took my cycle out i found the tyres needed some fresh air too..There i went searching for a place i could fill air the day being Sunday not many shops were open..After much trying ,i was much more or less thanking the people above as i dreaded flexing my muscles except for reachin the remote,i found a shop there was this guy sittin there whom i supposed was incharge of the shop i asked him if he would fill the air judging by his expression i thought ok first todo note is abt to be stricken off. Then disaster struck the person who was actually incharge came and informed me that the compressor was not workin the other guy interveened and asked him whether he could switch it on again and check it. My hopes raised but only for a short time as the guy incharge told him it would be impossible as the fuse would blow-out.So to do no.1 is still on list..

Next day after goin to college i went to this GRE coaching center where i was questioned abt how i came to kno abt the place and crap lik tat for which i nswerd i just came to kno by people tellin me he wanted me to be more specific i got a little annoyed i told him " put it this i was walkin noticed ur sign board thought i could join classes"..He cast me wierd look agreed when u be cocky thts wat u get..I asked for a weekday batch cause i liked to while away my weekends watchin somethin and catchin up wit pals though i didn't tell him tat i told him i had other classes..He said a weekday batch was totally out of question he asked me to reschedule my othr classe...I sked him why wouldn't it be not possible for a weekday batch he answered tat at my place ther would not be not many takers so for it..I asked why in this place ther wouldn't be takers as it would be shorter and easy to concentrate...I don't kno how tat provoled him..He started goin blah blah abt how he was providin service and not doin business here and tat it was for people who would do it seriously and tat i can't thrust my opnion on people..So i was lik ther goes note 2 add this though Note to self never join this psycho's class for GRE..

As for the design thing i asked my freind who happened to have done the course who advised me tat the whole thing was a waste of time and all that thay teach are how to move the mouse around..Instead he asked me to do somethin better...I was lik ok ther goes note 3

I ended up readin Chetan Bhagat's Five point someone for the nth time...I made another Note to self when hittin the blues read FPS.