My first solo motorcycle ride

Ride to Tipu Sultan Fort, Palakkad

Date – 28^th October, 2018

Time – 7:20am

Today’s ride to Tipu Sultan Fort, Palakkad was one which I took as a challenge to ride long distances and experience the pleasure out of it. However, the learning from this short ride has filled me with immense respect for all the motorcycle rides and specially the vloggers such as Debasish Ghosh, Mumbaikar Nikhil, Murtaza Junaid, Aartis Life, Wroom with Kiran and Sachin, Lifestealer Ajinkya, Ridergirl Vishakha, Rosie Gabrielle, Alex Chacon and Biker Niladri who do it on a regular basis.

The trip was originally scheduled on a Saturday as a test for my new MT Mugello helmet and also for motovlogging using my Nokia 1 phone. I wanted to keep my Sunday free to do household chores. However, it was not meant to be. Due to work commitments, the trip had to be postponed to the next day i.e. Sunday. However, I was not very sure if to do it as I was not ready with the setup and all. Finally I decided to take it easy and make it a blog instead of a vlog out of it. I had been writing blogs a lot in the past but had not done so lately. I took out my MT Mugello helmet, my biking brotherhood gloves and my bandana. I decided to take an extra set of clothes just in case along with ample amount of water… abt 1.5 litres. Jeans are a must while riding on highways in case proper riding pants are not available. Further, as I did not have a riding jacket, I opted for a full sleeve unbuttoned shirt to wear over a tshirt to prevent sun tan. I had taken some cotton and boroline for first aid. I took a selfie stick as well to take pictures.

I slept at around midnight with an alarm to wake up at 5:30am, hoping to be on the roads by 6:15am which is the time for sunrise here in this season. However, due to anxiety I could not sleep well. I woke up after some time, had some water, used some medicine for my clogged nose and slept back. The alarm rang on time but I was still not sure if to get up or not. I said to myself….. its not a big ride….. just around 50km or 1hr10min. It’s just like my daily commute with respect to time back in Mumbai while coming from office to home in the evening. Finally I was able to convince myself to wake up by 6:10am. That meant I was behind the schedule I had planned for. An hour later, I was all set with helmet, gloves, etc. I applied some sunscreen as well. Thankfully I had got the petrol filled and tyres checked beforehand on Friday itself. One thing which bothered me was that I was not carrying a proper first aid kit which is very essential for longer rides.

I was able to finally hit the road at 7:20am. The distance one way was 52km and the expected time was 1hr 10min approximately ignoring breaks. I decided to use Google Maps while going and Waze while coming to test the pros and cons of both apps for riding. My strategy was not to take a break midway and have my breakfast at Palakkad itself before heading back. I had fixed my main cellphone on the phone holder attached to my bike. This gave me a clear picture of which ways I should take. One advice would be to see the map beforehand in case the map shows any errors and you know the remedies. I kept my backup phone in the pocket. Originally I had planned to use it for motovlogging by attaching it to the helmet but I was not too sure about that. I decided better I just take pics with it from time to time.

The roads were quite empty. The highway was about 15km from my home. Till then I had to take various turns and manoeuvre my bike to the right direction. This part was easier than expected. I stopped to adjust the screen backlight to compensate for the daylight reflecting from it. I kept my pace in the 50-60kmph range to let myself adjust to the conditions. I had to be careful of other vehicles making u-turn or people/animals crossing the road. Thankfully, the highway came soon.

The highway riding experience is completely different from riding on any other road. You instantly get that rush to drive faster specially if the roads are nice. However, sanity prevailed and I decided to drive around the 70kmph mark. At the first flyover, I misjudged the route and took the service lane as I thought there may be restrictions of bike on the road. I corrected my error at the next chance possible and got back to the highway. When riding on highway, many specs of dust and insects keep coming. As you ride at such high speed, they may get deflected from the helmet which makes a pop sound. I crossed the state border and went into Kerala somewhere during the ride. I could not find any signboard indicating this. I had hoped to take a picture with it. This 30km stretch was sort of monotonous with the exception of the Toll gate. Thankfully no tolls are to be paid by bikes. I got down from the bike, flexed my arms a bit and took a few pictures at the gate.

Next stop was at the Palakkad Fort. I reached the fort at 8:20am approx. The fort was quite nice. I parked my bike and further took a few pics using my selfie stick. Parking charges were there but as I had reached quite early, I did not have to pay anything. The park opens at 8am and is open till 6pm. There is nothing much to be done at the fort except that it seemed to be a nice picnic spot to spend the day with family under the shade of a tree. It was quite sunny and bright. I remembered to hydrate myself at regular intervals. Thankfully I had enough water. I took a round over the fort and saw the scenery all around. There was some puja going on inside a temple in the fort.

After being there for about half an hour, I decided to head back. I did not pick up my bike and went straight to a breakfast place which I had found out on Zomato called Devikripa Restaurant. It was about 100m from the parking area. The food was good. I had masala dosa and filter coffee. The water was typical kerala style which I sipped a bit but could not quench my thirst fully. I freshened up and decided to head back to my bike for my ride back.

The ride back was easier than the morning ride. My speed on an average was 80-85kmph and I was feeling much more confident. I was using Waze app this time to test it out. I stopped at the toll gate once again to take pics of myself with the mighty mountains which looked so majestic.

Moreover, I realized that my new helmet was so much better as compared to the old one. It reduced the ambient sound, kept my head steady, had a good snug fit, had D rings which I liked the most and the visor was so clear, it felt as if it did not exist. However, sometimes when I was breathing hard, it was fogging up which should not be the case as it came with a pinlock visor which is antifog. I had to adjust my phone once more as the sunlight had increased and it was difficult to see the screen. More insects were hitting my helmet making the pop sound. I was worried about any possible damage. I also found a small rock maybe which might have been blown up from another vehicle. This hit my body and I felt the impact. It reminded me the importance of wearing a good quality CE2 riding jacket when driving on highways. Possibly next time when I get a chance, I might buy the gear. I also missed a tankbag which I could not order as it was out of stock. A tankbag for small ride takes away the need to use a backpack to carry your things. Although I had just a gym bag, it was not very comfortable.

After completing half the distance, I realized that my right mirror had gone loose and I had to adjust it. I had to do it couple of times. Thankfully it stayed that way after that. Once I entered the city I got caught in some massive traffic just 3-4km from home. The roads were too crowded and it seemed Waze was taking me through the worst traffic possible in the city. I had left from Palakkad around 10:20 when the expected time shown was 11:10. However, I reached home finally at 11:38pm. A total of 104km had been driven even before midday. I felt happy.

There were a lot of learnings from the ride which I would like to inculcate in my future rides if possible and would advise other riders to take care of as well:

1) Always wear proper gears including helmet, gloves and jacket. Each of them are very important for safety. Specially when riding on highways above the speed of 80kmph.

2) Always carry a proper first aid kit

3) Keep people informed about your whereabouts constantly if going on a solo ride

4) Charge all devices charged and keep things ready the night before

5) Have enough water during the ride and take ample stops whenever necessary

6) Take special care of heavy vehicles on the highways

7) Enjoy the ride instead of focusing on things like distance remaining and time consumed

Other than this, be sure to get your bike checked before undertaking any major ride. If possible, keep a toolkit with yourself just in case.

Looking forward to more rides in future to other places creating better riding experiences and more enjoyments...

Finance

Wooow... what a topic to pakao all your heads. What had I been doing all this time not bringing up this topic till now. I know, most of you would be going “aaaaah...., NO not this one”.

Friends, ‘Finance’ or rather personal finance related topics have always been close to my heart since the days I started earning. I always used to think of an optimum way of keeping my finances, making plans in line with what all the financial pundits tell.... insurance, taxes, debt-equity ratio, blah blah.... However, over the years I have learnt that there are two fundamental differences between what we are told in all the financial stuff and the reality. Firstly, the plan not only depends on person to person but also on condition he/she is into at the point of time. Secondly, even if you plan it up completely to the minutest level as suggested by your financial agent, you will still repent some decision thinking what if I had done this and that. However, don’t worry. It is basic human nature to get worried at anything that goes wrong. The point is to keep it in mind for planning next time. This is known as “Kaizen” in Japanese meaning constant improvement (I like throwing off these fun facts).

One of the very basic lesson in finance (or anything in life) is “Don’t ask the barber if you need a haircut”. One needs to see if the person has any vested interest in you going through with the transaction as advised to you. Many a times I have heard that people have invested in things like Insurance Plan with is also a mutual fund and all sorts of such products. Dear Friends, they are called ULIPs (Unit Linked Insurance Plans) and I don’t have anything personal against these plans except that they take away a large chunk of your investment in the first three years after which “you need not keep investing” meaning “your financial advisor will not get a sizable chunk of your investment as his commission after 3 yrs are over”.

Other similar myths are one should keep a lot of money in savings account for contingency (NO, not if you do have a cashless medicare facility, keeping 3-6 months of expenses is fine, not beyond that), one should never invest in stocks (don’t if u don’t understand them or can’t track them regularly. However, Mutual Funds are not stocks. They are people paid to take care of your stocks), taking endowment plans for life insurance is enough (I liked the ad showing KILB Kam Insurance Lene ki Bimari, see youtube for further details), and the list goes on and on.... including some totally outrageous ones like the world will end in 2012 and thus, withdraw all your money and keep all of it at home in form of cash.

If you take a bet on something, remember that you are taking a bet and the chances are 50-50. However, if you keep investing systematically through thick and thin, you are bound to do good (assuming whatever you are investing in is well researched and found to be fundamentally sound).

Finally, let me share a news article: “Recent studies done in an university in the US suggest that counting currency notes reduces any kind of pain you might be having in your body.” J J

Life Reloaded

Well... Hello to the avid followers of my blog and people whom I have coaxed successfully to make them read it and moreover, to the vella people who couldn’t think of doing anything more interesting than reading my blog.

I had been quite regular with the blogs in the past... maybe a couple of years back... I am not sure what happened. May be blogs went out of fashion or things like Tharoorgate on twitter or growing carrots in farmsville became the in-thing. Well well, life goes on and thus, blogs too must go on. Thus, written below is another dose of my stories and fundas about everything possible.

Friends, in the last couple of years I have become an die-hard fan of HIMYM (How I Met Your Mother). Most of the episodes start with the words “Kids...”. Let me start with “Friends...”. So...

Friends, we have heard this many a times, again and again, in different clichés and different phrases... about Life. It is complex, it is long, it is short, it has bad and good parts etc etc blah blah... but what is it? Do we ever sit down and think if we are on the right track? Things like are we loving what we do or doing what we love. Some people like to plan it up while others like to flow with it and take it as it comes. However, life will always come up and say.... Surprise!!! And then what do you do... sometimes we become so happy that we forget everything while at other times we curse ourselves and others and what not.

Every time you think that you have seen almost everything in life, you will surely see something new, something you would have never imagined u would have seen. In the last few years the world saw something which it never thought it would. The biggest recession since the days of great depression of 1930s. Something which changed the rules of the game and affected different entities in different unimaginable ways including myself. However, having survived through it, I think I have lived a life which I would have never imagined living at any point of time before.

Friends (repeating to make it dramatic), I have always believed that the reason of all sorrows in the world are “expectations”. However, today, sitting in the 2^nd AC compartment of my train to Mumbai, after getting an upgradation from 3^rd AC, I believe that the reason of all happiness in the world are “expectations” as well.

Application of the Moral of the story: “I expect my train to reach Mumbai not on time but in less time than no. of hours it is late on an average”

My College

          As the vehicle takes a turn to the left, a hillock gets uncovered. Far from city pollution and noise, in a calm surrounding, over the unwinding roads, behind the lush green trees, lies my college; The Indian Institute of Management, Indore. One glance, and you simply get mesmerized by the look and feel.
          The hill is officially known by the name “Prabandh Shikhar”. Quite an exotic name for an exotic place to be in. We know it by the name, “the hillock that never sleeps”, and that’s quite true due to the inhabitants of this place, buzzing with all kinds of activities, submissions, deadlines till late nights.
          The gate is a grand one with the name carved on one side of a wall. It seems so magnificent. As we enter the gate, a line of flowers awaits you. Dancing and swinging in the wind, it gives a feeling of nature to the onlooker. The flowers are of many colors; yellow, red, orange, violet… each one of them so beautiful and elegant, the leaves do not seem to be noticed at all. The road takes us to the foot of the hill where the road keeps moving around the hill to make you reach your destination. But wait!!! Didn’t you notice the scenery on the way? If not, you better go and have another look. As the road climbs up the mountain, the world seems to be a bird’s eye view. Down below, you can see the road coming from the horizon and vanishing into the horizon on the other side. Lush green fields, full of agricultural activities, small huts at a distance, vehicles moving up and down the road… Sometimes I feel as if I am not at my college but at a hill station. In the morning, if you are able to get up really really early, you can be the lucky one to see the sun rising among the clouds during day-break. In case you are not a early person, you always have the sunset to mesmerize yourself with.
          After a small distance, one can see magnificent building awaiting the onlookers. That is my college. The circular structure and grand arches provides it a picturesque image.
          Further down the road, you will find a block of buildings. That’s the place I live in. That’s my hostel. That’s the place which will have a special place in my heart even decades after I move out of this place.

Man with the MARKER

        He’s the man. He’s got the marker. He’s the "MAN WITH THE MARKER". Thank him, despise him but you cannot ignore him. ‘Cos if you ignore him, time will ignore you. Yes, you guessed it right. He is the official time keeper of the class.
        Official time keeper, huh…. I wonder how he got this name. I think that was one time the CR of the class mentioned this to one of the teachers. I don’t know if he likes his designation. Seems like a time table. Keen to bang you up when your time is finished. People try to bribe him, intimidate him, threaten him but he has never defaulted on his time (at least he claims so).
        Lets go back in time and see what made him what he is today. It’s a long story, consisting of more than one full term of chipped markers and banged desks and yes, some scary looks and frozen faces as well. It all started when senior faculty of the college came to a conclusion that there should be a Oral Communication class in the curriculum of the first term. The name seemed a bit mundane. After some consideration, it was renamed as Managerial Oral Communication (MOC). It is supposed to be a support to the start of a life where you will be looking at the projection most of the time while the people in front of you will try hard not to go into a deep trance.
        With so many presentations to be dealt with, the subject needed a volunteer who could fight all the boredom and moments of desperate sleepiness to keep a track of the time during the presentations. There was this little guy with high ambitions sitting at one end of the class just under the AC (how he survives there, that’s a separate story). He likes to keep a digital watch with him as he likes digits. Surprisingly, this watch turned out to be the only watch in class which had a timer. Don’t know if the watch was happy to know that it was so lonely. After all, it had been more than 10 years since it came out of the factory. Wonder where it began its journey.
        This guy did not know what he was getting into. Time is a flowing concept. How can anyone keep it? He wondered. Due to lack of other volunteers, the task was assigned to him. “Great!! At least I am doing something for my class”, he thought. He did not know what to do, when to do, how to do. But with experience, comes deftness. With the Watch and Marker as his two well known tools, he had set forth on a journey of the time and terms. A journey, where he has to be the reference point to others.
        About the marker, it was a rather fat one; chosen as a tool to bang as it was robust and had the highest conversion factor of kinetic energy to sound energy. The bang of the marker was enough to stop speakers in between their sentences and bring out “Thank you” from the mouth of the professor. Sometimes it was softer, sometimes it was louder but it was always there to put forth a reference point in the short life span of the presentation. The Man preferred the Marker to be RED. Not sure if he liked red color or if he chose it as a sign of danger, the danger of crossing the stipulated time and losing out on marks. At least he was kind enough to give a warning bang and a hand gesture to indicate “Your time is almost up buddy!! Pack up as soon as you can”. Even videos are not spared from the time keeper. He times them all and sends it to the professor. He also notes down the time of each speaker so that no one may escape the heat (at least he himself escaped it under the AC :) ).
        One question which comes to my mind is that who kept the time when he was out there, stripped off his role as the time keeper, pointing at the presentation and trying to keep the audience awake?? Well he has got a few friends with whom he keeps sharing his responsibilities to provide them with valuable experience and expertise in the art of time keeping. Sometimes they take away his watch and marker anyway, but that’s what he considers his achievement, making the dull and boring job seem so interesting. I think that deep inside, he feels happy to be absolved of his duties for some time at least.
        Terms may come and terms may go but he and his team of friends will continue to bug each presenter, whatever topic the presentation may be. MOC has never been a boring subject in the presence of them who wake up the whole class with each bang of theirs.
        Finally, special thanks to the watch, the marker and yes, the big fat OB book (which had given a deep thud on being banged) which helped the time keeper in his efforts and made this blog a possibility. I think each one of us have a time keeper inside us, just waiting to be awaken. Do you have it in you? Kar lo MARKER mutthi mein!!!!

I feel like Santa

      Continuing from my last year's blog, "Does Santa believe in material gifts only?", first of all, I would like to thank Santa to give me better food and lifestyle than what I had a year ago.
      The thought of writing this blog came to me while I was on my way to the supermarket on the Christmas Eve. I thought of taking my bike, but later decided against it as I would not be able to enjoy the air. Sometimes, it is feels great just to take a stroll towards your destination, knowing that you do not have a time constraint. Just walk on, enjoy the scene. The shops, the streets; all were decorated as it was the festive season. I saw a school celebrating some kind of fete. Kids and their parents were poring out of it with a smile on their face. I remembered how happy I used to be in my school fete. You know, smile is contagious.
      I walked on. A florist had put out a shop on the pavement. He had several types of bouquets. Were those flowers real? He had sprayed the area with water to give it a cool feel. I wonder how his business is going on. People who are buying those bouquets, I wonder how their lives are going on? What would be the price of a bouquet? I wonder if I would be buying one some day.
      A few steps forward, I saw a bhutta-wala. No, he was not the boiled bhutta types. Rather, he was the traditional popping in fire types. Some people had gathered around him. I wonder if these people will be eating less for dinner. I wonder if the vendor child will be having dinner. I hope he does. I thought of eating one, but I remembered that I was heading towards a mall and was not sure if I would be able to finish it before I reach the mall. Such a tight schedule you see.
      It is Santa season. I am feeling happy. There need not be a reason to be happy. You can be happy if people around you are happy. The sound of "Ho ho ho...." says it all. You gotta be smiling. A few steps forward, I saw a kid selling Santa caps. The long and tapering one with a bunch of white threads at the end. He was wearing one himself, although his clothes were not in good condition. Still, he had a smile on his face.
      In the present day world, people are so busy that people seldom look where they are going. No one has time to care for anyone. Every year I hear in news about debates over Santa's existence. I wonder if it matters at all. The guy at the restaurant was wearing a Santa costume and welcoming guests. The mothers were showing kids, "See, that's Santa". He was not giving away any gifts but still his looks surely put a smile on everyone's face. I believe that this was the best gift he could have given.
      One day someone told me that one should not cry as other people may be in much worse situation than you are. My experience tells me that it is true. Thus, there is just one thing left to do. Smile. Smile at your problems as they will have to face you. Smile at God as he may have archived your happy moments to be reloaded at a later point of time. Smile at the unknown shopkeeper as he will feel good that you came to his shop. Smile. That's all you need to do to be a Santa.
"You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why.

"Santa Claus is coming to town!"

Finding Happiness

          Nowadays, I do not feel like writing any more blogs. I just don’t know why. May be I have turned too much pessimistic or may be it is the guilt of making others pessimistic. I do not feel like going to sleep at night. It seems like once I sleep, one more day of my life is over. In the morning, I don’t feel like getting up and going to office. I do not care if the cook has made dinner or not. People suggest lots of things. Somewhere I heard the term early life crisis. Is it that or is it something else? I just don’t know.
          To keep myself from getting melancholy, I must keep myself busy. I am trying reading novels. The one I am reading currently is “The Cry of Halidon” by Robert Ludlum. But you see, when I try to read it one my way to office, the movements of the bus ensures that I am not able to read more than one page. The result, either I go to sleep or else, I get lost in the dreams of years gone by. I think that I have developed this habit of living in the past. I always worry how I could have made my past better and in the process, I neglect my present. Sometimes I try to give attention the present but before I know, it has already become past. The past, which I remember and smile in solitude.
          In fact, many people have told me personally that they have seen me smiling in solitude with no apparent reason. What do I tell them? They will never understand why I am smiling. It’s just a reflex.
          I believe that every positive aspect inherently brings with it a negative aspect as well. If you have been watching superhero movies, you will see many super villains as well. Well, we do not see both kinds in real life. Thus, when I talk of smiling in solitude, I must also talk of crying in solitude. I have lately discovered that crying can be an art. You can make people think that you are smiling when actually, you are crying. Crying you heart out, but only you can sense it. Sometimes, if it is raining while you are traveling in a bus and you feel like crying, you can try crying while jutting out your head partially out of the window. I know, it sounds very silly. Try it once.
The point to note here is that it is just a part of life. Life will give you sadness and happiness in equal proportions. It depends on you which of these you tend to remember and which one to forget.
          Look at the people around you. You will find loads of happiness all around. All you have to do is just allow yourself to absorb it. Once someone told me that happiness is not an entity in itself. The absence of sadness is happiness. I still cannot decide if this is true or the opposite of it. I hope thats enough of pessimism for today. Watch out for my new blog series at http://how-r-u-doin.blogspot.com. The subject matter will be relationships. Its true, gossips always sell :). But instead, this will focus on the intricacies of various relationships we face in our daily lives. Hope to make you smile.