The Way Its Supposed To Be!

Holy Recession!

2009-01-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Thats it! The bloody free market policies of tat crackpot American President has taken its toll. On everything! What a way to start the new year! Inflation, Depression and of late the Satyam scandals....obviously they ARE enjoying the New Year!....
Well what I am concerned about is is that Subaru and Suzuki decided to drop out of this year's WRC Championship. Which means i am goin to miss my favorite riser, Petter Solberg for more than a year!! Once again BLOODY RECESSION!!
So guys I am switchin sides....after all you have to be loyal to someone naah??!!....
I am goin with Sebastien Loeb and his Citroen C4. Sorry Solberg!!

Tathva '08

2009-01-02T03:51:00.000-08:00

First of all, a very Happy New Year to all you people out there!!

This will be my first blog of the year. Before I go into anything I must first apologize to Harishanker, fellow blogger, fellow GECian, etc. who had been and is still expecting this post for a long long time! Well Hari here it is!!!

Well actually the fault is mine. I should have jotted or typed this down to be precise a long time back. But then we all have time constraints, a lot of mind-your-own business (no pun intended!!:) ), stuff that kept me very far behind. I find it difficult to keep pace with all the regular ones in the blogosphere but I am trying my best!!

Well what am I talking about? It’s one incident that still is one of the most unforgettable events in my life. Tathva 2008. To be frank I intend to kick IITian arses with this post!
For all those who do not know what that is, Tathva is a tech fest conducted by the National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C). I don’t know how much I would be able to cram in here but I will try to keep it short.
Tathva 2008 was scheduled to be held on October 24th through to the 26th. Yea I know it’s a long time back but puhleez forgive me! I don’t remember exactly when I decided to raise my hands and say I’m in but it all happened so fast. It was Praseeth, my class chum who brought this up. About one month before the fest was actually to be conducted; P came up to me and said about the tech fest that was to be conducted at the NIT-C. To be frank I was reluctant at first, thinking of the stiff competition that might be present, but P ensured me it’s really worth a try. That was one shot in the arm I was looking for. He was interested in one particular event- the Road Zeppelin, the reason of which still eludes me.

Our task was simple, make a vehicle that is powered by a balloon. You could either use the thrust of an inflated balloon to power it or the elastic force of a stretched balloon. The vehicle that runs the greatest distance wins.
Simple, eh?
It was when we put on our thinking caps we got to know the complexity of our task. Before moving any further, there was three of in the team. Moiself, P and Jithin(ex-MATHIITian). What really was nerve wracking was that we did not know the best design for the vehicle. We initially thought propulsion would be better but after many a thinking, designing, making, destroying, hair-pulling, cursing, we finally decided to go ahead with elastic energy. The problem with it was that it was much more complicated than propulsion. A lot of class bunks, and sacrificing our most valuable college hours(not in the academic sense!!) later we had finally drafted and prepared our design. I do not know how many of you guys would understand what I am talking of, but our design consisted of a six-inch standard party balloon fixed on one end to the body of our vehicle and the other end would be secured to a length of industrial strength Dacron thread. The thread would then wound on the rear axle of the vehicle. The vehicle itself consists of a single balanced front wheel and two rear wheels onto whose axles the thread is wound. We kept the front wheels smaller than the rear wheels which were considerably larger with a diameter of 25 centimeters. The rear wheels were not in the form of discs but rather it was a hoop. The reason for using a hoop for the rear wheel was that it has only half the moment of inertia than the disc wheels, the advantage of which is that it would provide a better starting torque(twice the amount) to be precise than the discs hence a smooth start and acceleration for the vehicle. The wheels were given an outer covering of Teflon tape to reduce friction between the wheels and the surface. Whew, I know some of you guys must be staring at the monitor with mouths wide open but see, all those Physics and Mechanics we studied were not put to waste!! We made the length of the vehicle to more than a meter so that we could stretch the balloon to its maximum (yup we stretched the balloon to more than a meter!). There was a problem with the rear axle drive that came up. It had to be mounted on bearings for smooth running. Now bearings those small are damn expensive. After loiterin a whole day at Chalai we at last bought four 3 mm bearings, two each for the front and rear axles. Well they cost 75 Rs. per piece…a lot to pay for something that small!

Well enough tech speak for now! In the mean time, news of the fest spread in our college and initially about 25 signed up to go. But all save 8 dropped out at the last moment due to lack of interest (ridiculous I say!) and one bloody series exam that was to start on the 27th! The eight of us decided to scoot the series and go ahead (Aaah!! That’s the spirit!).
We had another team of four with us comprising of Sugeeth, Vishnu, Govind and Manulal. Then there was Satheesh. S, V, G and M were part of a team for the event called the Contraption, which involved ringing three bells with the most complex mechanisms imaginable. It was a pretty mess I say, but hey there’s good news waiting to be told!

After about a month of designing, testing running, doing, undoing, redoing and etcetra our vehicle was ready. We had no hopes at that time since our vehicle moved a maximum distance of 10 meters on our test runs which we felt was too little.
The eight of us boarded the night train on the 23rd to Calicut so that we could reach there early next morning. All went like clockwork and we reached the station next morning by 6. From there it was a long bus ride to the college. It was raining really heavy then, making the town look like another Venice! The roads were replaced by pools and rivers of water knee-high, a welcome I did not expect!! Another thing I or rather we, observed was that, native Calicut girls are damn cute!! ;) ….!

After we set foot at NIT-C, the usual registration procedures gave us a shock… it cost 250 rs. to register and receive lodgings per head. Most of the party trooped into the NIT campus with barely enough money to last 3 days. The registration left us entirely broke!
My team had another shock in store. Our event was the first one and we barely had an hour then to get ready. After harried last minute preparations, we went over to the auditorium where it was held. As it were all not enough, when were soon informed that the rules of the race had changed. There’s an old saying in Malayalam: “Idi vetttiyavane paambu kadichu”( snake biting a man who had already been struck by lightning!). That was our situation. The maximum distance rule was changed to the vehicle with the fastest time to cross a distance of 17 meters wins. We were dumbstruck as we had expected not more than 10 meters of run! After breathing a lot of fire and curses galore, we decided to go ahead. Win or lose, it didn’t matter.

The team ahead of us was from IIT Madras. They designed their vehicle on propulsion; I must say it worked nice. It ran 17 meters in about 14 seconds or so. We decide to wait and observe our competition before having our run. After a trial run, we immediately had a problem. The Dacron thread we used to secure our balloon kept slipping from the balloon ends, hence preventing it from stretching. Moreover the balloon kept on hardening kept on hardening after repetitive stretching and releasing (some phenomenon called the strain hardening). Some hair pulling and brain storming later we innovated what we thought was the best way to secure the thread to the balloon. P wound the thread on the head of the balloon and tied it in such a way that it looked like a hangman’s knot. It took away some considerable amount of balloon from us but it was worth it, since the balloon held firmly to the vehicle body. We then prepared for our first run.

The first run was obviously not the best. Though the vehicle ran smoothly and took off well, there was a slight unbalance of masses in the front wheel which pulled the vehicle to the left when it ran. And because of that, our first run ended up crashing into the wall used to secure the track. We then decided to do our consequent runs from the extreme right of the track so that we won’t crash into the wall.
The second was the one that changed everything. Our vehicle after release, covered 17 meters in 7 seconds! Moreover the vehicle did not crash. P and I were jumping with joy literally. J started bellowing at the top of his voice. We had the best run till then so far as no one else covered the distance in less than 10 seconds, and it looked like we had nailed the prize. You should have seen the look on the faces of those IITians, as if somebody just banged with a hammer. Our third and final run clocked 8 seconds but we did not care, since it looked obvious to us that we were the winners with 7 seconds. The teams’ consequent to us came nowhere near our timing.
And so, we won. We came up first pocketing a prize money of 5000 rs. The exhilaration of winning the first event the first day itself is beyond words. Almost as if drugged by it, p started nosing and started with the other teams there. They were well, really friendly out there. But it was the IITians who still could not absorb it. P, out of curiosity, went over to them to start a conversation, something which went like this:

P: Hi there, you are from IIT Madras aren’t you?
IITian bloke: Duh?
P: Well can you tell me how exactly you did design your vehicle?
Bloke: (silence)
P: Errmm..??
Bloke: Where are you from?
P: GEC Trivandrum.
Bloke: Trivandrum? Where’s that?
P: Trivandrum is the capital of Kerala, Duh!
Bloke: So you have colleges there too??!

P broke off the conversation there itself and went off fuming. Luckily for that bloke, P was an angel. If he had the ill luck to tell that to me, I would surely have beaten him up black and blue. Now let me ask you fellas, what exactly is the problem with you guys?? Why see us like vermin when others don’t have a problem? Is it just because you have IIT stamped onto your arses??!! Or is it just me??!
Never mind.
So how do men celebrate victory?? Yeah, we set the rivers flowing, if you know what I mean!!;)… we ran into a couple of our juniors at college and along with folks from SRMCET, NIT-C and the Pondicherry School of Engineering, we celebrated that night at the common room of the hostel where we stayed. How exactly did we celebrate, has to be top secret, or at least for now! I am not hinting at anything but take your wildest guesses!
Whatever we did left us all dizzy and overconfident, we went out the hostel and started shouting, racketeering like hooligans, singing out loudly, making passers by staring at us in disgust. It was like past midnight, when we went outside the campus singing and dancing all the way! Man it was something then!! Walking arm in arm with a couple of new friends from our party in that cold rainy night, it was just wonderful!

We woke up late next morning after our night parade, still not having a clue of what happened the previous night. Our team having nothing else to do decided to roam the massive NIT-C campus the entire day. The second day passed of without event, the entire time was spent loitering in the campus, except at night when we had a superb dinner from a wayside thattukada near the campus.

Contraption, the event for our second team of S, V, G and M was scheduled on the third day morning. With a lot of help from our willing juniors, we shifted all their “Contraption” articles from our room to the auditorium to where it was to be held. I would shorten out what happened next. After setting up their contraption, the first run itself gave our second team 92 points or steps. Now it would be worth mentioning that they too began preparations a month back and they too went through all that we did. Their second run gave them 115 points and secured them an unbeatable lead as the nearest competition had a maximum of 67 steps (I have to mention that it too was a team from the IIT). That sealed our jubilation. Our second teams too were winners pocketing a prize money of 9000 rs. And since we were the only college to have two first prizes for group events, we were declared overall champions in group events at Tathva.( Met fellow blogger Neethu, while Contraption was being held! :))

We returned on board the night train that day itself reaching home by 7 early next morning or so with happiness brimming in our hearts all the way from Calicut to Trivandrum.

The video I have put up here is that of the second run of our vehicle with me releasing it from the starting line. The slight shift to the left of the vehicle is evident from the run. It was this run that clocked the official 7 second victory!

Speeding Car Cometh...Over!!

2008-11-17T21:15:00.000-08:00

Venue: Car
Location: NH47 Attingal
Time: 4.30 P.M.
Cast:
Me in and as The Driver,
Bro as Bro,
Mom as Mom,
Auntie as Auntie.

Scene 1:

NH47 Attingal. Gleaming wine red Suzuki Alto

.8er. The Alto enters a bridge at this point

at 115 kmph. The traffic is moderately light.

Me overtakes a slow moving KSRTC ordinary bus

bound for Trivandrum at the same break neck

speed. The bridge has coppers waiting in

highway patrol Taveras at the other end,

jumping into the middle of traffic, confident

that they will live to tell about it and

waving their arms over their heads lyk trying

to say," Maine kuch nahi kiya!!", to stop and

pettify hapless drivers like Me.

Scene 2: Inside car

Me: WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bro: Yeaaaa, Now thats's what I'm talkin

about!!!
Mom: Aaaaaaaaaiiiiieeeeeeee!!
Auntie:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGG

GGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Scene 3: Simultaneous cam outside car, next to

a cycle born villager.

Villager hears sounds of an Alto engine

screaming it's heart out. Also hears distant

muffled sounds in the direction of the car;

"Aaaaaaaaaiiiiieeeeeeee!!!"..."AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH

HHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

Villager: *blink*

Alto roars past.

Scene 4: Back inside Alto.

A Sony Xplod stereo system now blaring,"Who

let the dogs out?!, Woof!! Woof!! Woof!!

Woof!!"

Me:(miming Baha Men)
Bro:(face vacant, total nirvana expression)
Mom: Mone, paiyye, de police!!(Son, slowly,

look the copppers!!)
Auntie:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

RGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE

!!!!!!!

Me:(shouting to Mom) Whaat??!! Didn't hear

you!!
Bro:(looking ahead, expression changes from

shantham to bhayanakam)
Mom: Police!!
Auntie:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

RGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE

!!!!!!!

Scene 5: Highway Patrol outpost. A sub-

Inspector(SI) pettifying and abusing a haplees

motorist he just waved down. Around him are

about half a dozen constables.

His Walkie-talkie: Cycle bound informer(CBI)

here, over.
SI: Come on in CBI, over.
HWT: wine red Alto speeding and overtaking.

Est. speed 120kmph, over.
SI: WTF??!!, over.
HWT: (yea I mean it nitwit), speeding Alto yes

SIR, over.
SI: Vokay vokay, over and shut up.

SI spots Alto. Orders one of the constables to

pull it over. Constable looking terrified,

nods in acceptance. Jumps on to the road and

starts waving, hands above heads.

Constable:(gulp. Dead meat.) Yo! Stop it! Stop

it, STTOOOPP!!!!....AAArrgghhh!!!

Constable moves out of the way and runs for

cover.

Scene 6: Back inside car.

Me: @!%&*@&!! Coppers!!
Bro:(expression, bhayanaka)
Mom: That's what I said!!
Auntie:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

RGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE

!!!!!!!

Me reaches the other end of the bridge in the

mean time. me on seeing the coppers applies

the brakes real hard. The discers and drummers

screech and grind. Me pulls to the side of the

highway. The car is now a good half a

kilometer away from the outpost.

Bro: That was around 3Gs...Great stop Bhaii!!
Me: Danxx!!

Auntie:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

RGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE

!!!!!!!

Scene 7: Outpost. SI looks at the Alto, Wide

eyed, shooting past, and then coming to a rest

half a kilometer away from his position

currently.

SI: Constable?? CONSTABLE??!!
Constable:(behind a bush, shivering and

cowering) MOMMYYYYY!!!!
SI: WTF??!!! Go and get that !@$*&^$ up here.

I want to burn him ASAP!!
Constable: YESSIR!!

Constable starts running towards the now

stationary car, still wary.

Scene 8: Back to car.

Sony Xplod: "A doggie is nothin if he don't

have a bone!!...All doggie hold ya bone all

doggie hold it!!"

Me:(miming Baha men)
Bro: Some ones coming. He looks like a

marathon sprinter. why is he in khakis?? And

why is there a marathon this evening??

Mom: It's a constable!! We are done for!!!
Bro: oh! Strange costume!!

Auntie:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

RGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE

!!!!!!!

Constable on the mean time reaches the car. He

signals Bro on his side to roll down the

window, clutching his chest.

Constable: What *puff* the hell *pant* were

*pant* you trying to do?*puff*...Do i know

you*gasp*??
Me:(shrugging) No.
Constable:*gasp* then why the hell did u try

to kill*puff* me for??*pant*
Me: Eeerrmmm...
Constable:*gasp*the SI needs to see you!*puff*
ASAP!!*gasp*
Me: vokay!
Constable:*swoon**thud*

Bro: Poor guy. Must have been running the

marathon all day.
Me: Da, why don't you go to the SI?? He's a

good guy. He might give you a note of

appreciation. Just give him this 100 buck

note. He will send you back in a jiffy!
Bro: OK.
Mom:(hands him a 100 rupee note) don't say

anything back to him mone. Just hear whatever

he says!

Auntie: *gasp* aaaargghiieee!! *mute*

Bro exits car.

Scene 9: Outpost. SI looks at Bro exiting car

and walking toward him.

SI: Walk a little bit faster, peabrain!!

Bro takes quite some time in his luxury walk. He finally reaches the SI.

SI:@%^#^&!!!
Bro:HUH??!
SI:@%^#^&!!!
Bro:OK.
SI: You were speeding at a 120 kmph and you know it! @#$!@~!~~!!
Bro: I didn't drive, my bhaii did!!
SI: Whoever!! Take that..(hands him a petty fine slip of 100 bucks)
Bro: Oh yea, I was expecting this!!(hands the SI 100 bucks)
SI:*blink**mortified* get lost!! And tell that Constable to shove his arse up here unless daddy here spanks him!!
Bro: HUH??!
SI: Nothing. Tell that ungle lying on the floor near the car to come here!
Bro: Vokay.

Bro walks off.

SI: I hate my job...I hate my f****** life!!
HWT: CBI here... Biker without helmet on the way, over.
SI: SHUT THE F*** UP!!! OVER FOREVER!!

SI walkie takie down, smashing it. He runs towards the bridge and jumps into the lake below. Screams.

Scene 10: Car.

Bro: Bhaii what's @%^#^&!!!???
Mom: *mortified*
Me: ROTFL!! Will tell Ya..! but not here. Let's go eh, mom?
Mom: *sigh* Okay...
Auntie: *whine**squeal*

Distant sound of a man screaming*

Me: Wassat??
Bro: The SI. I think he just commited suicide.
Me: You bad boy!!
Bro:(Shrugs)

Mom: *sigh*
Me: OKay! here we go again!!

Tires screeching. Dirt Flying.

Auntie:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

RGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE

!!!!!!!

Sony Xplod: " My crews all fired up! Y'all better just wise up!"

Me:(miming Hush)

Scene 11: closing.

Constable comes to his senses.

Constable:*sputter* wha jus happnd??!!

Constable hears distant muffled cries of a woman. The Alto is nowhere to be seen.

THE END.

PS: Guys, though over exagerated this is an account of how I got my first speeding ticket. The characters are NOT fictious!

PPS: The SI is still alive!

My favourite rides!!

2008-09-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

the truth being that i would like to drive everything on wheels, I havesingled out some Of my favourite rides. The Mahindra Scorpio, nothing beats it on the matter of prestige, the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 edition, the Audi A4, the Mitsubishi Lancer "Evo" Evolution, and finally the Toyota Innova. by sheer dumb luck i got to ride a Scorpio....it's really something sitting on one. Toyota Innova has the smoothest suspension I have known. I hopefully may have the chance to check out the Lancer Evo, Audi A4 and the Mustang someday...plz pray guys!! Then there is something else that i would really like to mention. It's about the Mercedes Maybach Brabus edition...something i can only dream of!!

2008-09-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

This is the future of Suzuki Alto! It was unvieled in the Auto Expo this year at New Delhi as an A-star concept Euro 5 standard car! Have a look!

Way to Go

2008-09-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

One of the things that define you as a grown up is when you learn and begin to ride a car and you earn your driver’s license.
(“Hey big boy!!”)
There are tons of motorcycle enthusiasts out there, I know. But to me, motorcycles are just underpowered cycles with which you MAY be able to pull off a stunt or two. It’s comparable to a common man owning something like a pit bull dog! But a man and his drive are well comparable to a ringmaster and his lion! Congrats my license totting friends, you are ringmasters in your own way!!

But being a good ringmaster needs some really good training, knowledge, skill and above all handling. The way you handle your beast makes all the difference between a huge round of applause and a most gruesome death in the jaws of the beast!

Cars however sleek, beautiful and powerful they can be are the biggest killers around. It’s what happens when some moron thinks he can go ahead and put his head into the jaws of a beast and think he can walk away with it. To be precise not even the most experienced ringmaster can even come close to predicting what his beast is about to do next!
As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Safe driving minimizes, though still does not ensure, the risks of road rages. So dear friends please, play it safe!
Taking care of the beast is equally important as learning to handle it. Pardon if I sound babyish but I would like to share a few thoughts with you guys a few things that I’d learn over time and my experiences as a trainee mechanic.

Play It Safe:

(1) First and foremost safety. Always drive with your seat belts on. I know it’s highly uncomfy but it’s worth it!
(2) Avoid speeding at all costs. It takes toll on both wallet and the driver!
(3) Avoid overtaking. Unless you want to get rid of the moron in front who thinks he is a snail! ;)
(4) Keep to the left of the road. The driver wherever in the world he is must always be near or on the center of the road.
(5) Always keep a distance of 2-3 meters between you and the ride in front.
(6) FINALLY obey the rules!

Taking Care of Him:
(1) Avoid an overdrive. An overdrive is a situation where you revv the engine well above its desirable RPM for that particular gear. Its sometimes necessary to overdrive to overtake but not always. Overdriving makes the engine consume more juice thus reducing mileage, due to the heavier loads the engine has to undergo. An overdrive can be identified in different ways. Firstly engine noise. Greater the engine noise while on drive greater the overdrive. Secondly in case you are too busy listening to your louder than hell stereo to make note of the engine noise, is the shudder. All you have to do is depress the clutch pedal and release it quickly WITHOUT any throttle/accelerating. If you should fell a shudder then you are definitely in an overdrive. Greater the shudder greater the overdrive. It’s occurs due to the natural tendency of the gear train to slow down and reduce the loads on it. The third test is the simplest. You are in an overdrive when you feel a slowing down of the vehicle when you release the accelerator completely without disengaging the clutch. Greater the slow down greater the overdrive.
(2) Another similar to be avoided is the underdrive. It’s just the opposite of an overdrive. As an engineer you would know that there is a minimum amount of torque that is to applied on the driving gear to make the driving gear turn. It’s exactly that phenom where the engine does not generate enough power to run in that particular gear/transmission. You will know that your drive is in underdrive when you hear a peculiar knockity-clankity-knockity-clankity noise from the engine and little or no pulling when you try to throttle in that gear. The consequence of a prolonged underdrive is a stalled engine. You wouldn’t want your engine to stall in the middle of a busy road would you??! For example, trying to run at 20-25 kmph on 5th gear is an underdrive at the worst! It’s the newer drivers who usually underdrive. You must have noticed new drivers having “starting troubles”, when the engine stalls when they try to get their rides moving. It happens because they underdrive, where they do not provide enough throttle to get the vehicle moving. As such the engine stalls immediately when they engage the clutch.
(3) Next up clutch slipping. The clutch is the most important part of the vehicle as far as locomotion is considered. It’s solely responsible for the transmission of power from the gear train and hence to the axles, differentials and beyond. A clutch plate is usually made of steel reinforced asbestos fibers and an asbestos base. Now a damaged or worn-out clutch is really nasty, the consequence of clutch slippage. Clutch slippage occurs when you place your foot on the clutch pedal or fail to completely engage it. What happens as a result is that the clutch is forced to shuttle between engaged and disengaged modes, generating friction and hence rubbing out the asbestos base much like you rub chalk on stone. In extreme cases the temperature due to friction may get so high that the asbestos vaporizes and burns with a flash. So resting your feet on the clutch even simply can destroy the clutch over a period of time. The situation is worse still if the clutch is hydraulically actuated. Another practice that aids in clutch slippage is by “experienced” drivers using the clutch to make the vehicle rest on an incline, rather than using the brake. This occurs by throttling and placing the clutch at such a position which comes by through experience. This practice however causes twice the damage! Based on my experience as a mechanic, wanna know how its like using a car with a totally damaged clutch?? It’s like a car that does not move even on full throttle and no matter what gear or drive it’s in!! or in the lesser than extreme case you would have to jam the throttle all the way down even on first gear to make it move an inch! I have seen a Swift that had a clutch so damaged that we had to roll it from the road into the workshop! By the way a clutch is damn expensive to replace!!
(4) Next up, always try to ride on the highest gear possible. The highest gear or the top gear is that gear which gives little or no overdrive when running on medium to high speeds. This practice would help save a few bucks for the economy savvy average Indian! Ideally the best speeds on Indian roads are between 60-70 kmph on the highways and between 30-45 kmph in the city. It’s difficult to maintain them but it’s the best!
(5) Now for the brakes, I may sound ridiculous here but to tell the truth its most economical if you do not use the brake!! Practically the lesser you brake, the better. Brakes waste a lot of valuable energy( unless you have a regenerative braking system). Rides that come with Anti-lock Braking Systems(ABS) and Electronic Braking Controls(EBC) are the best be it for safety or economy. Engine braking is highly suggested. It's where you downshift to reduce speed rather than using the brakees. Ti elps increase the manifold vaccuum thus forcing the ECU to cut down the amount of fuel injected into the cylinders thus saving fuel too!
(6) Always keep your tires at the right pressure. Never let it run above or below pressure. Doing so would cause more fuel consumption and a bumpy ride!

Bon Voyage!!!

Vroom Vroom!!

2008-09-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the greatest invention ever by man is needless to say is the wheel. Things really started rolling when cavemen discovered its use and shoved it literally under everything they thought took up a lot of strain. As such they came up with ever ingenious ways to move stuff from place to place. The necessity arose since early men were by and large nomads…they couldn’t just stay put and went in search of greener pastures (necessity IS the mother of all inventions!!). Things became simplified when they started using tamed wild animals to do the dirty job. But animals couldn’t go everywhere. That’s where necessity kicks in again…. Thus the concept of an automobile arose. Literally something that could move on its own without the input of a human or a beast.

Late in the 18th century during the dawn of the industrial revolution, we found ourselves adding steam. Steam power, thanks to James Watt, revolutionized everything. Locomotion mainly. Everyone bid ta-ta to the old horse drawn carriages and wagons (bulls in our own country :)). Steam powered locomotives speeded up travel and mass transport became easier (that was a time when people fainted seeing a locomotive running at 30 kmph believe it or not!!). Then a filthy wealthy baron by the name of Nicole J. Carnot fitted a steam engine to a horse wagon fulfilling his idea of a personal transport system.
This setup as a whole was generally the first automobile. But Carnot, (someone who Mechanical Engineers would never forget!!) knowingly or unknowingly, gave birth to the first “car”.
Then along came the Internal Combustion engine or IC engine as its known. Though rudimentary and crude initially it was a big leap in the industry. A big relief from the huge and cumbersome externally combusting steam engines. I do not know exactly when IC engines came into play but it was well before the discovery of crude oil and its derivatives. The first IC engines used coal gas as fuel. You might know what coal gas is from your high school classes. It had a low calorific value and the engine based on this could only churn out a maximum of 500 RPM from this. It was not until a guy named Alfonse Bear Rochas designed a radically new IC engine after the discovery of petrol in the late 19th century. This very design still exists as the basis of working of all the IC engines today. Then Nikolaus Otto theorized the working of this IC engine and came up with the Otto cycle which you must be aware of and consequently patented. The credit should have gone to Rochas though. Following this Daimler and Benz, with due permissions from Rochas designed and built a motorcycle that had an IC engine.

Charles and Frank Duryeas, both wagon builders, are believed to be the founding fathers of automobiles when the used a Daimler and Benz engine to run a four wheeled wagon that had a rudimentary steering mechanism with a dry friction clutch they developed. But the Duryeas did not possess the knack to market their products and were not successful. Only 12 Duryeas were made and only a few remain and are considered national treasures in the USA. Then a mechanical engineer by the name of Henry Ford designed and built the first true “car” in 1896. This vehicle was named the Quadracycle and aptly so. Ford sold it for a sum and with that he made another one and so on. He found immediate success and a bright future and formed a company with 13 odd other guys and named it the Detroit Auto Company. But unfortunately it did not hold for long due to the Great American Depression during that time. The company was ultimately dissolved. It was not until the year 1903 when Ford came up with the revolutionary Ford Model A, the first mass produced and marketed car in the world.

From then on cars saw growth on an upscale. The invention of diesel engines and the technological advancements in engine design fuelled the appetite of consumers who began looking for faster and more powerful cars. Cars which were a matter of luxury initially soon became something for the household. Introduction of die cast engines and the assembly line production techniques fuelled the fire further. People made a point of owning a car. After all who would not like to own a beast that is powerful and mean at the same time under your control??!!

There have been many remarkable machines since the model A but the most remarkable piece was the one made by Rolls-Royce Corporation, the Silver Ghost in 1906. These beasties were made using the best engineering available at that time and as such they still run smoothly and silently even today!! Another one was the Ford Mustang GT (one of my favorites), which was the first mass produced car to sell a record one million units worldwide. For the record Mustangs are wild American horses (see there is a beast in there too!!). There were many other remarkable machines too some being the most powerful on earth. The most successful car in the 20th century had been the Toyota Corolla which sadly has been marketed in the mid-luxury segment in India when it was an economy class sedan in other countries.

Now coming on to the Indian scenario. Cars were first bought to India by the British during the colonial period. The British East India Company imported Rolls-Royces from England but then gave up the idea since they were never suited for Indian roads! They found them Rolls breaking down at every nook and turn!! That was then they decided to form a company within India itself and manufacture cars using locally available materials. This took off the burden of importing the costly Rolls. Thus formed the Hindustan Motors or HM as we know it. The first baby to ever roll out was the good old Ambassador or Amby as sweet as it sounds! Amby was the perfect Indian car. Tough rugged and lumbering it reminds me of an elephant well conditioned to run in India! The first Amby version was the Landmaster which was the hunchback model. I still remember a Landmaster back at my native place which still runs fine. The first Ambys were government service vehicles and later on private vehicles. After the success of Amby HM rolled out the Contessa Classic which was luxury at that time and was available only to royalty and the ones high up the social ladder.
Ambys, Contessas and Rolls were literally the only four wheelers on Indian roads at that time. The ordinary Indian had no idea whatsoever on them!! For the record Contessa was discontinued in 2002 and in 1998 HM merged with Mitsubishi to market their cars. But Amby stuck!

Post independence India did not see any new cars immediately since Indian markets were chiefly socialist and hence HM had the upper hand. But it all changed with Rajiv Gandhi’s radical change of Indian markets from a socialist one and introduced the concept of globalization. He himself piloted a project Maruti Udyog and with Sanjiv Gandhi’s assistance rolled out a crude prototype of Maruti’s first hunchback the legendary Maruti 800. In a record 13 months the company went ballistic after mass production of the Maruti 800 in 1983. The first car was sold to a Ludhiana based businessman Mr.Harpal Singh and believe it or not 25 years later the car still runs excellently today! Then Maruti came with the M1000 or the Maruti Supreme followed by the Esteem and the Gypsy. But with the entry of foreign markets into the car segments in India Maruti suddenly lost its footing. It was forced into a merger with Suzuki motors of Japan and rebranded Maruti Suzuki. M800 still remains the most successful car in India with over 6 million units being sold till date. For the economy savvy Indian there was nothing better then the M800. Sadly the M1000 did not make it up the list and was soon discontinued. For the record Daewoo Matiz was India’s first car with fuel injection technology. Sadly Daewoo sunk too.

Now cars are being churned out in India faster than ever before summing unto ever increasing pollution levels, accidents and related deaths! Every Indian now wants a car…

IIT Blues!

2008-09-16T05:08:00.001-07:00

April 2006.
Time: 10.30 AM
Venue: MATHIIT
Hall full of IITians wannabes. Everyone digging into a question paper laid down before them. Fumes coming out from every orifice of boys and girls alike. Their aim, to pass the so called “aptitude and logic” test, and secure an admission into supposedly the best JEE and entrance coaching in town, MATHIIT. I along with my best chum Akhil was among the 200 odd who wrote it.

What I am narrating now is one of the biggest mistakes, as I had mentioned in an earlier blog, I made in my life. I still dread the day when I decided to join that God forsaken institution!

The test as we can call it for time being was a decoy. Just to show that they were very choosy about selecting their students. In reality it would be their plan to reap 50 grand per student. What a harvest, the truth being that they took in almost all those who took the test, save two unlucky guys!

What happened to them?? Okay, here’s what. There happens to be this round bluish thingy hanging in front of every classroom in that goddamn place. At first we all mistook it for a fancy looking hardware. But it was not. We found out what it was with a bloody shock. The two guys I mentioned were as it seems, best of buddies, who happened to sit together. As such they started an all time history approved ritual in any exam…copying. Since no one was present in the classroom to invigilate, it all paved way for the two chums to begin one of the most blatant type of copying ever known. Shouting it out loud!! All was going on rampantly when suddenly enter Mr. Ajeet Dubey (will tell about him later!!). Both of them best buddies went suddenly silent going on poring and digging over their question papers as if nothing happened and pretty happy that they did the unbelievable. But unfortunately they were wrong. Dubey came straight for them, shouted something in an alien tongue (Hindi probably, but it didn’t sound like it), took them by their collars and threw them out. We were all aghast. Of course one will be since everything was going smoothly when suddenly out of the blue it all went haywire. It was then Dubey pointed at the blue “thing”.

This thing was actually Dubey’s third eye (literally, coz he’s no God!). A close circuited camera hidden inside a blue orb with displays in Dubey’s office. Hence for the rest of my two years there, it was to be a second Boss to us.

Let me remind you that this piece of hell was expensive. So my parents could not afford to send me off for other tuitions. Wish I did. But since I was a hardcore IITian wannabe, I had no option. The very next day after the test, they rang my mother up, to tell her that I was selected. Well I did not jump with joy when I heard it; I had a sinister feeling that something was terribly wrong! I should have trusted my instincts, but I went ahead. Me along with Akhil hitched our bags up one day and headed off…to disaster.

On our very first day, the whole lot had been divided into two namely A and B. I went in to the latter. We were all seated, the atmosphere in the air was tense, everyone excited. Then came in the same guy who threw out two guys without dignity. Mr. Ajeet Dubey.

The whispering amongst us increased…is he going to teach us??!!

Now let me describe Dubey. I need u guys to bring up your imagination in here coz he is worthy of imagining only! Consider a thin bamboo stick. Stick onto its top a rotten egg. Now cover the rotten egg with lots of hair leaving two hollows. Into these hollows stick in two bloodshot/bloodless eyes depending on the mood. Between the eyes stick a replica of Rudolph the reindeer’s nose, sans the color red. Attach four drumsticks, two on either sides of the stick and two to the bottom. Finally dress up the entire combo like a geek. And voila!! You get Ajeet Dubey!!
(Whew, that was too entertaining!)

Okay I believe it’s enough, but is not done yet!! For the time being let it rest. This particular person, for whom I have no respect whatsoever, made it a point to himself to separate our class into two. He did what a teacher should not. He being a highly biased ass**** distinguished the so called bujis and the lesser ones in the class. I, being just the average guy fell into the lesser ones naturally. As such I lost my quintessential need to be an IITian there itself! Akhil, me and our new good friends Bobby and Jeevan naturally migrated to the notorious back benches, not that we were safe there from second Boss, but at least we could be as far away from them as possible! Then there was this character who goes by the name of Sapna. She was supposedly the all-in-all of that insti and lorded over us as if we had nothing else in this world to care about!!

The saddest part was that Dubey handled both physics and math for us which meant we had to bear up with him for more than half the time we spent there (once again by we I mean the lessers.). Thankfully chemistry was handled by Mr.Prakash Ojha. His appearance would be that of a Bihari farmer who got promoted as Bill Gates overnight. Save his appearance he was someone unlike Dubey. This respectable guy had a deep sound like a bassoon on low pitch! He made no bias amongst us and treated the bujis and the lesser the same. He was the only person for whom I had a tad of respect.

Now MATHIIT had something that no other coaching centers in Kerala had. It was called virtual classrooms. As the name suggests the classrooms were virtual. We had no one to teach us physically but Mr. Dubey himself would appear on TV. Yes, TV. He would record a topic on DVD from his office and they would play the DVD in class.
Once again even though there was no one in class Lord Third Eye looked down upon us!
But then it was as if everyone in class was interested in talking. To tell you guys the truth no one except the lessers bothered to talk. Or at least take the risk of doing so. The bujis there looked down upon us as vermin and did not bother to help us out with the stuff we did not understand. The majority of them included them Loyolites and Santhomites. Not that all Loyolites and Santhomites were creeps but I felt all alien whenever I was anywhere near them! I would like to name a few of them here but I chose not to for specific reasons. Even though they were bujis who could literally solve any problem in any book at any given point in time they looked like idiots on the outside…there was this poor bloke who was a so called buji but when you get a chance to take a good look at his face he looked and did things like a real clown! After noticing all their common average behavior I could not help but quote:

“All theoretical bujis are practical fools!”

Again this doesn’t apply to all bujis. It’s a collective feature! Period.
I seriously don’t have anything on those guys but if they did show a little sympathy on us lesser it would have gone a long way and made a different story all together. As per the saying…the helping hand goes a long way!!
Apart from the usual lecturers some geekier “guest lecturers” used to drop in. They were no better too. Some of them were supposedly IITian too. God knows. But we had our brains addled enough to make the Mickey out of us…like as if we give a damn.
I still do not remember the last day I went there but I remember Bobby crying out “good riddance!!” .
Just for the record I passed Physics and Chemistry in the JEE. It was math that screwed me (Thanks Dubey!), and I could not come anywhere near the cutoff.
But in spite all after reading Chetan Bhagat’s much hyped and famed “Five Point Someone” I thought I would be way better off by not being an IITian. As he said, what have them goddamn IITians given for the country?? Most of them try to get into one just to get into some MNC and start spinning some money! Just think for yourself how many IITians are there working for the PWD, or the water department or the ISRO or something where the welfare of the country and its people? None in my belief or none that I know of.

You might be thinking that I am acting the fox who said the grapes were sour just because he could not reach them. But sometimes you have to vent your feelings naa??!!

I Am The Way I Am Supposed To Be!

2008-08-31T01:37:00.000-07:00

Though this is not tagged, I think it would be a nice way to fill the about me column in Orkut!! PS: whoever thought this up, do not sue me for copyrights! I’m already broke!

I am: a Mechanical Engineer in the making and hopefully a good human being!
I think: Therefore I blog. Or rather, Cogito, Ergo blog! ;-) (With due regards to Abhi chettan and Harishanker!)
I know: a lot about cars and anything that’s got wheels. Plus a tad bit of Russian too!
I want: a nice no-risk no-frills future for me and everyone!
I have: absolutely no girlfriends to date!!! :(
I wish: I had a Maybach Exelero and I was a good brother!
I hate: those creeps who think they are GAWD and act like they have they have everything on their heads (esp. the girls!!)
I miss: my Delta English School friends real bad!! I pray to b with them each day!
I fear: death. That’s the only thing that sends the shivers down me spine.
I hear: everything that comes into my bloody ears (gossips included!), and music from my Altec Lansing VS3251 5.1 system which Mr. Audio-Know-It-All Goofy says is worthless!! :(
I smell: not bad to myself but hopefully not sick to the others!
I crave: to get outta me bloody face and look like George Clooney!
I search: like everyone does, for happiness. You don’t have anything better in life do you???!
I wonder: how automatic transmissions really work and why girls are a jumble of emotions! ;)
I regret: nothing! To be frank I had no regrets in ma life!
I love: my Mom’s cooking and my good old mobile!
I ache: when I think about Dubai! Man it was heaven, I say again!
I was not: always like this. There used to be times when I was a real silent mind-your-own-business geek!
I am not: a show-off or a spook!
I cry: not often. The last time I cried was like in the 8th grade! Then again boys don’t cry! !;)
I believe: I have everyone in this world to care for me!
I dance: when I am really fired up and excited!!
I sing: whenever I feel like!! I don’t give a damn about my sound wen I feel like singing….so beware!! :p
I read: anything that’s legible and gets my attention!! :D
I don’t always: go on blabbering! I am a real angel at times!
I fight: rarely. But yeah I get the feeling to beat the crap out of people whenever I am annoyed, occasionally!
I write: only for the exams and class lectures. The rest of the time I have my keyboard!
I win: well, hmmm…..never mind!
I lose: my hard earned money real quick! Damn it!
I never: show off before others. I try hard not to.
I always: sleep and listen to music! Nothing better to do!
I confuse: the person who corrects my egjam papers…my handwriting, which though is good, is illegible!
I listen: to music, music and more music…and occasionally to the lecturer at college for the sake of my well being! ;)
I can usually be found: in my room playing FARCRY, Assassins Creed, AOE 3, Just Cause, NFS MW….duh the list goes on!
I am scared: of losing my parents! Just never want to part with my Mom ever!
I need: a good hairstyle, some new clothes and an attitude!
I am happy: when everything good happens.
I imagine: that one day I will be sitting in the same seat Bill Gates once sat!!

Screw Cricket!!

2008-08-27T21:48:00.001-07:00

Yeah I mean it!
61 years of Indian independence and yet that’s the only thing we know to play. It would take humungous coaxing on anyone’s part to accept the fact that hockey and not cricket is our national game. Given team India’s pathetic performance on this years Olympics Qualifiers and the subsequent dismissal from the games, I still don’t understand why some guys brag about cricket even after.
There used to be a time when hockey celebrated its golden era…coz post-independence and some time before that India never used to get dismissed from the qualifiers. Here’s a look at the statistics:

1928 Amsterdam- Gold
1932 Los Angeles- Gold
1936 Berlin- Gold
1948 London- Gold
1952 Helsinki- Gold
1956 Melbourne- Gold
1960 Durban- Bronze
1964 Tokyo- Gold
1968 ?- Silver
1972,1976- Bronze
1980 Moscow- Gold
1984 to this day…….NoThInG!

See?? Hockey has been on the decline since Dhanraj Pillai and his boys scooped the gold in Moscow. Now who is to blame?? Us fanatic Indians who shucked hockey for cricket. I do not know when the cataclysmic transfer occurred but it affected hockey real badly. Apart from the loss of spectators, an equally numbing withdrawal of sponsorship and funds made hockey nearly obsolete. Unless it comes in the news that some Indian team made it to the finals or some junior team won something, no Indian lends an eye or an ear to hockey.

Now coming to cricket, the game we all carry on our heads claiming to be one hell of a roller coaster ride, are we any better at it??
Are we the best cricketing team in the world?! My arse!
How many times have India won a cricketing World Cup?? Once? That’s a lot eh? Should keep our mouths shut for a while…after all bhai we have won the Cup naah any way!
We keep our eyes and ears reserved for a game in which 99% of us are spectators and would love to watch Dhoni flicking and tossing his hair or Sreeshant pulling off a monkey stunt! A whole load of dung. I on my part never really enjoyed cricket nor have I spent time watching that sport to be frank.
However Beijing 2008 proved to be a good year to Indian sports. After India’s first ever individual gold (hats off to Bindra for that!), and the subsequent boxing and wrestling bronzes I was really proud of the Indian contingent after all this time they did really create history. And my special congrats to Akhil Kumar too for his brilliant show. If only did the investment put into cricket be used somehow to fund our Olympians I have a great feeling that India would at least finish top-10! China this time has set a big example for India to learn stating impossible is nothing! The way those Chinese Olympians trained prior to the Olympics itself is awe inspiring!! And of course China doesn’t have cricket to bother, no wonder they finished off this Olympics with a big haul!

We Don't Know a S**t About Things!!

2008-08-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Computers, cars, driving, and music. These are the only passions I have in my life. Many of you folks might know me as someone who acts as a middle-man selling personal systems and doing the responsibility of maintaining and repairing them. I do manage somehow to keep my wallet happy with my extra “profession”! There have been bad times though. Real bad times! I just don’t want to go into the facts. Then there is music. Now there is not a single person in this world who is not addicted to some kind of music or the other. If such a guy does exist, I would not call him human!

Now let me talk about something else. Cars. From the time I could interpret the complexities of this world, there was this one particular beast of a machine that always had a special place in my heart. Slick, stylish, sophisticated and powerful they create a sense of aura. This invisible bond is primarily what made me pursue a career in engineering. So I made a point to myself to learn and understand every aspect in the working of an automobile. I had this knack to just look at a machine and understand its basic underlying working principle. So I hoped that my engineering training will give me all that I needed to know about automobiles. But instead I got a big disappointment.

The students of the Department of Mechanical engineering take pride in calling themselves Royal Mexx and go on showing their dominance everywhere. But to tell the truth, let’s brace it, we do not know a crap about what’s happening out there in the real world. This is because I bore testimony to one incident that dented my pride as a Mexxian. But the very incident that did create that dent proved to be one hell of a ride!

It was during the semester break of the second year of my college I got a chance to become a trainee mechanic at Indus Motors’ workshop at Kumarapuram. My joy knew no bounds coz I was waiting for this moment my entire life! I was taken to the works manager Mr. Bijulal there. He in turn introduced me to his assistant Mr. Suresh. Suresh took one long look at me and said,” Okay, to begin with you won’t be getting any pay in the first place. You have to report to work on time. You will be assigned to a mechanic here who will instruct you and you will help him out and do what he says.”
Okay done I will do whatever he says…period.
But it was what happened next blew my pride ridden hat off my head. I’d rather put it down as a conversation.

Suresh Sir: You are an engineering student right?! Let’s begin with a small interview.
Me: (Shit! Inter-whaat??!!) Gulp. Ok.
SS: Okay first up what’s the grade of engine oil usually used in automotive engines?
Me: 40W
SS: Ok. What’s the ideal spacing for a spark plug electrode?
Me: .9 to 1 mm.
SS: Ok. What are the materials usually used to make brake pads?
Me: Asbestos?
SS: Sure?
Me: Think so.
SS: Ok. There is no need to adjust the clutch for a hydraulically actuated clutch. True or false?
Me: Errrmmmm….
SS: Never mind. What are crumple zones?
Me: (why the hell are they talking about crumple zones when Maruti doesn’t have them??) Well they are actually accident shock absorbing areas in the car frame that absorb energy of impact.
SS: Finally one last question. What’s the type of pump used to circulate engine oil inside the engine?
Me: Gear pumps.

Now what’s wrong with you?? How did your pride fly away??

Wait the fun begins now.
After the so called interview I was assigned to one of the best mechanics in town. His name was Baiju and he has a legacy of being born in a workshop! Out of respect I called him Aasaan (instructor). He asked my details and then we began.

He was working on a Swift when suddenly he asked me to fetch a pair of monkey pliers from the tool box.
Monkey pliers??! You must be joking!!
I stood there unmoving. The reason was obvious. I didn’t know what monkey pliers were!!! My Aasan looked at me ridiculously giving me the Are you going to obey or what look.

Never once had my engineering taught me what monkey pliers were. I looked at him straight in the eye and told him I didn’t know what they were feeling my pride go down the gutters. He didn’t laugh. Instead he fumed and took me to that gargantuan tool box and taught me the names of all the 118 tools in it. The story spread and I was ridiculed by the other trainees there! I did not know the names of the basic tools involved! But after that, things normalized out and I made friends with a lot of guys there…all the guys there in fact! The stuff was going on smoothly when one day when I was changing the brake fluid of a Wagon-R when the engine room supervisor Mr. Unnikrishnan came up to me and waved a weird curvy thing at my face and asked me what it was. Once again I stood there motionless and mouth wide open! He too gave the same look my Aasan gave me and said with a decibel level that would put Metallica to shame,” It’s a turbocharger dumbass!” Pride down the gutters again! How the hell could I not recognize something I really knew in theory about??!!

Everyone around me was all in giggles! God not again!!
But as usual things got back to normal. There have been several small occasions that are not worth mentioning but equally embarrassing. The time I spent there really made me appreciate the humble side of life. But the most wonderful thing was that I made really good friends who still keep in touch with me and are worth mentioning here. Service advisor Afsal, trainee Koshy, trainee Arun, Mechanic Saajan chettan, Mechanic Abhilash C.P., supervisor Unni chettan, and the last but not least my beloved guru Baiju chettan!

I was not alone in the ignorance part coz one day I took my classmate Vishnu Gopinath to the workshop and by his bad a** luck got interrogated by Unni chettan. You should have seen the look in Vishnu’s face with eyes and mouth wide open!!

I strongly feel that its time the Government of Kerala take a decision on turning the syllabus and conduct of the University of Kerala and take up a full scale revamp of the engineering curriculum.
Else folks I feel that we engineering students are going to learn it the hard way like I did!

Experience is a good but bitter teacher!

My Journey III

2008-08-27T01:38:00.000-07:00

Lunch recess at Arya. Everyone was walking about here and there. I was standing in a corner of the portico leading to our class when something glinted. I had barely time to register that flash when I started looking for the source of the glint. It was then I saw her, my first crush! (Due to certain difficulties I won’t reveal her name to you guys!)
The glint came from her watch…. My brain started an analysis of the Venusian. She was in the class opposite mine and God all this time I hadn’t noticed!! Everything about her impressed me (don’t know if I have the right to say that!!) …. Her walk her anatomy her charming pretty round face and all! Apollo had struck me with his arrow! I was tempted to go over and talk but I put a full stop to it there…!

Now that was something I regret to this day! Each an every day after that I hung about in the corridors and in the porticos just to get a glimpse of her and hopefully talk to her something sensible. But every time I come to the verge of going over I felt all my confidence and energy draining out….don’t know why!! This practice continued till the end of school and the board exams….
It was on the last day of the boards when I got a big shock! Me with few of ma chums was celebrating the board ends when suddenly I saw her…with another guy…!
Jealousy welled up in me and I asked one of the best of ma buddies in her class about it when he told that they had something in between and was seeing each other.

The whole world came crashing down around me… I just could not believe it. Yeah it was all my fault, but…..
I like usual never did mind anything about her again. I just forgot her soon after the exams and walked again as if nothing had happened!
But it hurt me any way and the side effect was that till this day I have never been able to think of another girl in a way I thought of her! Maybe time will help me forget that hopefully!!

My Journey II

2008-08-27T00:46:00.000-07:00

At about 12.30 PM IST, the steward aboard the Air India announced that we would be landing in Trivandrum shortly.
“There you go!!” I thought and looked out the elliptical window of the bird. What I saw jolted me. The last of Dubai I saw from the air was a vast yellowish desert riddled with buildings which seemed alien. But the scene I saw would have made me a poet at that instant! A huge green carpet, vast as far as I could see…being kissed by the deep blue of the Arabian Sea. A breath taking panorama. Guys if you wanna see the real beauty of Kerala go up in the air and look down!!

“Wow! You got to be kidding me!” I thought. The bird came down smoothly and landed on the runway of the Trivandrum International Airport. The doors opened. I got out and took my first breath of Malayalee air (to be frank it was salty, heheh!!). After emigration clearance and stuff I got out of the airport and looked around…” Gawd it’s beautiful!!”

Now guys there will be a void in the years I spent afterwards at M.G.M. Model School, Varkala…the 9th and 10th grades. I just don’t want to go through those times. It was bad and hateful for me anyway so we would just shuck it!!

Then came 2004. After completion of my 10th grade I sought admission elsewhere. Somebody suggested Arya Central School… I along with my best chum Akhil V.S. applied and one fine day we got news that we both made it! Now most Aryans might call that place hell, jail and all but things were different for me because of one special reason! Will tell you what!
Mom, me and bro moved into Trivandrum and we settled here from then on. Arya proved to be a big refreshing break because a lot of things there reminded me of my days in Dubai. But then came the biggest mistake I made in my life.
Mathiit. Most engineers wannabes might have heard of that bloody place. They supposedly give you the best IIT-JEE and entrance coaching in the city. But folks they don’t. the aftermath of joining that piece of hell was that I bust 50 grand of my parents money for nothing….! Sigh forget it.

2006. 12th grade a big turning point in the life of any typical Indian student….coz they say it decides your future!! Everyone running helter skelter here and there trying to get ahead on something just to bust two biggest tests of them all…the Boards and the entrances! I like everyone burnt my a** at Mathiit doing just the same.
That was when on one fine afternoon, I saw her….

My Journey....

2008-08-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Folks!

As this is my first blog I would all but like to begin with my journey through the last 20 years of my life. Yes right from the time of my birth. Pardon if I sound primitive but my brain couldn’t come up with anything better!!

It all began on the 28^th of February 1989 at 11.45 PM IST at the Sivagiri Mission Hospital, Varkala…well to be exact 11.47 PM. You guys might be wondering what happened in those two minutes in between…right?! Let me explain. My dear Mother whom I value above everything on this Planet bought me into this vortex called World at 11.45 PM sharp. But guys the journey I mentioned above would have ended right there… yes get ready to brace it….! I was still born…yes guys still born or to make it sound more interesting “dead at birth”! My dear Mother prayed to all the 33 crores of Gods Hinduism knew and for two minutes the doctors tried every trick in the book to get me breathing. Finally it was at 11.47 PM I somehow took my first breath and lo! The persona I would like to call ME was born. Literally! The doctors too finally started breathing from that moment on. Poor guys! See I was a trouble maker right from the time of my birth!

(“Aaaargghhh! I’d hope he had died!”)

Thus began my life. Entirely eventful….and at times boring! Mom says I was a big headache to everyone right from time immemorial! And still am! Heheh! I did start to talk when I was barely a year old and started to learn from then on. By the time I was two years old, Mom, me and my newborn brother moved to Dubai with my Dad who works there. Dubai was heaven folks. Those of you, who haven’t seen Dubai, please do! Pardon me for being arrogant but our own Trivandrum is, let’s face it, C.R.A.P.!

By the time I was 3 years old mom taught me all the alphabets in English and the numerals too not to forget, the rhymes too, so that when I went in seek of admission to the L.K.G. at Delta English School in Dubai the Principal Mrs. Anita D’Cruz said thus,” Since he knows all the alphabets, numerals and rhymes it’s better he go to straight to the U.K.G. rather than waste time in the L.K.G.!! I strongly suggest so!” It was then my parents decided to enroll me into the U.K.G.! So folks believe it or not, I have never sat in the L.K.G. not even for a day in my life! That will explain to you guys the fact that I am a year younger than most of my batch mates be it at school or in college!

Delta English School was one of the biggest and the best that happened to me. All from my way to the 8^th grade it was really a home away from home for me. There has not been a single day that wasn’t good for me there (save two. Once I nearly injured my best friend there and the other being the day when I kissed a girl in my class! There was a big hue and cry but never mind!!). What DES gave me was tons of happiness and an equal number of friends. I still miss those days terribly and my friends there to an equal magnitude. My best chums included Ajay Barboza, Renz Carlo Alungal, Jithin Jolly, Jaron Jacob, Ahmed Abdul Khader, Sheldon Gill, Malcolm Perriera, Mohammed Ibrahim, Anson Korah, Aby Abraham, Vani, Ruta, Deboshree, Vinita….man the list goes on. If any one out there has got info on the above mentioned guys would be given a cash reward of Rs.0000!:PJ

Yea folks I miss them a lot…real badly.

It was on my completion of the 8^th grade I was given a rude shock by my Mom. One super fine morning I was told that we would be leaving Dubai and I would be going to join a new school in Kerala. Guys it hurt me a lot when I heard that. But I had no option.

I followed….on the 21^st of January 2001, I boarded an Air India Dubai-Trivandrum direct flight. When the bird took off from Dubai, I looked back once with a great sense off loss…the type of pain u get when you lose someone beloved…

But I never did really look back again…..!