Vegam (...the speed...)

10 Sep. 2007 (Monday):

Its 8.50 pm already…. still goofing around in the office... Bit hectic when your team mate is not around and you have to manage a lot…. I gotto work in different country’s time zone to answer their urgent queries on the existing issues…. I need to go home soon today for more than a million reasons…

Very few are in the floor… ‘Dude !!! wazzup man too much workaaa’… my mate queried in a puzzled voice… ‘Ya buddy, gotto sort our few high prio. Issues’ … almost done.. will sneak away spotless in 4 mins 33 secs… I anserd in my usual comical tone… All done.. I packed up my stuffs… took my helmet and bike key from the draw… I normally don’t use my bike for home-office-home travel but at times I need to take it if Its emergency or if I forget to book my cab…

Rushed to the lift… bloody hell all are in basement… gotto wait more than 30 secs for the doors to open… reached basement and keyd in… am in real hurry man gotto reach home soon… (reason ellaaam solla mudiyaathu) ;)

Ususally the button start of bike wudnt work if the bike is not used for more than 3 days… I was bit lucky, it started on the first click … I kissed my thumb… raised my accelerator to show up therz a cheetah gearing up to freak out… (chumma vetti scene thaan) I slowly moved out of the office campus adhering the speed norms that I gotto follow inside… the macho Honda unicorn loaded with double silencer and changed alloy wheels looked best with the different shades of black…the 2 piece mini handle bar is always a comfort for cut & go in the traffic…



Normally the traffic is relatively less at this time (9.10 pm man… I need to go soon) my office is around 15 kms from home… I am not an expert rider of the bike … still I love to ride fast to enjoy the thrill of it… today the need of the hour triggerd the racer in me to get cracking…. Good to see the less traffic as anticipated…. I reached the kundalahalli signal in 4 mins odd… din bothered about the vehicles at back.. I kept goin with my flash cuts and non indicated turns… ther was this Yamaha 135 cc guy crossed me like a flash…. ‘thaz it Aravindh, take the fun on yr hands… go kick his a**’… I decided myself to go race with him…. I prayed for his way to be same as mine… reached towards marathalli bridge and reached in 40 secs …. Full traffic… but managed to dodge the traffic to keep the momentum up and steady…. But the Yamaha counterpart is too good… his immense pick up is matchless with my lorry type bike…. I still roared out in anger…. I some how able to manage 2 or 3 yards behind him…

Ther was the red signal and am forced wait for a minute or so… this chap went well ahead getting through with those tiny gaps he got…. He was stuck at one point and forced to wait for green coloured relief….. the light went green and I cant stop laughing as he actually thought the car before him will leave after the green signal but the fact is that no one was in the car and the carz parked out ther…. I used this and managed to over take him…. I reached the outer ring road (orbital high way) and picked up my speed around 100 and kept steady… I was too carefull about the humps and potholes…. Flippin hell !!! ther was another pulsar who is racing parallely with me… I also heard the Yamaha sound few yards at my back…. Oh man I love this…. 2 counterparts …. Relatively clean road with around 10 kms stretch…. what more you need???

I din give up... I kept going steady... but the pulsar is a bloody strong machine …. Only way I cud take over is ther should be some traffic and I should prove good enough to dodge the traffic and get away faster than the pulsar man…. I got the traffic block as I expected near the intel company…. I totally went to the left end of the road and sneaked away through the bus stop ther… ppl cursed us like hell but Its part of the game…. As I prayed the pulsar wanted to use the conventional rule of over taking through on my right but therz a big truck out ther coughing up smoke and put all his rising attitude to a complete jeopardy…. I was happy, I some how got out of the traffic block and shocked to see this Yamaha idiot already ahead of me….. ayoo ayoo… in long stretch I cant take over the pulsar, in the traffic block Yamaha jus squeezes through effortlessly…. I din lose the hope I kept rising up and managed to over take the Yamaha but reached the sarjapur junction… its huge signal…. And as I guessed this Yamaha squeezed thro to rest in front…. I cant go past after a while as the gap wasn’t big enough…..

‘Macha do something da… don let him get away…’ jus 2 kms more for my area… I took the service lane and decided to break the signal and go.. (isn’t that cheating?? Ok keep reading) by the time I reached the end of the road thro service lane… the signal turned green and i aptly went to the same place wer this Yamaha guy was ther… I also noticed the pulsar guy took left turn from the service lane and disappeared… I was happy that I am atleast 2nd rank as of now….

Alright… moving on…. I cant match the pickup of the Yamaha but with in 30 secs I managed to catch him but traffic was bit heavier and I cant dodge as like him…. He kept his position steady in front… and I followed him closely…. Ther was only 0.2 kms left to take left turn.. I thought hez gonna go straight but I sensed that even hez gonna take left with his gesture…. I noticed the swift car going before put the left indicator and switched off (means he wants to take left but the road is still 200 mts away so he might have realized that late and switched off the indicator) … I thought I read the car driver’s mind well… I prayed my assumption to be right…so I took over the car on the right side of the car… the Yamaha sensed am speeding up and he wanted to over take me over the left side of the car… but as I guessed the car sharply took a left deviation and the Yamaha gave a gentle kiss on the swift’s bumper with his front tyres… he got fumbled a bit and applied good break to avoid any disaster… I din bothered and did no mistake in taking a gracefull turn in a good speed…. The final stretch of 0.3 kms…I raised my bike full speed… I exactly know wer is the next hump as am used to this area… I heard the roaring Yamaha sound at my back but am confident he cant touch me… I gave a good steady break near the hump…. And took left turn to my house… and stopped to see waz the status of the rank 2 racer of the day… he crossed the hump with around 50 kmph… but he din bother and he was surprised that I took left…. Any way the race ended after I took left…. I checked the time and it 9.25 pm… gosh !!! I reached in 15 mins man… this is a record (time for myself) I guess… after 2 hours I realized ive been such a stupid to risk my life for the sake of thrill and some manageable reason to reach soon….i said to myself

‘DON’T EVER DO THIS AGAIN’ ... however its an experience :)

Auto or Arrrrrroganto !!!!

After a very long time I guess… This time I bring up a social issue where I myself affected terribly…..

It was a long weekend traveling places…. I reached Bangalore, Candonment railway station on Friday night I prefer getting down in Cand. Rather majestic as I can save 30 mins and also 3 or 4 kms less than it takes from majestic… I also hoped to get a prepaid auto and reach home at nominal rate… The time was only 8.50 pm… I was very much anticipating a quick auto and go home to see the 5th ODI between India and England… The first innings was smashing were India scored 324 runs and England chasing this in a brisk pace… I kno its gonna be an intrstng show… I was desperate to reach home early….

I rushed out of the station…. And ran towards the prepaid auto counter and startled to see a considerably long Queue already ther inspite of my immense speed to reach the spot… I still din bothered as it will be more 10 mins (thaz wat I guessed)…. I was standing for around 10 mins and the queue is almost like stack… (means no opening in the other end means no autos at all)….i got pissed off and the I realized that ther are no autos in that auto path next to the counter…. I was totally angry and hope less…. I dunno wat to do… an auto driver approached and askd..’Sir, Auto??’…I was like ‘Wer the hell u come from…’ I thought in my mind… but my need of the hour is an auto and I told ‘HSR 1 sector’… he told in a commanding tone, ‘Ok Sir, come… 190 Rs. Sir’…. Wat the….. ‘You cheeky B*d’ my train ticket from Chennai to Bangalore is just 175 and you want me to give 190 to cross 10 or 12 kms’ ... i thought of telling but i stayd humble and said, ‘Sir, its only 100 rs. If I take prepaid ticket and may be as I gotto go quick I can give 130 rs.’..he gave a dirty look and went away with out even bothering to say ‘No’.

Time passed and no movement in the Q… Curiosity already started killing this cat… ahhhh.. I made my wife to stand in the Q to go out and search for an outside auto who can take me at the affordable rate…. I looked at the Q and shocked as I cannot spot the end…. Also I started noticing ppl started to detach jus like how I did… then I looked around and was completely shocked…. Therz a bloody load of autos standing away from the path near to the counter to catch the customers for double charge…. I quickly clicked the snaps….. I tried askng one or 2 autos for my area but no one ready to come at even 1.5 charge…. Such a shame….

I can even see police standing out ther but not at all bothered about such an embarrassing scene… this is completely atrocious… I dunno who is the responsible one for all this mess but the Bangalore govt., instead spending money on making the citi wi-fi and provide facilities for middle and high class people, can hire more cops, more officers, more schemes to set this auto problems and serve all class of people… I heard many ppl (specially old ones) cursing the govt. and auto walas for this devastating scene… deftly auto is not affordably for any middle class or low class at this rate… sema peelings…. I already missing my match and this is rubbing salt on the wound….

Atlast one person agreed for 160 rs. As if he did a big favor for me…. We got in to the auto…. Jus about to start… therz his friend came running ‘Hey dude, wer are u going ?’….’HSR layout’ he anserd in a hurry…’Take that chap with you..even hez going ther’…thaz it I cant control any more…I shouted at them infact started screaming…. He was completely shocked…’Ok, take him with you but I will pay only half the amount’… he got angry as if I did some injustice…. ‘Then can you also share the fine if police catch us for overloading the auto?’ he asked like a genuine human being…. ‘F**k you a*s h**e… then forget all and just drive with out taking in anyone…did I asked u to call some one’… he said ‘ok ok ok boss’ and started driving and I took a snap of him as well…..


He was bloody rash and fulla anger… I looked for his name and details which will normally be sticked some wer in the auto but I cant spot it…..i got down few yards before my home…noted his auto number infront of him… gave the money… he switched on his loud music and went away….

Bangalore once known for generous auto drivers as they always put meters and don’t take anything extra… but nowadays they started to exploit the peoples need specially in the railway stations and other key spots… am gonna post this as a complaint to the govt. and keep my fingers crossed….. !!!