The weekend trip

Many a times, the most unforgettable events are set into motion in a moments notice. Many a times, a certain group of people happen to be around each other in which ones decision is immediately taken as the groups decision. Such was the one taken on friday evening @ 4.45PM.

It all looked like a very normal weekend trip home coming up on friday... all of us (Me, Arun, Pra, Shibin, Abe) planned to leave office @ 3.30PM to catch the train @ 6.50PM. Just as Praveen and myself were about to leave from office, Shibin calls up to say that there's been a HUGE mix up and that the train is at 5.15PM! This meant an emergency evac procedure to be executed by latest 4.30PM. With the cloud of impossibility looming over our heads.... we packed up all what we could, in a haste, and took the auto to the railway station. By mid way - it was clear - with the prevailing traffic conditions - it would be impossible to reach there.

[David Guetta - Love don't let me go]

Then came that one line from one of us - I don't recollect who ('Who' doesn't matter) - "Ok, if we miss the train, we head home on our bikes!". It was like everything was planned - all agreed!!!
So 'hoping' to get the train we reached the station...only to see the train just leaving the station. So close yet so far. All of us looked at each other for a moment and with a wicked grin we said - bike time! We headed back home, and meanwhile tried cancelling our tickets in hope of getting back some money. (we got 50% returned...).

The plans were set - by then - Abe's friend - Narasimha (we call him Simba) also agreed to join us. The proposed start time was 7.30PM so that we could cover max distance before it was too dark... but it all started (after dinner, heading to E-City to pick up Abe's bike papers.. etc etc...) only by 10PM.

[Enigma - Eppur Si Muove]
Then it was a like the best experience ever just set into motion - one that lasted 10 hours straight. Gruelling, but exciting. Amazing. We started off with a blast - beautiful Hosur highway lent its tarmac to us - we owned it. The pulsar's(my 150, Simba's 180 [stunning acceleration on this one!], and Abe's mighty 200) cause came full circle as each of these mean machines (for Indian conditions) screamed past the 10k RPM darting down the excellent blacktop @ over 110KMPH. Stable, damn stable, even my 150, is!.

[Moby - Porcelain]
We took our 1st break after around 80kms of rpm redlining. ( :) ). I kept to riding my bike even when Arun n Simba switched rider-pillion positions. The road got a bit tricky as it was just a 2 lane highway to hell from there on. Our average speeds dropped to 60 for the next 80kms or so.

The pace picked up once we were around 80kms away from Salem. In between which Abe also switched riding seats with Shibin. I still continued to ride the 150CC hellhound ;). Now the total distance covered was around 180kms. Still nearly 320 to go...

The roads became a lot better again on route from Salem to Coimbatore.... speeds staying in the 80kmph region. Beautiful roads, I say!

[Quake Video-Mercurial - playing it for the tracks ;) ]
We were riding at a pace better than even the normal volvo buses that run at that time. Staying around half hour ahead of their time. >:).
We reached the by-pass to palghat so that we can avoid getting into Coimbatore.
Man, that was like the most deserted road i've ever seen and also one of the best maintained. It was deserted probably cuz it was about 4AM in the morning. There was heavy fog and when there was a vehicle coming from the other side of an incline - it produced this haunting shadows into the fog... looked damn cool...
we stopped for a snack when we around 325kms into the journey. I stopped biking for a while as my eyes looked bloodshot - my helmet doesn't have a visor :D - so all the dust from riding at such speeds doesn't really help... so for the 1st time in the trip - I gave my bike to Shibin and I hopped on as the pillion. He did a damn good job of riding staying clear off the gutters.

We reached Palghat-Trichur route at around 6AM. The route was like as if roads were built around the gutters - or worse - there were NO roads! That section - around 5kms - took nearly 1 hour with horrible early morning private bus traffic and terrible road conditions.
From there on - it was a pretty smooth ride till Trichur by-pass. We reached this point at around 7.15AM. We had a small break to stretch ourselves. From there - I took over again - but I was only about 30kms into the stint - I could feel my eyes giving away - Visibility and judgement couldn't go hand in hand as my eyes were all red from the dust allergy caused by all the biking I had done earlier. Shibin took over again. By then it was nearly 8.15AM. Necessity is the mother of inve... err - hi-speed biking, I guess - All the 3 bikes ripped through the angamaly-aluva-kalamassery-airport-seaport road-kakkanad section in under half hour and we were at Shibin's place at 8.45AM.

Now was the time when we all told our parents that we made the trip on the bikes! ;)
We got the usual dose of advice. But I guess - whatever-howmuch ever sense they make - this is one trip we learnt from! A superb experience. Now when ever I close my eyes - all I see is me overtaking some bus through the narrow highway, my bike's RPM reading 9 * 1000 RPM and the speed near to 85kmph and all I can speak about is the trip! Its the same for all 6 of us!

Btw, one key learning - your @$$ hurts like hell after sitting for a while on the bike - it's worse if you are the pillion! :D

Here are a few pics:

The start - the riders of the storm:
(Pra clicked the pic and Simba hadn't reached.)

The hounds of hell:
Thats Simba's 180, my 150, Abe's 200.

Now this was an ABSO-FRIGGING-LUTELY amazing trip!
Cheers to the 6 of us! \m/!
peace!
n3o.

BrEAk LigHts

13th August 2k7.
[Microsoft-Windows Welcome music] (Search in system folder for title.wma)

Its almost 0000hrs. I had a bad day and it was due to a few reasons. First of them was the scheduled test. I was SO, SO, SO hoping that I'll be able to wind up my training with this one test. But, no, it wont. Now we have to complete some more extra stuff, take one exam on friday and ONE more the next week. Goodness... I feel like I am still in that old school/college level clearing exams... aaggghhhh!

Anyways... back to the topic... before I continue typing it out (Writer's block not helping....), let me add some music..
---xx---
Blogging came to a halt after a weird problem with the net connection. Resuming the same, hope i get to complete this. Changing the title of the blog.

[Creed - One Last Breath]
Please come now I think I’m falling I’m holding on to all I think is safe It seems I found the road to nowhere And I’m trying to escape I yelled back when I heard thunder But I’m down to one last breath And with it let me say Let me say Hold me now I’m six feet from the edge and I’m thinking That maybe six feet Ain’t so far down That is my condition now. Lets go back on what all has happened. Yesterday, on my way to my friend's place - one autorikshaw fellow and Maruti Zen driver added an exclamation mark to all thats gone wrong. I dunno if more '!'s will be added on.

[Dirty Vegas -Ghosts]

Let me explain the scene. The time is around 7.15PM (1915hrs). I am riding my bike at around 35-40 (MAX) - I was going slow esp cuz I've been having a bad otherwise didn't want to invite trouble by creating an accident or something. So, I am almost at my friends place - its the main road and i have to take a right on it. Its not a junction - so I've to come to a halt on the main road - wait for the opposite side traffic to clear out so that I can cross into the small by-lane.

[Lisa Gerrad - GladiatorTheme]

I am around 100 meters from there - I have this maruti zen in front of me (The brake lights on it were not working), and I go past an autorikshaw. I move towards the centre line, put the right indicator and at that instant - the zen fellow brakes - without any indication what so ever. I am used to doing late braking myself, but this time the distance was too short and there was no indication whatsoever - coming to a dead stop in the middle of the road is not what u expect. I jam d discs and the rear brakes hard and I come to a stop, just kissing the zen in front. But in the NEXT second - this autorick fellow - supposedly had accelerated after i had crossed him - his auto didnt stand a chance to brake that quick - rammed straight into my bikes brake light console, smashing the beautiful LED light array and the carbon fibre surrounding it. AGGGRRHH!

[Gregorian Version - U2 -With or Without You]

I have never damaged my bike and I drive quick, but now - after riding slow, taking precautions, I get my bike into this condition. GOODNESS! After a brief 'talk' with the auto fellow - the gathered ppl were, surprisingly, on my side on this. Even a few auto drivers at the auto stand rite next to where this happened supported my case. But then - how much can a auto driver pay me? and that poor fools auto's front right was totally dented inwards. I have no idea how my bike's carbon fibre to that to the auto. Probably it was that sharp edge creating an impluse reaction on the auto's body. So I went left from there, dragged the bike to my friend's place. Was there for a while. Then headed back by around 9.15PM (2115hrs). Anyways, now I stand to pay around 3~4k on my 'brEAk' light assembly. I have minimum hopes on getting an insurance cover for this. Well that was yesterday.

[INXS- Afterglow]

Last two weeks - sleep's been minimal. The fun at home has now been stepped up with 4 systems being on LAN and the CS craze keeps going up. Sleep at 1AM And I wake up by 8AM. A total loss of around 3hours over the usual that I sleep. Its been taking its toll. Its not that I sleep just 7 hrs a day, uh-huh, its because I've been doing a lotta work in between. Not just office. These two weeks - I've rarely had time to think for myself, to go thru things that haven't been going all that well.

[Moby - We are all made of stars]

To top it all - the office work has become SO boring that I don't feel like visiting the office, the training - something that all of us want to get over with, just ISN'T getting over. DAMN!

[Sting and Alanis Morisette - King of Pain]

I've been thinking these days - ok, this one is on a tangent - a generation gap - it seems SO evident now. How different our thinking is from theirs. Is it wrong - what we follow? or are we the ones who are right? Change has been ruthless here. It isn't a curve - but a step. A total shift. Like - in every field - friends, relationships, money handling, driving, everything... its so different. I haven't felt that extreme a difference in my own case, but with 90% of my friends - thats been how it is. .from our point of view - what our parents, relatives say - on many topics - is quite hard to align to. Its 'oldish'.

Are they really wrong? I dunno. Its a matter of perspective, I say. Its got a lot to do with society we have been brought up in, our beliefs.

29th August 2007. 2334Hrs.
[P.O.D- Youth of the nation]
This song is one hell of reminder of how our generation has lost its path somewhere ....

30th September 2007. 2319 Hrs.
[Gregorian Chant - Angels (Cover of Robbie Williams - Angels]

Ok, now I just read up on what I had typed out earlier... somethings have changed. My work is way better than what it used to be 1 month back. Though I still hate that I was made to cancel my vacation in the last week of Aug for Onam, I am beginning to like what I'm doing. No, it ain't challenging. It is time consuming, but keeps me engaged in a good way.

[U2-I still haven't found what I'm looking for]

... now I'm home, enjoying a four day holiday. It feels good to be home. I have taken a few important decisions for the near future. GRE takes a back seat for now. I will be applying for a re-exam in 2 months from now. I am going to continue working in accenture for some more time. On another note - i'm planning to buy a new comp for myself at the end of feb or latest by end of march. :). heh...
I have a few bets to take care off - ones which I can't afford to lose. Need to start working out for that now. Literally. :D

So thats like a tight schedule coming up for the next 3 months.... :D
Rounding up this blog...

Adios...
neo.

Now What?

I am back to blogging... finally got the net connection I was so cribbing for, at my place, here in b'lore. But now that I have the net conn, my friends laptop, most of my music, my mouse, my headset, my space.... I had ideas... yes... big ones - but now - when I finally have the time to key them down - i just get lost.

[James Newton - London (Blood Diamond OST]

I don't know what I am going to type further.... I am having a boring time in office ... my work doesn't seem to interest me at all - its something like report generation - never knew it was so much like arranging stuff on a webpage. Its boring, time consuming, coma-inducing for my brain cells- I am losing my speed to calculate.. damn. Oh well.. that goes on... it will for a few more months before I find somewhere better. (not that I have anything against my company's work culture - its just not for me).

[Sting & Alanis Morisette - King of Pain]

I had a plan to write about our planet and all the natural disasters(global warming related) and where we are heading, about our outlook towards life, about our attitude towards others, how it is all connected. I get these funny thoughts - all of them connecting well - but I am kinda unlucky that they come to me when I am least prepared to even take them down on my phone.

[DJ Tiesto & Armin Van Buuren - Wonder]

Right now I just watched an incredible video of Top Gear's James May take the Bugatti Veyron to an incredible 407kmph.. the luckiest jobs these guys have, imo. and listening to this pacey trance track - just makes me want to sit here and actually type the blog I want to... but sleep takes over.

[Armin Van Buuren - Time to say Goodbye]
So hopefully tomm, I shall blog.
Till then,
Cheerio,
n3o.

I am required to kill, so I kill and thats enough.

Said the general - Maximus, the invincible. the gladiator. With those words, I re-start this blog.

Listening to "Leave no man behind" (Black Hawk Down O.S.T by Hans Zimmer).

Its been so long since I've blogged and I am having this major writer's block. Anyways.. typing in whatever is coming into my mind, as has been the case with all previous blogs. :D. So, here goes...

Its been 8months since I've come here - the IT city - the Air-Conditioned city - the beer capital - the 2nd most polluted city in India - 10th in Asia - Bengalooru (Bangalore as I prefer to call it). Joined Accenture on 18th sept'06. Training started on my b'day - 20th sept. I remember meeting my 1st friends, right from the induction program - Tom and Sabin. (The 2 other people I knew before I joined were - Suman and Nimisha). Life has been VERY smooth from then on. Never had hiccups - yes - perspective - I've never seen anything that has happened to be anything 'negative' (for some who might have a slightly different opinion :D). Was living as a paying guest for 6 months; and eventually moved in with 4 other Accenture-mates and good friends - Arun, Arindam, Gebin and Praveen - we call ourselves the BoW - Brotherhood of Wolves. hehe.. yeah.. just a funky name - we are one crazy group - crazy in every sense sans drinks n the likes. Crazy enough to play football inside the house with a proper, probably FIFA approve-able, football @ 11pm (mind you, its a flat - people stay above our floor, below our floor, next door, neighbouring flats.. )... play badminton @ 12AM, outside, play Heavy metal music (yep - likes of Metallica n Rammstein) early in the morning - 7AM, late night bike rides (ok, this might be common for some b'lore-ed crowd.), anyways... the point is - LIFE HAS been AND IS good. I am enjoying life, my way. No restriction, answerable to no1 except myself (technically only) - but I do maintain the 'decorum' (as me n Gangu used to say it in class... "please people, maintain the decorum..." :D .. and we were the 1st to break it.). Made a lotta new friends. Some really good ones.

Thats like the gist of the last 8 months. (Oh ya.. I do have my own bike now :D, if u didn't know).

I changed the song - "Pain of Salvation - A Trace of Blood".

I just sometimes get lost in all the thoughts - you know - how things have been - all the good times - nostalgia hits me hard - well, thats the way things are and I am not going into it anymore. Have blogged enough on that, imo. Funnily (according to some people who know me) - the b'lore life hasn't really changed me much - still the soft spoken, a bit shy, yet slightly obsessive, sometimes maddeningly positive n tension free character.

Song:"Metallica - Fade to Black"

Something about my job -
Accenture IS a good place to work - NO doubt. Its work environs are WAY better n much less taxing than any other IT service company. I am lucky to have got a really inspiring supervisor. But I am not really happy - My tastes lie in 'programming' and NOT in 'coding'. But coding is all that happens in such companies.Thats basically the reason why I names the blog so. - which in my case, translates to - "I am require to work, so I do and thats enough". But then, lucky nevertheless - have the best of the lot. :)
Work starts at 9AM ( I reach at 10), goes on till 6( ya.. I leave only AFTER 6.. ^_^).
Hit the gym daily ( which is true till mid April or so, after which - I have been a bit lazy... :D.. getting back into the routine slowly). Reach back at around 8.30pm. This is the routine n I am neither too happy nor sad about it.

Song: "Parikrama - But It Rained"

Other happenings:
1) a Coorg Trip - This was just amazing - It was a trip we - the 18th sept '06 batch - organized n went for. 2 Days. It was a absolute blast - it was the college batch atmosphere tat prevailed. Bus journey marked well with music/dance then in the night - there were groups - a few speaking on 'ghosts stories.. oh the creepy ones... the scary ones... all o them'... then another which fell asleep... then a few (which included me) - listening n singing (if u can call it singing.. he he) as Tommy played away with the guitar. Reaching coorg at the rite time was the best part - JUST before sunrise. We have captured some great pics of the sunrise on the cams, but its nothing like being there and just feeling it. Then came the trek... just awesome. I can go on forever on that. H eh. In the night we had a camp fire and a few games ... celebrated b'days of 3 of our dearest ones among the group - Tommy, Sabin and Rangu sir.

2. SCREEEAAAMMMM FOR ME NOW, BANGALORE! - the iron maiden concert. Bruce Dickinson had the crowd in a trance-ing frenzy - all of us head banging to their songs. My good, non-existent, GOD.. it was a HYPER EVENT! I had a strained neck for the next 3 days. They played MOST of their greatest hits plus a few from their new album. The ones which should've been added is aces high, wasted years ... well .. um.. Alexander the great ... rime of the ancient mariner... well.. a lot more! he he.. we, maiden maniacs, can never have enough! :D

Those were 2 major events that happened. Life just flowing in the high gear.

Song : "Lamb of God - 11th Hour"

Sometimes I wonder - am I just living on? is this really what I want? I dunno what I would want otherwise tho. But life is moving at a really quick pace, alright. and I have to check out what to do with my M.S. Want to do a lot more things - travel - thats one of the main priorities, protracted searches left me in the afterglow- somethings have left me lost. Some have made me understand myself, my friends, my surroundings, my world - a lot more.

Well, thats about it. Its the birth of a new age -a new phase in life - an age of understanding - an age of freedom - an age where things move at the speed of thought - I am at yet another juncture in life - any turn I take - is leads me to yet another - a sinister set of recursive turns - yeah - life is all about choosing the rite ones, relative to each one.

Song : " Iron Maiden - Alexander the great"
Maybe I 'll blog on a certain thought process that keeps running in my mind. It confirms my understanding of the world around me. But I am not able to pen it down - its way too complicated - as it just flashes in me - bits n pieces of the entire idea.

Ok, Have some rantings about b'lore -
1. Its getting frigging hot.
2. Its traffic is maddening - it gets worse by the hour (not even 'by the day')
3. Being the 2nd most polluted city is nothing to be happy about
4. Its expensive... not I am not being stingy here. It seriously is. But then - such extra costs are always attached to the 'big cities'.
5.The 'malls' have lost their value - its more of a fish market than a mall. its SO packed on weekends.
6.The city is a COMPLETE DISASTER if it rains - the drainage system overflows, the city gets congested, the traffic just stops. But if u are at home when its raining - its beautiful to watch and its really a good time. :D
7. People are 'more' easily influenced by religious sentiments than what I've seen in Kerala.
8. My mobile phone bill is sky-rocketing!

Song: "Dashboard Confessional - Vindicated"

The good points -
1. Have most of my good old friends here.
2. The new ones too. :D
3. Freedom - no1 really bothers what you do. - as in, in ekm - people comment unnecessarily about what you do. Nothing like that here.
4. Options for everything - Stuff like food, movie theaters, hang out places, dress, watches... name it ... EVERYTHING is available.
5. Getting to know different people - b'lore is a hub for IT and people from all over the globe live here. and getting to know such people - esp in work environs and also outside - u learn a lot.

Anyways.. thats about it for now.

Shall blog more frequently henceforth.

Off to do some 'free-biking'... he he...
Adios.
:)>- n \m/
Suraj.