BAL - A New Round Of Disappointments

Bajaj has come a long way in the last decade after almost losing out to the competition during the 90’s; to being one of the top two wheeler companies in the Indian market today. But their customer service by no means complements their market standing

I experienced the same when I had to change the rear shock absorbers of my Pulsar 180 Dtsi which has run 23000 kms. Every time I went over a bump there was a loud thud. My techie[Reddy- Bike care centre, very famous with Mumbai guys] suggested a change of shock abs as they run out of life after about 25000 kms. I planned to install the Pulsar 200 shocks as they are a little harder and work well with broader tyres. This was when it got tough.

I called the Bajaj Pro Biking showroom[Sai service- borivli] on Monday { 3rd dec}and as soon as I said I own a pulsar I was transferred, they were not even ready tohear what I had to say but just kept transferring me from one department to another. After being transfererd 3-4 times they said the pulsar 200 shock absorbers were in stock and would cost me 1650 rupees. I called them again on Tuesday at 9:30 Am to confirm, was given a positive reply once again. I told the concerned person that I would be there to collect it by 11.

However on reaching there I found out there was no receptionist, no supervisors, and no one to guide the customer. It almost seemed like people don’t care. Finally after asking some one they told me to speak to the spares supervisor, who said that the shock absorbers were out of stock. This was such a waste of time as I had to bunk my lectures specially to collect the shcok absorbers and even after several confirmations they could do nothing but repeat that it was error. They supervisor was almost rude and did not even apologize. After being threatened with escalation to the head office the person returned with pulsar 180 shock absorbers. So thanks to Bajaj and their poor customer service I had no option but to buy the shock absorbers, as I had to ride to pune that evening for a meeting. And even more disappointing is that the brand new shock absorbers also give a small thud on even the smallest bump.

I was really impressed by the way Bajaj responded to the 220 complaints but i have lost all trust in Bajaj now. No wonder guys like Arpan go all the way to Pendharkars in Pune, just to service their bike. Hope the people at Bajaj can really do something about the customer service before going a step further and launching another performance bike. The way an organization treats its customers tells a lot about the company. Planning to write a letter to the Bajaj guys about this episode

Celebrating Diwali- BN Style

Trip Duration- 3 days
Distance- 1178 Kms
Mumbai- Chiplun-Kunkeshwar-Malvan-Pavas-Ratnagiri-Ganpatiphule-Mumbai

Day 1

As I left from home at 10:00 Pm I was thinking about the unusual turn of events. I had almost decided to go on a solo ride to Hedvi when Vinod called at 7:00PM. “where do u wana go” I asked. “Lets meet up at Vashi den we will decide” came the reply. We rode out of Vashi toll naka at 11:00Pm with no destination in mind. We were doing good speed and reached Vadkal about 70 kms from Vashi at 11:50 PM. A small halt for chai, a couple of calls later we were off at 12:15 AM. Still no destination in mind. once past Vadkhal things got really trickybeing amavas it was pitch dark. Our puny little headlights were no help at all. About 5kms from Vadkal Vinod suddenly veered to the right and narrowly missed a man lying in the middle of the road. On the left we could see an Autorickshaw had rammed into a tree. We stopped and Vinod asked me “what do u wana do”, lets check, said I. So we backtracked. We could see the man twitching a little bit. I feared the worst. My mom’s words came rushing back to me “beta its amavas today. Not a good day. dont ride tonight.” Scared to hell we checked upon the man only to find that he was drunk way beyond limits. We woke him up; he walked a couple of feet to the side of the road and fell asleep again. We continued a little more cautious now. The second scare came in the form of an 18 wheeled trailer with no lights whatsoever. Vinod again braked hard to avoid rear ending it. I was thinking now if it was a good idea to ride at night. We rode mile after mile with the only trace of life being a lizard or a snake crossing the road. Finally we reached Poladpur at 2:00Am, and stopped for some chai. We had covered a distance of 180KMs in 3hours. Not bad I thought. With still no destination in mind we decided to ride on to Chiplun. We took on Kashedi ghat at 2:15 am. Kashedi was a great experience during the day and I was curious to find out if it was as much fun at night. In fact it was. The eeriness and silence broken by the growl of our engines made it even more fun. The thing with a ghat like Kashedi is, no matter if u like riding or not. No matter how tired you are. It refreshes you. 3:05AM we reach Chiplun and things are a getting a little tough now. Not because of the fatigue but because of the dense mist. The visibility was barely 10-15 feet. But after a short break we decide to ride on. Still no destination in mind. But things get even worse. The mist is denser, the roads are bad, there is condensation on our visors. My jacket, gloves, pants are wet cause of the dew. And the worst part is we cannot see beyond 10 feet. Earlier we managed to cover a distance of 280 km in 5 hrs. but with the conditions change we struggled to cover a distance of 40 km in 1 1\2 hrs.

The Mist at Kasedi ghat.

We reach Sangameshwar at 6:00 AM and decide to halt for the night. Check into a local lodge and straight off to sleep. 10:15 Am the phone rings and there is Prasad askin me where we had reached. I sleepily answer his call and off to sleep again. Finally wake up at 10:30Am. Walk sleepily to the balcony and it’s the best view ever. The sun warming me every so gently and all the green around soothing my eyes. Inquiries from the hotel manager reveal that there is a hot water spring nearby. I and Vinod decide to take a bath the natural way. But damn the water is too hot. back to the thotel room and after a very conventional bath and a heavy breakfast we hit the road again at 1:00 PM. The beauty of Nh17 is ever so mesmerizing. The next 150kms was pure peg scraping fun with butter smooth roads and scarce traffic. All this meant that we reached Talera 140 kms from Sangameshwar in 2hrs flat, a 15 minute nature admiration break included. Halt at Talera for some refreshments and we finally decide to head to Kunkeshwar.
Check into the hotel at 4:15, wash up, change and we were off to Kunkeshwar temple. After the temple darshan we took a walk on the beach. The beach is actually a sort of an unpolluted fishing village and we witnessed at local fishermen at work. It’s amazing to know that the fishing season lasts only 3 months in a year and these guys make the most of it. If someone thought fishing was easy, think again. A normal fishing net goes about 1km into the sea and it takes 2 boats and about 50 men to lay the net and about 50 other men to pull it back to shore. While Vinod was all excited, being a veggie watching the fish struggle without water was a pitiful sight for me.
By the time the fishermen pulled the net to shore it was pitch dark {remember it was amavasya} we were about 2kms into the beach and I was shit scared. The vision of crabs biting me all on my foot filled my mind. On the other hand, Vinod being a native was pretty cool and after many a silent prayers we finally made back to the temple. After all this if I thought the day was over. I was mistaken. Diwali in Konkan is very different from the crazy, noisy Mumbai diwali. It’s a sight u can’t describe. Each and every house, no matter how big or small is lined with an array of diyas and a very artistic lantern. So after a walk around a village and very tasty Konkani dinner we retired at our hotel room.

Day 2

06:30AM
A very enthusiastic Vinod wakes me up. We take a walk at a nearby hillock and are amazed by the peacefulness of the place. Our ears hear no other sound than the sound of water crashing on the rocks below. We just sit there. Quiet. Absorbing the beauty of the place. After about an hour, we reluctantly walk back to our hotel rooms and hit the road again at 8 AM. Destination - Malvan. The next 50 KM is a very relaxed ride with a few stops for photography. We reach Malvan at 9:30 Am. A trip to the local Ganesh temple followed by a short visit to the beach and we are off. Destination- Ratnagiri.
After covering about 70kms, I asked Vinod to stop. We hadn’t had breakfast in the morning and I was hungry, and thirsty too. The Konkan heat was sapping my energy. A half an hour stop at Talera. A Great breakfast and we are off again.
There was a natural stream we had missed on the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg border and I didn’t want to miss it again. We stopped. I asked Vinod if he wanted to take a dip. He said we’re late. Lets ride. Disappointed I started my bike. After riding about 10 feet I Asked again. This time he said. “Heck we haven’t had a bath. Lets do it.” Just one step in the water and we realized what we would have missed. No swimming pool. No Bubble Bath, No Jacuzzi can. relax you like a natural stream .After flapping in the water for half and hour and trying to catch fish with our bare hands we decided to ride on, Thoroughly refreshed. I made myself a promise to visit the place again. Now was the fun part as we were ready to take on the best section of twisties after a good break. A hour and a half later we reached Pavas. A small town near Ratnagiri. After about half an hour of sight-seeing we were off to Ratnagiri. The Pavas- Ratnagiri road is simply breath taking, with hills on one side and valleys lined with rivers on the other. After visiting Ratandurg fort we headed to Ganpatiphule.
5:00PM A little tired, we set out to find accommodation, We were in for a big surprise. Ganpatiphule being a commercial place the hotel charges ranged between 1000-1500 bucks. Which was ridiculous, as we just wanted a resting place for the night? We were contemplating riding back to Sangameshwar when an autowala came to our rescue. We found a fairly decent lodge for 300 bucks. After parking our luggage we were off to the temple followed by a short visit at the beach. After such a great ride we didn’t like Ganpatiphule at all. Lots of noise, Pollution, a huge crowd of people. Not the way we wanted our Ride to end. With this in mind we went out for dinner on the outskirts of Ganpatiphule Followed by a little walk in the countryside. We were back at the hotel by 11:00 PM and being tired we went straight off to sleep.

Day 3

Up at 6:00AM. Muscles a little sore with all the riding, but a hot water bath fiexd it all. After a quick darshan at the temple a good breakfast we leave Ganaptiphule at 9:00AM.
Cross Kashedi Ghat at 1:00. No matter how many times you cross Kashedi, you cant miss but enjoy the ghat a little more every time. We had covered about 180kms in 4 hours and longed for a break. We decided to rest under a tree by the river side. After a nice nap, we rode again.
After riding for about 10 minutes, I could see another bike coming up fast in my RVM. And we were already doing 90KPH. I veered to the left and was overtaken by a guy on the Yamaha Frazer wearing Alpinestars. He had a great bike but was not a good rider. We could figure that out. He was twitchy and our puny little pulsar engines easily beat him on the corners. The three of us rode together for about an hour. Constantly doing 100-110. We stopped just before Vadkhal. The guy introduced himself as Zulfi, Owner of Bacchu motors. He was waiting for his friends who were far behind, So I and Vinod decided to move on.
We reached Mumbai at 7:00 thoroughly refreshed by a great ride. It’s been two months now and the city with traffic congested, potholed roads is starting to get me. Longing to ride on the open road again.

Laguna Seca- United states

Ambient temp: 29.8degrees
Asphalt tem: 53.0 degrees

It’s a bright sunny day, am riding the Kawasaki Zx7-RR to the limits. The Ducati is just a fraction of a second behind me. Its the last corner, and I can taste that victory. Going good at 220kph I can see the sharp corner but still continue to accelerate. The adrenalin rushing through my veins. The corner is almost upon me, I slam the brakes hard. Down to 98Kph and I lean into the corner my knee scraping the asphalt. Can see the Ducati almost upon me in the RVM.

I accelerate as hard as I can. The throttle at the full. The tyres fail to grip the asphalt.the rear wheel spins, struggling for grip the bike skids and veers to the right. I let go of the throttle. But too late. I lose control and crash. The bike sliding to a halt some 20 feet away. Its the end of the race. The ducati crosses the finish line and so do all the other riders. F*** I curse the Kawasaki traction and hit the restart button again. Time to take the corner again.:)

Midnight ride to Khopoli

Oct 20, 2007
Saturday

It was a Saturday like any other. The only difference being that India actually thrashed Australia in the T20 match. I was supposed to meet my biker buddies at Shivaji Park Barista at 10:00pm.

Shivaji Park Barista- 10:30 PM
The scene was not like every Saturday. The place was teeming with traffic with horns blaring all around. So we decided to move out to Bandra Reclamation.

Once settled we felt like having tea. And Prasad said. “How about a short ride to Karnala for tea and biscuits”. It reminded me of the crazy days when we used to ride out to Pune at 12 in the night. And so all of us head back home to fetch our riding gear.

Chembur 1AM
We are at the usual meeting place and Prasad says “guys where do u wana ride out”. I give a cant help but smile knowing fully well that he wants to go for a longer ride. So we decide to ride out to Lonavla. A short burst on the twisties and back.

Belapur -2AM.
First stop
Sanket starts with his partition joke and has Deepak starts imagining what his butt looks like. We ride out after a 10 min break. It’s a heaven riding out again in the darkness. Its very cold though and my teeth rattle like a bullet engine at the Panvel bypass.


Khopoli-3:45 AM

We stop at our favorite Dhaba. The guys remembering the last time they had Chicken here. We neatly divide ourselves so that the guys eating non-veg occupy 1 table and and the veggies the other. We're having a good time when the waiter beaks the news that they have no chicken. I think the guys are heart broken but the take it quite well and to my surprise order Veg.:)

The Dhaba-3:55 AM

Sumone orders Maaza and Salil starts with the maaza joke. Meanwhile Vinod is busy explaining his adventures of night riding on NH17. The food arrives and to everybody’s delight with chicken.

4:30 AM

We move out and Pari asks us to head back home he was short of petrol.

5:15 AM
Halt at a bus stop at Belapur with Salil complaining that his butt which was like BUN PAV was now like a sliced bread :D and so the butt discussion starts.


6:30 AM
I am back home refreshed thinking just when we thought the busy life was getting better of us we were back with a bang.

Things You Wouldnot Know Without Movies

It is always possible to park directly outside any building you are visiting.
-A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.
-If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.
-Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communication systems of any invading alien civilization.
-It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts - your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.
-When a person is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, they will never suffer a concussion or brain damage.
-No one involved in a car chase, hijacking, explosion, volcanic eruption or alien invasion will ever go into shock.
-Police Departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite.
-When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.
-You can always find a chainsaw when you need one.
-Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds, unless it”’’s the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.
-An electric fence, powerful enough to kill a dinosaur will cause no lasting damage to an eight-year-old child.
-Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment you turn the television on.

Another Dumb Blonde

Heres a joke a friend mailed me. hope it makes u laugh

A young ventriloquist is touring the clubs and one night he’s doing a show in a small club in a small town in Arkansas. With his dummy on his knee, he’s going through his usual dumb blonde jokes when a blonde woman in the fourth row stands on her chair and starts shouting: ”I’ve heard enough of your stupid blonde jokes. What makes you think you can stereotype women that way? What does the color of a person’s hair have to do with her worth as a human being? It’s guys like you who keep women like me from being respected at work and in the community and from reaching our full potential as a person, because you and your kind continue to perpetuate discrimination against, not only blondes, but women in general…and all in the name of humor!”
The ventriloquist is embarrassed and begins to apologize, when the blonde yells, ”You stay out of this, mister! I’m talking to that little jerk on your knee!”

Spoof of Bajaj's "Definitely Male" campaign

Hey ppl...just came across this funny spoof of the the Bajaj's "Definitely Male" itz hilarious...chk it out...{damn butterers oops Bulletters:P:P

Gajaj leads Homosexual Parade with Gulsar
By a staff reporterOctober 12, 2006

As per AutoReport 2006, Gajaj Auto Ltd., leads the homosexual parade with their avant garde, top seller, the Gulsar motorcyle. Going by the cliché 'Definately Male', Gulsar has stirred up a storm in the Indian biking scene. With 8 out of 10 bikes sold being Gulsars, the biker tribe sure knows where to put its money.Speaking to this reporter, Sunny Darling, 22, a Gulsar 180 owner said "I simply love my Gulsar 180. It is the best form of expression for me. You know so many guys check me out when I'm riding my Gulsar!"Gajaj expects to sell about 30,000 units during the current fiscal. Rahul Gajaj, the MD of Gajaj Auto Ltd. said "The Gulsar is not just a bike. It is an expression and the voice of homosexuality in India. With the Gulsar, we aim to reach out to every guy who loves to ride a male motorcycle."Gajaj Auto Ltd. will also be hosting the annual gay parade, ANALyze2006, where over 2000 homosexuals are expected to ride their Gulsars in a subjective formation.

Accident Prone!!!

8th Oct 2007
2:15 Am

Here I am trying to sleep….but I am as awake as I can be. The last couple of days have been very strange with things being very grim in my life. I say this because of a whole lot of reasons…the first being that I have become very accident-prone. It all started when I was rear ended by a friend on the Malshej ride. A couple of days later, when I was going for the meet yesterday night at round 11.There is this stretch of road that I have to take to reach the western exp highway, very dark with no dividers and flanked with jhopad patties on the sides. I generally keep slow as there is always a risk of a child or a person coming outta no where. I was doing 60KPH when an auto guy with no lights coming from the opp. side suddenly decides to take a u turn. I noticed him when I was just when I was about 15 feet from him and narrowly avoided an accident.

Then this evening, felt so exhausted after returning from a family get together I fell off to sleep at seven in the evening. At nine, my mom wakes me up and asks me to go withdraw cash from my bank account. I wash my face and go downstairs to fine that my dad’s driver has come home and is in tears. His daughter was hospitalized. And he had to pay up the hospital deposit else the hospital wouldn’t admit his daughter. I rush to the ATM my head filled with thoughts. Just when I was returning home I narrowly missed another accident. the ATM is about 20mt. off the main road. I get on my bike and am just stop at the edge of the main road. All of a sudden I notice this auto coming at a very high speed on the left most lane. He is certainly going to ram into me if he continues. When you are in such a situation time suddenly slows down. U can see everything clearly frame by frame. There’s a screech of brakes the auto takes a sharp turn and misses me by inches. I decide not to chase the auto and am off to my house, to find the driver still crying. My dad offers him the money and he gives my dad a gold chain as a security. Which my dad declines.. Apparently, he tried to sell off the chain and arrange for the money himself but being a Sunday all shops were closed. What strikes me is the sense of fairness and perhaps self respect In the guy.

All this has me thinking of how lucky I am to be safe. To be born in a well to do family and lead a luxurious life. And how self indulgent we humans have become. We don’t care for our fellow human beings. We don’t care for Mother Earth which suffers pollution from our hands and stil continues to support us. We do nothing to protect the beauty of this planet or help the ailing and suffering animals on the streets.

The money that I took out from the bank was actually saved up by me so I could buy a decent riding jacket. However, it could not be put to better use. I don’t care if I receive it back or not. From now on I will try and live with contention. Will try and help all I can. And most importantly stop cribbing about my life. Cause its still much better than most of the others on this planet.

Intel Vs AMD

Hey guyz I think this is a very imp post Cause whenever we go to buy a PC/laptop…we blindly ask the pc guy to give us the best Intel product…but little do we know that there’s life beyond Intel….AMD or Advanced micro devices is a direct competitor of Intel. If people don’t know about AMD I suggest u watch Formula 1…they are the sponsors of Ferrari and all Ferrari computers are AMD based….need I say any more…over and above u get shitty Intel motherboards with Intel processors. On the other hand u get excellent motherboards made by Asus/ Gigabyte with onboard Nvdia graphics card with AMD products….

So here comparison between the two…

AMD makes commercial 64 processor, which is fully backward compatible to 32

Intel commercially makes only 32 & obviously its not forward compatible:-P

Now most most most likely 64 will takeover 32 by the end of this year

AMD has come a long way through heating issues.. Now amd does not heat up like it used to do b4

AMD 64X2 heats just a little bit more like 2-5degree than dualcore & same as core2duo under similar conditions.

Now the best part bout 64x2 is that, when u run it on a 32os, each core generates a virtual core. So u get 2cores & 2virtual cores. Summing up to b equivalent to 3 CORES

AMD- 64bit hence future compatible
intel- 32bit which will die by the end of this year, its just a matter of time

AMD- power factor doesn’t come on desktop but its crucial for laptop. The Turion (TL-52 or over) chip eats less power than core2duo

AMD- comes with g-force/ATI- radion graphics card
Intel- inbuilt Intel graphics & every1 knows how shit they r

AMD- on chip memory controller which removes all bottleneck caused due to RAM speed
Intel- fully dependant on ram speed. Like if u use ddr2, u've to pair them. Even tat wont match AMD’s memory utilization speed

Now many people think o wow Intel is giving 1mb cache.. 2mb cache while AMD is giving just 256kb-512kb ..So Intel is better here. NO... This is a very wrong concept. AMD doesn’t need huge cache cause it has on-chip memory controller
Intel Needs huge cache to compensate for the lack of on-chip memory controller

Even if u look at history, the main company was AMD. Then among them a group of people separated but worked with AMD. The new name became AMD-Intel.. Now when those Intel people learnt everything, they separated to form Intel:-P

I am just trying to say the truth about technology, don’t be fooled by sales/marketing. you’re the user, u think what’s best. Buy confidently

Oh, almost forgot. What’s Centrino? Its NOT just the processor, its the package of 3 hardware-
Intel processor
Intel wifi
Intel graphics

Also, Intel has ABANDONED the name 'Pentium' in mid 2006.. 'Core' is the new generation

Pleasure

This one was forwarded by our very own Ishti Bhai. Pretty much says why I love riding so much....so read on.

The pleasure is when you finish your day ride, and reach in one piece.You are the smallest vehicle on the road, and you survived.
The pleasure is when you take off your wristwatch, and see a band of untanned skin.
The pleasure is when your motorcycle and you move as one single united form. Whatever shape the road takes, whichever end of the compass it leads to.
The pleasure is when you use your hands, arms, thighs, knees and feet to steer.
The pleasure is when you take off your riding jacket for a break andfeel the breeze dry your sweat.
The pleasure is when you sing to yourself on an empty road. You arethe world's best rock star.
The pleasure is when your rear wheel slides and you bring it back,when the front wheel lifts and you take your time bringing it back.
The pleasure is when you cut through air, at 50 kph or 100.
The pleasure is when you reach a place you never been before, and someone you have never seen before asks you for a ride. And comes back grinning.
The pleasure is when you wave to village kids, and they wave back.
The pleasure is when you almost, almost fall. But don't.
The pleasure is when you fight the wind, and win.
The pleasure is when you get up that narrow path for the view you never forget.
The pleasure is when you view the world at an angle.
The pleasure is when you eat bugs at 90 kph.
The pleasure is when you look at a dust-streaked face in the mirror after a 500 km ride, and don't want to wash up.
The pleasure is when your pillion moves with you.
The pleasure is when you can see the petrol after a top-up.
The pleasure is when your throttle hand has calluses.
The pleasure is when you jump a speed breaker.
The pleasure is when you stop to help push a stranded car to the sideof the road.
The pleasure is when you stop at the smallest of towns, and somebodyasks you technical specifications.
The pleasure is when your book of roadmaps gets dog-eared,rain-splashed, tea-stained.
The pleasure is when you give a stranger a lift.
The pleasure is when you have battle-scars.
The pleasure is when you can feel the cool morning and the hot afternoon, the light rain and the damp fog.
The pleasure is when you leave four-wheeler traffic standing in a jam.
The pleasure is when you aren't lulled by an air-conditioner.
The pleasure is when you are free. Open. Independent. Liberated.
Ride safe, Ride far, Ride Often!

Who Am I

Who Am I? Just a face among thousands? Just another brick in the wall? Thinking exactly this I started my quest to break away form the NORMAL life…I realized I had to be somebody. Getting a Bsc degree and working in a call centre was not the way I wanted to live my life. Was a typical mama’s boy. It was in college when I realized I had to have my own identity. My life was MINE and I had to make it big. However, the main problem was money. That’s when I started Computer assembling at a youthful age of 18. My first big break came in the form of an assembling order for Nanavati hospital. As time passed on, I had a steady income of 2000-3000 bucks from my PC business. Things improved bit by bit and I graduated in 2005. Started working with my earnings bought a sparkling new silver Pulsar 180 Dtsi. Soon the biking bug bit me. I used to live for the weekends when I could ride out. and there's bin no stopping since then.

And now after another outbreak of self assessment I decided to start my own blog. So here it is.

Hope u like my blog. Happy reading. Suggestion, comments, improvement tips always welcome.