Traffic sense and Bengaluru

Off late I have been riding on my bike to office. The chaotic Bangalore traffic sometimes gets on to me. But, the flexibility that it provides me far out-weighs the cons. I decided to leave a bit early from work this evening and to my great surprise the traffic was sparse on the very first historically jammed junction. I stopped at the usual red light and was waiting for my turn. Unexpectedly I heard a siren blaring. There was an ambulance coming from the one of the roads that had a red light. The ambulance had to come to the junction, slow down take a turn and then slowly move forward. All this, thanks to the useless, dumb road-users. Buses, autos, cars and two-wheelers included, none from the opposite direction stopped, worse even slowed down for the ambulance. This is something that I have noticed a lot of times on the road. Be it an illiterate auto driver or be it a CEO driving swanky cars or be it buses or police vehicles, not a single road-user gives way to an ambulance. Why is that we have become so insensitive to other people in need? Has the ego of one-upmanship on the road pushed us to such an extreme?
When people talk of INDIA being a great country, with a great culture being inherited, these are small things that come to my mind. A nation does not become great just because people get married or just coz people don’t have kids out of wed-lock. My definition of a great nation is where people respect people and behave like humans. I find it extremely inhuman when people don’t respect the fact that there could be a person in the ambulance who is juggling between life and death. Isn’t it easy to imagine oneself lying helpless in an ambulance at the mercy of other dumb drivers?
On my part I make it a point to slow down and move to either of the corners of the road. But, I end up looking foolish many times when people whiz past me. At times the ambulances move so slow that I could easily catch up with them and even overtake them without effort. Driving ambulances is a skill and the job has to be given to the right people. I even feel that I would anyday make a good emergency vehicle driver. I know bengaluru roads in and out and can drive fast like crazy. I would be willing to do my part by offering to drive any emergency vehicle in times of need. If there is an option where my services could be of use I am willing to take up the challenging job on part-time basis. Be it a weekly or monthly affair, I am game for it. I even have a cellphone to boot!!
Hoping bangaloreans would be more courteous, atleast to emergency vehicles. Adios!!

Hampe bike ride new love in life.

Hampi is one place that we had wanted to visit from a long long time. Due to various reasons we were not able to make it till recently. Oct 2nd weekend seemed an ideal time for us to plan a trip to Hampi as it had been a long time since we had taken our bikes out on a long ride. Bike rides always get me relaxed and charged up. The recent rains in parts of northern Karnataka made my mom extra concerned and worried. It made me feel bad that I was putting her under a lot of stress for my own happiness. But, that’s how life is. People have to be flexible. Finally we left Bangalore on Thursday evening and had planned to reach chitradurga by early nightfall. But, like in any trip, one person delays the whole plan. This time is was Pomchi’s turn. We were not able to give him a piece of our minds for the delay as he is generally the most punctual among us. After a short ride, even before we reached Nelamangala Pomchi started complaining about riding in the rain. We coaxed and convinced him to keep riding and reached tumkur where we stayed for the night. The next morning we started riding towards chitradurga. The NH-4 stretch from Tumkur-Chitradurga was a very pleasant one. The roads were extremely good and surprisingly the weather held up real good. The conditions were perfect for a bike ride. It was not sunny, not raining, not cold, just pleasant and cool. Riding in these conditions in the country-side has a charm of its own. I stuck to a constant speed of 80 kmph. While riding i reflected on my past life. The way things have moved. It gave me immense satisfaction. I felt really happy with the way my life had shaped up till then. At the same time, like in riding a bike, I was eagerly looking forward to the future. I knew there would be potholes, there would be bumps. All one would have to do is either learn to avoid them or slow down, enter the potholes and smoothly move out of it. An occasional glance at the rear-view mirror usually helps in planning for the road ahead. Isn’t life strikingly similar to riding a bike!!!??? In quick time we were in chitradurga and then took NH-13 towards sholapur. The roads turned from amazing to worse and occasionally good. But, the bullet and me just kept going on effortlessly. The roads were a stark contrast to earlier. The rains increased as well. We reached Hospete completely drenched. Had some good potato buns and bread toast in Lakshmi aunt’s bakery. We then rode to Hampe which had no power whatsoever due to the incessant rains.
The next day we visited Virupaksha temple early in the morning. Suddenly the airtel network was back up when we started walking up to one of the many ruined temples. I called up mom to assure her that I am safe. To my disbelief I heard a panic stricken story from her. Apparently, there was an earthquake in Hampe!! The idol in the Virupaksha temple we had just visited was supposedly missing and the water-level from the adjoining river had gushed into the town!! I instantly wanted to kill those journalists and TV channels for inducing panic into my mom’s mind. I had a tough time convincing my mom that it was pretty safe out there. My mom’s concern and the way she gets worried has started making me think twice before going on bike-trips. We then continued to enjoy the ruins. We guys skipped going to Anegundi due to time constraints and also cause we would have to cross the Tungabhadra river on a coracle to reach there. This could have been risky as the river was raging due to the recent rains. We then headed to Tungabhadra dam late afternoon and were impressed by the size of the dam as well as the amount of water it stored.
The ride back home from Hampe all the way to Bangalore was pleasant and comfortable. It was a surprise as we had expected to get completely drenched. We stopped for breakfast in small town called Kudligi somewhere between Hospete and chitradurga. The BF was better than what we had expected. This is one of the things that I love about traveling in India. The small towns and villages here have a way of surprising you with good food, honest people or serene natural beauty. I filled my tummy as well as the bull’s tummy and we headed off to chitradurga. I was shocked to see bright sunshine here as the TV reports on the previous day had predicted 22mm of rain in chitradurga. The sunshine was ample invitation for us to check out the famous fort. We checked out the fort made famous by “Onake Obavva”. This act of bravery from an ordinary housewife is truly inspirational. She had single handedly killed Haider Ali’s soldiers who were trying to sneak up into the fort from one of its many secret passages. The ride from there to home was very smooth and simple thanks to the good roads and sparse traffic. I guess most people stayed indoors due the rain warnings.
All in all it was good trip with lots of rain. The ride on the bad (pathetic actually) roads were a test of our riding skills. The good roads were a breeze and gave me ample time and opportunity to reflect on my past and look into the future in anticipation. Eagerly waiting for the next bike trip.

Why I like living in INDIA.

Its been a long long time since I have blogged. Was really missing it. At the same time I was away from my country for a short time. Came back home last week and decided to start writing (rather typing ;-) ) again.

One question I am frequently asked by people here as well as across the border is “Why don’t you stay in the US?”. My retort is “Why should I stay in the US?. I really LOVE my country. I might not like the way certain things are, but I like most of it. I don’t see any reason or incentive with staying away from my motherland. That in itself is a good enough reason. Add to this the fact that life is way much challenging, energetic and full of surprises here. I would be bored to death if I were to live in the US.

I have a lot of spare time left in the US. This, even after work and my share of traveling and adventure. Here in INDIA, I hardly find time. Months just whiz past in a jiffy. There are so many things to do here and so little time for all of that. To an extent the traffic in Bengaluru is a factor but even without that I hardly find time here.

But, more than ALL of this, I would want to live here in INDIA because I do not want to miss out on the fun and excitement and the hard work. Not everyone gets the opportunity that I and many others have got. The opportunity of being a part of a country that’s constantly changing and evolving and growing. Its very exciting to be a part of this phenomenon. The music scene is amazing. The technology space is growing rapidly. Sports and fitness is getting a huge boost. The culture is constantly changing with new influences from the west, east as well as INDIA’s own past. New ideas are cropping up in all parts of the country. For eg. I heard of a new initiative to provide ID cards to all people in the country. This ID card would have biometric authentication is what I read. If implemented this is absolutely phenomenal!!!! The opportunities and ideas surrounding this could be limitless. Being gay is no longer considered a crime!!! Good or bad, that came as a shock to me as it was not something that I had expected. These and many more things keep me amused, give me a shock or get me excited about the future.

Come what may, I would want to live through this here, feel the pain, disappointments, and happiness. I would not want to miss this opportunity and responsibility of shaping a nation. Please join me in taking my country to new heights. Jai Hind!!

2008 - The year that was.

Today is the 1^st of Jan in 2009. not just a new day, but a new year as well. Again, I sometimes wonder why people accord it so much importance. The hype over the dawn of a new year is just too much. but, I guess its just a time to let one’s hair down and have some fun. Most people make resolutions as well. Its also that day of the year, when most people do a self introspection, take stock of the just concluded year, feel happy, sad, satisfied or angry about the just concluded year.

2008 was one of the worst years of my life. I am not too excited about the year that just crawled past. It all started off very well. I started the new year with the usual vigor and excitement. I was looking forward to my last few days in the US. I was very much excited by the prospect of heading back home in a few months. The first few months of 2008 were comparatively good. I had my usual dose of trips and traveling. But, there was an unknown something missing. I was just not enjoying them as before. I thought that things might change once I go back home to Bangalore. Things did change, but unfortunately they changed for the worse. i went on a bike trip almost as soon as I landed in INDIA. But, there was something missing.

I did fill in that missing link in my life. Or, so I thought. This lead to more confusion, heart-ache, head-ache, pain, misery, happiness, excitement, love, compassion and etc etc. the brief official relationship was good for the while it lasted. It was interspersed with a wide range of emotions. The range and intensity almost broke me down. After a bitter and painful break-up, life has not changed much. the grind is still on. The resilience is still on. The hunt in still on.

I had fun on the limited number of trips and traveling I went on. I also bought a JEEP. This was a long unfulfilled dream of mine. I am pleased that I did go ahead and buy the JEEP. The number and scale of terrorist attacks did disturb and anger me. On the professional front I was not able to climb up another step in the ladder. This was disappointing. But, the good part is that I started working on a new technology and a new team. The team is just fabulous and so full of energy. The team has helped me to remain in high spirits. Due to the financial slowdown and stock market crash, my net-worth is almost close to zero now. My faith in the concept of GOD has also changed. Earlier I was a non-believer who would occasionally visit places of worship to keep others happy. Now, i have started hating the concept of GOD. I have not hated anything else more in life. I have now stopped being nice to believers as well.

All in all, 2008 was pretty crappy. Being the optimist that I am, I look forward to 2009 now. I hope its better than 2008. I hope and intend to be more adventurous, have more JEEP and bike trips, concentrate better on my profession and most importantly be more pro-active and helpful with charity in the society. Also, I wish that I be more pro-active and helpful in curbing terrorism. I am willing to do whatever is possible by me.

Looking forward to the new year and few more.