Red or Green??? That is the question....

 Riding my bike gives me the most enjoyable experience; going on long rides, riding in the city, its always been a fun thingy for me. I just love riding, for me distance or destination doesn't matter, as long as I'm on the road on a bike, I'm more than happy. Riding a bike gives you the freedom that a 4-wheeler cant. You are trapped inside a moving box on 4 wheels. Feels so claustrophobic inside, and while driving there are more things on your mind, and you need to be attentive to all four corners of your car. 4-wheelers are not bad, they are much, much safer when it comes to bikes which are very risky and dangerous, and the probability of an accident is ten-fold.

Many parents prefer their kids do not ride bikes since its dangerous and cause much more harm as compared to them driving a car. Ive realized something that riding or driving is the most dangerous in our country, India. We do not have any road sense, we break the law at any given time if the traffic cop isn't around. We are habitual in breaking the law, like its in our genes to break the law and if caught, bribe our way out of it. But more than bribery, the bigger issue here is that why do we break the law so often, we do not decelerate while the signal changes from green to amber, we do not stop at a red signal, we do not give a turn indicator while changing lanes erratically.... Where is this behavior coming from???? We ride/drive in the wrong lanes causing discomfort to others, do not bother if pedestrians are crossing the road, not even at a zebra crossing. Its very irritating when the guy in front of you showers you with his saliva blessings and gives you a brand new look to your clothes. We just do not have any road nor civic sense, we just do not have any patience to let the other person go ahead, it is me who has to be ahead, not anybody else, this is the attitude of most motorists. 

We do not realize that when we break the law its not us whose lives we put in danger, but putting other motorists / pedestrians at detrimental risk. The other day I came across a green signal and was to take a right turn, a car approached from the other side on a red signal, not wanting to wait, and then we were just close to kissing each other. But unfortunately the brakes were applied by both parties and we were denied a kiss. Damn... We both stopped and I went closer to the driver and told him " Boss, kiska signal hai" Whose signal is it???? I was so angry at him for not stopping at the red signal, that I wanted to bash him up and break his head. We both had to break hard to avoid a nasty collision, else it would have been much more worse. But then looking at the other passengers in the car I decided to move on. This guy was traveling with his family, and jumping the signal, putting not only his but also his family's life at risk. 

On my way home I started thinking to myself, does the colors green & red serve any purpose while you are driving / riding, when we decide to break the law and act like as if we are the kings of the road and drive and stop anywhere like we own them. Why do we end up doing this, we do not have a zilch of patience in us, we are always in a hurry to get somewhere even if we arent. Knowing what we are doing is equally dangerous and can get us killed or atleast get us handicapped for life. There's a reason why the back of the Driving license has a message which says "DRIVING IS A PRIVILEGE, NOT A RIGHT", but I guess we drive like as if its our birthright...

I've realised something that while driving at a signal, its a choice we make when the signal is RED to stop or continue driving , but when its GREEN, there are no choices to be made. We will never stop at a GREEN signal unless theres traffic. If we do not stop at RED, we automatically are responsible for any accident that may occur and end up causing damage to either property, other vehicles or humans for that matter. We do not realise our simple mistake could be fatal to ourselves and others too. 

I've been to a couple of countries where road sense is taken seriously and we Indians have a long way to get there. Its really beautiful to see drivers actually stopping to let pedestrians cross the road, keeping their distance from other vehicles, giving indicators when they change lanes and always stopping at a red signal. We need to inculcate good driving habits for our safety and that of the pedestrians. Somewhere our safety is not really as important as that of the pedestrians walking or other motorists on the road. But hopefully if we imbibe some road sense in our day-to-day driving / riding we could avoid the innumerable accidents that keep happening in our cities. All I can say is that patience is the one key thing which can help make us better drivers & riders. So lets enjoy our driving / riding and make it a safer place for other motorists and pedestrians. Drive safe.

A beginning in the end...2011!!!

2011 has been quite a bummer for me. Its October now and I havnt been on a single bike trip with my buddies. Reason being that first of all after my accident in January, it took forever to get my bike fixed, considering the super service that I got from Royal Enfield and secondly, fact of the matter is that we all have been very busy and just do not find enough time to plan for one. Every time a plan has been made it just does'nt seem to work out. And since my Percept days most of us have moved on to other agencies and co-ordination becomes a pain, but we managed to make a few trips last year.

I came across a few fellow Enfield owners in my new office and there was some glimmer of hope that was poking me in my head, that maybe we all could plan a trip one day. Anyway since I was new in the organisation I wouldnt know if few of them went on a road trip. But then some how a colleague of mine asked me whether I would be interested in going on one. I had some other plans for the weekend, but then I knew I really wanted to go for this one. 1st of October was the date and we decided to go somewhere close to Bombay, we decided to go to Lonavla which is some 80-90 odd kilometers from here.

As usual we decided to leave around 7AM, and knowing us Indians follow the IST we finally began our journey to Lonavla at 8AM from Vashi. Whats amazing was that we had 6 Enfield's and 3 Unicorns, and the best being we had one woman rider amongst us. I've always admired women who ride bikes, they are much better than women who drive cars. It was an amazing feeling that we had so many riders amongst us and it felt good to be back on the road on my Enfield. It was almost after 10 months that I had gone on a long ride with fellow bikers. Its a feel good factor for me since this is my favourite thing to do on weekends, though its not possible to do it every weekend, but nevertheless it was awesome.

We reached Lonavla around 11.30AM and we were looking for a place to park ourselves. I suggested we go to this beautiful place called Pavna Lake which is an artificial lake with scenic beauty all around it. The climate around the lake is cool and it was the perfect place to chill after riding for a couple oh hours. Once we reached Pavna lake it was just breathtaking, the greenery, serene beauty, the awesome feeling amidst nature. Its just a lil surprising to know that a place like this exists in Lonavla, considering all the other favorite, super-crowded places like Bushi Dam, Lions Point, etc...

This was a perfect place for us to photoshoot our bikes, it was just amazing lining our bikes in a certain order to be photographed. Everyone just got busy snapping their machines in every possible angles. It looked like a harley had come to town and everyone was going ga-ga over clicking pictures of it. I too got into the mode of clicking pictures of my Enfield, trying different angles, etc. Well you never get to see 6 Enfield's parked amidst the lush greens that often now... do ya???. In the end it was time to head back home, since the afternoon heat was getting to us and our tummies were growling for some food.

Well its never too late for a looong ride, though I missed going on one during the monsoons, that would have really been the icing on the cake if that had to happen. Its a super awesome feeling riding in the rains, hope I get to keep the momentum going from now on, i.e one bike trip every month to a new destination.

Ride safe....

Road Rage..!!!!!

Off late, there have been numerous reports on the way our infamous roads get repaired or redone. Especially during the monsoons the situation gets worse, and this happens year after year. Don't exactly know what the BMC's intentions are when they go about constructing new roads or flyovers. The newspapers are flooded with the no. of potholes in the city. They give a deadline of getting them repaired and once the repair work is done, another rain deluge worsens the situation. Add to that the no. of vehicles which ply the roads, just damages the roads no end.

I recently had a small incident, thanks to the stupid manhole covers, no I didn't have an accident, but my bike was damaged because of the amazing maintenance work done by our BMC. The damaged concrete manhole covers punctured my tyre & my tyre rim was damaged. Who the fuck is gonna pay for this now, obviously not the BMC. They are not bothered what happens to the public at large, just interested in filling their pockets through the illegal contract given to the construction agencies.

People travelling in cars, bikes, auto-rickshaws are the ones who bear the brunt everyday travelling to their work places. The worst thing is that every year there is some or the other road repair or digging that happens which inconveniences the public at large, and its during the monsoons that it is at its peak. The major roads are concreted, and there is some sigh of relief for a temporary period of time. Its not for long that this newly concreted road gets the drilling machine piercing its hard ass surface.

What irritates me more is that the way the maintenance work is carried out, there is no sort of quality control that happens. After a certain road is dug, be it concrete or regular tar, the repair work is guaranteed to worsen. There is no sense or restoring the dug road to its original appearance. The bumps will not disrupt traffic, rather the careless attitude is that its done at the end of the day. There is no consideration to the thousands of vehicles which will be going over these bumps, cause the BMC have forgotten that these vehicles are driven by humans, and one more bump will not cause much of harm. This lackadaisical attitude is irks me a lot... Grrrrr!!!!

For eg. when the government announced that skywalks be constructed at every station making it convenient for the commuters to walk freely, few were constructed, some the foundation was laid and later on demolished because of public outrage or some protest. Today the status of these skywalks is that its barely used and TOI carried a picture with a cow resting on one of them. All that money gone down the drain, nothing new that has happened!

When will this end, frankly speaking....NEVER....... cause this is the BMC's way to keep the employment circle running, else we would have half of the population unemployed. The citizens are going to suffer with every year and the no. of people travelling by car will also never see a drop. Things are just gonna worsen day after day. Flyovers will be constructed, new roads being developed and the perpetual road repair works.... will continue till we die..... I see no hope of our infrastructure ever seeing an improvement....PERIOD!!!

2011 Highlight... My Middle Finger!!!

2011, a brand New year. We look forward to new ambitions, new desires, challenges, aspirations to push ourselves so that we make the best of what will be offered to us in the New Year. I too was looking at it with renewed vigour, 2010 was an OK year for me, but then it wasn't that bad either. My resolution was to ensure that I come out of my laziness which had dragged me into the ground in 2010, had to push myself and ensure I don't repeat another 2010.

I was on vacation in Goa, quit my job and was looking forward to the new place where I had got in. I had ample of time to unwind my tired mind before I get into the rat race again. A week of madness n mayhem in Goa, with a dash of relaxation just to be a lil considerate to my body, and another week at home lazing around waiting for my first day at the new place. Was thinking to myself, I must be the luckiest person to get a long break in-between jobs, and was being mesmerized with the whole thought. Its just a great feeling to actually be relaxed when you know that you are gonna slog your ass off in your next job. So its refreshing and you have an opportunity to rejuvenate yourself before the next rat race.

On the 5th day I left late from office and was heading home on my Enfield bullet, since I've been traveling to office on the bike ever since I started my career. I was riding down the new King's Circle flyover, when I had to change lanes due to some maintenance work on the street lights and get onto the next flyover. I was behind a four-wheeler, so I decided to overtake from the left side. I looked in the left mirror just to check if there is any vehicle coming from the left side, before I could look back on the road, I hit something really hard. I was seeing the sky & the road turning upside down, rolling over in the middle of the road. Me lying on the road with the bike a few meters away from me I knew I was in deep shit. I knew it was a bad accident, I got up on my own and started looking at the damage on me, couple of riders stopped to help me and check on me. Slowly the pain was saying hi and I was looking at the injuries to me, my right hand middle finger was bleeding from the nail, my left leg ankle was paining and I was struggling to take a step ahead. My left shoulder was in excruciating pain and I was hoping I hadn't cracked my shoulder. So I tried to lift it but with a lot of pain and difficulty I managed to move it up, and I was hoping it wouldn't be a hairline fracture.

Other riders help me walk to my bike while others lifted it, and I was assessing the damage caused due to my 3 seconds of looking into the mirror. It was fucked up and I knew for the second time it was a bad ass accident. I was just wondering why now, at the beginning of the year do I get punished, what did I do that gave me such a jolt. I called up a friend who lived close to where the accident had taken place, he helped get to the doc, and after telling him where I was hurt, I realized I might have fractured my right hand middle finger.

The next day I visited the hospital, and got an x-ray done. The doc confirmed it was a fracture and that I would have to undergo surgery to get it fixed. Monday morning was my appointment for the surgery, I was calm since the doctor had said that it would be a 25min procedure and it would be a local anesthesia. As I watched the doctor drill wires in my finger, I was reminiscing my fateful accident and just wasn't able to get over it. I took me a few days to get over the whole episode of my accident since it would just keep coming in my head.

Its been 3 months since the accident and even today while my bike is still at the garage getting repaired, I pass through the accident spot at Sion everyday and pray that i'm really fortunate that I escaped the accident with only a minor finger fracture, though its consequences I will have to live for the rest of my life...

Drive / Ride safe people, it aint worth it... Trust me on this.