A new life

It has been a long time since I have blogged. Life is moving like a machine oriented nowadays.

Waking up at 7 AM. Have tea from shop and spent some time on internet. Get ready and be in office by 9 PM. Do all the official things over there and then come to room by 7 PM and again sit infront of the laptop for 1 hour. Its time for dinner. Comback and watch some movies and then sleep by 12.

The same story is repeating for the past 2 months. Need to change the life style a bit.

Heres the new list of events.

1. Wakeup by 6 AM.
2. Do a small exercise or go for walk/jogging.
3. Have Tea.
4. Spent time in readying the newspaper.
5. Get ready to go to office and bla bla bla in office.
6. Come back to room. Spent some time infront of the TV by watching channels like Cartoons, Sports and Nature.
7. Spent time in some activities like Music, Photography, Cooking, etc etc
8. Have dinner and take a bit relax once again.
8. Have a sound sleep. Good night.

In the week end, have some activities which are not related to your daily schedule. You will get a peace of mind.

This are the new things. Dont know very sure if this new things will be pratical.

Slowly have to reduce the usage of Facebook, Twitter and reduce the usage of internet.

Hoping for the best.

Burning Platform – a short story

A man was working on an oil platform in the North Sea. He woke up one night from a loud explosion, which suddenly set his entire oil platform on fire. In mere moments, he was surrounded by flames. Through the smoke and heat, he barely made his way out of the chaos to the platform’s edge. When he looked down over the edge, all he could see were the dark, cold, foreboding Atlantic waters.

As the fire approached him, the man had mere seconds to react. He could stand on the platform, and inevitably be consumed by the burning flames. Or, he could plunge 30 meters in to the freezing waters. The man was standing upon a “burning platform,” and he needed to make a choice.

He decided to jump. It was unexpected. In ordinary circumstances, the man would never consider plunging into icy waters. But these were not ordinary times – his platform was on fire. The man survived the fall and the waters. After he was rescued, he noted that a “burning platform” caused a radical change in his behaviour.

We are standing on a “burning platform,” and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour.

Mundanthurai – Unrevealed heaven of South TamilNadu

We are planning to go to Mundanthurai this week end. A brief intro is required. I had been upto the manimuthar water falls but not after that. It is situated near southern tip of western ghats. Lots & lots of greenery – Tea plantation, where ever u go u can spot only one color that is green.

Height is 6000ft
Temperature Very chill
Road condition Poor

Date of journey : 15/01/2011 – 16/01/2011

Places to be covered : Manimutaru waterfalls – Manjolai – Kakachi – Nalu mukku – Kuthirai vetti – Upper Kothaiyar – Kuttiyar

Transportation : Chevrolet Tavera

Number of persons : 6

Permission: Prior permission from forest department is compulsory if you are traveling by private vehicles. (Forest office is located at Ambasamudram – 04634254574)

Transport available: Government busses are available from Tirunelveli, Ambasamudram & Papanasam. Frequency of them is very less. So its better to arrange a private vehicle.

Please check these links

http://pkgaran.blogspot.com/2010/08/travelogue-manjolai-and-kudiraivetti.html

http://sshinu.blogspot.com/2009/03/manjolai-kodayar-8-03-09-mr.html

Divorce

Divorce. This word is now becomming most used.

Divorce rates are on the rise through out the world. Especially in India, there is a steady growth. In 5-10 years from now we can see a High Court of Divorce in every state. Probably in every district.

Whats the reason behind all these in a common mans point of view.

I do not wish to show any survey reports. Im not here to blame any one. Im writing the facts.

There are couple of reasons behind this.

Ego Clash – If the husband & wife are employed there would be a ego clash. Naturally every husband needs his wife & children to depend on him. This is a husband nature. When the wife starts to earn money and do not depend on the husband anymore regarding the financial aids the smoke would start from there. This will make the husband to get tensed and the smoke will get into flames. Moreover, if there the wife is in a top position compared to the husband there will be a clash for sure.

Dowry – Dowry cases in the villages is on the rise. If the wife dosent bring dowry the family members will try to fuse the husband and inreturn he will screw up his wife to bring more dowry and there would be a issue. It wont end in a divorce but there would be a friction between the two for a short span of time.

Suspicious – If any one among them have a disease in this, it would generate a problem. There are lots and lots of cases regarding this. Husband having a eye on his wife through some spy cameras installed in his house when hes off to work. Wife having a eye on her husband when hes in work with her friends. This is not at all a need. Every husband and wife knows each other well and they should be united in love. But instead through this will end up in serious issues.

Harrasment – When men gets angry they do no know that they do. It will end up in physical harrasment. Any woman cannot tolerate the physical harrasment. They will move this issue to the police authorities and make the husband behind bars. Some times the physical harasment will bring in the death of the woman. Just to coverup this he may try to make some false stories and atlast one final day he will be behind the bars.

Test drive of TATA Aria

I had a privilege to test drive a TATA Aria. Its a top end variant. It is Pride.

The first thing which I noticed in this vehicle by appearance is, the design is inspired from many vehicles.

Front looks – similar to Manza
Side looks – similar to Innova & CRV
Rear looks – similar to Sumo Grande

The sales person had explained me all the features in this vehicle. It has got almost all of the features that a hardcore driver needs it.

Now comes my drive.

I turned the engine on. Since its a 2.2 Dicor engine, I could guess that the engine is silent than the Safari Dicor 2.2. The engine is further tuned by the JLR team who had done the final touches of this vehicle.

I had a 5 kms drive in it. The clutch is so smooth. The gear shift is like a feather touch. I had even tried it with my finger. When I started to drive in the second gear I could feel there is a bit lag in it. Dont know what is it. Asked the sales guy about it he said its fine. Now I crossed over a bumper, I could feel the suspension effect from the front as well as from the rear. Awesome. I could feel the suspension is better than the Safari. Even the suspension is better than the Innova. Breaking is perfect.

Now I tried with a complete round turn. I could not able to feel my body movement which is similar to that of Innova. In Safari I could feel it. I can able to free myself in the vehicle and drive it. Its a drivers paradise. The AC is also good not up the effect like the Indica V2. The 2nd & 3rd row AC can be controlled from the middle seat. It has a inbuilt GPS Navigator. There is a reverse assistence camera. Its good. The driving visibility is superb. The driving is also good. It has got the 17″ wheels with alloy. The beige interiors in it would be a perfect choice. I had a chance to sit in the middle seat and have a drive. Its fantastic.

Overall the test drive is really good.

TATA has learned a lot from its previous mistakes. Learn from your mistakes. Dont try to hide yourself from it. TATA is doing this. Kudos to them.

But I felt some thing has gone in this vehicle.
One is the price. Since its 17 lakh plus for the top end model, a common man thinks that hes not ready to spend this much amount for this vehicle.
Second is the looks. Since it has borrowed the looks from various vehicles we can able to find it. If TATA had gone for a fresh design it would be superb. Anyways looks dosent matters only performance do.
Third is the panel gaps. They should have taken some extra efforts to sort this issue as this comes in a premium brand.
Fourth is the interior plastic quality. Its actually far far better than the quality in safari & manza. Since this comes in a premium brand they should have put some good quality.
Fifth is the Entertainment. They should have put some quality speakers to experience the power of music.

Overall its a excellent vehicle from TATA.

A Car drive to Chennai

Driving is my passion. Going for long journey in car or bus or train is my favorite right from my childhood days. I remember during my 4th standard when i used to go to my Uncles house in Hosur during the summer holidays in bus i never used to sleep at night. I used to watch all the vehicles passing by.

I used to travel to chennai very often in car in the recent years. The travel would be in day. We will start at 6 AM in the morning and reach Chennai by 3-4 PM. I always used to think I should make a ride during night. But I got a chance to do a night ride in car on Nov 12.

I returned from office to home at 7 PM. Just spent 1 hour with my kid. Packed off things and started my 7 month old Indigo Manza. Since i knew all the places clearly i never had any confusion. My dad & myself are the lone travelers this time.

We started from home by 8 PM. Had to spent some time in Nagercoil town for purchasing some food items. We had to spent some more time in a Fuel Pump station to fill it up. And by 9:15 PM we are geared up for chennai.

Plugged in my 4 GB memory card in the Audio Player to play the old collection of songs by TMS, Sirkali, SPB, Janaki, Chitra, Jesudhas. I always love to hear to old songs during travel.

The road from Kanyakumari to Chennai is awesome. Initially after crossing I felt a bit that we should have travelled in day time. Its coz of a mild sleep. I had a hectic works in office and then immediately for another adventure. I was traveling in a average speed of 100-110 KMPH in Manza. Since there is a Mileage Indicator in Manza, I can able to know what mileage Im getting. So in this condition the reading says “19.3″. Its not bad. The AC was on and the speed was 100+.

We crossed many towns on the way. I used to overtake all vehicles on the way except two. One is a SRM Volvo and another one is a Parveen Travels Mercedes Benz Bus. They flew like a rocket. No signs of where it had gone. Anyways, my manza is just a 1400 CC car and it has no matching with them.

I was cruising at 100 KM speed. All of a sudden there was a sudden downpour of rain just before madurai. It was a heavy rain. I cant see anything in the front. So I had to slowdown the speed to 70 KMPH for nearly 20 kms. And then after crossing the Thirumangalam bypass the rains stopped.

In madurai there are lots of toll gates in the outer ring road. The road was good in the outer ring road. When i reached the last toll gate the time was 12 AM. oh my god, had traveled 250 KMS in 3 hours. Quite fast enough I think. My Dad was sleeping most of the time.

Drove the car in the Trichy road. The road was really awesome. We stopped for a small tea break by 1:30. I planned to take a short nap and my dad started to ride. He was bit slow. But anyways, it was ok. By 2:30 I woke up and then I made him to sleep and then I started to drive it. By that time we have crossed trichy. There were lots of toll booths in the highway. We had to buy a return ticket as we will be returning from chennai in the same day. Overtaking in the highways is so easy. Since its a one way we can overtake in the left or right. But rule says only in right. But the heavy laden lorries will be traveling most of the time in the right side and no one has the patience for them to go to the left. So we never mind it.

At one instance I was trying to overtake a speeding lorry from left. I was giving him a passing through light and all of a sudden he turned to his left. I immediately pulled to a extreme left and slowed down the car. The lorry driver also slowed down and he immediately turned to his right. Then i thought have to be careful from now on.

There was lots of places on the way and I don’t remember the time & place where I was passing though. All I remember is the drive and the songs. By 6 AM we were into the outer ring road in Chennai and by 6:30 we were in the destination at my sisters house.

Spent some time with her kids and planned to take some rest from 11 AM – 2 PM. Had a heavy lunch and then again we started to home by 3 PM.

There was a huge traffic in Porur. Seems like some over-bridge construction is going on. By 3:30 we were into the NH. Since we bought the return toll tickets, we just need to show them they let us pass. For another 1 hour untill we crossed the Ford Car Factory cant able to cross beyond the 80 KM speed mark. And then again back into action.

By 9 PM we were in Madurai. We planned to take a rest for 1 hour. We had a dinner in a highway restaurant. Food was excellent. Love to have it from there next time. My dad now started to drive the car for one hour and I planned to take some rest. He missed a road and instead he was going into Thirumangalam town. He was bit confused in the direction he was traveling. He woke me up. And then we got back to the right track. He rode for another 30 min and gave me to control over it by 10:45. There was very less number of vehicles in the Madurai – Kanyakumari road at night. So I was speeding in 110 KMPH. After crossing Tirunelveli, there was a loud sound horn from behind. I was going in the same track. And he was giving me more sound. I thought the highway police would have given it and I immediately turned the car to the left and slowed down a bit and to my shock a TATA NANO car passed by. oh my goodness, a 600 CC car overtook my 1400  CC car. After some time i over took it and by 1 AM we were in the Nagercoil town. Stopped by a road side shop to have a tea and then drove back to home by 1:45 we reached home.

It was a wonderful journey. By Almost to 28 hours we drove 1600 KMS.

The hero of the entire journey is my TATA INDIGO MANZA. I never felt any kind of tired. The riding comfort was excellent. In fact I spent months of time before zeroing down to this car. The average mileage that i got from it is 20.2 with full AC. We never switched off the AC.

Finally, one of my dream to drive at night is fulfilled.

Planning to take a drive from Chennai to Kanyakumari by mid of December and another return trip to Bangalore during the first of Feb 2011.

Common Wealth Games or Corruption Wicked Greedy ?

CWG or Common Weath Games is now a hot topic in India and across the world too.

Is India capable of hosting such a mega event.

Yes. India is capable of hosting such a big event. Many people may disagree to it. i would say Yes India is capable.

But what went wrong ? Why such a huge mess now.

The answer is so simple and the answer is just in a single word.

its CORRUPTION.

Every govt officials who gives tender to private firms for construction or any sort of work needs some small commission to his pocket. I should not say as a small commission its BIG Commission. The contractors who does the work uses such a low quality of materials and they doesnt ensure that that the work is perfect. What every one needs is huge money in their pocket. There is now followups of the works when its underway or halfway through. All these govt officials run to each and every contractor and begs for money. None cares about a National Pride of hosting this game. What all these govt officials gets united is CORRUPTION.

Scotland is ready for the CWG in 2014 now itself. Kalmadi, do u hear this ?
Im sure that the 2010 CWG stadiums and the accomodation will not be ready even by this century.

If the whole project must have been given to the construction majors in India, Im damn sure that should have finished in time and there would be no mess.

All the Old Men in the govt should be sacked and sent to home. Its these people who promote corruption in India and they are the ones who makes the future generation to spoilt. of course they also tarnish the image of India.

A small country like South Africa was able to host Football world cup, Cricket world cup, T20 World Cup without any issues. But just see our CWG 2010. All the top officials who worked in this project should be sent back to home. There should be a raid on their property too. The corrupted money should go to the poor people who starve for their daily life.

Corruption has been working from Suresh Kalmadi till the office boy I believe. The total budget have exceeded Rs. 40,000 crores. Oh my God… Whos money is it ? its all our tax that we pay to the govt.

Im sure many people of India should have cursed the Govt Officials and the Contractors who have worked on this. Will they be happy to live with this money ? No… some day or other they get cursed.

Younger generation… please try to lift the name of India and make India to shine.

Say No to Harthal, Bandh, Strike

Strike !!! Bandh !!! Harthal !!!

These words are now common in India. For whatever things the govt do against the people, the opposition parties, mainly the left use these words. Also the unions do these sort of things.

Is it worth in going for a strike ?

It may sound good some times but 90% its totally a waste. The good thing is, it is to show the peoples cry against the govt. But what ever the people say the govt wont heed to it. What ever party which comes to power, they take their own idea. They never or ever heed to the advice/suggestions from the people. So its waste of speaking to the govt. Political parties do it just for their vote. cos they will tell to the people proudly that they have conducted a strike. shame on these parties.

one of the bad thing is that common people, especially the poor people will get affected a lot. Some people work for their daily wages. Since they are unable to go for their work their one day income will be lost. I have seen some small shops who have a least income get affected bcos of this bandh.

We people in India should stay away from strike/bandh. We people should make the political parties that we never or ever follow their strategy. we ppl as a Indian, should think abt the development of our country rather than helping the parties to give a big financial loss of one day.

its all in the hands of the young generation. we shud teach our generation, to say NO TO STRIKE / BANDH / HARTHALS.

Buying Experience of TATA Indigo Manza

im very happy to write the review of manza and the situation that made me to own it.

i had earlier owned a Indica V2 2005 model. And now I thought to buy a sedan. I was focussing

on a sedan which will have a VFM.

I have to choose the right candidate out of this following.

Indigo Manza
Dzire
Ikon
Logan
Accent.

In the initial screenup Ikon & Logan was out of the sceen as Ikon is outdated  India and Logan is

really outdated by its looks and even the Accent too. In the case of Ikon u need to start a bank

account for it. I mean the cost of spares. Its damn high.

Now I have to choose Manza/Dzire.

I had TD both the cars. I will write down the Positives & Negatives of both the cars.

Positives of Manza.

1. Spaceous.
2. Fresh New Look.
3. VFM with all its new gadgets.
4. Rear seats inclined to 28 deg same as in Benz S Class.
5. Quadrajet Engine.
6. Spaceous Rear seats.
7. Good dashboard with its center console inspired from Linea.
8. Good Driving as well as travelling comfort.
9. Big Boot. (like a mini bed room)
10. Good Mileage.
11. In the top gear she is the KING OF THE ROAD.

Negatives of Manza

1. Interior Plastic. But still a miles ahead from the Old Indigo
2. AC is not upto the mark compared with the Old Indigo.
3. Audio controls in the steering wheel is so small.
4. The font size in the meters is so small it will take some time to adjust.
5. Engine Sound. (bit high compared with dzire)
6. Rattling sounds. (it happens in indian roads)
7. Initial Lag in the first & second gear

Positives of Dzire.

1. Drivers car.
2. Good Pickup & Mileage.
3. Service center.
4. Interior Plastics.
5. Mileage

Negatives of Dzire.

1. Ugly rear looks.
2. No rear seat space.
3. Boot space.
4. Interior colors.

I was reading the reviews by googling various sites. Many users have given a good thumps up to

the dzire as compared to the Manza thinking that its a TATA product.

I had test drived both the cars well. by taking into account each and every things in both the

cars the race is getting heated up according to my taste.

I was thinking in these situation.
– I can own a manza by adjusting myself to the interior plastics which is of normal quality.
– i can own a dzire by adjusting to its rear looks.

somethings which i find in dzire which is not at all suits me is the rear seat space & the ugly rear

looks. its like fitting a box in the back side of a duck. over all dzire is not designed as a proper

sedan. but for the manza, it looks like a proper sedan. ofcourse, TATA always designs their

products well compared with others.

i was almost in a situation to select the manza and then i enquired abt the delivery of dzire &

manza. i was told for manza that i wil get it in 2 weeks but when i enquired abt dzire they told it

may take upto 6 months and that too its not confirmed.

i was in a situation that to select a premium hatch back like i20/figo/fabia or go in for SUV/MUV.

but Manza never goes out of my mind. it started to be in my heart.

i started to go in for TD & read some reviews abt the Manza once again and ask some owners of

manza in person. i was so happy to hear that every one like their product except some small

nigles which can be adjustable. one guy told me that he was able to drive his manza with a top

speed of 180. but when he drove at the same speed in a Dzire, the car was totally out of

control. one guy told me that he was driving at a speed of 120 with the windows open. he had a

doubt if the engine is working or not. he was meaning that the engine is so silent. so i had a lots

of positive notes for Manza.

no one makes a 100% error free product even Audi or BMW or Lincoln. there will be some or any

chance of small niggles.

i booked a manza quadrajet Aura ABS model and i got it delivered in 2 weeks time. I choosed the

Wine Red color. This color will find its indentity in the crowd of cars.

I have now covered almost 200 kms in my car. Im planning to do some short rounds upto 1000

kms and then service it and then go in for a long drive after that.

There are some VFM gadgets in this cars like

1.Bluetooth enabled Phone.
2. Mileage indicator and various other stuff in the dash.
3. twin lights in the car.
4. spaceous glovebox with lights.
and much more.

I will once again update after my 1000 kms of service and then the long trip after that.

Once again, Im really a happy customer of Manza. It rocks….

iCloud

iCloud is a unique website that turns your web browser into online cloud-based computer desktop, which allow you to store not just your files online but also direct access to your icloud-storage from Windows Explorer with WebDAV .

Features:

• Online file system for storing all file types
• Easily share calendars with your friends and family
• Microsoft Word 97-2003 compatible document editor
• Free icloud email account
• Easily save incoming attachments to your icloud desktop
• Create personal and group ToDo-lists
• Share music and playlists with friends
• Play your favorite mp3s from any computer anywhere
• Easily Share files from your icloud desktop
• Organize your RSS feeds
• IDE (Integrated Development Environment)
• API documentation and XML Editor
• Online Calculator ,Notepad and Unzip archive.