Pulsar....the revolution in Indian biking...
I am always a fan of Bajaj RnD and their breakthrough - Pulsar....definitely male and distinctively ahead!
All in One
Bajaj Avenger, based on Pulsar's muscle power...
Latest on the block...freebiking pulsar 200
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Bird's Eye View in the past
It was usual day at work and the net-treading landed me on http://maps.live.com
The bird's eye view feature is something amazing that I came across after long time!
Here is a trip back in time to see places I had been in USA....BTW, The F-16 as my profile pic on Orkut while this post was being drafted is just a coincidence...I don't own it yet but I still can fly low when I ride my love-bike.... ;)
Lufthansa Terminal at Logan Internation Airport, Boston, USA
Logon International Airport, Boston, USA
Ted Williams Tunnel (goes below this water channel)
Home in USA
First mall of USA
Westborough Water Tank
EMC Hopkinton...headquarters of the storage lords
EMC Westborough
Wow...feel its just yesterday I had been there...!
The bird's eye view feature is something amazing that I came across after long time!
Here is a trip back in time to see places I had been in USA....BTW, The F-16 as my profile pic on Orkut while this post was being drafted is just a coincidence...I don't own it yet but I still can fly low when I ride my love-bike.... ;)
Lufthansa Terminal at Logan Internation Airport, Boston, USA
Logon International Airport, Boston, USA
Ted Williams Tunnel (goes below this water channel)
Home in USA
First mall of USA
Westborough Water Tank
EMC Hopkinton...headquarters of the storage lords
EMC Westborough
Wow...feel its just yesterday I had been there...!
Sunday, February 04, 2007
600 kms, 6 days, 2 wheels, 1 man!
It was after a long time that I decided to make a trip on my beloved bike to Mumbai. Ocassion? a long weekend was coming on 26/27/28th Jan. Adding to that, my two complimentary offs made it a stretched week-off.
I decided to leave on Tuesday from office directly. It was a sneaky exit from office since there was a meeting scheduled at 3 which I did not want to attend :-) With my usual trekking sack on back, I left at 2 Sharp. Next 5 days were going to be marvelous.
Getting out of Pune was boring, thanks to congested roads and undesciplined traffic. Those just 40kms till Dehuroad took exactly one hour! Once Dehuroad camp is left behind, the road opens up the fun. Oh ya, be cautious in the Dehu Camp area. Its quiet narrow road compared to rest of the journey and truckies and cars on road compete for dangerous overtaking.
Road from Dehuroad to Lonavala is quiet straight patch so it was good to open up the throttle. Bike was already warmed up by dodging peds and bikes on Pune streets. Lonavala comes up in just 30 mins from there.
Lonavala was first halt per se. Time for a coffee at the main Lonavala signal. Dont remember the name of the hotel but I usually halt here. And menu choice is always a cup of coffee :-)
Road that goes next to Lonavala station is always facinating, dont know why, maybe cause it closely parallels the railroad. And next 30 kms of stretch is ultimate. curvy and steap descend starting from Rajmachi point, getting on top of the hills on Amrutanjan bridge and then entering Expressway at a steep curve....its the most exciting part of the whole journey I would say. Speeding sounds fun but after a straight patch it rather gets boring.
Expressway is common between Lonavala and Khandala for all the vehicles. But it offers less fun to speeding cause its just the curves. Thankfully there is a tunnel before Khandala exit. I wanted to ride inside tunnel, putting on blinkers (yeah, I just got blinker switch on my bike that lets me turn both of them on at once, like the hazard blinkers on cars).
It feels very sad when the Khandala exit approaches...who wouldnt want to ride expressway all the way till Mumbai!
Khopoli comes soon and then Mahad Temple. After a quick halt there, Road to Panvel starts. This is a great stretch again. Properly laid out and divided tarmac. You can me most quickest to pass this on, without getting the needle drop below 80 on curves.
Once you pass on Panvel, you reach congested roads of Navi Mumbai. Thane Belapur road is being concretized. It was never a road per se but now its become quiet worse. Hope things will change when the conversion is complete.
After an unexpected jam on Eastern express highway near Mulund, It was sharp 6 when I reached home in Thane. phew! exact 4 hours.
Next 4 days was fun. I could go and meet lots of people and complete long pending meetings :-) It was a different feeling when I could see all vehicles around registered with MH-04/MH-02 plates...and there is something I can only attempt on Mumbai - timetravel! Wait till I blog about that next :-)
Okay, now time to go back to Pune. Journey was good..started at 7.30 in morning. Didnt took long to reach Panvel and then Lonavala...There is a tea stop on the top of Khanadala ghat. Its accessible only when going towards Pune. Bike can be parked. You can sip hot tea and enjoy the halt.
The trip ended exactly after 4 hours when I reached Pune. It was a needed break I was looking for.
Hope to do more such runs to new places soon...thats the Globe Treading spirit...!!!
I decided to leave on Tuesday from office directly. It was a sneaky exit from office since there was a meeting scheduled at 3 which I did not want to attend :-) With my usual trekking sack on back, I left at 2 Sharp. Next 5 days were going to be marvelous.
Getting out of Pune was boring, thanks to congested roads and undesciplined traffic. Those just 40kms till Dehuroad took exactly one hour! Once Dehuroad camp is left behind, the road opens up the fun. Oh ya, be cautious in the Dehu Camp area. Its quiet narrow road compared to rest of the journey and truckies and cars on road compete for dangerous overtaking.
Road from Dehuroad to Lonavala is quiet straight patch so it was good to open up the throttle. Bike was already warmed up by dodging peds and bikes on Pune streets. Lonavala comes up in just 30 mins from there.
Lonavala was first halt per se. Time for a coffee at the main Lonavala signal. Dont remember the name of the hotel but I usually halt here. And menu choice is always a cup of coffee :-)
Road that goes next to Lonavala station is always facinating, dont know why, maybe cause it closely parallels the railroad. And next 30 kms of stretch is ultimate. curvy and steap descend starting from Rajmachi point, getting on top of the hills on Amrutanjan bridge and then entering Expressway at a steep curve....its the most exciting part of the whole journey I would say. Speeding sounds fun but after a straight patch it rather gets boring.
Expressway is common between Lonavala and Khandala for all the vehicles. But it offers less fun to speeding cause its just the curves. Thankfully there is a tunnel before Khandala exit. I wanted to ride inside tunnel, putting on blinkers (yeah, I just got blinker switch on my bike that lets me turn both of them on at once, like the hazard blinkers on cars).
It feels very sad when the Khandala exit approaches...who wouldnt want to ride expressway all the way till Mumbai!
Khopoli comes soon and then Mahad Temple. After a quick halt there, Road to Panvel starts. This is a great stretch again. Properly laid out and divided tarmac. You can me most quickest to pass this on, without getting the needle drop below 80 on curves.
Once you pass on Panvel, you reach congested roads of Navi Mumbai. Thane Belapur road is being concretized. It was never a road per se but now its become quiet worse. Hope things will change when the conversion is complete.
After an unexpected jam on Eastern express highway near Mulund, It was sharp 6 when I reached home in Thane. phew! exact 4 hours.
Next 4 days was fun. I could go and meet lots of people and complete long pending meetings :-) It was a different feeling when I could see all vehicles around registered with MH-04/MH-02 plates...and there is something I can only attempt on Mumbai - timetravel! Wait till I blog about that next :-)
Okay, now time to go back to Pune. Journey was good..started at 7.30 in morning. Didnt took long to reach Panvel and then Lonavala...There is a tea stop on the top of Khanadala ghat. Its accessible only when going towards Pune. Bike can be parked. You can sip hot tea and enjoy the halt.
The trip ended exactly after 4 hours when I reached Pune. It was a needed break I was looking for.
Hope to do more such runs to new places soon...thats the Globe Treading spirit...!!!
Friday, December 29, 2006
orkut is under construction. please check back soon (=
OMG!I came to office in the morning today and as a habit refreshed my ORKUT window left on from yesterday.
To my horror, I hit the "orkut is under construction. please check back soon (=" screen!
Thinking it could be temporary glitch as usual, I kept refreshing. But alas! its still down after 12 hours! No communication from Google yet so that was more frustrating. Seems like a non-user friendly move from Orkut team.
What could be the cause? Maybe someone didnt do the upgrade drill properly...and screwed up himself and sight...he is sure to get a sore ass tonight LOL.
Or a virus or cracker attack? This certainly isnt a planned downtime.
I guess this is first time any prestigious site is down for so long in unplanned manner.
Would definitely like to know in details what caused the mess....
We need to change our Heroes
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=215063
This is a news published somewhere at the bottom of a local newspaper.
A saloon owner in Pune married a prostitute rescued from a brothel! A a small news, quiet unnoticeable without any photos.
He saw the girl in brothel and fell in love with her. Later when the girl was rescued from the brothel, he persisted for more than 2 years for her. His efforts won at the end and they both got married now. Not surprisingly her parents have disowned her after they came to know about her past.
The same story was behind a movie "baaghi". It came few years ago. Was not a major success but the people who made it, still got their money and people who watched didnt mind spending money to go and see it. The actors were still their favorite. But when such things happen in real life, people are hardly bothered.
A casual look at the newspaper shows 2 prominent clicks - Vilasrao Deshmukh waiving hand at crowd and Shrisant giving autograph to fans on SA ground.
Whats the connection?
Its quiet sad that there is a social stigma attached to various people in this country. Each of them would have dreams and hopes but not all come true. The society is so much divided with caste, community and other useless boundaries.
People often judge others by the work they do. And while not realising that every work is important, they carry forward their social beliefs to their next generations. Ironically, there are people in this country who take proud in being called backwards and claim reservation due to same!!!
The generation still grants the politicians, sportpersons (or just cricketers?) and filmstars a heroic status. Politicians keep dividing the country under social/caste barriers so that they continue to cheat the people and make money. Getting into cricket has become another business or a "Kaun banega Crorepati" (Who wants to be a millionare) contest. Once you are in, play a few matches, you are all set to act in ads, drink cola and mint money.
- Will ever a cola company come forward to sponser the saloon owner. The local police and NGO were the only one to sponser the marriage day treat and gift them utensils so that they can cook their daily food!
- When a politician is mis-treated by a foreigner sportsperson, his supporters fume in anger till an apology is seek. But do the supporters do anything beyond putting up posters of the politicians and dancing on tunes of their leader?
- Superstars advocate cola products and tell how safe they are. But do they realise that most people in india dont get safe drinking water everyday?
- People dont bother to check who is next to them in a movie theatre or a mall. But they dont tolerate anyone when it comes to going to a temple or a shrine.
- Cricketers get a ransom even if they dont perform for months and then there are numerous other athaletes who are yet to get their own house promised by Government.
There is often so much fuss over matter of pride than on matter of necessities. Will this stop anytime? I guess yes but I am afraid that it would be too late. But if its stopped on time, it would help the people and their own country a lot.
Its a general outcry that every generation hears: "The generation needs an awakening". But its often true. I also believe that the social heros must change. Infact the heros need to change their heros and turn their mind from money to people.
I would like to see the day When this country learns to treat their own people with respect and free them from social, communical, regional and economical shackles....I guess that day my country would be truly independant Republic Nation.
This is a news published somewhere at the bottom of a local newspaper.
A saloon owner in Pune married a prostitute rescued from a brothel! A a small news, quiet unnoticeable without any photos.
He saw the girl in brothel and fell in love with her. Later when the girl was rescued from the brothel, he persisted for more than 2 years for her. His efforts won at the end and they both got married now. Not surprisingly her parents have disowned her after they came to know about her past.
The same story was behind a movie "baaghi". It came few years ago. Was not a major success but the people who made it, still got their money and people who watched didnt mind spending money to go and see it. The actors were still their favorite. But when such things happen in real life, people are hardly bothered.
A casual look at the newspaper shows 2 prominent clicks - Vilasrao Deshmukh waiving hand at crowd and Shrisant giving autograph to fans on SA ground.
Whats the connection?
Its quiet sad that there is a social stigma attached to various people in this country. Each of them would have dreams and hopes but not all come true. The society is so much divided with caste, community and other useless boundaries.
People often judge others by the work they do. And while not realising that every work is important, they carry forward their social beliefs to their next generations. Ironically, there are people in this country who take proud in being called backwards and claim reservation due to same!!!
The generation still grants the politicians, sportpersons (or just cricketers?) and filmstars a heroic status. Politicians keep dividing the country under social/caste barriers so that they continue to cheat the people and make money. Getting into cricket has become another business or a "Kaun banega Crorepati" (Who wants to be a millionare) contest. Once you are in, play a few matches, you are all set to act in ads, drink cola and mint money.
- Will ever a cola company come forward to sponser the saloon owner. The local police and NGO were the only one to sponser the marriage day treat and gift them utensils so that they can cook their daily food!
- When a politician is mis-treated by a foreigner sportsperson, his supporters fume in anger till an apology is seek. But do the supporters do anything beyond putting up posters of the politicians and dancing on tunes of their leader?
- Superstars advocate cola products and tell how safe they are. But do they realise that most people in india dont get safe drinking water everyday?
- People dont bother to check who is next to them in a movie theatre or a mall. But they dont tolerate anyone when it comes to going to a temple or a shrine.
- Cricketers get a ransom even if they dont perform for months and then there are numerous other athaletes who are yet to get their own house promised by Government.
There is often so much fuss over matter of pride than on matter of necessities. Will this stop anytime? I guess yes but I am afraid that it would be too late. But if its stopped on time, it would help the people and their own country a lot.
Its a general outcry that every generation hears: "The generation needs an awakening". But its often true. I also believe that the social heros must change. Infact the heros need to change their heros and turn their mind from money to people.
I would like to see the day When this country learns to treat their own people with respect and free them from social, communical, regional and economical shackles....I guess that day my country would be truly independant Republic Nation.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Best and worst products in history
The 25 greatest PCs of all time
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/column/adc7f8c70a0104080147c3029db827f4/pg1.htm
The 100 best products of the year
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/column/adc7f8c70a0104080147c3029db827f4/pg1.htm
The 25 worst tech products of all time
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/column/ed7a76bf0a0104080036ef2108a2b0ea/pg0.htm
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/column/adc7f8c70a0104080147c3029db827f4/pg1.htm
The 100 best products of the year
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/column/adc7f8c70a0104080147c3029db827f4/pg1.htm
The 25 worst tech products of all time
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/column/ed7a76bf0a0104080036ef2108a2b0ea/pg0.htm
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
A lot more can go behind the screen when you text
Today is time for doing some research on predictive text input systems on Mobile phones.
I have used most mobiles phones available from different vendors. Didnt know that Nokia and others use the same algorithm (T9) but Nokia didnt use the name. Have used Motorola iTap too and found that quiet better.
Info about few systems...
T9 -
http://www.t9.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_%28predictive_text%29
iTap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITap
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itprnn/itap/
LetterWise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LetterWise
BTW, Do you remember the Infinite Monkeys Theorem, there is a cool site that relates to it and actually tries to find if it can be put to use :-)
http://www.infinitemonkeyproject.com
I have used most mobiles phones available from different vendors. Didnt know that Nokia and others use the same algorithm (T9) but Nokia didnt use the name. Have used Motorola iTap too and found that quiet better.
Info about few systems...
T9 -
http://www.t9.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_%28predictive_text%29
iTap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITap
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itprnn/itap/
LetterWise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LetterWise
BTW, Do you remember the Infinite Monkeys Theorem, there is a cool site that relates to it and actually tries to find if it can be put to use :-)
http://www.infinitemonkeyproject.com
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