Ride Time!

A short ride plan was made on BN - and within no time we had around 5-6 people signed on for the ride. A few calls from Nalin and we got a couple of guys more. The plan was made to meet at 7am at Joshi Vade Wala in Wakad.

"7am !" My wife said. "Why do you guys want to go there that early. "
"umm.. we always do rides early. By lunch places get really crowded with people getting up late and suddenly thinking of going places"

This time my wife was also joining with us. This was to be her 3rd Ride out of the city.

Work in the office was crazy. People were working through the night to achieve the ship deadline. We were working through the nights and also plan was to work through the weekend. I knew I was not going to get enough sleep - but thats fine. Something I am getting used to now.

Slept around 1am - and got up at 6am. It takes me almost an hour to get ready. Rushed off to JVW, but was the last person to reach there at 7:20.

"You are late" said Chinmay.
"Sorry man" said me guiltily.

Sayan, Jayaram (recently returned from Leh), Anupam (recently shifted from delhi - and who was going to Mumbai and joined for the ride) and Somnath were already there.

Before pushing of from there - I asked - had the ride rules been said. No - said Sayan. And he took over starting with :
"Welcome to BikeNomads. Rule number 1 - ride with headlights on" , and went on with the formation to follow. Other things like clothing were already adhered to as it is quite frequent in the discussion on the yahoo group.

After a short stop for fuel for a few bikes, we headed out to Talegon where we were to pick up Nalin. He hadn't been well, and was not upto riding his bike - but was coming as pillion with Chinmay.

The ride to Lonavala was easy going at around 80kmph max speed for me (with a pillion, I am still unsure how the bike feels). Breakfast time - the usual stuf - loads of tea with dosas and sandwiches.

Various discussions were going on - the most heated one about the merits of the iPhone ! :D . Of the 8 of us, 4 were looking forward to the meet later this year .

Anupam, Sayan, Jay, Somnath, Chinmay, Nalin, Me, Anupama

We then decided that to come to lonavala and not sample the twisties around it would be a blasphemy - so decided to head up towards amby valley.

At bhushi dam they have started collecting toll ! That was totally uncalled for - but we had to pay up anyways. 20 bucks per vehicle and 5 per person ! Legalized Highway Robbery !

Sayan, Chinmay and Somnath zoomed away on the twisties. Me and Jayaram tackled them gingerly... I am getting slow :)

The view from above was just amazing - and we spent a leisurely hour taking pics and general timepass - very relaxing! I will let the pics do the talking...

View of the valley from Tiger point

We really did not offroad that much :P


We the Nomads

I wish I could just fly! - Pic by Anupama

Chilling out on the Rocks - pic by Anupama

On the way back we stopped at Lonavala to get some Chocolate Fudge and then split up towards home. Back home, dropped my wife, refreshed myself from the dust of the roads ( its dusty in the city, but never out on the highway), and headed towards office...

Riding brings back sanity to my life.

Twit Twit Twitter !

I am on twitter now ! If you are also, add me, follow me ! :)

http://twitter.com/vibhurishi

I've also added a twitter badge on the right side here on the blog. Clicking it will lead you to my twitter page.

All That shines is Gold !

Congrats to Abhinav Bindra , the first Indian to get a gold in an individual category!

Wooweee !

I live in a Gaon

After I recently moved back to Pune, my sister came to visit. She used to get frustrated with the autoricks cause whenever she wanted to come back to Baner, the ricks will try to fleece you stating that Baner Gaon is too far off etc. etc.

I used to be amused.

No longer.

Baner is a Gaon. Lets take stock.
- no roads : check
- unscheduled powercuts : check
- bad mobile (airtel is my service provider) coverage : check
- bad or no drainage : check.
- no road sense : check.

Slowly but surely, the frustration is coming to the fore. Below is a pic from my mobile, showing the state of the road. This road is the main Baner road, and the building on the left is my office. The road is supposed to be the main thoroughfare for the Youth games, leading to the stadium on the outskirts of the city. Can somone point out the road please ?

The traffic jam is due to the bad state of the old road (you need a 4x4 rather than a car to travel here). The new road is still being built - but you cannot travel on it. With the rains here, the weather is fantastic, but there is not much you can be happy about when even to enjoy the weather, you travel is limited.

I first read about town planning when i was in school. It was about the Harrappan Culture, and how their roads had proper drainage etc. History is supposed to be a record of the past that you learn from and develop yourself further. But here, it seems people do not even go through the essentials of city planning. Its road planning all wrong - or as you should not be doing it. Some Salient points :
- The roads are first of all, not there !
- The roads become broad at points and then suddenly narrow down, leading to choke points.
- There are no sidewalks. So, people walk on the roads.
- There are no parking places, so people park on the roads.
- There are no drains at the side, so all the water is on the roads.

What a complete mess !

Kabhi Khushi kabi Gham

Life is so unpredictable. One moment you are enjoying your sister's wedding, thankful that it is finally over, and the next moment you get a call that one of your very good friends has passed away.

Do I now enjoy or be sad ? Knowing my friend, he would want me to have been enjoying... but a part of me feels sad that i will never get the phone call starting with 'namaskar sirjee'.

May his sould rest in peace. Chinmey, I will miss you.