Tag Archive for 'bikeTrip'

My First Bike Accident – Claustrophobia

Published on March 13, 2010 in Anu. 0 Comments

This occurred a long long time ago. It was before Dussera of 2009. Yet I still remember that moment quite vividly. We were riding from Bangalore to Ooty, almost 300kms long stretch. Having started in morning at around 9, it had become evening when we entered the Madhumalai forest. Immediately after the forest we would get to the steep hairpin bends and reach Ooty.

The accident occurred in the Madhumalai forest. To go to Ooty you need to take a left at a point inside the Bandipur National Park. Immediately after taking the left turn, the road narrowed. I was driving and my brother was the pillion rider. He immediately pointed out that perhaps I was going fast for such a narrow road which had low visibility at corners and turns. I ignored his opinion – something I rue till this day.

It was at a blind turn. The road turned sharply right and I had no way of knowing what was coming towards me from the other side. I turned right to see a Sumo come right towards me. I panicked and tried to steer my bike away from the Sumo’s path. But being a narrow I ran out of road width and skid at the edge where the ground was at a lower level to the road. Instantly the bike tilted to my right and I could not control it. Both of us skid along with the bike.

My first reaction was to check if my brother was harmed. Bike mattered the least to me then.  And how glad was I to know that he was unharmed. Luckily, both of us had escaped with minor bruises. Had it been any major accident, help would have been tough to get.

The more I think of that day, the more I become sure of the reason I think caused the accident. Ridiculous or stupid it might sound, but the reason is that I am claustrophobic. I panicked because I ran out of space, and it scared me. This was the only reason why I lost control of my bike while driving at a modest speed of 40 kmph. All my analysis and logic interpretation of the situation points to that only one possible answer.

My being claustrophobic was pointed out by Rohit Mahapatra. I have tested this theory for correctness.   And I am sad to accept that I am actually claustrophobic. I am always reluctant of squeezing my way through two SUV’s or larger vehicles. I feel uncomfortable when I enter the lift of small apartments, the ones having very little space inside the lift. I sleep with my head towards the corridor when traveling in a train.

But now that I have accepted that I am claustrophobic, I try to be more careful while driving. However, I would like to solve this problem from root. I would like to get rid of my claustrophobia. I know it’s just psychological. And if it is something wrong with my brain, I would like to train to think it otherwise. So here’s a realistic mission for myself – get rid of my claustrophobia.

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Chapter 1: At Persuasive Best

Published on October 5, 2009 in Travel. 0 Comments

A long weekend was looming large. Having wasted away the last long weekend, I was determined not to let go of this one. But therein lay the difficulty. What could you possibly plan at such a short notice. It was already Wednesday, and it being the Dussera weekend, we would not get train tickets to almost any place worth visiting. And for sure I did not want to plan a trip to Goa with only 3 days in hand.

There was only one destination that I could think of. Having discussed it with my team mates Vishal and Mali, I knew the trip was feasible. But it would require enthusiastic people to take up charge and set an example, for it would be tough, both mentally and physically.

A short background at this point is essential I suppose. We are a small group of friends, highly excited about bike rides. However, most of us have only recently started biking, and have at most gone for some 60 kms on a single ride. A few of us, like Rohit and I, had only just learnt driving bikes. I wasn’t sure how much we could endure if a long distance plan was proposed.

Never the less, I called up Vipin and laid down my plan in front of him. We could start early from Bangalore to avoid all the city traffic and head towards Mysore. A 150 km long ride would get us to the Mysore city. Stay at the city for the day and start for Ooty the very next early morning, The same evening, we return back to Bangalore. This is what I thought was a possibility. Vipin though, slightly altered the plan. He suggested we first reach Ooty, spend the night over there, and then return to Mysore on the day of Dussera. This way, we would be covering the larger and tougher part of the journey while we were relatively still fresh. And later on the urge to reach home would be the driving force for the return journey.Still, the one thing we agreed upon was that if we told the complete plan to everybody, there was a very high chance that they might pull out. There was a tacit agreement between the two of us to reveal our complete plan only at a very late stage.

Now that Vipin was in, it was time to spread the word and get as many people excited about it as possible.Vipin and I started buzzing people and telling them about our plan. Suhas immediately agreed. The count now stood at 3 people, 3 bikes.

The first shock was the refusal of Akshay to take part in out trip. He had already been to Ooty and Mysore, and did not wish to make that trip once again. No amount of persuasion could convince him to come along with us.The next bad news was from Lakke, who was leaving for home the same weekend. If any more people withdraw, our efforts could suffer a major setback I thought. So it was all the more important to get Sumeet onboard.

Vipin, Suhas, Sumeet and I were gathered in the pantry to discuss the weekend affair. Upon hearing the planned trip to Mysore, with a slight possibility of going to Ooty Sumeet was unsure if he wanted to do such a long trip. But then Suhas and Vipin put on an impressive show and listed out all the pros and cons in such a way that Sumeet had no choice but to agree. This would be our first victory. Now that Sumeet was in, it would be relatively easier to get others involved.

My flat mate, Rohit, instantly agreed. He was also itching to make the Ooty trip and did not want to miss this opportunity. Vipin called up his flat mates and two of them, Naveen and Aditya agreed.

I called up Arpit and he tentatively agreed, only to later reject citing migraine. My brother Ambuj was already on his way to Bangalore and would be making this trip with us.

At the end of the day, Friday that it was, we were at the cafeteria playing caroms and watching the live telecast of the cricket match. We were to leave the following day. A start time of 7 am was agreed upon by everybody. In walks Lakke, with his charming smile. He comes up to us and lets us known that he couldn’t get tickets to go back home, thus leaving him available for the weekend. This was like the icing on the cake. I broke into laughter and knew that the trip could be not not successful. With Lakke in, we would have lots of unlimited fun. Things couldn’t have ended on a better note. In less than 12 hours we were to start. We were an impressive team of 9 adventurers on 5 bikes:

  • Vipin and Aditya on Pulsar 180
  • Suhas and Naveen on Apache 160
  • Sumeet and Lakke on Hunk 150
  • My brother and I on CBZ Xtreme 150
  • Rohit on his Stunner 125.

This was to be our first long, very long bike ride. And we couldn’t possibly be less excited.

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The Planned Unplanned Trip To Ooty and Mysore

Published on October 2, 2009 in Travel. 0 Comments

It was all so spontaneous that even I was amazed. Working 5 days makes one tired, and induces a tendency to spend the weekend resting at home. And yet, when a plan to go to Ooty on bikes was casually proposed by Vipin and I, people agreed ! Well, it took a little bit of convincing, but it was much less than what I had been expecting.

The trip was great fun. We had an exciting adventure, thanks to the 180cc Pulsar of Vipin. The courage of Lakke and out of the way help from a complete stranger has made it a memorable 3 day trip. At one time we were stuck up in the middle of a forest at 1900 hrs, entry into which is closed for all vehicles after 2000 hrs, and a few anxious hours later we were excitedly chatting away our fears sipping tea.

Not to forget the first experience of negotiating hairpin bends, all 36 of them, and descending the steep slopes on the return journey. Ah, and yes, the joy of driving though a thick cover of fog and mist, when it felt as if we were riding through clouds.

The grandeur of the Mysore palace and the striking beauty of the Brindavan Gardens were like balms to our tired selves. Having driven for almost 650 kms already, a nap in the garden was enervating.

Buoyed by the success of the trip, and glad that we made it through to the end, I am really looking forward to many more such journeys. We have a lot of places marked that we would like to visit in the coming months. Its just about picking the right spot at the right time. :)

And of course, I shall write more than one post detailing our awesomely adventurous trip. I just love my bike, and my friends too. Thanks everyone !

Here’s a map of our journey from Bangalore to Ooty.


View Larger Map

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My New Love

Published on September 21, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments

Ohh how I am falling in love with my bike :) . I love riding my CBZ Xtreme even though the traffic in Bangalore is the worst ever imaginable.

I had never been a bike enthusiast. I always dreamed of a car. For some reason Merc has always been my favourite. Perhaps it has something to do with the my having spent an year in Germany when I was a kid. But what really etched the car in my mind was an open top, sports look, blue Merc that zoomed across me in Delhi. It is the same type of Merc that I now desire and hope to own one day. I have seen Carrera, Porshe, BMW’s but none have matched the beauty of that Merc.

Bikes were never in my scheme of things.

Yet, when I moved to Bangalore, I needed a bike to commute from my home to office and back. Having no idea of bikes, I asked my brothers for advice. My younger brother, Ambuj instantly suggested CBZ. He went on about the features of the bike that I did not understand. And Shashank bhaiyya also recommended the same bike, though since he himself has that bike, his advice will obviously be biased. But these are two people whose suggestions I cannot ignore when it comes to the domain of bikes.

So I went the Hero Honda showroom the same day and got the CBZ Xtreme booked. It was delivered to me within two working days.

Then came the greater concern. I had not driven a bike before !! Well, till my engineering days I was happy with my scooty. Then the next 4 years at IIT Kharagpur saw me riding a bicycle. Meanwhile I had car driving lessons and got the DL after passing the driving test. So I knew how the gears and clutch play together, but even then it had been quite some time having driven the Hyundai Santro. And the 4 day training I received from my brother was on a Discover 125cc bike where the gears were all down, unlike the CBZ’s one down rest up system.

Nervously excited, I drove the bike to work the next day. I must not have stalled by bike more than a dozen times in those first 5 kms :P . Its actually a credible performance considering the fact that the traffic was moving in the first gear all the time.

Now 3 months have zipped by and I have become quite adept at driving. Having completed almost 2000 kms, which includes one ride of 90kms, and yet another of 50 kms on the State and National highways respectively. Gaining in confidence, we have now started planning even longer stretch of trips to Nandi Hills, Shiv Samundaram, Mysore and beyond. Yay, the ultimate aim is to make a trip to Goa on bikes, subject to permissions though :( .

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A Trip To Innovative Film City, Bangalore

Published on August 23, 2009 in Anu. 0 Comments

After lots of if-and-buts, we finally managed to come up with an outing plan. The ‘we’ here stands for a group of new joinees at FICO, and the plan refers to Innovative Film City.

Now that we have a few bikes among us, we were eager to ride them on highways – Mysore highway being the prime road. Akshay had been to Innovative Film City earlier and he liked it. It was his idea that we drive to that place, some 44 km from our office. Amidst confusion, after many a persuasions, there were finally 9 people on 5 bikes. Akshay and his brother Swapnil on Pulsar 180, Vipin and his flat mate Naveen on another Pulsar 180, Sumeet and Lakke on the Hunk, Rohit and Nagori on Stunner and I on my CBZ Extreme.

Our journey stated at 11 on a sunny sunday morning. From Kodihalli, it was almost a straight road throughout. We encountered little traffic in the city, but were held up after crossing the city market. The narrow roads and the BMTC bus stop, with adjoining Big Bazaar slowed down the traffic to snails pace – not what we were hoping for. But once we cleared that area and crossed the Manipal Speciality Hospital, we sped off onto the state highway. There onwards it was an amazing drive with hardly any traffic. 5 bikes zooming through, the sun rays hardly having any effect and cool wind blowing across our face.

Before mid-day, we were at the film city. The entrance was awesomely, tempting us to venture inside. We walked down a flight of stairs to arrive at the ticket counter. Now this was the most confusing part for all of us.

Generally in India you have a price for entrance and then everything inside is free. But here, it was an entrance fee of just Rs. 50 and the rides being charged extra. So suppose you want to spend time at their artificial beach, you have to pay an additional 160. Judging by the time we had at our hand, we ended up purchasing tickets for a 4D show, Mirror Maze, Roller Skates, Roller Coaster and Beach. The complete cost was Rs. 590 per head. There were a few more options like Laser Tag, Dirt Biking, Go Karting, but we left the decision of buying tickets for these later, depending on the time left and the weather.

The 4D movie was a nice concept. You get to wear 3D goggles and then there are tools installed on seats to add the 4th dimension. So if you are in a place and flying across the clouds, you feel cool air blowing on your face. At one time we felt tickling sensation in our leg. Then there was the effect of the seats vibrating and all. All in all, it was worth the 80 rupees.

We next went to the Roller Skates. This was the most hilarious part. But for Lakke and Akshay, the rest had never tried skating before. So it was half an hour of watching people fall, and then get up to fall back again. I shall soon be uploading vidoes on facebook and youtube.

We next went to the Mirror Maze. This is an old concept of placing mirrors at angles and creating a small labyrinth so that you are lost. And since mirrors reflect and confuse your mind, you tend to go around and around in the same circle quite a few times before realizing it.

The roller coaster ride was a tad disappointing. It was too short to enjoy. Our ride completed in less than a minute’s time. I wouldn’t advise anyone to try that.

The best part of the whole day was the beach. Soft sands around a wave pool is a pleasing sight. We jumped into the pool and spent quite some time having fun with the waves and the floating air rings. Next we played the beach volleyball. Tired of jumping around in sand, we went swimming once again. This time, we played catches with a ball that Akshay had brought along. It was followed by a photo session. At 7 o’clock the security guard came to tell us off as the place was closing down.

We were amongst the last few to leave the film city. It was an enjoyable place, though I felt that the prices were a bit too steep. Rs. 100 for the roller coaster is not justified. And similarly for a few more rides. But the high prices does not really deter me from visiting that place again. Perhaps, after a few months I might go again.

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