Motorcycle, Movies

Wild Hogs (No more)

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3 years ago my Friend Ayan wrote a blog post about this movie, how 4 guys forget who they really were and head out into the open roads forgetting  wordly concerns.
But I would not write what it is about, as Ayan has already done a better job.
This is about how the movie moved me. I remember in college days we used to just start up our bikes, head over to far off places with no worries about when to return, how late it was getting and how to wake up on time the next day.
I remember many trips to Ramtek, Boar Dam and other places far away from the city. Most of the times, we didn’t even have an idea of where we were going. I remember many journeys on the Wardha Road, going hundred kilometers at a time, only turning back when the money in our pockets and the fuel in the tanks got low. Also, we travelled on the Koradi road heading up the hills many times just to get away from the city.
Still remember when heading back, there’s a point where you are still some way up the hills and you can get a good view of the Industrial Area, chimneys bellowing smoke in the backdrop of an amazing sunset.
No, in those days I didn’t have to worry about SLAs, attendance was the biggest joke, exams were a mere inconvenience and oil stains on my jeans were a part of life. Money was something Dad provided and I had no idea where it came from.
In Nagpur, wearing the helmet was forbidden, cars were a novelty and the long awesome flyovers were always free of 4 wheelers and you could test the max-speed of the bike whenever you wanted.
Of course, all that has changed now. My current life would be understandable from the fact that my bike is 5 years old, has 50,000 kms on it, 40,000 of it from the first 3 years.
Now I know if I take my bike out, I would be stopped at least twice on the way from here to CP and looted dry by the police; who due to some reason seem to have a personal enmity towards bike riders. Cars  have the right to have dark windows, screech tires into oblivion and ride over pedestrians. No one heard of a biker killing anyone on the road, still they are the ones who must suffer. Wild Hogs, no more. Domestic Swine most likely.
I feel like the guys in the movie feel. Only difference being they were in their late 40s and I am in my mid 20s.
I need a month off, a full tank of gas and the road spread out in front of me.

Motorcycle

Replacing the clutch plates on a RE Thunderbird

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A week back, when I was about to leave for office, I noticed the perfect weather. No rain, a cool breeze blowing, I decided to take my bike out.

I started my bike and as soon as I pulled in the clutch and engaged into first gear, the bike jumped forward and stalled. It’s as if the clutch wasn’t even there. I tried a few more times but the same.

Since the bike was immobile, I called the service centers for help and kept calling for a week, but they won’t send someone here or let me pick someone to repair my poor bike. A week went by but nothing happened. Meanwhile, day after beautiful day was being wasted with me travelling in the car.

After a few more days, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I got a set of spanners, a set of allen keys, a new set of clutch plates and pressure plates and decided to open it up.

First comes out the left foot rest which is held together with a nut, then the gear lever using an allen key.

If you’ve a big enough bowl (as big as the clutch compartment) to catch the oil, just loosen the big nut at the center, tap the clutch compartment cover with a spanner and the oil will splash right down. If not, just unscrew the small nut on the bottom left and the oil will flow down slowly in a trickle (as pictured).

Notice the yellow colour? That’s an indication of water in the clutch compartment. The water rusts the components when the bike is still, when it’s in motion, the rusts scrapes off, gets mixed in the oil resulting in the strange color.

Next the clutch plates and the pressure plates come off. Start with loosening the three nuts on the center. Loosen them one at a time so that the thing comes off uniformly.

Below it you’ll find 3 springs. 3 attached to the lid that just came off and 3 the the upper plate.

Use a screwdriver to bring out the plates. Note that in my case, the plates are stuck to each other.

This is because the plates welded together due to the enormous heat caused by friction without proper lubrication. They do come off if u stick a screwdriver between them and pull, but they are useless now.

On the left is the alternator, on the right last pressure plate left in the clutch compartment. In my case it was stuck to the back wall so had to get a sharp instrument to wedge behind it and take it out.

Use plenty of petrol to splash the innards clean of the remaining rust. In my case, it took quite some time and I had to use a brush to scrape the grime off some tough spots. Spin the wheel, pouring petrol simultaneously to get the remaining crap off.

Put the new clutch plates in, one by one. First come the pressure plate, then a clutch plate, then a pressure plate, then a clutch plate, then a pressure plate, then a clutch plate, then a pressure plate, then a clutch plate, then a pressure plate, then a clutch plate, then the top pressure plate (in my case, I salvaged my old one).

(The clutch plates are the ones with the grooves, the pressure plates are the smooth ones)
Put on the lid with the springs and tighten the nuts, just past the tightening point. (pictured)

Start the bike, pour some more petrol while its spinning and operate the clutch lever, slowly tightening it till the desired tension. I did realize later that sparks from the alternator may have lit up the petrol but that didn’t happen.
Close up the clutch compartment and pour the oil in from the top hole (400ml).

The most common points of entry for water in the clutch compartment are

1. The place on top where the alternator wiring goes in
2. The clutch compartment seals themselves
3. The gear lever joint

Now I make sure I seal all these parts properly and work my bike every once in a while to prevent rust.
Hope this was helpful.

Hate, Rant

Indian mass media sucks

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The mass media in this country sucks. It really does big time.

Have been regularly reading the newspaper for around 10 years now. Every morning (afternoon now) when I wake up and look at the newspaper, I see the front page covered with negative content. Every single day, without fail. It’s either murder, bribery, rape, match fixing or shit about the city you’re living in. These articles are accompanied by vivid images of dead bodies, slums, people hiding their faces in shame, puddles filled with stagnant water, potholes left uncovered, stadiums with rubble around them.

Now I start thinking – Is the world I’m living in really so bad? I thought about it and the answer is no.

The reason the newspaper is like this is because Indians love misery. Perhaps because it makes them take their mind off the shit in their own life. The media is just doing their job by feeding off the desire for misery in people’s lives.

I’ve often noticed how much satisfaction people get when reading such articles. These moments are always accompanied by comments like “I told you so” or “This country will get nowhere” or the more frequent “Corrupt Bastards”

When Delhi Metro opens a new line, or when an Indian wins some award or there’s something positive happening in the country, such content is always on page 2.

They showed us how the roof of  Terminal 1D of Indira Gandhi International Airport fell of during rain and storm. It was on page 1 for days. What they didn’t show was how Terminal 3 is best in the country, is the 8th largest Airport Terminal in the world and cities like Kolkata will never see anything like it in a decade, because they’re too busy decorating their airport with communist flags.

They showed us when a Delhi metro construction girder fell off killing many people; how the metro is evil. That is unfortunate and sad. However, they didn’t show that the rest of the country has nothing like it, and we Delhi guys love it.

I have stopped taking the newspaper seriously; I tell myself that its some evil propaganda to suck the happiness out of us and turn us into zombies.  

And this is just the print media. Television news channels are so full of bullshit (in a hilarious way though) that it deserves a separate post.

Food & Beverage

All American Dinner

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Today was a good day! And luck was totally in our favor. I would give lady luck many points for her good behavior today.
The weather was awesome; not raining but cool breeze and hardly any sunlight (pt.1). We headed out to CP a little early than usual which actually turned out to be a great thing because we were able to get tickets for Prince of Persia at CP (pt.2), which is no mean feat as we never get movie tickets in CP unless we book beforehand. The weather at CP was excellent (though a little humid). The parking slots were all full but we were able to park our car easily at the Palika Bazaar parking (pt.3). The elevator (pictured below) is still scary though. You can kill a man and drop him through the shaft and no one will notice for months.

The movie was good (though some parts were quite Bollywood like) and the actress did RR the whole time. Towards the end you wish she would just die.
Anyways after the movie we left the cinema and discovered that it had rained and the weather had improved. We had planned to go to All American Diner so we headed out there. The place is in the India Habitat Center at Lodhi Road. The IHC structure is huge and confusing and finally we reached the Diner. We had to sit at the bar for sometime because there were people waiting already but after half hour we were seated at a booth.

The Diner is quite good and modeled after the 60’s style american diner.Beer is quite in-expensive (125 for a Carlsberg) and food is not-that-expensive. They serve breakfast all day long and also have everything a diner should have. Luckily, they don’t entertain only couples (pt.4). The music is 60’s rock n roll and pop.

We downed alternate bottles of beer and courses of meal. In the end we were so full that we could not order the shake.
Considerably heavier, we left for home. also considerably happier.
It felt great to drive with the windows down after a long time.
PS: Thanks to Karthik for telling me about this place

Music

The Great Gig (In Hard Rock Cafe)

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Thursday was one of the greatest evenings I have ever had. Me and goru headed out to Hard Rock Cafe to witness the performance of Think Floyd. Of course expectations were high as it was a Pink Floyd tribute band and we had been waiting for over a week for this. Add to that the un-certainty that we may be thrown out because we were not a “couple”. The band that night chiefly consisted of
ABHISHEK MATHUR : GUITAR & VOCALS
ANINDO BOSE : KEYBOARDS & COMPUTERS
CHINTAN KALRA : DIRECTOR, BASS & VOCALS
SUROJIT DEV : DRUMS 
NICOLAS GIORDANI : SAXOPHONES
ROHIT KULKARNI : GUITAR & VOCALS
VASUNDHARA : VOCALS

Let me tell you that Chintan Kalra (of Parikrama fame; pictured above) not only looks like Roger Waters but sings like one too. In fact you can think of him as a bulkier waters or a thinner Springsteen. Anyways, the guy was a showman!!
The gig was to begin at 9:30 but started at 10:30. We were apprehensive because we thought the gig starting late meant a smaller playlist (boy were we wrong). As expected, they began with Shine on you Crazy Diamond, playing all parts perfectly; complete with a Sax solo by Nicholas.
Next came Astronomy Domine. When you go to concerts with bands playing, you expect commercial Floyd songs mainly Coming back to life. Never though did I expect them to play songs from Animals. But they did!! Next came Sheep (at which point I went mad) followed by Dogs (completely Hysterical). They even played Echoes (both 1 AND 2 goddamnit!!) They followed it up with Poles apart from Division bell and the compulsory Another Brick in the wall (all parts) and mother and other songs.

Next came a short break (at which point I realize that they haven’t played a single song from Dark Side of the moon!! When they next came on stage, after a song, my ears are treated to the familiar heart beat.
They start out with Speake to me/Breathe, and play every single fucking song of the album. Time was awesome with an added solo but the greatest surprise of the evening was the great gig in the sky featuring vocals from Vasundhara. Well, I had never thought I would see an Indian woman perform this song live, but she did!! When she began singing, the crown went into hysterics. No one could believe the voice on that girl. She sang the song perfectly with her voice reaching highs and lows un-imaginable by a normal singer.
After that came Money and Us & them (again with Nicholas on the Sax), any colour you like, Brain damage and eclipse. The band finished off with Wish you were here at around 1:30 morning.
By the end of the concert, our throats were completely seized up and we were in a state of shock. Next morning, I could recollect events from the previous night like a dream. Couldn’t believe whether it was true or just a dream. All in all, it was an experience of a lifetime. It makes me shudder to think what would have happened if we had witnessed an actual Pink Floyd performance.
Turn offs: Girls wearing revealing clothes “sitting” on the front row, blocking the view and talking amongst themselves while the band performed. For me, it was sacrilege. Would prefer concerts in a less formal atmosphere, maybe at an open ground.
Another turn off – guys fetching drinks for these girls, pushing their way around while the band was playing, blocking views and disturbing the trance that we were in.
PS: We also learnt about the three “P”s in life we should all yearn to attain!!

Movies

LSD: Love, Sex aur Dhokha

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Explicit. 


That’s the word that comes into your mind when you think about the movie. And explicit not in a bad way but in a bold, “there should be more indian movies like this” way. Dibakar Bannerjee has dared to venture where Indian directors seldom dare to. The movie has everything from sex scenes (blurred, but  clear nonetheless) to explicit abuses to a be-heading scene. When you see this movie, you think this is reality, because when people talk in real life, they talk the way shown in the movie, not the way they show in the other movies. When someone is going to kill someone, they don’t call them kutte(dog), they use much choicier language. Also bold was the choice to have a song named Tum nangi achhi lagti ho (You look good nude); tum kali si kachhi lagti ho (You look as un-ripe as a blossoming flower)

The movie follows 3 stories and one gets to know the characters well. Like his previous movies,
Bannerjee shows a few good facts about delhi (people start fighting over petty matters), everyone showing off how many people they know, how much money they have etc and how ruthless they can be.


If you are going to see the movie with any expectations about how a movie should be, either drop those expectations or don’t go; just don’t sit there complaining about what type of movie this is (for you Sonal). This is not your typical movie; in fact it is not even a proper movie. But it will affect you nonetheless. You won’t get bored anytime in the movie. You will either be laughing, be afraid or be horrified; but not bored.

Music, Technology

Bose® In-Ear Headphones

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I recently had the opportunity to use bose in-ear headphones and I was so moved by the experience that I had to write a post.
Firstly, I wanted to know what the hype is about bose products and why they cost so more. Maybe it was this because of which my expectations were high. These bose headphones are good, but not as good as I expected. If you’re looking for noise cancelling phones, these are not for you. They fight very lightly in the ears but are very very comfortable. I normally use the generic headphones that came with my phone, so I like to keep my equaliser to high bass. The bass on the bose is so strong I immediately had to turn my equaliser back to normal. I started off with sad but true by metallica and the depth of the sound blew me away. The song sounded amazing. Next I moved on to marooned from pink floyd’s division bell. Again, amazing, with the bass just a bit high, overwhelming the mid range. Coming back to life sounded amazing, the bass on high hopes
was physically irritating to my skull and I had to lower the volume. Bose also says on the package that the headphones produce “natural sound” which is not entirely true, as the music sounds enhanced in the low range.
To change the genre I turned to Dire Straits. I started off with So far away, continued to Money for nothing and finished off with brothers in arms. Again, normal songs sound good, the songs with already prominent bass tracks just overwhelm the mid-range. By this time i’ve listened to an hour worth of songs but the headphones are barely noticeable and so comfortable that if it wasn’t for the sound or the wires
hanging off, I would not even know they were there. I am normally not a fan of in-ear earphones, but these are really-really good.
Pros:

  1. Excellent sound quality
  2. Excellent comfort
  3. Good Bass
Cons:
  1. Bass sometimes too strong, overpowers mid-range
  2. Better earphones available within same range
If you listen to a song for the music, the clarity of the instruments, there may be better options available. If you want just loud music with thumping bass, this the the thing for you.

I myself have added the Klipsch Image S4 on my wishlist and will be getting these bad boys as soon as I get my pay at the end of the month.

Hate, Rant

How to become an Upper-Class Delhiite

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I have a habit of bitching about the places in live in, or visit. Here’s another one
After staying in the NCR region for a long time and especially after going to various night clubs tonight, I have compiled here, a list of qualities you must possess to be a true Delhi-ite
1. Always talk in fake accented english, so as to make people think that you’re from outside(some other country), even though you spent most of your life talking in hindi. Talking in hindi now is for foolish, un-sophisticated people.
2. Always dress up in expensive branded clothes with the labels strategically placed so that everyone can see.
3. Always wear cool shades, even if it is pitch dark and you can’t see anything. Fashion comes before the ability to see.
4. Always carry your car keys in your hand with the brand name visible. Talk about how you used your sources to skip the waiting list on the car and how you’re already bored and are thinking of selling it off and buying a new one.
5. Set the ring tone of your mobile to the loudest setting possible and use the latest hip-hop song as the ring tone. Take your time answering the call.
6. When talking to people in public, always slip in words like “canada” or “UK”
7. Always let people know how rich your dad is and how many political contacts you have.
8. Remove all the speakers in your car except the woofer, so that when you pull up on a traffic signal only the beats of the hip hop song are audible to people around you.
9. Cover all the windows with illegal black film.
10. Alloy wheels are a must. It’s a shame to drive a car without alloys.
11. On turns always remember to use the hand brake so as to make a screeching sound with the wheels.
12. Start driving cars at the age of 12, this will help you hook up with the girls in your school.
13. Claim to like rock music, even though you have no idea what rock music is.
14. Go to discos with your girlfriend, pick up a fight with someone who tried to hit on your girlfriend and call all your important contacts to get the other guy/group of guys beaten up.
15. If you’re a girl, wear skimpy clothes and when you go to parties, hug and air kiss all the guys that you meet and know but never talk to otherwise. Change back into traditional clothes before entering home.
16. If you’re a guy, brag about how many girls you have bedded and how things didn’t work out
17. If you’re a girl, brag about how casual sex is for you and not a big deal at all.
18. When paying the bill at a restaurant, open your wallet as much as possible so as to show the Wad of banknotes inside.
19. Buy a BMW/AUDI, get drunk and run over pedestrians/ beggars at night. When arrested, have your rich dad bail you out and resume your spoilt lifestyle.

Rant

Worthless Life

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Hello. My life has become worthless lately. Reasons:
1. I don’t go to the gym anymore. My usual excuses are that I go to office in the evenings and wake up in the afternoon so I can only go to gym in the afternoon. The problem is only very expensive gyms are open in the afternoon.
2. I don’t play the guitar anymore. The thing I prided upon doesn’t matter much anymore. It doesn’t matter that I could once play the whole opening leads for the “Hell freezes over” version of Hotel California. My excuse is that the fret board is bent and I can’t find a place to repair here
3. I eat junk food everyday. I eat at nirulas or some other fast food joint everyday. I also have atleast a litre of coke everyday. Weekends are special binge fests with more food and alcohol thrown in.
4. I still spend more than I earn. Though I use buxfer and it has controlled my spendings I still end up spending a lot of money.
I’m still a long way off from financial stability. My only consolation is that I don’t really need financial stability at this point of my life.
5. I don’t ride my bike anymore. In the summers its too hot to ride and in the winters its too cold. When sometimes I do ride my bike it feels so amazing I can’t describe in words. Lights failing, indicators rattling, battery almost dead its in a sorry state. I remember in college I thought I didn’t ever want to buy a car and always ride my bike.
Have I really changed and just trying to believe that I’m still the same and can be the same way still when it’s time to move on?

Weather

Fog, what amazing fog!

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I remember ranting about fog last year, around the same time of the year. Well, this year, the weather was clear till yesterday. Tonight however, was a different situation altogether. When I left office at 4 in the morning, it was one of the worst fogs I had ever seen. I could hardly see anything and couldn’t cross a speed of 20kmph. My only guides were the white markings in the middle of the road which I tried to focus on as I drove my car. Had to use a low beam as with a high beam the headlights reflected straight off the fog and blinded me.

Anyways it took me almost half an hour to get home, which is hardly 4km away. When I did reach and parked my car, it was an eerie sight. There were no street lights, and there was a power cut so there were no lights from nearby houses, but it was surprisingly brighter than usual. It was a full moon and that had a very strange and eerie effect. Everything around me was brightly bathed in moonlight, but even then there seemed to be no single source of the light and i could not even see the moon. The light seemed to be diffused through the fog and emanating from the fog itself. I spent atleast 5 minutes on the streets, mesmerised by the sight before the cold started to get to me and I went home. This reminded me of a scene from the story of the hound of baskervilles, where Sherlock Holmes and Watson lie waiting for the hound in the moorlands of dartmoor. As they say, really eerie.