Nice Evening Ride

After a long day at work yesterday I decided to take my Bullet for a ride. Its been long since I last rode it but. It took a while to start it as it had been standing for quite a few months. It did take a few kicks before I took a break. Started wondering whether it was DEAD. It was evening and wouldn't be easy to find a mechanic at this hour and I had to go on a drive. So, finally thought of trying it again and suddenly it roared into life but with huge amounts of smoke. Idled it for a few minutes till the smoky exhaust returned back to normal and the oil stopped dripping. The joy, the pleasure, the fun of owning a bullet comes at a price.

Now as the its alive and ready to roll a quick pit stop at the fuel station. A quick fill and off to the highway. No helmets as I wanted to feel the wind in my hair. Cruising down the highway at a steady pace of 40 ~ 50 kmph and the constant thumping of the bullet. There is nothing compared to this kind of ride. I've been on long and very long drives in the car. Cruised at constant speeds, taken my car to the limits. But nothing compares to the Bullet. Blokes speeding past on their mopeds (Pulsars, Splendors etc). The constant thumping music is the only thing in my ears. The smooth ride when speeds are around 50 is incomparable to anything. As the speed increases to around 70 kmph, the Bullet gets even more stable and manageable. It just sticks to the tarmac without moving away from the line. Its so planted that small potholes and undulations of the road are just non existent for it.

After about 50 kms of riding the city traffic welcomed me. Honking going all over. People cutting across to save a few seconds. But nothing bothered me. I was more than happy with my ride and would go for another one soon. This one will definitely be longer, much longer I should say.

Fun @ Festival: Don't Think So...

The festival of Uttarayan also known as Makar Sankranti is just round the corner. Everyone is pouring on the road side vendors selling kites and other required accessories for the festival. As everyone wants the "manja" to be better than everyone else's so as the keep the kite up in the air for as long as possible, personally getting is made is always a better option. Some quality is assured by doing so.

Every year there is some or the other theme on which kites are made. So, I visited one of the shops just to check out the different themes on which kites are being sold this year. It was Mr. Narendra Modi, of course The Nano and the recent Mumbai Blast for which kites depicting peace on our planet.

Hold on, A kite representing peace. Now that is some kind of an irony. Every one thinks that by getting the kite of this kind passes on the message of peace to everyone. But no one gives a thought to how much damage it causes. Not just to the birds but to humans also. No, its worse than what people actually think. Two wheeler riders and pillions have been getting hurt by the threads dangling across the road for years now. In the worst case scenario deaths used to occur but used to be rare. People used to break their bones falling from roof tops for which we cannot blame the festival and neither am I doing that. But its the recent trend which is worrying a bit.

Everyone wants to keep the kite in the air for the longest possible time and cut as many kites as possible creating personal best records. In a race achieving this feat, Chinese imported threads have now become a rage in the market. Why? Because they use artificial nylon fibres which are practically indestructible for things like these. Now that is what I call a thread. I can go on rampage and clear the entire sky in my area and be a dude. But there is a flip side to it which has a gruesome reality.

One female was going to attend her English classes as she was to leave to the U.S. to meet her parents. One of my employee knew her via a common friend. Two superpowers of the sky had just finished their dog fight with one winning it and the loser's thread was dangling across the road. Now this thread is like a Samurai sword. She could not see it and went right across it. It slit her throat wide open right there itself. Dead on the spot. Now her parents would be visiting her.

And then we have kites spreading message of peace in the world. Is this the kind of peace we are looking at? I surely don't want one.

Why do people want to be invincible in the air? Rather than enjoying the festival it has turned more into a fight. I am surely not going to have fun with someones life. The government should ban such imports, and more than that its our moral responsibility. Why always blame the government for everything that happens. People should come forward and refuse to buy these threads.

I pray that the incident was the first and the last one.