the Bengaluru blog

Its been a momentous achievement for me personally with any car I owned. I've cleared 30k kms with a vehicle which I can deem an asset. While most fuel inefficient vehicles and uncomfortable ones end up being liabilities, I can atleast feel proud to say that this car is every Indian's asset for a long time to come. Before I proceed further, thanks FIAT for the wonderful engine, and thanks MARUTI for the great service that you have been known for all this while.

If you have read my earlier 10000 and 15000 kms review, by now you would know what the car is all about. The car still feels like showroom condition after 2.5 years every time I switch on the ignition. Generally the car is rugged to handle roads well as long as the roads are not too undulated. My car has gone through some real rough road patches but handled well, mostly due to the great Michelin tyres I've added onto the car. The car has been scratched on the mirrors and the underside of the bumper a few times. While the mirrors are too large to avoid getting scratched, the visibility issue while we sit within the car is another reason for misjudging a few manoeuvres.

Being a single user, and driving alone most times, sometimes with one or two other people, I must say this car has reasonable amount of power at the tap for a city user. The continuity in the accelerator response and the eagerness to pickup which occurs at all gears uniformly has made this beauty the darling of many a car owner in Benglauru. Just with the help of the torque of this car, I was able to negotiate the car upwards a ramp from the basement to the ground floor of the building, while in first gear with my foot off all pedals. Shows how much we can utilize the car to the best extent in city traffic to give some rest to those weary legs.

The front row comfort is good, cabin feels involving, dashboard soothing, and its generally airy. I would have felt great if the Swift VDi was a two door version. The back row is good so as not to cause too much body roll, but as far as space is concerned, Maruti will have to work quite hard to get to the level where TATA is currently with its Indica and Manza offerings. Generally I would include claustrophobia as one of the features of the Swift  The boot is good for not-much-luggage drivers and there ends the argument. If you want to transport truck loads worth of baggage, well – then buy yourself a truck! The rattling windows are a gift from Maruti for the Swift and I might just end up spending another 6-7 years more with these rattles. These rattles are like extra noises within the family life. Just got to put up with it. There is a lot of dust accumulation over a period of time on the dashboard but hey that's part of growing old of any car isn't it?

The mileage has dipped over time, and each time I service it to change the engine oil, it bounces back to a healthy 16kmpl. So this is a car that satisfies the FE hungry junta of India. I can stretch it upto 19kmpl but with normal tyres and mostly higher gear driving the latter being an impossibility in the city. The tyres seem great even after 30k of driving, and Michelin knows its business better than anyone else out there. It should be good for another 20k to go. I am you customer one more time after that Mich!

To summarize on the drive, the car has been extremely well mannered where required, has displayed enthusiasm required for a rally mood where required. Its agile, easy to manoeuvre in the city, good for two people, sturdy, great engine, FE and service and it will rock the Indian Car Scene for some more time until newer more well designed comfortable cars come up at this price. Till then enjoy the drive!

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Today, I was thinking aloud whether to give this government less marks on its progress, when I was pleasantly surprised by this advertisement. It was regarding the railways and the karnataka government aligning to start off a road under bridge widening at Benniganahalli, on Old Madras Road. For those of you who dont know about this nightmarish hell, it is the place in Bangalore where most office goers (actually I must say millions of them) invariably waste about half an hour or more each morning just stalled in an impossible traffic jam which takes its own evil path to solve each day.

The crux of the matter was in the fact that this was a railway bridge going above the road, belonging to the railways, and was an important rail link between karnataka and tamil nadu. For the past two successive governments, this road was never widened, just due to very less political will on the matter. Of course where are politicians bothered about normal people like us? Or are they really. Well the current government harping on the development agenda has just proven that they are. And how serious they are at this.

How long did it take for an alignment to come through between the railways and the BBMP? Very few days actually. And boy, what music is it to my ears really! For one whole year, I had endured the Benniganahalli daymare (I changed my earlier word to suit the time it occurs!) praying that someone notice it. Take a look at the video showing the daymare here. There were also protests done for upgradation of this situation.

And finally BJP has taken initiative on this. In fact their splurge on Bangalore development is bound to strike the right chords with the scores of citizens who are benefitted by these measures. Now I dont really know or care how long this project takes. The ball has been set to roll. Thats all matters. I a while, I would be saving almost an hour each day taking this route and this is a really good thing in life.

So here's wishing our CM good luck in this and his future endeavours.

Update: Here is an artist sketch showing how wide the road will now be and the view of the bridge as well!

Source: TOI, 24/2/09

Technorati : Benniganahalli, bangalore, bengaluru, beninganahalli, blog, bridge, city, cm, foundation stone, google, highway, infrastructure, k r puram, karnataka, kr puram, krishnarajapuram, maps, nh4, project, r velu, railway bridge, railway line, railways, road, road under bridge, salem, south western railway, widening, yediyurappa

So, on day 2, I got most of the snaps that I actually inteded to get. I ll leave you with this blog post to click and enjoy all these snaps. For bigger versions, just click on the thumbnail you are interested in.

Day 2 started off better than day 1, and towards the evening the crackers got louder and better. More and more people actually came onto the streets on yet another chilly (15 degree) day to warm up the air a bit. People from all ages were seen celebrating in Koramangala.

Of specific mention was a 10000 wala necklace cracker, lit on my street that stole the show for about five minutes. The camera did a fantastic job of giving me my undoubtedly best shot of the year 2008. Below are the rest of the photos for you to see and enjoy. Happy Diwali dear readers, once again from the Bengaluru blog @ chowchowbath.com

Technorati : 10.2 megapixel, 10.2MP, 100 shots, 10000 wala, 10k, 2009, 8k, 9k, DSLR, Diwali, bangalore, bengaluru, bhoo chakra, blog, bubble, canon, canon Digital SLR, chennai, city, colours, cracker, crackers, cyclone, deepavali, diyas, environment, flower pot, go down, ground chakra, impact, india, inflation, karnataka, lamps, market, megapixel, necklace, noise, plummet, pollution, rain, rebel XTi, rockets, sales, sensex, sky, smoke, sound, stock, trees, went down

Blame it on the stock market disaster, or blame it on the global economic crisis which inturn has affected India too – Diwali 2009 just got off to a rather lukewarm start. After two to three days of constant rains thanks to a cyclonic effect on the shores of Chennai city, Bangalore finally saw a rather hot winter morning today on the occassion of Diwali.

This time inflation, coupled with increase in cracker prices has surely dampened the spirits a bit, but still towards today evening, the crackers sounded louder and clearer. Smoke filled the air and families got together to brave the chill to celebrate the festive season. In the more recent post on Diwali 2009 above, I bring to you some snaps captured by my Canon DSLR Rebel XTi. Enjoy!

Technorati : 10.2MP, 10k, 2009, 8k, 9k, DSLR, Diwali, bangalore, bengaluru, blog, bubble, canon, chennai, city, crackers, cyclone, deepavali, diyas, environment, go down, impact, india, inflation, karnataka, lamps, market, megapixel, noise, plummet, pollution, rain, rebel XTi, sales, sensex, smoke, sound, stock, went down

Garbage collection programmes are not new in Bengaluru. In fact quite long ago this was initiated by the BBMP as it saw few potential problems getting solved with this venture.

• The garbage problem in the city would get better if all garbage was collected and processed properly.
• The collected garbage could be segregated and then used as landfills outside the city
• BBMP would get revenues if it imposed garbage tax on each household and they have been pretty successful at this by educating the households in prime areas about the issues involved with garbage collection and the need for it in the first place.
• People throwing garbage into drains would stop and hence this could avoid to clogging of waterways throughout the city

Today I noticed many of these billboards being generously put up by the BBMP for those households who were not segregating dry and wet waste. The quality of the advertisements educating households itself was adorable and it also had phone numbers of zonal offices, ward contact mobile numbers amongst other information.

I really appreciate BBMP for such education and request all residents living in areas where garbage collection is present to spend atleast 5 minutes segregating wet and dry waste so that the BBMP can use that time you spend for something more useful. Its your waste, I am sure BBMP must not be segregating it for you! Do you bit, maintain a clean environment!

Technorati : BBMP, advertisements, association, bangalore, bengaluru, billboards, blog, bruhat, city, contractor, drains, dry, east, education, environment, flooding, garbage collection, household, koramangala, landfill, local corporator, mahanagara, management, north, offices, palike, rains, residents, segregation, south, waste, west, wet, zonal, zone office

Gone are those days when you thought this city is a pensioner’s paradise. Or for that matter even a Garden City. With the winds of change come necessities for better connectivity, transportation of essentials day in and out to the city and a whole bunch of people from all over the country entering this city daily on one pretext or the other. Today all you have are zipping cars, slugging trucks and buses, whizzing cyclists on the wrong sides of lanes, and struggling two wheelers managing to find their space in this ocean. I am so ashamed to see that I myself have been driving my vehicle faster than what I did say 5 years back. I am not sure why the urge to do so, but I do so. And thats bad. Perhaps its the state of mind after or before office. Perhaps its just plain attitude. Whatever it is, it does sound like an irreversible change this city’s state has made on me.

What is this all pointing to? Well one for sure is IMPOLITENESS. Today we are always of the notion that ONLY the other guy is WRONG. Have you ever thought about whether you can be wrong as well? No, right? Well I do so. And I am happy that I do so. It gives me a chance to correct myself and be more calmer on the roads. I give way for pedestrians even now. I give way for vehicles who are in a tearing hurry. I apologize if I did a manouvre which might have been wrong on that road at that instant; to whoever suffered because of me. I have borne a few scratches on my car, just to let a weary cyclist go home in haste. Are others behaving the same way towards me? The one word answer is – NO. And it hurts that people have become insensitive. To everything around them. I mean what is the hurry in life? Where do we all want to go? Die soon? Whats gone wrong with us that we dont allow children and elders cross the road while we wait in peace for that to finish?

The animal instinct in us is more than the human one. Do you know what happens if you just touch some two wheeler or someone who is walking by, at 80-100 kmph in your car? Well the other person can easily die. A death he never wanted, never imagined will come to him – all because of our urgency. Add to that our rudeness and callousness, and what are we giving the people we hit and run? – Only salt on their wounds.

Sorry for becoming a bit sober. But the life I had was so good and I feel bad it cannot be the same for others being born today. Are gated residential enclaves the solution to this? Well heck, no! Change in our attitude is. The our includes the government too. The business leaders too, the LEAD INDIA’s too.

Technorati Tags: Life in Bengaluru, Bengaluru, Bangalore, Blog, City, Traffic, Lifestyle, Rudeness, Impoliteness, Vehicles, Accidents, Garden city, Paradise, Cars, Two wheelers, Cyclists, Cycles, Death, Lead india, Government

I headed out to my office on a clear summer’s day to get a whiff of fresh air and what I got is this

The temperature pattern in Bengaluru is becoming more and more unpredictable as each day dawns. Its a storehouse of surprises each day. The fog just lasted for a bit of inner ring road and then it was the usual clear day again ahead. How BIZZAIRE!

Technorati Tags: Automobiles, Winter, Fog, Bengaluru, Blog, Bangalore, Temperature, Cool, Cold, Chill, Sunny, Heat, Sweat, Hot, Sultry, Weather, City