Honda - my new love!

Finally the new love of my life has arrived! She made me wait for  12 days before I could have a glimpse of her. Better late than never. I am so much in love with her :) All of a sudden Bangalore roads seem better!

She is Pearl Nightstar Black. The booking experience was nice. I booked her from Saphire Honda, Jayanagar, Bangalore on 8th of September. The expected date of delivery was 28th. I got a call on 21st informing me that my beauty has arrived :) After a night shift, "tired and sleepy" was the last thought I had. The urge to see her landed me on the showroom 20 mins after I got the call :) The paper works were done in an hour and the wait began. 

She was at the godown, dressing up! I saw her at 1.30 in the afternoon, and boy, it was love at first sight! I took her home, gave her food and took her for a small ride in the city. I guess she loved Bangalore as much as I do! I got her name [read as registration number] that evening. Her birth certificate [read as registration smart card] is yet to come.

Specs time:

Weight/ Measurements:

Kerb weight: 138 kg

Fuel tank capacity: 12 litre

Wight: 754mm

Length: 2073 mm

Height: 1085 mm

Ground clearance: 162 mm

Wheelbase: 1328mm

Chasis:

Chasis: Advanced Design Dimond Frame

Tyre type: Tubeless

Front suspension: Telescopic fork

Rear suspension: Mono suspension 3 step adj

Rear tyre: 110/80 17- M/C 57P

Front: 80/100 17-M/C 46P

Rear Brake tyre: Disc 220 mm dia

Front Brake tyre: Disc 240 mm dia

Engine & Transmission:

Transmission: Constant Mesh, 5 speed gear

Gear shift pattern: 1 Down- 4up

Engine: Air cooled, 4 Stroke, SI endine

Torque: 1.3kg@ 6500 rpm

Displacement: 149.1

Net Power: 14 bhp@ 8500 rpm

Air filter: viscous paper filter

Carbuerator/ fuel injection: Carb

Starting system: self

Electricals:

Chain case: Half

Mileage: 60

Lgnition: Digital CDI (Multi Mapping)

Headlamp: Halogen 12V 35/35 W

Battery: 12V-4AH Maintenance Free

Inst panel: Digital

She has 17 inch alloy wheels, tubeless tyres, five speed transmission, digital instrumentation, and rear disc brake.She has shed 8kg from her prototype[read as unicorn] and looks sleek and sexy! The riding position is more comfortable compared to its competitiors on the same segment. Gear shifting is a breeze and power is commentable. But due to the super soft gear i sometimes put it in neutral from first while taking off. Have to get used to it :) You cannot make out if the engine is running at lesser RPM, its so silent! The monoshock suspension could be adjusted to 3 modes - hard, medium and soft. Couldnt share much of a long riding experience since I just covered 50+ km and she is just one day old.I guess, for the money you pay - she is worth the buy. But if you are some one who says "how about some goodies, what are you giving for free?", then be ready to hear this from the dealers "This is Honda sir, nothing is free here" :) you got to buy all the accessories. How ever i wouldnt recommend the extended warranties that the shop keepers offer. The warranty stands void if you dont service the bike from the honda svc during the waranty period [read as 5 years] :P

So wear your riding gear and befriend the road. Happy riding! :)

Experienceing Bangalore!

If you are new to Bangalore and if you are coming from a city like Hyderabad, the first thing you'll notice is the weather! Bangalore has an awesome weather, atleast for me. The short drizles make the city look beautiful during the day.The cold breeze makes it even better at night! I am in love with the weather here.

Accommodation is one thing which I have not found yet. Thats scarey given the fact Ill have to vacate the guest house any day this week :( I do not know th city yet. From experiance this is what I found about locations:

* Bhannarghatta road: Not Recommended! [even if u get a palace on rent for cheap price, avoid this location if you working in E City. Travelling is such a pain!]

* Koramangla : Highly Recommend! This place has a good connectivity with the rest of Bangalore. Travelling to and from E City should be easier from here! Koramangla is slightly expesive compared to other locations Ive been to.

* E City: Not Recommended! This is one advice I have been consistently getting from every one around and from day 1! Do not stay in E City. It would look comfortable for a few months and later you get a feel that you are trapped in a corporate jungle!

* BTM Layout: Highly Recommend! I havnt been to this place personally, but who ever visited this place for searching accomodation has good words about it.

* Yellahanka: Not Recommended! Not sure if it spells correct. As far as Ive heard of this place, its easier to get an accomodation here and its cheaper, but its really very far!

* HSR Layout: Recommended! Not visited the place personally. Got lots of reccomendations about this place though :)

* Madiwala : Not sure! This place is awesome in terms of connectivity. Since I hail from Kerala, this place is awesome in terms of food as well! We have lots of Kerala messes and restraunts here. But in terms of quality of flats, this place doesnt come near BTM or Koramangla. We have old flats here an most of them have a PG kind of look [from what Ive seen]. Since I wish to get a feel of home from where I am gona live, I would rather not recommend this place!

As I said, I still havnt figured out where to stay, so if anyone of you have suggestions, I would be glad to read them in the comments section!

Travel to home town has been another thing which brought me to Bangalore! Now I am nearer to Kerala. In Hyderabad I had to depend on One train [Sabari express] which run dailey and which is full almost on any given day! The journey took almost 22 hours! Bangalore is better with atleast 3 trains and 40 plus busses going to Kerala! But booking a ticket was not as easy as I have imagined! I had to travel to Kerala this weekend [21st] and wow, no tickets available in the trains! No tickets available in the busses as well [remember the count was 40 plus!!] Then through an agent I got my ticket to kerala. Now the return journey? No tickets available on any mode of transport on Sunday night! Got special permission to be away from desk on Monday and what do I find? There is just one ticket waiting for me on a mOnday night! So I booked it - the last seat, God knows how the journey is gona be!

Now, the reason for my relocation to Bangalore: my New job! Infosys is awesome! Atlast the campus! I am yet to get a feel of the work culture and process, but the campus sure looks worthy of the change! I spent almost 18 hours in campus these days! No, not at desk, in the campus!! The job looks challenging as of now, looking forward to interact with the team and fall in now with the process :) Infy has spent so much in maintaining greenery around the campus which is GOOD! We even have monkeys and cute birds in the trees near our food courts :) so much close to nature, i say! its really refreshing! There are 50 buildings in the campus of which I guess 9 are food courts! Any one here works in E City? Lets meet :)

Oh, forgot to mention, my lazy lazy blog completed 100 posts with the last note! So this is the 101st post :)

have a happy time friends and smile! :)

Good bye Hyderabad

In December 2005, Sabari Express took me from Palakkad, Kerala to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh - a journey which changed my life, perceptions and career graph! Four and a half years of fun, laughter and mood swings comes to an end! Today, Sabari Express takes be back to Palakkad for a vacation before I start my next journey. I would miss the city, a city which I know better than my home town. I would miss the exotic food, the beautiful people and Hyderabadi hindi. This journey is for good, a long vacation at home, ghar ka khana, some time with my beautiful niece! After a week I start another journey, another train would take me to Bangalore. Is this for good? let time decide!