Rider Mania 2009

22nd Jan 2009 9:30PM – I pack my bags and leave my house to Metro View Inn, Mysore Road, Bangalore to mark the start of my bike-ride after getting close to half an hour’s advice from my Mom and Dad.

22nd Jan 2009 10PM – Still searching for the hotel, I meet a group of riders from Indie Thumpers, Pune who too were searching for the same hotel. I decide to ride along with them in pursuit of finding the hotel and I get my first experience of riding with bulleteers with our engines making a lot of noise (music rather, to any bullet lover). It was truly amazing to hear our engines roar at close to midnight and to see a few passers-by wave at you.

22nd Jan 2009 11PM – We find the hotel finally. We park our bikes in formation. It was then time for the Indie Thumpers to party after their long ride from Mumbai. Their party began. But I was alone waiting from my club Highway Nawabs and my pillion-rider Ravi to turn up. I buy a bottle of beer for myself and wait for them to arrive.

22nd Jan 2009 11:30PM – Ravi calls me up. I go pick him up and return back to the hotel.

22nd Jan 2009 12AM – Armaan from Highway Nawabs calls me up to guide them to the hotel. Ravi and I go to get them along. We get our next experience of riding with bulleteers. This time, it was even better!

23rd Jan 2009 12:30AM – We reach the hotel. Armaan and I go in search of a wine-shop to get some booze. We get very less of it and we decide to get the green naughty boy within us to life. Party begins!

23rd Jan 2009 2AM – We decide to sleep anticipating a good long ride to the Nilgiris the next morning.

23rd Jan 2009 8:30AM – I get up only to see the rest still in deep sleep. Armaan gets up after 10mins and we both decide to get ready for the Morning Sunshine (term used by Armaan to get naughty in the morning). The others start to get up slowly.

23rd Jan 2009 10:30AM – All of us finish having our breakfast and see the other clubs already leaving and anxiously waiting for our turn.

23rd Jan 2009 12PM – We (around 20 bikes and 25 people) are ready for the ride with a few of them still making final adjustments on their bikes. I start a photo session.

23rd Jan 2009 12:30PM – We get our petrol tanks filled and start off! We get our engines running and they begin to roar in unison. Surprisingly, Armaan appoints me as the Lead and he decides to ride last. The rest obliged to him and decide to follow me. Wow, didn’t I live up to Armaan’s trust in me.

23rd Jan 2009 3PM – We reach Mysore after suffering a few break-downs. By the time, we reached Mysore we had split into 3 groups. Some of us re-group and start riding to Ooty.

23rd Jan 2009 4PM – We are still cruising without taking a break. We reach Gundlupet and then the Pug Marks Hotel at 5:30/6PM.

23rd Jan 2009 6PM - The first group arrives at the Pug Marks Hotel. Then, our long wait starts as we wait for the others to arrive. We have our late lunch.

23rd Jan 2009 7:30PM – The second group which included Armaan arrives. Manish and Diana who were also a part of the second group missed us at the hotel and decide to ride to Ooty. Others have their lunch/dinner. It was then time for us to get naughty again.

23rd Jan 2009 9PM – We are waiting…………….. waiting…………….. and still waiting……………… Some of them start commenting on whether we should be riding to Ooty that same night or the next morning. The decision hasn’t been taken yet as we wait to see the condition of the other group and then make the final decision to leave or not.

23rd Jan 2009 10:30PM – The third group finally arrives. We ask them whether they were in a condition to ride to Ooty. They give the Thumbs-up!

23rd Jan 2009 11:30PM – All of us get ready for the night ride. The local people promised that it would be a scary ride and asked us to be careful. Scary, as the route included the Bandipur forest, 36 hair-pin bends and we were riding at midnight with zero visibility. Wow, wasn’t it scary!

24th Jan 2009 1AM – It gets super cold as the temperature suddenly dropped to 4-5 degree celsius as we approach Ooty. I stop to exchange my less-covering gloves with Ravi’s fully-covering ones. We start again!

24th Jan 2009 1:30AM – We reach our room in Ooty after my best ride till date. What a ride! Armaan, a few others and I decide to get naughty again while the others get ready for a well-deserved sleep after a long and tiring ride.

24th Jan 2009 2:30AM – We decide to sleep anticipating a kick-ass party/event in Rider Mania (RM) for the next two days.

24th – 25th Jan 2009 – Caman The Enjaiment!
I met a lot of interesting and weird people during the entire course of the event. Some so weird that one had the ‘Washing Powder Nirma’ ad as his ring-tone. Let me throw more light on this.. We, a group of 10 people were having a long-chat after getting drunk. Suddenly, we hear someone’s phone ringing. The ring-tone sounded very familiar to us but we couldn’t realize that it was the ‘Washing Powder Nirma’ ring-tone initially as the song started from the middle. And that guy picked his phone just before we heard the ‘Washing Powder Nirma’ lyric. All of us there starting humming that song in our minds till we came to know the true/weird fact. The whole group then burst into laughter.
The party wasn’t over yet!

26th Jan 2009 11AM – The party/event was over and we decide to ride back to Bangalore while some decide to go to Kodaikanal and some to Bandipur.

26th Jan 2009 11:30AM – We start riding to Bangalore. During my ride in the steep curves, I suddenly realize that my brakes aren’t working. I decide not to inform Ravi about this and handle it myself. I manage to ride only with my front disc brakes working till we reached a workshop.

26th Jan 2009 12PM – I stop at a workshop to get my brakes fixed. Ravi, then asks me the problem. He was shocked when I told him that the brakes weren’t working!

26th Jan 2009 12:30PM – I get my brakes fixed and start off again. We then decide to Bagao (the term frequently used by Highway Nawabs to speed up).

26th Jan 2009 3:30PM – We reach a dhaba just after Mysore to have our lunch. The food was damn good!

26th Jan 2009 4PM – We start riding to Bangalore and I decide to Bagao-Bagao this time around leaving the rest behind.

26th Jan 2009 6PM – We reach Bangalore after an awesome one and half an hour long cruise. I drop Ravi in his room and decide to leave home.

26th Jan 2009 7:30PM – I reach home safely after a wonderful ride. My parents are shocked seeing my face as the ride had taken its toll on me.

P.S: I have now become a part of the Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club (a.k.a RTMC). I would now be going on rides almost every week (you can call it a date with my girl-friend rather!) starting this week with a ride to Kaiwara zoo. Wish me Happy Riding!

@Armaan: I still miss the Morning Sunshine mate.
@Highway Nawabs: I had a great time with you all. Please count me in for all your future rides that I can be a part of. Wish you Happy riding!

Regards,

Kishan

Looking back at 2008

Before I actually start off, I would like to inform all the readers that this is my first write-up when my mind is in its sub-conscious state. I am on a high as I write this!
Hence, I request you all to forgive me if I write something irrelevant.
Here I go...

The start of 2008 wasn't all that great for me as I was still recovering from my grandmother's loss. Had it not been for the Java 3 gang and Virtual Tennis, my recovery would have easily lasted for a fortnight longer. Thanks to all the friends I made in Java 3 for that! The memorable 3rd floor lab was the place where I met a lot of new people and got really close to some of them. How can one ever forget the fun we had there? Be it while playing Virtual Tennis or while undergoing the training.
Three cheers to the Java 3 batch!

Unfortunately, the good times we had while undergoing training didn't last very long. Some of them were being allocated to projects and some of us including me were heading towards the SAP world being excited. Little did we know that the SAP practice within our company wasn't all that great! The trainings for the people in SAP hadn't stopped yet! Some of us underwent the training in Web Dynpro which I felt was the best training I have ever attended till date. After that, we got our cubicles in the Ground Floor (the so called Bench). Phase 2 GF was the place where I met a lot of new people (some really interesting)! Interesting huh?

We guys from the Java 3 batch had started planning for a trip to Goa by the mid of March. Those four days we spent in Goa were the most memorable days of my life so far. More on the Goa trip here,

http://kishan-livinglifetothefullest.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorable-trip-to-goa.html

This trip had made the bond between all of us in the group stronger!

The period from May - August was a bit dull I presume since I am unable to recollect any incidents worth mentioning here. Panache (The cricket tournament) would be the only interesting thing that happened during this period. We witnessed a lot of good games there as some of us cheering for the SAP team had become their followers. They didn't play badly. Did they? I met a very good friend during this event with who I am very close to now. I'm not mentioning any names here. Forgive me for that.

September - October 2008. We had almost completed a year in our company and most of us in SAP hadn't been a part of a project yet. Some of us were really anxious regarding this as we witnessed some of our friends in other practices scale new heights. I had to console some of them who were really worried by my famous dialogue "Everything happens for the good". I doubt whether my ways of consoling them were effective. Hope my words acted as a stress-relief medicine for them. I chose TT as my pill for stress-relief though! I played TT regularly during this period of time and had become a fierce competitor. Hope I'm not praising myself too much here. (That's a very common symptom of getting totally drunk). Please bear.

After that, we started getting into projects one by one. People soon began to realize the importance of my advices. (Sorry, I am not able to get rid of the symptom I mentioned)
I got into a project finally on the 17th of November after having spent more than 13 months in the company. But I was quick to realize that my wait was really worth. I have been a part of this project for close to two months now and have learnt a lot of new things. I’m hoping to continue that this year as well!

All in all, the year 2008 was a year filled with a lot of ups and downs. It has to be like that if we are to get tougher and stronger . Thanks to you all for making this year so memorable and standing by me during the tough times. Hope we continue that in the years to come!

Wish you all a very Happy New Year 2009!

Here's me signing off 2008 and stepping into 2009 on a high (((((((((note)))))))))!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers,
Kishan

P.S: This is an unedited version of the article I wrote at 3AM on the 1st of January 2009.