Fast and Furious

Sometimes it is the circumstances rather than the incidents themselves which make them memorable.

I had booked tickets for the movie "The Incredibles" on Republic Day for myself and 2 of my friends, Ajay and Chera. The movie was supposed to be at 1'o clock, but we could start from Nanganallur which is 16kms from Satyam Theatre only at 12:53, owing to Ajay's appointment with an Insurance agent.

Those who have read my previous blogs would have by now got a hint that I am very passionate about biking. Yes, I am and I am very fond of zipping through Mount Road at high speeds. It is needless to say that I was racing at 80kmph and luckily for me, I was able to get through the troublesome Guindy Roundtana and the less likely Guindy and Saidapet signals until I reached the notorious Nandanam signal. The signal just went red and the timer started counting down from 95 seconds. Surprisingly all along the way, I hadn't seen any of the "Mamas" (Traffic Policemen). So I was speculating the idea of jumping the signal and cross the otherwise trafficless Mount Road, when Ajay spotted a lone "Mama" standing beneath a bilboard for shade. It was 1:05 and we had already missed 5 minutes of the movie.
The 95 seconds wait at the signal was spent discussing the possible reasons for the absence of "Mamas" such as R'Day parade, lunch time etc. Jumpstarting from the Stop line were a few other motorists, whose might have had similar urgencies like me. My F2 soared to 75kmph in no time at all only to find the distant signal at Karamuttu centre turning Amber. There was no point in rushing to the next signal just to stay idle for another 60 seconds, so I cutdown the RPMs to a cruising speed when it all happened.

From behind a tree near the Ceebros estate, four "Mamas" came dancing across the road and stopped the pack of bikes. It immediately dawned on me that we were overspeeeeeeeding and exceeded the speedlimit by 35kmph. I had heard about overspeeding cases where nothing other than the fine amount of Rs.500/- will let the rider take his vehicle from that place, and we had only 120 rupees. The Seargant was very calm in accepting the fact that we didnt have 500 rupees but firm in telling that we could take an auto to the nearby ATM. Now I knew that we might reach the theatre only by Interval.

At the same time our luck was not all that bad. Ajay spotted an HDFC ATM, where he holds his account near the Apollo Speciality Care hospital which is 100 metres from where we were standing. Maybe it is one of the strategies to intercept vehicles nearby an ATM to facilitate cashless motorists. Meanwhile the Seargant, probably exuberant with the collection that he must have had till then didn't mind telling me the way he caugth us. There was a Qualis with speedguns placed at a strategic point behind a billboard some 500ms from our place. It was trickily placed far from the Nandanam signal, to allow vehicles reach their maximum speed before reaching it.

I do not know how much time we spent there. By the time we reached the theatre it was 1:22 and I should mention that we travelled the remaining 5 kms at 70kmph hoping I cannot be caught twice on the same day according to Law of Averages.
I was worried but not upset for losing 400 rupees. (The seargant returned 100 rupees and gave a receipt for 400 rupees only. some sort of a discount for accepting our mistake and not bargaining with him) We had a hearty laugh at ourselves, all the talks we had before getting caught and the irony in it.

Overspeeding and getting caught might be simple things but this situation made us feel the other way.

P.S. Readers need not think I am a rash driver. I do not exceed the limits, unless the situation demands.

Where am I?

Today for the 8976452713rd time in my life, I realise that

I have miles to go before I can stop running, let alone sleeping in the first place.
I hadn't even aimed for the roof top, let alone the skies.
The arrow hasn't left my bow, let alone hit the bull's eye.
I have to take off before I can think of landing.
.
.
. and above all
I have a very poor memory to realise it for the 8976452713rd time.

Where is the lifestream going to take me??????

First Day First Show...

It is a matter of pride amongst us to see the first day first show of a movie, especially if it has been hyped a lot or if the movie is of a favourite actor. Commenting the movie and revealing the suspense knot of the climax to the eager friends is a great fun in itself. The fun gets manifold, if the movie makes it big at the box office.

But I am not going to have any of the above mentioned for having seen the first day first show of Vijay starrer "Thirupaachi", a very poor blend of commercial ingredients. Everything seemed wrong about the film. To start with the movie was a too lengthy (3 hours). Trisha lacked the usual charm associated with her and the screenplay was found wanting in all aspects, especially good sense of humour since the movie was categorized as commercial. I pity the director for having relied on 'Pasamalar' kinda brother-sister sentiments to push the movie. Last but not the least, the cacophony made in the pretext of songs made me feel that Gold Flake and Scissors have paid a lump sum bribe to the music director to boost their sales.

It’s been 24 hours since I came out of the theatre, but I still can't come out of the bitter experience because I had to skip the breakfast and waste a nice holiday for a hopeless 3rd grade movie

Of new years and the resolutions

I dont know when and where the habit of making newyear resolutions started. It seems cliched when almost everyone, who greet me on new year day ask me about my new year resolution. I had never given any thought about such a thing in my life... So may be I should give it a try.
The familiar guy who appeared on the mirror was earnest in shortlisting ( rather I should term it 'longlisting' considering the length of the list) a few options, which were not actually farfetched.


-You shall not chase the cute scooties and pray the next signal to go red, hoping to get a glimpse of the occupants
-You shall not rue over the unoccupied pillion of your bike
-You shall not brood at being romantically challenged
-You shall not while away the weekends thinking what to do
-You shall not snooze the alarm and sleep for one more hour in the mornings
-You shall not complain about your bike's mileage (I should call it metre-age, centimetre-age or inch-age) to someone who owns a splendour
-You shall not shout at your mom when you find the shirt is not pressed
blah blah blah....


Boy!!!I am not so bad. It must have been some one else on the mirror....ok.ok. Still I felt averse to make a resolution and live it up. I cannot limit myself between the lines of righteousness without overstepping it occasionally. I like the way I am (E&OE). Everyperson should be allowed a few shortcomings. For its these bits and pieces which make us all unique and the life interesting.

Still the guy in the mirror convinced me to make a resolution. I shall try all the best I could to keep up my first resolution which is
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I shall not make any resolutions in my life...

PS. One reason why I cannot convince myself is because I had been declared as

volatile char balaji; //a character which might change unexpectedly

Bye Bye buddies

I am very happy for a couple of my friends who will be travelling to the Wild West to fulfill their on-site commitments.

Babu and Bharath (a.k.a Bob Brat) you deserve it guys and Bon Voyage