JudeTheObscure

Our genius economists and rising fuel prices

2012-05-24T21:55:00.002+05:30

Cartoon by Alok Nirantar (Check out our contributors section to know more)

Pasting text from my earlier post here. This is a loosely translated analysis from a Malayalam weekly that squarely fixes the blame on the Congress for the escalating fuel prices.

By the 1980s, India was almost 70 % self sufficient when it came to petroleum products. The country had an overall vision of becoming self sustainable in terms of its energy needs and was actively working towards it. Loads of money was spent in oil discovery and to set up refineries. This is when Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and other oil PSUs were set up. In 1985, the government made two changes in its outlook. It felt that it is cheaper to import crude oil than exploration. By this time, large corporations like Reliance began increasing their share in oil production. (Which means they reaped the benefits of all the government's effort. Which means, taxpayers money was handed over to private players in a neat thick wad.) It was also a time when energy demands of the country were beginning to increase due to industry friendly and pro rich policies. Instead of encouraging means of alternate transportation, the country subsidized automobiles and private transport in various forms. Instead of encouraging agriculture, and sustainable industries, government encouraged fuel hungry industries. This led to soaring fuel demands. Industries were promoted heavily without keeping in mind the power requirements. India's oil prices were already dependent on world crude prices to a large extent by now because oil was being largely imported and not produced within the country. The next time when inflation hit the roofs, Manmohan Singh had an excuse ready-- We don't control crude prices. Neat.

PS: Italics mine. Some points have been lost in translation. Fuel prices have now been deregulated. Which means the markets control the prices. Which means Indian's have no cushion if prices go north due to the vagaries of demand-supply-hoarding.

Yours truly on BBC

2012-05-23T16:05:00.002+05:30

Excuse this plug. But I have to do this.

Last Saturday, I debuted on international television!

I was interviewed by the venerable British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for Click, their flagship technology programme.

You must have already read about the Click team's arrival in Bangalore to film the tech scene in India.

The episode was aired on the BBC on Saturday and Sunday, last.

Despite my extensive acting experience in the Doordarshan era, as a 12 year old protagonist in a telefilm which never aired and as the hero's childhood sidekick in another teleserial and a cameo role (I was maybe 2 years old) in a documentary on environment, the camera was making me slightly nervous. So if you noticed any problem with my accent, don't bother telling me. I already know.

You can read the story online here. Read other stories they covered here and here.

Follow BBC Click.

That's it for now.

Yours tully,
JPK

Looking for a reason to celebrate? Here's two.

2012-05-15T20:16:00.000+05:30

Cartoon by Alok Nirantar (Check out our contributors section to know more)

Don't get art? Join the club

2012-05-09T16:14:00.004+05:30

There is a real danger of being branded a philistine if I say that I somehow don't get art. What I really mean to say is that I don't get all art. I get some. This is in no way an attempt to discourage artists who take pride in their work. Just that I don't get all art.

In a recent blog post, I'm Sick Of Pretending: I Don't "Get" Art, Glen Coco argued

"I'm like, 99% sure that nobody's ACTUALLY into art and it's just some exclusive club you can only join if you've got more money than interesting things to communicate to the rest of the human species. Just as nobody wanted to be the first one to go up to the Emperor and say "dude, I can see your arsehole", nobody wants to be the one to go up to the lady in the above photograph and say "you are at least 50 years old. What the fuck are you doing?"

Get that feeling? I'm sure you must have felt it at some point or the other on a visit to an art exhibition.

Coco is not just some nut with a blog. He claims to have gone to art school and says he has written a dissertation called "The Elevation of Art Through Commerce: An Analysis of Charles Saatchi's Approach to the Machinery of Art Production Using Pierre Bourdieu's Theories of Distinction."

He has also attended art openings at least once a month for the last five years, even "fucking purchased" pieces of it, he claims.

But then, he went to the Tracey Emin retrospective at the Hayward Gallery and said "I just don't think I "get" art."

(Source : The Vice)

On this picture, he commented "Look at these fucking guys! Just to be clear: They are in the process of spending three minutes looking at a photograph of a woman they don't know sitting on a chair. Can you imagine how quickly they'd be skipping over this photo if it was in their mum's holiday snaps?"

I promptly forwarded the post to my friends group and quite predictably, our resident intellectual who recently deconstructed why this Kolaveri di in the postmodern context, replied.

Here is his response.

Philistines I tell you. What no comments PK?

Here take a look at this piece of Art. On permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Doesn’t get bigger than that.

It’s called ‘Vir Heroicus Sublimis’ that’s like latin for ‘Man, heroic and sublime’. if you tire of standing in front of it as you gaze upon its inner metaphysical implications and messages, thet good folks at MOMA have given you a bench to do it on.

Now the philistines will say that the painter Barnett Newman probably sub-contracted this to a house painter, but that’s where you are wrong. Painting something a solid colour is harder than it looks, especially if you – like Newman – are one of the masters of modern abstract expressionism. Abstract expressionism geddit? In te words of Newman, “If we are living in a time without a legend or mythos that can be called sublime... how can we be creating a sublime art?” that’s what this is. Sublime. Art. IInstead of making cathedrals out of Christ, man, or ‘life,’ we are making it out of ourselves, out of our own feelings. And those are worth millions of $$s. it is neo-classical. It is postmodern. It is distilled decontructionism. It is the obvious and the abstract. Sigh. Some people just don’t get ‘art’. All you need is a good vocabulary in BS to be an art critic. And on that note, here is a cartoon that illustrates superbly the point at hand:

Our resident intellectual (surely he disdains this reference), blogs here.

If you don't get the sarcasm, add English next to art in your list.

And here's Mr Coco's follow up: I still don't get art.

Cheers,
JPK

There's a hole in the bucket dear Liza...then fix it, dear Henry

2012-05-03T07:57:00.000+05:30

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. Follow him on twitter: @caricatured or e-mail him breathing.cartoons@gmailcom)

This cartoon reminds me of the poem There's a hole in my bucket. Read it, you will find out why.

There's a Hole in My Bucket

(~Bergliederbüchlein (c 1700))

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it.

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, with what?

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, with straw.

The straw is too long, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The straw is too long, dear Liza, too long,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, cut it.

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, with what?

With an axe, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With an axe, dear Henry, dear Henry, with an axe.

The axe is too dull, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The axe is too dull, dear Liza, too dull.

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, hone it.

On what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

On what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, on what?

On a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, a stone.

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, too dry.

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, wet it.

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, with what?

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, water.

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, in what?

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, bucket.

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Today's cartoon: The one that came back

2012-04-27T17:47:00.000+05:30

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. Follow him on twitter: @caricatured or e-mail him breathing.cartoons@gmailcom)

Elephant Boy at the National Gallery of Modern Art

2012-04-18T10:25:00.000+05:30

Ravi Gupta forwards this:

(Image courtesy: NGMA)

Nirmala Govindarajan writes in the Times of India

When Sabu Dastagir, the boy mahout from Mysore, made his maiden appearance in Robert Flaherty's 'Elephant Boy' in 1935, he captured the imagination of the West. "Sabu was an enigma to begin with, an exotic savage straight out of the backyard of Rudyard Kipling's 'Toomai of the Elephants'," explains film critic Prof N Manu Chakravarthy.

By the mid-1930s, people in the West had some inkling of images defining such exotic people through their experience from colonialism. "More importantly, these images found their connection to anthropological works, which correlated to Africa and its natives," he explains. And Sabu too, was looked at as an object of curiosity.

In Palembang, Big sister's watching you

2012-04-17T21:16:00.000+05:30


(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. Follow him on twitter: @caricatured or e-mail him breathing.cartoons@gmailcom)

West Bengal Chief Minsiter Mamata Banerjee 's didigiri can put hard core Stalinists to shame.

You must have heard or read about of her recent exploits. In short, she had a college professor jailed for forwarding a cartoon poking fun at her. Which is exactly what cartoonist Alok Nirantar also does (see above). The threat of being jailed has never deterred any cartoonist who is a true practitioner of the art.

Not content with the achievement, following the footsteps of certain angry citizen who recently filed criminal and civil suits against Google, Facebook, Yahoo and other internet companies, Didi now has the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal write to the world's largest social networking site Facebook asking it to take down pictures making fun of her.

In activist speak, these (CID, Police et al) are called instruments of state oppression.

The sad part?

All this, in a state where once upon a time, stalwarts of Indian cinema like Mrinal Sen, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak took apart sociopolitical issues and exposed hypocrisies with wit, sarcasm, nuance and at times, outrage. Time for the intelligentsia to debate...again.

Sorry didi. It's Poschimbongo. Shit. Paschimbanga. Spell check says Palembang.

Are we in entering an era of intolerance? Fuck yeah! No debates please.

No offense to my friends from WB, the bhadraloks and the open minded. Oh, and none to the good people of Palembang.

And by the way, have you read about what's going on at the West side of the country? Of Modi-fication and Modi-fixation?

Of Modi-fication and Modi-fixation

2012-04-12T16:34:00.001+05:30

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. Follow him on twitter: @caricatured or e-mail him breathing.cartoons@gmail.com)

BJP hardliner, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, known to be both Good and Evil depending on who you talk to, has scored another "clean chit" as he tries to come clean out of a past that keeps him from fulfilling his priministerial ambitions.

According to the supreme court appointed special investigation team which is conducting an inquiry into the post-godhra, Gulberg massacre, no offense has been established against Modi and dozens of others accused in a complaint.

The 61 year old emperor of Gujarat who was recently uncrowned by The Caravan, finished third in the Time magazine's global poll on the 100 most influential people.

Ishan Tharoor writes in the Time Magazine's blog about one of the most polarizing figures in the country

India’s Narendra Modi. The controversial Chief Minister of the western state of Gujarat, Modi is, as a recent TIME International cover story discussed, one of the most polarizing figures in the world’s largest democracy: to his supporters, he’s a pro-business reformer and man of action who ought to be the country’s next Prime Minister; to some of his critics, he is little better than a war criminal, complicit in the hideous 2002 religious riots in Gujarat that took place under his watch in which thousands died.

Read more: here.

Trivia: Ishaan Tharoor is congress MP Shashi Tharoor's son.

Today's cartoon: Selective Vision

2012-04-10T08:49:00.002+05:30

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. Follow him on twitter: @caricatured or e-mail him breathing.cartoons@gmail.com)

Consumers, lets kick some ass, Rajini style

2012-04-04T17:24:00.003+05:30

Small plug for a good cause. Join hands with super star Rajini to end your consumer woes. If you are a consumer activist, or if you don't settle for crappy goods and service, take a walk with Rajani sir and kick some lazy ass. Click on this link to give this consumer activism website a try.

(Image courtesy: www.shoutout.co.in)

Purushothaman from Shoutout team says

Our website is based on Consumer activism, where the consumers can submit complaints against any product or service in India if the were to have any issue with the product or service. Every complaint submitted in our website will be moderated to ensure genuineness.

Have fun fighting the customer care! Once again, here's how.

JPK

How small is the trap?

2012-04-03T21:40:00.000+05:30

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. Follow him on Twitter: @caricatured)

Happy birthday Univac I

2012-03-30T11:42:00.003+05:30

The first American commercial computer, designed by J Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of ENIAC, turns 61 tomorrow. It used to cost about $ 1 million (~Rs 5.2 cr) each. It could do 1,905 operations per second. Today's smart phone, say the iPhone 4S which sells for about Rs 45,000 can run about a BILLION operations per second.

(Pic: Univac I. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

According to the Computer History Museum, it was delivered to the US Census Bureau on March 31, 1951. This was the first commercial computer to attract widespread public attention.

Although manufactured by Remington Rand, the machine often was mistakenly referred to as the "IBM UNIVAC" Remington Rand eventually sold 46 machines at more than $1 million each .F.O.B. factory $750,000 plus $185,000 for a high speed printer.

Speed: 1,905 operations per second

nput/output: magnetic tape, unityper, printer

Memory size: 1,000 12-digit words in delay lines

Memory type: delay lines, magnetic tape

Technology: serial vacuum tubes, delay lines, magnetic tape

Floor space: 943 cubic feet

From the Computer History Museum

You might also want to read: "Anyone who has ever sold IBM has regretted it"

Book recommendation- iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It. Buy from Flipkart.com

Dada, Didi and the state of economy

2012-03-17T17:57:00.000+05:30

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. Follow him on twitter: @caricatured or e-mail him breathing.cartoons@gmail.com)

Book recommendation- Poor Economics: rethinking poverty And the ways to end it. Buy from Flipkart.com

When a journalist praises another journalist its news

2012-03-13T13:44:00.000+05:30

Is it still true that when a man bites a dog its news? If yes, by the same logic, I have news. It isn't very often we hear a journalist say good things about another. As Mint's editor R Sukumar once pointed out in a column, hacks usually don't have kind words for fellow hacks. In a rare and perhaps bewildering (to many who can't think of saying: Oh that story? I only gave it to him, that's an old story) gesture, senior journalist K Balachandran has penned down a poem in praise of Joe Scaria, a journalist for nearly three decades.

Here's what Joe had to say when he shared the poem with us.

/begins

I've had a couple of journalism students I taught mimic me at their cultural show, but this one is a new experience. Senior journalist K Balachandran has penned some lines that make me mumble and fumble for words, if not feel downright embarrassed. Such words normally come your way when you are close to taking a final bow. Admittedly being in my last lap, I am not perturbed. My only claim to fame during a 27-year career in the media is to not have won a single award. If any of Balachandran's words is true, that would be an award I'll cherish.

For forwarding this self-laudatory stuff, I ought to be making a proper confession, for the Bible says "For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends" (2 Cor 10:12-18), but I thought I'll go ahead anyway because Balachandran's lyrical prose is also testimony to his affection for fellow journalists.

So here goes: (Please be guarded, particularly about the penultimate stanza)

My dear Joe, my dear friend

you've been instrumental in showing how

journalism itself could be healing

by gently unraveling the truth

hidden as well as difficult to accept for many.

Acted as the resident confessor to all those who

suffer any which way by journalism's sins,

psychoanalyst to exorcise scribes' pains

though it has not started to feel here

as all around the world.

Your inventive mind and leadership role

I am bound to whole-heartedly appreciate.

After all we are among a few in this profession

who believe life is for living, the way you find it enjoyable.

The mind and spirit you display is special

In Kerala there are only a few left, who think and act like you,

not because of anything else, but out of

pure love for what you do and for the happiness in doing so.

Journalism brought me many exquisite moments of happiness

mainly what I created for myself, and to gift others

from the small world that we live in,

those were indeed luminous moments.

I am satisfied but there are great disappointments and regrets

not because any of my dreams did not materialize

but I found very few people whom I count

sensitive minds, to know, make friends with and cherish.

Had I not met you in my journey, I'd have regretted more

You are an oasis, a tree full of sweet fruits

for a weary traveller to relish, a fine human being,

self contented and keeping the poetry of life in mind.

May the coming days be special to you, your family, near and dear

I wish abundance of peace, serendipitous high in creativity,

all glad tidings and fulfilment of every kind, and let us continue

the adventure as there are much more exciting things to share in future.

/ends

Cheers

PS: You can read Joe's tongue-in-cheek commentary on news from across the world here.

Book recommendation- Lucknow Boy: A Memoir. Buy from Flipkart.com

Budget burden, Buridan's ass

2012-03-09T20:50:00.000+05:30

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. If you like his cartoons, tell him so. E-mail: breathing.cartoons@gmail.com or follow him on @caricatured)

With the union budget round the corner, our septuagenarian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Congress party's chief fire fighter, has a tough job ahead of him-- living up to the expectations of the people. Now that the latest round of assembly elections are over and the ruling Congress party has lost in most states, he may not be under too much pressure to read out a populist budget. Congress can either push the reform agenda and make an attempt to cut fiscal deficit or assert its weakness by not doing so.

The union budget is on 16 March.

Whats Buridan's ass?

Named after 14th century French philosopher Jean Buridan, it refers to a hypothetical situation wherein an ass is placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Since the paradox assumes the ass will always go to whichever is closer, it will die of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision to choose one over the other. (From Wikipedia)

Book recommendation- The Concise Oxford Companion To Economics In India. Buy from Flipkart.com

Stop Kony: powerful and compelling story

2012-03-08T20:08:00.001+05:30

A 27-minute documentary on an Ugandan war criminal (alleged) has taken over the web. Jason Russel’s Stop Kony film went viral on Wednesday. A great example of powerful and compelling story telling. And determination and goodness. Hope you are inspired. Cheers, JPK

UP win/ lose . Same difference for Rahul Baba?

2012-03-06T15:08:00.002+05:30

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. If you like his cartoons, tell him so. E-mail: breathing.cartoons@gmail.com or follow him on @caricatured)

DVS, BSY and Gadkari: Tale of demockery in Karnataka

2012-02-28T08:51:00.000+05:30

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. If you like his cartoons, tell him so. E-mail: breathing.cartoons@gmail.com or follow him on @caricatured)

Why Kannadigas should thank Yeddy and buddies

2012-02-27T09:00:00.001+05:30

Bangalore based journalist and an aspiring political analyst Sharan Poovanna writes why we should all thank B S Yeddyurappa and friends for bestowing the state with all the pub(l)icity it can(t) handle..

(Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. Write to him at breathing.cartoons@gmail.com)

Earlier considered one of the ‘sleepier’ states, Karanataka could have actually given ‘Australia’ a run for its money for being politically insignificant to the relevant environment. No one cared about the politics of the state, as the Congress ruled and JD(S) supervised most of the occurring in the state for several years.

With no real opposition in sight, Karantaka first became a national topic with its IT endeavors. Then Chief Minister, SM Krishna (now external affairs minister) patented all rights to fame involved in this, irrespective of how much an ordinary ‘Bangalorean’ cribs about the influx of this industry which has effectively eroded the ‘serenity’ of the city. The place was always of strategic importance due to the presence of defence industries -- ISRO, DRDO, HAL and the likes.

But why does the national media give so much importance to Karantaka now? With all due credits to any great events that have taken place in the state, most of the publicity (negative) came, thanks to the political slug-fest since the BJP has claimed power here. Yeddyurappa, who has also ‘moved his birthday’ to ensure that the high command can heed to his threat of reinstating him. Undeterred, he surges ahead to claim the ‘displaced’ throne.

But his tittle of being ‘Karnataka’s publicist’ cannot be stripped off of him. His scams (though are a fraction of what the other parties were involved in) has helped the state increase its ‘footprint’ in India’s political landscape. The country takes cognizance of the events and developments here. The city also has senior full time news reporters from national media and not just stringers, adding to the further crowding of space for ‘bytes’.

The spate of incidents force national leaders of all parties to mention Karnataka in any possible manner (mostly taking political potshots at the BJP). As a Kannadiga, the negative references are regretted. Nevertheless, on the whole, the development is positive. Earlier any wrong doing by the government was barely even cared for. Now at least it has become a tea time ‘conversation’, and in many cases cocktail ‘arguments’. The populace, otherwise known not to be very active, now have an opinion about the incidents of corruption.

All actions of the government now is closely being watched by a more informed public. Media has been on their toes and time and again catered to ‘breaking news’. From the 50/80 site to the KIADB land scam to the Porngate; the public know why Yeddyurappa is no more in power. The earlier mentioned ‘slug-fest’ has increased curiosity to know what his (BSY) predecessors did and how it would play out now. Most of the incidents are reminiscent of the movie Memento (which is sadly more popular in India for its Bollywood adaptation Ghajini) as it is played in reverse. Yeddyurappa alleges earlier wrong doings, on their party and they (opposition parties) have thrown much at any allegations on them. The state has at many times turned into a ‘food fight’, where it is legal to throw pie on anyone by anyone.

Its regrettable that we have been termed one of the most corrupt states in the country, after all the great souls who gave us an identity of being one of the more refined states. But in all this chaos, we have first admitted that the problem exists. We have also gone ahead and identified what these problems are. But only time will tell if we can change all of this for the better. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you Yeddyurappa!

Read Sharan's take on Super Star Rajini's Endhiran here.

Nenjukkul Peidhidum Mamazhai: will it go viral? I think so.

2012-02-26T18:30:00.002+05:30

Few years back, Rajesh Subramanyan, one of the contributors to this blog left his boring design job at a news paper in Bangalore. He headed back to Trichur in Kerala, to live with his parents and hopefully shoot some good photographs.

When he left, antagonists were told that he was going to join the CPI (M) and raise funds for the party, a theory which some of them still believe to be true. What he really wanted to do was to start his own design firm and do something creative. He loved photography among other things.

I lost a good friend at work. But nonetheless, wished him luck and started following his work closely. After a few attempts, he, along with colleagues at Dreaming Nomads have come up with a nice short film. I'm sharing it here.

It is a video about a guy who wants to learn guitar to impress his girl friend. Hope you like it. I'm thinking this could go viral. Here's wishing that it would. You can check out some of his photographs here, here and here.

Credits

Thread | Anu John David

Script | Dreaming Nomads

Lights | Vinod Babu

Online Cuts | Aravind Ajith

Final Cuts & FX | Jobin Komaroth

Titles & Camera | Rajesh Subramanyan

Music | Anoop Bhat

Direction | Abrooz

About Rajesh

(In pic: Rajesh)

Rajesh Subramanyan is a photographer and a designer. He brings us vivid images from Gods own country. In his characteristic style, which often stirs up nostalgia of the forgotten hinterland, he brings us the best visuals tailored for this blog. Rajesh studied Mechanical Engineering from the Government Engineering College Trissur. He is now a freelance photographer based in Kerala. His photographs often reflect dry sarcastic wit and dark humor. He loves colors and often mutes them out from his photographs. Rajesh has begun making music videos these days.

Book Recommendation- Learn to Play the Guitar: A Step-by-step Guide. Buy from Flipkart.com

No-om nom nom...

2012-02-24T16:54:00.001+05:30

Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. If you like his cartoons, drop a line at breathing.cartoons@gmail.com

Seven lessons from the weekend bike trip

2012-02-22T09:23:00.000+05:30

Last weekend we rode to Yercaud, a hill station some 250 Kilometers by road from Bangalore. Here are seven lessons I learned from the bike trip. This is mostly elementary stuff, just in case you don't know already. Will wax lyrical about finer aspects of the trip sometime later.

1. If you are new to road trips, always wear a jacket and cover as much skin as possible. The sun is usually very intense on highways and can cause severe burns. Sunscreen is not a bad idea either.

2. Two wheelers don't have to pay toll. You can pass through the left most lane.

3. Get your bike serviced before you leave. Check air pressure, oil and fuel. When filling oil, in bikes like Splendor, be extra careful. The chamber can easily accommodate over 2 liters of oil but that doesn't mean you should pour so much into it. Pull out the oil cap and check the dip stick. In a splendor, ideally the dipstick should show you not more than a centimeter and a half of oil in the chamber. Go by the marking on the dipstick.

4. Drink lots of enough water to prevent de hyderation.

5. Take short breaks and enjoy the ride. It can be lot of fun even though your ass pains after a few hours.

6. And yes, careful on the road. Don't go overtaking too many cars. No need to show bravado.

7. Get the directions right. No point getting lost.

Book recommendation- Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance: 25th Anniversary Edition. Buy from Flipkart.com

King of good times begs for alms from the man

2012-02-21T14:59:00.000+05:30

Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. If you like his cartoons, drop a line at breathing.cartoons@gmail.com

Welcome to Ram rajya #porngate

2012-02-10T16:27:00.000+05:30

Cartoon by Alok Nirantar. If you like his cartoons, drop a line at breathing.cartoons@gmail.com