Life - An Experiment

3G Scam!

2011-06-23T22:42:00.001-07:00

Yes, there is no typo in the title. Am leaving the choice of writing about high-magnitude-scam-of-the-era to someone!

This is about the billing plans and 3G or EDGE connectivity.

Of late, mobile service providers have devised a method to loot their unsuspecting customers. When we get a new smartphone, we would be more interested to play with it and explore it's features. This happens till we get bored of the features and start using it as a regular phone. To exploit this behaviour, service providers automatically detect the model of the phone and send settings (with EDGE or 3G to use internet) to save. Once we save the settings, comes the counting of the ins and outs of bits. They have many billing plans from which we can choose one, but by default, they are enabling the pay-as-you-go with no rent plan. The name of this plan seems to be catchy but it wouldn't take more than one billing cycle to burn our wallet! Eventhough, every subscriber is having their own credit limit set by the service provider, we don't get alert while crossing that limit. Eventually we are pushed to pay a 5 digit bill!

Please be alert! Just make a call to the customer care of your service provider and make sure that you don't end up in this kind of trouble!

PS: I know a couple of victims of this trap from Airtel!

A Day at Royal Enfield

2011-06-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

11AM. All set to start. Thought was flying so high as I started towards Royal Enfield factory at Tiruvottriyur, Chennai. En route, I picked up one of my friend Muthu Shankar. The meet was planned at 2:30pm. Meanwhile, one of my long time pending task was to check wheel-alignment of my car and now I had enough time to spent before going to RE, so stopped at Ramesh Tyres to finish the job! To my disappointment, there were four cars in queue which, he said, will take an hour to complete. Dropped the plan and continued our journey towards RE.

Another long time pending task was to get an oil seal (timing cover) for my Bullet Machismo. So thought of using the spare time to get it. Drove towards Pudupet hoping to get the oil seal today and stopped at KSR Automobiles. I am not an expert in describing things to the store men, hence I noted down the part number (#500622/A) and asked the men at the store specifying the part number. He was not at all interested to listen me. He asked, "Where, the oil seal that you are asking, would fit into ". I said, while loosing my hope, "its on the timing cover, at the end of crank pin". He lost interest and said, "we don't have stock" and went on to listen at another customer's need. Felt sad and left the place. Even though, I could not get the required oil seal, I have killed a considerable amount of spare time in this process.

The real journey towards the birth place of Royal Enfield Bullet started, then. While navigating through the crowd at Ritchie Street, fuel meter in my car gave an alarm! Gosh! Low fuel. DTE shown 24km. Drove cautiously looking at the side of the road for a decent looking fuel station. Finally found one at Royapuram. After filling petrol there, went straight in the beach road till Ennore and took left and again a left. Yes, we reached almost there.

As it was tummy time, looked at the clock. Ticking at 1:30PM. "Ah.. its your time", I said to my tummy. After some search, found out a small non-veg hotel and went in. The place looked average but the crowd at the place suggested the food should be in better taste. My gut feel was to try it. Asked Muthu and he was also ok with that hotel. Had a nice lunch for Rs 255 (final bill). If in city this could have cost us Rs600. As we finished lunch, we did our part of polluting the atmosphere by filling in nicotine rich smoke into the air. Irresistible ;)

Drove towards the entrance of Royal Enfield, parked the car at the designated place and went up to the security personal and said that we were here for the scheduled tweet up. They asked us to wait in the reception. Went in and found out three other persons already waiting for the tweet up. Had a word with them and started to gaze around. One thing that caught my attention in the reception was the metalic silver Robo. One head lamp, a fuel tank, a pair of swing arm, a pair of silencer and a pair of sprockets, and some welding jobs. Done. The robo came to life. Now two more people joined us.

Waiting continued. Got a tweet from @royalenfield (Praveen) stating "we are waiting for you tweeple". Responded back "7 people have turned up so far. waiting for some more to come".

A person, in royal enfield uniform, came over to us and asked as to get to the second floor of the administrative building. Went up! To our surprise, we were greeted by a nice looking gentle man, Praveen and led into a conference room. Was wondering about the agenda of the meet! As usual there was an introduction session followed up by an informal chat. Praveen talked about Royal Enfield. And to my happiness, he said, we would be walking through the entire plant where the Royal Enfield comes to life from bits of metals and other materials. Long time wish was going to be fulfilled!

Venturing out the of room, we were first introduced the prototypes of various rider utilities to be released soon. It included leather jackets, tool boxes, saddle bags, etc.

Any such visit should not be complete if there are no photo session. Yes, at the entrance of the Factory, beside the "The Trip" board, we were asked to line up! Shot!

While stepping into the engine assembly line, our over excited crowd started clicking photos with an awe filled eye at the re-work area. Praveen explained that this is the place where the bikes gets reworked, if any correction is needed, after the exit of assembly line and dyno and real time riding test.

Moved on to the engine assembly line. It was a life time experience to witness the neatly lined up assembled UCE engines. Praveen commandingly said a strict no-no to photo shoot inside the assembly line. Fine, everybody abide by that!

Before going into the assembly line, crank case, primary drive cover and timing side cover were tested for its flatness of surface, to ensure that the liquid oil seal between them would work well. In old engines, we would be having gasket to make the oil seal. Usage of such gasket would allow us to have some tolerance in the flatness. Now, as they are using liquid gasket (which would build up by its own when oil is introduced into them), tolerance is very minimal. Hence all this parts are going for a flatness testing.

Looking at the assembly line reminded me the subject "Work Study" by ILO which was taught at our college. That's how the line looked. Some 10 people are standing in line next to a conveyer. At the start of the conveyer a crank case is placed and fitted to it. Now the process starts. The man at the next place, equipped with tools and parts to be fitted, starts his work on the crank case fitted to the continuously moving conveyer. He is expected to finish his work before the crank case moves out of his boundary. The man standing next to him will take up further and this continues till last. Thus all the bits and pieces of the engine are stuffed into and a big piece is formed. Awe. We got the final engine.

One would wonder, as there are many parts, how are they ensure that all the necessary parts have gone into the engine! But that is ensured by the well trained staff at the work, said Praveen.

Now came the testing of the assembled engine. Then men at this place fits the assembled engine into a mock bike and gave life to them. After filling oil into the engine, they made all the necessary connection lines (carb) and fire the engine and carefully listened to its rythm, note, noise etc. Most of them makes into the next level. Some go backwards, for rework.

After this, as we walked towards paint shop, two more people joined us. I have special mention about them at the bottom of this blog ;)

All the paint work done here are eco-friendly, said Praveen. We could witness his saying as well. They treat waste before dumping them! Paintings are done inside closed cabin and are allowed to dry.

Once through this, some of the parts which require hand drawing are coming to the next place where a man is doing what we call as a complicated work, with ease. He even demonstrated one for us. Nice job! A point to note here: One of our guy started shooting video while the man was doing his job. Unknowingly, his camera's hanging strip made some mark on the yet-to-dry drawing. The man, not knowing the cause mark, checked a band tied at his hand. Still not clear about the cause, he checked the strip hanging our guy's camera. Guys, please note that they are not doing circus!

Then went on to the chasis assembly line. This is where all the parts of the bike comes into one place and makes a complete Royal Enfield Bullet.

Then to the dyno test. Was wondering the possibility of balancing the bike while standstill. But Praveen explained that it's equivalent to riding in the road. They rode the bike at different speeds and tested different aspects of the bike before giving it green signal. I suspect the safety aspects of this test!

Then came a photo shoot with an export model.

The final process in the making of a Bullet is the real time test on a test track. The test track a lot of intentional rough riding spots which would mimic indian road conditions, said Praveen.

Gathered at a place and had a general chat before saying bye bye to the group. Thanked for the tweet up and congratulated Praveen for his upcoming marriage and his married life and said bye bye.

Thanks to Srini for his photos.

-Karups

Note on special guys: One guy brought a big camera and a mono pod, as if he was covering the episode for a news channel and wanted space more space at all places wherever we went. The other guy (older) was talking to Praveen in a non-stop manner as if he was on a date with Praveen ;) Others could not talk even a single word with Praveen after this older guy turned up. Grow up guys. Share space without hurting others!

தொடரும்...

2008-07-10T05:58:00.001-07:00

நிறங்களுக்குள் ஒளிந்துகொள்ள எனக்குத் தெரிவதில்லை
என் புன்னகையும் சாயம் பூசிக்கொள்வதில்லை
சலனமற்ற ஓர் வாழ்க்கை
வெறுமையாக தோன்றும், என் மனம்!
வருடிவிட்டு போகும்
சில பார்வைகளும் புன்னகைகளும்
புதிய பொருள் கூறும், இவ்வாழ்க்கைக்கு!

வலி!

2007-09-18T03:08:00.000-07:00

பொதுவாக இருவரும் பேசிக்கொள்வதில்லை
எதையோ தேடும் என் கண் முன்னே நீ -
காத்திருந்ததை போல
உள் மனசுக்குள் ஓர் நினைவு -
நீ என்னை பார்த்துக்கொண்டே இருப்பதாக

வார்த்தைகள் ஏதுமின்றி
உன்னை தொடுவது மட்டும் எனக்கு பிடிக்கும்
பரிச்சயமானதுதான் உன் பட்டு மேனி -
இருந்தாலும்
ஒவ்வொரு தீண்டலும் புதிதாய் தோன்றும்

இன்று உன்னை காணவில்லை என்கிறபோது
சின்னதாய் ஓர் வலி - மனதில்

எங்கே சென்றாய்?

-- காணாமல் போன என் டெடி பியருக்காக

உன் ஞாபகம்

2007-09-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

மண்டையை பிளக்கும் வெய்யில்
கவலையற்ற நடைபாதை மக்கள்

மாநகர வாகன நெரிசல்
கரும்புகை கக்கும் கனரக ஊர்திகள்

மலைபிரதேசமெனும் சாலை
நொடிக்கொரு திருப்பம்

அழுக்கேரிய மனதில் வெள்ளாடை
ஆங்காங்கே அழுவதற்கு சில்லரை கொஞ்சம்

உள்ளாடை காட்டும் நாகரீக கூட்டம்
உடனிருக்க கூலிகேட்கும் மற்றொரு கூட்டம்

தாகம் தீர்க்க உயிரைக்குடிக்கும்
தண்ணீர் வண்டிகள்

கடன் கேட்டு இல்லையென்றால்
தூற்றிப்பேசும் நண்பர்கள்

கஷ்டம் என்றால் ஓடி மறையும்
சுற்றம்

கண்ணயர்கையில்
கதவுடைக்கும் களவாடிகள்

தெருமுனை ரேஷன் கடை
எறும்புகளாய் சிலர்

சாக்கடையோர குடிசைகள்
சலனமில்லா சிறுவர்களின் விளையாட்டு

எப்போதாவது நடக்கும்
வைபவங்கள்

.......இன்னும்.......

இன்னும் எத்தனை எத்தனையோ...
வாழ்க்கையை வளைத்து கேள்வியாக்கும்

அப்போதும்...
கண்ணே உன் ஞாபகமடி...
காதல்கொண்ட என் நெஞ்சமெங்கும்!

தோற்றமும் மறைவும் தொடர்பற்று
வாழ்கை...
வீசும் காற்றில் ஓர் வெற்று காகிதமாய்

விரக்தியில் விழி பிதுங்கும்
இறப்பது எளிதெனப்படும்

இருப்பினும்...
நமக்காக அன்றியேனும்
நம் காதலுக்காக
உயிர் வாழ்வேன்!

மீண்டும்

2007-09-11T06:35:00.001-07:00

சந்திக்க நேர்கையில்
ஏதேனும் ஒரு காரணம் -
நீ அழுவதற்காக
புரிகிறது!
என் மார்பில் முகம்புதைத்து
அழுவதுன் சுகமென்று!
இருப்பினும்
இருவருக்கும் இடையில் என்ன உறவு?
புரிந்தபாடில்லை
அழைக்கும்போது ஓடிவரும் நீ
அழைப்பதற்காக காத்திருக்கும் நான்
எதைத்தேடி இணைகிறோம்?

தேடித்தேடி தீர்ந்துபோகும்
நீயும் நானும்

பிரிவதாக ஒப்பந்தம்
நாடகமாய் அறங்கேறும்!

மீண்டும் தேடுதலில் மூழ்கிப்போவோம்!

இறுதியில்
வெறுமையாய் ஒரு பார்வை வீசி - என்னை
அடுத்த சந்திப்பிற்க்கு ஆயத்தப்படுத்துகிறாய்

கருவி

2007-09-11T03:45:00.001-07:00

உருகியதுன் சிரிப்பில்-
என் இதயம்!
உன் அதர வெடிப்புகளில்
கசிந்து
பின் மறைந்து
பாவையில் பார்வையாகிறேன்
மிரட்சியாயிருக்கிறது-
எனை நானே
நோக்குவது!

வாடை தாங்காமல்
வயதையும் மீறி
புதிதாய் பிறக்கிறோம்-
ஓர் போர்வைக்குள்!
அச்சமும் நாணமும்
அகன்று விட துடிக்கும்
ஏகாந்த வேளையில்
பயத்தோடு ஓர் தழுவல்-
முழுவதும் பற்றிய தீயாய்

நினைவுகள் நிலையற்றுப் போகும் -உன்
நிழல் மட்டும் எனைத் தொட்டுப்பேசும்
வேட்கை எனை ஆட்கொள்ள
விருந்தல்லவா நீ என்றால்
காமம் தலைக்கேறி
காதல் கரிக்கும்!
யுத்தம் தொடங்கும்

உனக்கும் உனக்குமான யுத்தத்தில்
கருவியாய் நான்!
விட்டுவிடு என்பதுவும்
விடாமல் இறுக்கிக்கொல்வதுவும் நீயே!
முரண்பாடுகள் முற்றிப்போக
முழுவதுமாய் தோற்றுப்போவாய் நீ!
முகமற்று நான்!
இழந்தோமா...?! பெற்றோமா...?!
புரியாமல்
குறுநகையுதிர்க்கும்
நம் உதடுகள்...

காதல் செய்வோம் வா!

2007-09-11T03:34:00.001-07:00

ஓர் இரவில்

இருவரும் தனியில்

மூன்றாம் பிறை நிலவில்

நாற்றிசை மறந்து

ஐம்புலன் இழந்து

அறுசுவை கடந்து

ஏழ்பிறப்பினியேன் என

எட்டாத காதல் செய்வோம் வா!

காதலாய் நான்...!

2007-09-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

அற்புதமாய் சில நேரங்களில்
காதலுடன் ஒரு பார்வை என்னை கடந்து போகும்...
நீ என்றால் நினைவில் ஓர் நிறமாலை வந்து போகும்....

உன் ஒவ்வொரு கூந்தலும் என் உயிர் தாங்கும்
சிரம் பிரியும் சில கூந்தல் இழைகள்...
என் உயிர் குறையும் அந்நாட்களில்...

நீ கண்களை மூடித்திறக்கும் தருணங்களில் -
கருவிழி மறைந்து போகும் இமைகளுக்கிடையில்...
இறந்து பிறக்கிறேன் நான்.

என் எதிரே நீ இருந்தால் என் மௌனம் கலைக்காதே
வெற்று வார்த்தைகளால் என் காதல் விளங்காது...
காதலாய் கரைந்திருப்பேன் - மௌன வேளைகளில்.

என்றேனும் ஓர் நாள் இது நேரிடும் -
அப்போது...
செத்து மடிந்த என் சிதிலம் சேர்த்து
உயிர்ப்பித்து பார் - என்னை மீண்டும் ஒருமுறை...
என் காதல் புரியும்!!!

மறந்து பிரிவோம்

2007-09-11T03:16:00.000-07:00

இறுதியில், முதலாய் யோசித்தேன் -
முடிகின்ற உன்மீதான என் கனவுகளை!

பிரிவது இயல்பு
சேர்ந்தே பிரிவது துயரம்

மறந்து விடுவதாய் நானும் இல்லை
மறக்கச் சொல்வதாய் நீயும் இல்லை
இருந்தும்-
மறந்து பிரிவோம் என்றாய்
மரித்துப் பிரிவோம் எனக்கேட்டது!

கடைசி காலங்களில் -
என் கண்கள் உன்னைத் தேடும்
இதயச் சுவர்களெங்கும் உன் பிம்பம் சிதறும்
வீரம் தாழ்ந்து விழிகள் நீர் பெருக்கும்
வண்ணங்கள் நிறமிழக்கும்
மனச்சோர்வையும் தாண்டி வந்த சிறு தூக்கம்
நடுநிசியில் பறிபோகும்
சவக்கிடங்கெனத் தோன்றும் என் வீட்டில்
பேய்கள் கூடிப்பேசும்
கடிகார முள் கால் உடைந்து தவழ்ந்து போகும்
கூவும் குயில் செவி கிழிக்கும்
வைகறை என்னைச் சுடும்
மார்கழியில் வேர்க்கும்

எல்லாம் -
நீ பிரிந்து போனால்!

Dimensions

2006-11-30T04:55:00.000-08:00

When we landed up in the badminton court, a surprise was awaiting me. A flock of shuttles! Scattered around, simply trying to teach the less mortals,us, the different dimension of life. All the feelings of an exhausted life was being portrayed by these cocks. Sorrow or lonliness or exhausted or uselessness or whatever you name it.

Photography, Me and My Living

2006-11-19T20:32:00.000-08:00

Often I think about visiting a pshychiatrist when I become a void with nothing to fill in. All the faces around seem new! All the conversation feels bored!

Emptyness is the only thing I feel. I am a bit exhausted. Oh! I totally forgot my camera! It is the time I should take my camera and raom aroud for a good capture. Of course, all I click are abstracts! Results are awesome!

I am overwhelmed with happiness which I dont want to spoil with some non-sense conversations. I take my camera! And my clicks represent the happiness of the world. It emphasizes the need to live in.

I feel lively after a good conversation with a pretty girl. All I focus to capture reflects the beauty of this world. Mind is looking for positive aspects in all. No time to think about negetives and of course I am holding a roll of negetives!

Alas! I am filled with sorrow! Aperture allow only negetive things which I could witness along the way. When I try to supress the feel, I am failed. Results look crappy in way that I dont dare to show you any of them!

At times, I am totally detached from the rest of the world. Clicking the nature. The almighty! We dont know when she turns violent or calm or soothing!

Am I really taking photohraphs? Nope. I have just found a way to capture my mood. Often, it uses to retrospect myself. It makes me feel light. I am not even making a penny out of this. I am destined to do this. And this is not my business.

Need for speed!

2006-04-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

Started from chennai at 1900hrs. As you know, the road leading to Bangalore is with full of patholes and diversions.... this was the case till reaching Sriperumpudur. We dont witness any lane markings in the road as well. Tough time to ride, and felt a bit for not riding in day-time.

At Saint-Gobain, its 2000 hrs.

All of a sudden, we were at Vellore at 2115 hrs. Yes the road was well and gave us a good riding. Good lane markings which helped motorists to some decent level, though we have to forgive lorry drivers for their ignorance. As we started little bit earlier, we didnt see a much of traffic in either side( Yes the traffic in the other side matters as we may not be able to ride comfortably with their high-beams switched on. Its sort of hell). We finished our dinner here in a road side hotel (did I say it a hotel). Oh god save me.... the food was very poor, but we were left without options by the time we felt not to skip the hunger, anymore.

Started at 2200hrs. 90km in 1hour. One of the pleasant stretch. I dont see any problem in riding at full throttle. My partner also didnt feel anything wrong.

Time went on. My eyes were drying (As it was a night ride, we were not able to put glass/wiser). When we are at 80kms away from Bangalore, my eyes dried to the maximum extend and I was not able to view the opposing lights. Here I had search for a leading vehicle. At the time, the opposing trak was full of vehicles but in our trak, I could see some loaded lorries. Pity! Lost hope! To save me it was a Maruti Gipsy(Police vehicle) coming my way and I followed. I was wondering what the hell is wrong with him. Literally he has not crossed 60kmph mark. Still I had to follow him till Bangalore.

By the lessons, on my return to Chennai, started at 1600 hrs, and rode comfortably till chennai.

Though there were some hard times, it was a pleasant trip, overall. It would have been even better if the whole trip was in day-time.

I was riding Royal Enfield Machismo, with my friend Raghu on pillion.

Sailing through the Scenic ECR

2006-04-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

Ahh........ this week end I am going to pondi... cruising through the ECR is a heavenly experience.I always prefer to ride my bike at above 100s but there are some places where above 100 will be a reckless speed.

Below are the speed limit at stretches which you can enjoy without any problems. If your new to ECR follow the below speeds.

20-50
Thiruvanmiyur - VGP Golden Beach

40-60
Police Check Post (T Junction which connects to Sholinganallur) - Kanathur (Mayajal).

Caution: There are two residential areas in between these two spots and more importantly these res. places are exactly at turns. Beware!
Beware of people/vehicle which cross the road to reach Mayajal.

60-90
Mayajal - Kovalam Jn.
Caution: Fisher Mens Cove (After Muttukadu Boat House) T junction in a the turn.

90 and Above
Kovalam Jn - Puthuppattinam
Caution: Double lane road ends at Puthupattinam and starts again after Puthupattinam. Maintain 40Kmph here.

80-100
After Puthupattinam, beware of curves (especially car users).

Riding the Royal Enfield

2006-03-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

One of my dreams comes to reality now as I am wandering with my new Royal Enfield Machismo. Wow, what a bike it is! In India(n market), no other bike can stand beside it in terms of riding comfortablity. But the only thing I hate these guys(Royal makers) is the price band of the vehicle. Its simply too much.

It looks pretty cool in its Alberto-Green with a majestic style.