Hari Schumacher

After keeping our Xing cool and clean in the confines of our basement, I and Ranji decided to stretch its legs and make her do some exercise. We also wanted to have a feel of driving our own set of wheels. Keeping in mind the horrendous Bangalore traffic and our fickle confidence levels, we decided to call our friend who assisted us in getting the car home from the showroom. Since he believed in baptism by fire, he decided to take us all the way to ITPL, or rather, wanted us to take him and his wife all the way to ITPL.

To tell that the journey was eventful would be an understatement. It all started right at the start. I decided to get behind the wheels first and wanted the experience right from the beginning. The beginning was to take our car out through the labyrinth known as our basement parking area. After shouted encouragements from Ranji and my friends, I managed to finally reach the foot of the exit. Now, the path goes up to the service road, and I was geared (pun unintended) up for the challenge. With our security guard, Thilak, directing me, I pressed on the accelerator lightly, or so I thought. The vehicle just shot up the path to the road, with Thilak scrambling for safety in double quick time. Surprisingly, I was more afraid of scratching the car than anything else.

Having seen my rather dubious driving skills, I could see apprehension, and in some cases downright fear, in their eyes as they stepped into the car. I quickly quelled all their doubts with a reasonably okay drive until Marathalli. There, I was afraid of having to stop at the intersection and starting again, but luckily for me, the car decided to behave. Just as I was feeling rather pleased about the whole thing, the traffic decided to play a cruel game with me. On the upward slope of the Marathalli railway overbridge, there was a traffic jam. I dutifully stopped the car, but while starting it again, I met with resistance. My left foot decided to stay put on the clutch whereas my right foot was totally confused about whether to press the brake or accelerator. With such a confusion raging between the two legs and an even more serious confusion raging behind our car, my right foot made the decision to go for the accelerator. That resulted in a fantastic-to-ears screeching sound as the car shot up the road. My friend was so impressed (and obviously scared) and wanted to know how I managed to make that noise.

I drove till Kundanahalli Gate rather uneventfully after that and gave the reins, or rather the steering wheel, to Ranji. I felt she was rather tense right from the outset, and she went ahead and proved me right. There was a turn to be taken at the end of a small slope. With my friend asking her to brake and then turn, she promptly went ahead and pressed on the accelerator, giving the steering wheel and almighty rip at the same time. I felt as Michael Schumacher taking the final turn towards chequered flag in Monza. The tension at having committed such an error coupled with the elation at having finally made the turn without much problems, Ranji forgot about turning the steering wheel back to its position and we very nearly rammed a truck. That was almost the final nail in the coffin, and her confidence was all set to be buried, when finally the Ranji spirit rose to the fore. She said that if she quit then, she would never gather the courage to drive and proceeded to drive for another 200 meters before she finally handed over the controls to our friend.

He took us inside ITPL, and after having loads of icecreams, we came back to our place, sans any incidents. For a regular driver, this was nothing major; for a first timer, this was an adventure. I am happy for me, Ranji, and the car to have come rather unscathed from it. We are planning for a similar adventure today; watch this space for more on that.

Xinging All The Way

Yesterday, I passed yet another milestone in this journey called life. I turned 31. I had been looking forward to reaching 31 eagerly. It was around 8-10 years back while traveling in a bus when a co-passenger stuck up a conversation with me and proceeded to ask how my wife and kids were. I said I myself was a kid and told him my age. He told me then that I looked 31 - not 30, not 35, not even 32, but 31!!! From that day on, I have been wondering what was it that was so special about 31. Well, I found out yesterday that 31 did have its own nice surprises.

As the scarce followers of my blog would know, I and Ranji had been planning on buying a car for quite some time. In fact, if not for the prudence of her, we would have bought a car much before we bought our house. Anyway, after a long wait, we finally decided to take the plunge. Taking into consideration our nothing-to-talk-about bank balance, we decided to go for a Maruti Alto. We didn't want to go for a Maruti 800 because that would kind of reiterate the truth that we were really down in the dumps as far as our finances are concerned. That was when Wales happened which made us start looking for a slightly better option.

It was around the same time that Wagon R Duo was launched. Taking into consideration the LPG factor, not for the environmental aspect - though that would have been great - but for the economy, we thought it would be great. I got a decent review about it from a person in our office who had bought it. He said that even though the boot space has been reduced to an extent, they have got a single long seat at the back which makes seating 5 a touch tough, but much more manageable than earlier.

Keeping all this in mind, we presented to Bimal Auto Agency in Indira Nagar one fine Sunday. We both liked the new Wagon R immediately - I because I always liked Wagon R (surprising, eh???) and my wife because she had no difficulty seeing in front of her. After examining the car, we got to the negotiation table, and that is when the problem started. The agent said that it cost around Rs. 4.34 lacs and that there would be no freebies with it. Now, we Indians wouldn't mind being fleeced as long as something free is thrown in with it. So, we were rather taken aback that nothing would be offered. All of a sudden, our eyes started searching for an Alto. We left the showroom feeling rather unhappy.

We thought we should be checking out some of the other cars also, but we encountered a problem there. I didn't like Santro very much for the looks and Ranji didn't like Indica because all her colleagues kept bitching about it. It was a question of who would bat their eyelid first, and as always, it was me. So, we went to the Trident showroom in Indira Nagar. They were very welcoming, understood very quickly the kind of customers we were, and told us that all the basic accessories would come free of cost. They offered us free music system with speakers and central locking apart from the usual floor mats, boot mat, Ganesha idol, etc.

With more arguing power, we were back at Bimal, but the story remained the same. The agent there said that the maximum he could provide would be the floor mats. I felt like saying he could keep his mats for himself, but didn't. But what it did was it increased my interest levels for Santro Xing considerably. We told him that we would inform him of our decision later and went over to Trident.

Once in Trident, we encountered a slight problem in that the person who assisted us the first time wasn't to be seen around, but we met a pleasant lady who was more than helpful. She answered all of our questions to our satisfaction, and we signed up the papers for purchase of a Santro Xing. We wanted a dark maroon color, but since that wasn't available, we settled for black. We always loved black, but have heard some frightening stories about the maintenance of a black car in Bangalore. Since we didn't want all those lifeless grey, we thought we would settle for black. The delivery date was fixed for, you guessed it, October 22nd.

So yesterday morning, in true Indian middle class style, I herded my wife and 2 cousins who had come over to the showroom along with my friend. My friend was going to lead us since both myself and Ranji weren't yet confident behind the steering wheel. We reached the showroom about half an hour before the delivery time, killed our time glancing at the car every 30 seconds or so, and finally when the clock ticked over to the "mahurat," we were promptly out of the showroom and into the car.

Ranji started off driving since my friend insisted that it was our car and we had to have the first drive. After driving rather well for around 300 mts, he took over. We quenched its thirst, went to a temple and did the pooja, and came back to our apartment, where the car is currently languishing. We did distribute sweets around and invited both the interested and uninterested to have a peek at it. For once, even a perceptive guy like me was blind towards the blatant lack of interest shown by some because of my own excitement.

As the euphoria slowly lifts, reality is going to set in. Scratches are going to be there, especially while parking in our building or driving through Bangalore roads. Driving is going to be hell amidst this maddening traffic. But for the moment, we aren't ready to think of all that, blissfully looking at the car with a rather stupid-looking smile on our face.

Aching Back

The last few days haven't been the best in my life, thanks to a dicey back. I was confined to the bed in my house for 10 days thanks to a back strain that has been brought about partially thanks to my work and partially due to the physical activity I subjected it to.

All this started around 2 weeks back when our manager took all the team leaders to a resort. After years of subjecting my body to increased levels of laziness and inactivity, I decided to do a 180-degree flip and exert as much as possible. I was like a man possessed, actively taking part in squash, tennis, badminton, cricket, and what not. I returned home feeling pretty pleased with myself. The first indication that things weren't right was the next day morning when all my joints creaked when I tried movement of any sort. This creaking was heard worst at the back which was extremely unreasonable to any request of movement from me. I decided to not heed these warning signs and went to office for 2 more days.

By the third day, even though the rest of the body looked more or less normal, the back was unrelenting to the point that I decided to go to a doctor to have a checkup done. I went to Manipal Hospital and met with a Dr. Hegde who assessed that I had a lower back strain. He advised that only rest was a cure for this and prescribed 7 days' rest. My initial elation at not having to work for 7 days, though, was immediately shattered when he said that I would have to lie only on my back with 2 pillows placed under my knees. He assured me, with total confidence, that any attempt on my part to not follow these instructions would result in a slip disk which could result in a much more serious issue. If not anything, this definitely made me decide to behave.

What followed was few of the toughest days in my life. For people who aren't used to it, let me tell you that there is no fun in lying down, staring up into the wall above you with a fan constantly rotating, having your leg placed in such a position that very soon your lower legs are crying out for blood supply. In fact, even sleeping lost the pleasure it usually brings for me. Ranji tried her level best to make life easy for me, but there was only so much that she could do.

After a week, I presented to the doctor's office, itching to get on with life, but since it was nearing the end of the week, he suggested that I rest for another 2-3 days before I got to my usual routine. I asked, a touch too eagerly, whether I could start sitting. Taking pity on me, I guess, rather than anything else, the doctor relented, but told me not to overdo it. I was advised not to sit for more than half an hour at a stretch, not to bend directly in front, to bend my knees to get down and pick up things, not to ever be in a reclining position, etc.

The pain hasn't totally left me, but I am here, feeling much better. The pain is present as a constant reminder of what can happen if I were to suddenly punish my body to such extremes. Having had this experience, I am planning to increase the activity level of mine so that I don't end up with such aches and pains the moment I exert even a little.