Review of OMR - and a plausible solution!

I have reviewed quite a few subjects in this blog - movies, mobile phones, restaurants, etc. Now, for a change and to vent out big time (or just for the heck of it), I would like to write a review of a famed road in Chennai called OMR, expanded as Old Mahabalipuram Road or otherwise known as IT Expressway.

To begin with, the very fact of the road being called an Expressway is such an irony. It should rather be called a Suicide-way. The road is supposedly a toll road, but shows zero signs of being so. Out of the three lanes the road is designed for, two of them are taken at most places by shops and commuters waiting at bus stops. Motorists are left with just one lane and rarely two, which they fight for with their dear lives.

Government adds oil to the fire by placing barricades every few kilometers. Barricades, in my opinion are placed on roads to control over speeding. With a few million vehicles chugging along bumper to bumper in the rush hour traffic, those freaking barricades only add to the congestion. I can't fathom how difficult is for the Government to realize this simple fact. Least they could do is to remove the damn things and create a little more room in the road.

Two-wheelers, for their part, do their best to wreak havoc in their unique 'i-will-peek-my-nose-into-any-gap-I-see' strategy. And by gap, I mean little wedges that could start from anywhere around 0.5 mm. With all the powerful bikes people could afford, the road becomes nothing short of a race track or even worse, for some more like a road-rage video game.

Most bikers fail to realize what might happen if the truck/car they tail gate so closely attempt to brake. With the kind of brakes two wheelers have and with the very fact of it being a two-wheeler, the rider stands no chance but to rear end the vehicle in front of him and fall flat on the road. Most times while I drive in this road, in addition to fighting through the traffic, I take conscious attempts to save a life or two by keeping distances from such two-wheelers.

Next big things are the buses. When the two-wheelers attempt to maneuver through a gap, the buses follow them closely to try to do the same. What idiots. With their massive size and a masculine horn, they think they rule the road. At every signal light, they diligently drift towards the left and try to get as far as possible. Imagine a 100 buses doing this all at the same time. Rest of the vehicles do nothing but to save themselves from scratching against the sides of the bus or worse, get stuck under their wheels. Makes me think if most of such bus drivers have a license to kill from hell.

In addition, there are these annoying share autos who give a damn about traffic rules, signal lights or worse, the fact that their rear wheels need more room to enter than their front wheel (just like auto-rickshaws across the city). They ship about 20 people where there would be room for only about 7. In the midst of all these, there are call taxis, cycles, pedestrians, dogs, cows, all with one sole aim – to make driving experience a nightmare in this road.

But I’m not someone who just sits and complains. I have thought of a solution that can be a cure to all these problems. One solution that can put an end to all the ordeals that drivers face. I propose there be separate lanes for buses, cars, autos/bikes. More like how the Mount Road in Chennai has service lanes, but wider than that.

But that may just not be enough to keep Chennai drivers under leash. Government should have spikes installed along the white dotted lanes, thereby enforcing people to strictly follow lanes. One should not be able to change lanes without puncturing their own tyres. That’s the only way to stop people from wavering across lanes, thereby inculcating little bit of discipline and road sense in all OMR drivers.

Till something crazy like this is implemented, I’m afraid the road will remain a death trap for years to come, if not worse!

Rhetoric!

Though one tries hard not be rhetoric, the compulsion to write the initial thoughts on ever-changing Indian cities seems customary.

The puzzling look of a stranger on a sudden smile is priceless. So is the swerving auto-rickshaw that constantly plays ghost in my left rear view mirror. In a short moment, it gets replaced by a rider with a helmet. Before one could realize, he disappears too. He then appears right in front of my bumper, only to slow down, forcing me to apply my brakes. Chennai roads and the ditches!

I stop at a red light ahead of me. I look around to realize I was the only one to stop. Later, one more good samaritan stops. I was not sure if he stopped by his own will or as all Indians do, he likes to follow what others do. Eventually, all vehicles stop and in about 30 seconds, all I could see around me were a few million cars, billions of two-wheelers, trillions of auto-rickshaws and one bicycle (who by the way was happily balancing by placing his left hand on my rear window).

The countdown of the red light reaches 10 seconds and I hear the blaring horns already. I wonder if every single one of them were driving an ambulance in their past lives. An old guy in his TVS 50 tries so hard to honk at a car in front of him. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had a 1000CC engine and if he would reach 100kmph under 5 seconds. Only if the car in front of him had let him go. By the time I came back to reality, vehicles are inches apart, every one of them moving with a cohesive objective – to get past the signal light before it turns red again or maybe to catch the space shuttle that was leaving in 5 minutes beyond the signal light. Either way, the make sure they get the heck out of the traffic light.

As I shift gears and take off, rest of the vehicles fade in my rear view mirror and in one split second, I realize how much I belong here!

Cell phone driving - What's your IQ?!

This afternoon, I was driving back to work from lunch and I was talking on cell phone. No hands-free, no speaker phone. Regular hand held style. State-law here restricts usage of hand-held phones while driving. I saw a cop in distance and immediately switched to speaker phone.

A strange thought occured to Kabali. He has been driving cars for about 6 years now. He loves driving so much and believes strongly if one loves to do an activity, one performs well in that field. Also, because of cell phone driving, he has never committed any mistakes such as having the car shift lanes without control nor run over the curb nor miss a traffic light.

But not all people may be good at such multi-tasking. Some people do screw up. It was mentioned in the web somewhere that more than 30% of accidents in the UK last year were due to cell phone driving.

Kabali's argument is that the IQ level of such people must be quite low. Yes, IQ level!

Here is his recommendation: When a cop pulls over, he should conduct a quick IQ test on the driver. If the IQ level is good enough, the cop could conclude that the person is capable of multi-tasking without any problems and should let the driver go. If the IQ level is low, then he can issue a violation ticket for cell phone driving.

I'm basing the argument on the logic that every single human being is different and that their capability on doing different things vary too. Having said that, I don't understand how the law and order can be so generalised. Atleast in areas where it could be customized for people, it should be.

Kabali honestly thinks so.

"Honey! I lost the car!"

...was the first thing I would have told my wife on noticing that the car wasn't there in the street I parked the previous night. But I didn't tell anything like that because a)I wasn't married and b)I did not lose the car. I had parked the car in a street parking in New york city and it was towed way by NYPD(I cared less to look at the sign board, as I remember the last time I parked at the same spot after almost memorizing the sign board. But I failed to realize it was sunday the last time and this time it isn't! and it was a 'No Parking Except Sunday' spot). Two hours of wait and a $300 fine later, I brought my car back.

In this episode, I experienced and observed quite a few facts:

1. There was a decent queue and wait time to pay the fine at the Tow Pound. And there was a tow-truck coming in with a car almost one every minute. Well, NY City Govt makes enough money in just parking tickets.

2. In the Queue to pay the fine, amidst people of various races, I saw two desis too. Concorded myself to the already known fact - desis are everywhere.

3. Every individual after paying the fine walked so triumphantly from the counter to their car. Every one of them showed jubilance, as if they were given a new car. Maybe in the wait time, they forgot it is their own car they are getting back.

4. Nobody felt they did something against law and that they are burning some '10-movie-watching' amount as a penalty in less than 'one-movie-time'.

5. They play 101.7 FM in NYPD cop car too. (Yaa, I got a chance to ride in the NYPD car to locate my car in the towing pound.)

6. Finally, reading the rules I came to know that if the registered owner of the towed car doesn't claim the car in 10 days, it'll be let out in public auction! Wow!

Overall, a different experience.

Well, how muchever long one lives in New York, it is still New!

Beat the heat to Heat the seat!

A weekend doesn't end with just three movies, does it? I had rented a Volkswagen Rabbit and drove to New york city to meet Amar. And this Rabbit treated me with far more than what I normally expect from rental cars. It had all-electronic controls, intelligent cruise, bose speakers among other features. And one feature that caught my attention was heated seats it had. Yeah, with the winter snow fall and sub-zero winds graciously showering their blessing all over, this heated seats came as a celestial solace. And it does feel awesomely good to be in the cold and get into the car and immediately feel that 'comfort' on a 'Hot seat'. Anybody who has spent winters in the west would know what I'm talking about. After a movie, myself and Amar were walking towards the car and it was frigging cold. I couldn't even feel my ears and every now and then, touched them to check if they are still there. As we approached the car, all I could think of “lets go heat the seat!”

Rewinding a little bit, I was at one of my colleague's wedding at Nagercoil in India a year and half ago. I had gone there with a few of my other colleagues and every one of them had been to foreign countries atleast once - I mean they all have tasted the sweet of the winter(either in Europe or in US). After the wedding, we thought we’ll go out somewhere and we utilized the “Maapilai'oda colleagues” privilege to have a Toyota Innova booked for us. After a visit to a waterfall called “Thiruparappu” falls, we reached another place called “Thotti paalam” (this one supposed to be the tallest bridge in Asia). Needless to say, by the time we reached the bridge, it was beyond noon and it was scorching mercilessly. After a brief walk on the bridge and a few photos later, most of us felt completely drained and tired. And a “thaatha” selling tender-coconut came as a salvage. The tender-coconuts were more like elixir and we all must have gulped down at least 2 or 3 rounds each. That's when one colleague said “what is this if it is not ‘beat the heat’ concept, huh?”. And after that, every time we had tender-coconut, we were referring to the ‘beat the heat’ concept, as if it is a technical jargon worth referring to or something.

And coming back to the present, myself and Amar got into the car and switched the heater ON. And I don’t know why, all of a sudden, it reminded me of the “Beat the Heat” tagline. And I found it insanely self-amusing, when I realized that “Beat the Heat” and “Heat the Seat” rhymes and in their own style gave me so much of soothe. I stupidly smiled to myself as I was driving towards home and told to myself that 'heat the seat' can be the tagline for now. And I heard in a few minutes, Amar shouting, “Alright, I guess we have burnt our ass enough. Lets reduce the heat now!”.

I saw a point and smiled at the human body, which could sustain nothing even slightly outside the radar of normalcy.

Tata and 2500 dollar car!

I become extremely ecstatic whenever I read about India in the international dailies. And that too when they laud about India's efforts to make a difference in the international arena, it makes me rapturous. The days where people think of snakes and poor people, when talked about India have gone. India is a much better country these days in technological advancements, education and research. I felt a trivial pride in typing the previous line. Many countries are looking upto Indian education system and I read a week ago that quite a few of Japanese schools are trying to adopt the Indian education system. Japan is known for their technological innovations and hardwork. Now, they look upto India for their basic education methodologies. And a lot of students from foreign countries come to India for education, which is yet another thing to be proud of(The fact that people used to come Nalanda univ in those days and the same thing reviving now is definitely a good sign for us).

And coming to the title of my post, the whole world is looking for the "1-lakh car" that tata is planning to release in April'08. And it is codenamed "People's car" by Ratan Tata. There was an article in New York times today and it said that the cost of this car(2500 USD) is cheaper than an in-dash DVD player that is found in luxury SUVs in US. That comparison sounded a little funny to me and I smiled. Back in 80s, when Japan concentrated on the small and economy cars, the whole world was contemplating on their success and the technology they were adopting. Today, it is India, who's making the other countries to look at us. And our roads, our economic condition, population, etc., have made this "People's car" a highly-potential car for success in India. When two-wheelers cost around 60-70k INR(around 1800 USD), a four wheeler for just 2500 USD is definitely a deal for many people in India.

If Tata is from Germany or US of A, he would not even have thought about this idea. It is made, just for India. The car holds a 40 bhp/600CC engine and clocks a top-speed of 75 mph. It lacks Air condition, Radio, power steering, power windows and many other features which are found in 90% of the cars today. But who cares? It was primarily designed for those two-wheeler families in India, who don't have to get drenched in rain or wither in the shine. Tata has also used cheap plastics for the car's body and welding in place of rivets. And a lot more "little out of conventional" manufacturing standards. The major downside would be the safety norms and the emission standards(for India is expected to conform to Euro IV norms by 2010).
This car is not designed for Autobahns or Freeways and am sure it would be ideal for Indian roads/conditions. Whatever it is, this car marks a great revolution in the automobile industry and the whole world is looking forward to it!

One more reason to be happy about India :)

Just a Test Drive...My hands on Honda Civic!

Yesterday evening, I went to a Honda showroom nearby to inquire the features/price of 2008 Honda Fit and 2008 Honda Civic. And i test drove both the cars. I have nothing much to write about the Fit, as it was more like a Santro/Getz in India. Very less legroom, minimal engine pickup and a poor visibility from the driver's view point. I tried my hands in the Civic next. Wow!! was my first expression. I felt more like sitting in the cockpit of an airplane. The console of the car is the first thing to catch the eye. To my knowledge, it is the only car featuring a digital speed display in its segment. And the fuel and engine temperature displays are also digital, the brightness of all these things being adjustable. It had a pretty decent legroom. I tried the version with automatic transmission and other basic features like ABS, side airbags, AC, etc., It did not have a moon-roof, which would have made the interiors perfect! Overall, I felt quite amused, at the interior design aspect of this car.

I then started the engine and slowly accelerated the vehicle. It moved as a charm, with minimal noise and pleased me with a very smooth ride. Civic has a 4 cylinder 1.8L engine and 140 hp@ 6300 rpm. I drove over 5 miles and had a 'feel-good' factor falling in my mind slowly. The first 2 miles were as smooth as a butter, as I steered the Civic that way. The next 2 miles, I tried all that I wanted to try. I pressed the metal to the pedal and checked on the engine power. Quite good for a mid-segment car. Not terrific though. I knew Civic is not the car for fast pickups. The steering wheel, seat adjustments, hand rest, power windows and everything around the driver is neatly made, ensuring maximum comfort to the driver. The rear of the car had quite enough legroom as well. As expected, the boot space was quite ample.

Coming to the exterior, almost anybody would not have missed the Civic on the roads. It for sure grabs the attention of an on-looker for a second look. And i found the sleek lines and futuristic style of the exterior fantastic. Overall, its quite an appealing car for around 18K to 20K(USD) range. I'm tempted for sure ;)