Revisting my personal web sphere

Hi,
Last couple of years have been pretty life changing. Right from marrying off my sister, to my own marriage, an adorable kid and then changes at the job. Not that I have been overwhelmed by all these changes but changes demand attention. When that happens, all of us know what part of ours takes the worst hit. Yep! Its recreation.

Yes there are Twitter, Facebook and Google but those are like streams that carry content along at a mighty pace. So much so that it is missed in a blink. Then there are blogs that you slowly nurture and build with your ideas or life events or activities. In a way, these are a manifestation of our other self or selves that are not evident when we are the part of a crowd or a rat-race.

So now after so many days, finally it seems that life has let her leash loose just a little bit so that I can (re)connect with my own little web space. Going through some of the content I put up here in the past couple of years, it seems very amusing and sometimes a bit stupid too thinking what I have been putting down up here.

Most interesting bit was a review of my own bike that I submitted to a magazine and it has received so much attention over the years that I am overwhelmed. Here is a link for he curious guys out there.

I have got lots of notes to put down so there will be more stuff soon on my Black-Pearls and an interesting project that I made when I did not like the stuff available in the markets. You will find he project in list of my other projects when completed.

See you guys soon! Have a great time and weekend and life ahead!

Been a long time! Ain't it?

Hey!

Its been a looooong long time since I have been here. May be close to a year! That is an awesome long time! But not that I have been idling or got bored from scribing online. It was just that certain stuff took priority over these pages and here I am back on.

Been riding along with life and career and those are kinda two chariots that every person on this planet has to ride. So I was doing my own Karmic bit. Have still been indulging in stuff and fun all this time and it has been interesting. Now that I am here I will be sharing my miniscule adventures with life with you all as well. Lets meet again real soon.

So? Later then? All-righty.

-me

A rider's heartbeat

Hi there!

On the way to my office, there is this very inviting road between the penultimate and last automated traffic signal post. On days when I have been an early riser, it is relatively cool and roads empty than most days. Some of these days I just tend to enjoy the breeze. On the other days it so happens that one feels like pushing the machine a little bit.

So what enters a rider's mind before plunging into that sprint? and how about during and after? Here's an attempt into a rider's nerves correlated from one of my personal experiences.

It mostly depends on the attitude with which you break off from the lights. If you let some air into the bike at the start off, after first 5 seconds you already know that the local speed limit is pieces now. Violate  the speed limit by 1 Kmph or 60, it is an offense. And who cares this one time?

By now you are halfway in to making the decision if you are going to push it or relax all the way. Possibly, if you are already nearing the red line, things in the mirror are smaller than they should appear, and there is no animated object ahead as far as you can see, then it almost surely a is a go-go.

When the decision has been made, brain switches from smooth-sailing mode to fly-in-2D mode.

You then push the throttle slowly towards it's upper limits. The harsher and harsher grunt from the hollow exhaust pipe tells you that the machine is obeying and faithfully putting in efforts to take you on the 50 second adventure ride. Your eyes are fixated on the road envisaging any potential threats at least 300m ahead of you and gauging anything that may cause you to abort the sprint. By now the dials are again redlining and you switch a cog further.

And few seconds later, it is again the time to put those cogs into another disposition so that transmission can effectively squeeze the peak of torque-curve that you might be riding on right now.

Around 50 Kmph above the legal speed limit!

At this point, experienced from the daily commute and often stretching your bike like today, you know for sure that there are a few more seconds remaining to the magic number you have always managed on this stretch. This is the point when your field of view narrows down only to the edges of the road around you.

There is absolutely no need to watch the rear view mirror now because all the senses are focused on the road, the road and only the road. Even a glance of the RVM will be waste of the precious view ahead where you see the bike eating up the road and roadside trees, sign boards and street lights rapidly unfolding into your field of view. Everything seems to be simply warping into you!

The head-winds gets into the smallest nook and cranny. Small  gusts of breeze break away from the head-winds and find their way through the riding gloves and shoelace-holes and cool down the sweat that by now, out of excitement, has moistened your hands and feet. Just a quick peek at the speedometer and you see 111, 112, 113,...114,........1..1..5,.......1....1.....6..... gradually inching into the number you want to see. The three digit number raises the level of alertness far higher and you are all the more willing to slow down from caution than you are any other time of the day. The realization that you are now riding at the limit of your skill-set and your bike's ability, is enough to make you skip a heartbeat.

But wait you need to watch the road, feel the tires, look out for that gentle curve, prepare for the descent into it. There is no time for skipping heartbeats!

Up ahead a few hundred meters is the round-about where you break into another road to the office. That defines the end of it. That is where the sprint ends and you are still a tad below the magical number. But You know there is no more to go. You release the throttle millimeter by millimeter and apply brakes in tandem to avoid engine-braking hit you hard.

After the turn, you are again legal. Some riders catch up while you are now riding in a speed-induced slow motion. Your extremities feel a little numb after recovering from vibes that parts oscillating at 8500 rpm produced.

Then there is stand-still. Some idling and engine stops. Your have arrived at your destination. Heated dirt on the cylinder head sighs with a peculiar smell you recognize, is from the last time you touched that number. And with tinker of exhaust that is now contracting after being heated by exhaust gases a few seconds ago, your bike takes a breath of relief from the hard work. You acknowledge with a glance at the machine before leaving for rest of the day.

Thanks.
-Akashdeep Singh

Read my review of the same bike at http://bikeadvice.in/honda-cb-unicorn-dazzler/

Post script:
- For those who are curious about the make, it is the nimble, purposeful, uncelebrated, no-nonsense bike by Honda, the CB Unicorn Dazzler. And yes, it has done 119 Kmph.
-Rider specs: 30 Yr, 5'5", 64 Kg.


Some words on safety:
-Do not continue riding beyond your comfort zone. Abort if you start feeling lack of confidence, it is not thrill, it is the fear that tells you to quit for your own safety. So quit!
-Wear appropriate safety gear while riding and follow all the best practices.

Six months of vacuum

Hey!

Yes it has been six months of vacuum from a blogger's point of view. But in real life there were no voids at all. In fact, the more important tasks took precedence to this page. Prolonged detachment from blog gradually faded away so much so that the activity was not missed any more! Good habits die easy as they say or so.

So what have I been up to all this time? Well, I witnessed my sister's marriage, then my own engagement ;-). And basically that's it. Former was quite an eventful activity and required lots of time and easily ate into my blogging as well as gym regime. As soon as I had recovered from that, another beautiful change ensued that I just mentioned. This time around, I am again enjoying the commitment towards the new change in life and of-course now back into my heath routine. Loving it!

Also, the Tweaker will be back soon! So stay tuned.

So that was kinda saying hi after a long time. See ya round!

and till then,
stay happy,
stay healthy,
and sleep well!

My first 3D movie experience

Tin-Tin became my first 3D movie experience

Hey there!

Life keeps on giving us new 'firsts' every now and then as long as we are breathing isn't it?

Today it was a first 3D movie for me. I have been watching the 3D versions of Pirates of the Caribbean, Avatar and others pass by me because of paucity of time or outright lethargy. But this time I made it :-)

Colleagues went to watch Tin Tin to celebrate an official milestone. So how was it? Well, the depth was evident and while it was not actually as realistic as I saw during one of the demo's of a Sony Bravia 3D TV but it was really engaging to watch in 3D especially during some sequences that had the special touch of director Steven Spielberg.

If you are looking for a few words on the movie, I would say it is a good (not great) entertainer. The animations and detail that the animation artists have added to the 3D world is commendable. Movies like Avatar claimed to be animation marvels but given the fact that we have such realistic looking animation complete with expressions where even the twitch of a bow counts, created in less time than the acclaimed masterpieces, deserve some commendation for the genius of people who work behind these technologies, managing hundreds of thousands of variables in each scene.

That was a bit of sidetrack. Coming back to the storyline stuff, it is mature enough to beat a common guess so it keeps you entertained unless you are a regular Tin-Tin reader! The climax also hints at another adventure in store that obviously prompts us to wait for a sequel.

To end the story, I will now be looking forward to more of 3D movie experiences and induct others who have not yet been there. If that means I am a victim of technology driven consumerism? It is a Yes!

Have a nice day.
Tin-Tin!