One Sexy Ride

The Rune

Sexy or what? Honda's Cruiser from the otherworld costs a cool $27K. But when a bike looks as sexy as hell I'd bet its totally worth it.
http://powersports.honda.com/rune/

Boring...Not the post mind you

Last weekend. It was a really hot and humid Saturday afternoon. We couldn't go out anywhere on account of..guess what? Heat and Humidity. After watching a lot of nonsense that the idiot box had to dish out, we were this close to being braindead. By the way, did anyone know that Braindead (aka Dead Alive) was a movie made by Peter Jackson. Was a kid when I watched Braindead, and thought that the title was referring to the director of the movie and not the movie itself. He has since then gone on to make the LOTR trilogy and KingKong. Reaffirms my faith that anything is possible. Anyways, I digress. Back to boring Saturday afternoon.
"Champ..."
"Hmmm?"
"Bored!!! You?"
"Yep."
tick tock tick tock...........
"Have you ever realized how time slows down when we are bored?"
"Aha.................So?"
"Well, may be it means that we would feel like we have lived a lot longer if we remain bored. Then maybe we might die happier having lived a long life"
"Hmmm.................But you might get bored...and tired too....of living"
"Right!!!................. You may have a point there."
tick tock tick tock..........
singing "EIGHTEEN TILL I DIE"
"Dude!!! Shut up"
"OK.........Is it just that song or is it the singing?"
"Not too sure"
singing again "EVERYTIME THAT I LOOK IN THE MIRROR"
"Yep. It's certainly the singing"
"OK"
tick tock tick tock........
"Damn it all!!! If only we could think of something to do."
"I can't. I am bored."
"Yeah....exactly. We wouldn't be so bored if we could think of something."
"No dude. I meant we won't be able to think of anything if we are so bored."
"Eh? OK"
"You didn't get what I said, did you?"
"Nope."
"Never mind."
"Can't say I can, even if I wanted to."
"Maybe we can go BASE jumping with bicycles like those guys on TV"
"But those guys seemed bored too, didn't they? Anyways, I will say this about being bored.....I sleep well when I am bored. Don't you"
"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
"I take that as a yes"
"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
"DREAM ON DREAM ON
DREAM UNTIL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE... YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH"
Next week, we are planning to buy and bring home a keg. If at all we have to get bored, we might as well be bored with cool beer to sip.

Dude, Where's my bag!!!!?

Airlines worldwide apparently misplaced 30 million bags last year. Well, atleast I wasn't the only one who had lost his bag in an airport in the year 2005. I am not too sure if the magnitude of loss in anybody else's case can match upto mine though. All of 4 pairs of socks and 5 pairs of jocks (they happened to be my weekday collection).
It all happened when we were traveling to Bangkok last year. My first trip abroad, I was all happy when I learnt that they served booze on the flight. And after having downed a few cool cans of beer, with my friends passing me theirs as well, I was in a happy place. Then on my connecting flight from Colombo to Bangkok, I was upgraded to cloud number nine when they gave me whisky. So, little surprise it was, that when I got off I totally forgot that I had checked in not one but two bags. And as I walked off with my larger but inconsequential bag, all the time grinning stupidly at anybody and anything, I had no idea that my holiday was ruined before it began. Ruined you might say is a very strong word, but to understand what I mean, try early morning Tai Chi...........going commando and with an ugly hangover, following it up immediately with some waterskiing. By afternoon I was really tempted to check with the airlines if they had found my bag, but then decided against it. I would have been way too embarrassed about my socks.

Mrs Sonia Gandhi

One tough lady. Yep. That's her. Now, without getting into analyses of party ideologies, I just can't help but admit that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is without doubt one of the most influential persons in Indian Politics today, which by the way is getting messier by the day. What with the media introducing a new angle to the everpresent mudslinging competitions. And talking about the media, I think it was all those kids at school who would stand in a circle and yell "FIGHT"......."FIGHT" everytime there was one, that grew up to join the TV channels. And guess what? They still don't like it when the fights end quickly. So they try and egg each party into slinging a little more mud, sometimes packing it for them. And given that there were so many of them at school, it was only a matter of time before a zillion news channels came into being, jostling each other for a better view. Anyways, full credit to Mrs. Gandhi, for she has been able to ignore the noisy lot by the sidelines and built an image with hues of honesty , political acumen and leadership capabilities and above all austerity. And all of them in the right depth too, shrouding it all with a bit of enigma all the time. Enigma because I am not still not sure what her long-term political motives are. And I don't know if anybody is either.
But when I say that I am being increasingly convinced everyday of her amazing knack to do just the right thing at the right time, I don't care if she is from the Congress party or from the Timbaktoo People's Party. Coming from a family which I assume was not politically inclined beyond voting at the elections, married into a family that has been a political dynasty in a totally different neighbourhood, having lost her politician husband in a grisly bomb blast and raising two kids while the whole nation has been watching, waiting for her to goof up, she seems to have done well so far, timing everything to perfection. And that's one thing that stands out, even better than her capability to make the congress leaders stand in line, her sense of timing. Everytime the opposition were ranting and raving like a pre-match Mohd. Ali at a press conference, she successfully rabbit-punched them....right at the press conference.
Looks like she has done it yet again. Resigning as the Lok Sabha MP she left the opposition shadow-boxing with nothing to punch at. Way to go Mrs. Gandhi. You have successfully mastered the art of playing to the gallery. Hats off to the politician in you. But that doesn't mean I am going to vote for your party in the next elections. Not yet.

Poof

I don't mind telling you all, that I don't possess any gifts of clairvoyance. But I am going to make a prediction now. I am pretty certain that most of my blogs are going to start off with a very pensive "Wellllllllllllllllll". Wellllllllllllllllllll, here goes nothing.I have been trying to start off with my first blog for sometime now. A self-confessed procrastinator, even I am ashamed by how long it has taken. But then there was something amazing that I read about yesterday that I just had to pen my thoughts about. Now what could have been so important so as get a lazy bum like me started?
Airbags on Bikes. You heard it right, "airbags on bikes" is what it took me to get out of bed, rub my eyes, put on my reading glasses and start pounding on the keyboard with a never before enthusiasm. Ever since I have heard about the concept it has been running wild in my mind with my stunted imagination to keep it company. Imagine this. You are getting late for office. So you push your poor 100cc a tad further hoping to make it to your desk before your boss notices. And just when you thought you were gonna run through the last signal before the home stretch, the light changes to amber and Mr. Cautious in front of you brakes hard and you tailgate him. After the customary screech and thud, under normal circumstances it would be lot easier for you to pick up your bike , dust your pants and act like nothing happened while you wait for the signal to change. Only now you have an inflated airbag that has suddenly sprung out of nowhere. "Darn! I didn't know these things were so big". You dig out the rider's manual to thumb your way to the index and look for airbag under "a" by which time the signal changes to green and the guys behind you start honking for your life. "Boy! Do these guys have a rage problem or what!!" And you decide it is better you leave your bike with a dozen or so others standing by the side of the road with their airbags in full blossom like early spring mushrooms. And you take a ric to office after making sure to inquire if it has got airbags in it. And bloody hell!!!! Your boss is sure to notice you are late.
And it won't be long before your water cooler conversations go like this.
1. Hey, have you noticed Rahul's arm is in a cast?
2. Yeah. Poor chap!! Was involved in a motorcycle accident.
1. No Kidding. But he's such a sissy bike rider.
2. I know. But he was parking his bike the other day when it slipped and fell. And his airbag inflated. Poor chap bounced right off it into the path of an oncoming motorcycle.
1. Hehe. Serves him right. I told him black was an unlucky color.
And I could go on and on as to why airbags on bikes scare me more than they make me feel safe. But then that'd be me speaking. The guy who turned pale everytime anybody even mentioned the word "cellphone" thinking it'd give me a tumor if I heard it being said enough number of times. Not to worry. Go ahead and pick up your bike with your favorite colored airbag. But just make sure that it's not black. Black's unlucky.