Moving on to a PhotoBlog

Yes guys, I have started my own photoblog on shutterchance. I have been very unactive off late over here. Will try to be active on shutterchance. Here is the link http://murtaza.shutterchance.com

3 Idiots: What a movie...

Saw the movie after hearing raving reviews from colleagues, friend and family. Very interesting movie indeed and as usual cinema with some message. Aamir has done a marvellous job as Phunsuk Wangdu and the same stands true for Madhavan and Sharman Joshi. Why can't we have more filmmakers like Aamir coming up with such meaningful cinema?

By the way, after seeing this film, many people have their own conclusions and the most common lesson people learnt from the film is to "not overburden your child with your own aspirations and let them do what they can do best". Some people would have taken the issue of following a certain syllabus and just studying for marks in exams as a lesson. But for me, it was a different lesson apart from what others claim to have learnt. I learnt a different thing from Aamir's character. Even though he was the university topper, the most intelligent and talented, he never took pride in himself. He was always grounded and wanted to help people no matter who they were. He never made others realise that they were inferior to him. He even went to the extent to invite "millimeter"(the helping boy) to his school for studying further. I believe such a fictional character cannot exist in this world. Why do I say so? I say so from my personal experience after meeting several learned, talented, skilled and intelligent people in my lifetime. What I have seen and felt is that more learning makes a person take pride in himself. This pride makes him believe that he/she is superior to others and they are always correct. So they become stubborn and do not share knowledge. Whereas Phunsuk Wangdu seems to have no attitude even after having hundreds of patents in his name and is still willing to help his dear enemy Mr. Chatur. This is one quality that is completely missing in today's scholars.

People who have mastered a particular subject tend to believe that they are the smartest but I believe they are the biggest fools. Let me explain, take any subject, for instance Medicine. Can any doctor claim that he knows medicine completely? Lets take computer software. Can any Software developer/Computer scientist claim to know all about software? Leave alone a single subject that one cannot master, what about knowledge of the universe? Is there any human being who claims to know everything? The answer is NO.

My heartfelt request to anyone reading this post. If you are a scholar, student or a scientist, please do not think of anyone as inferior. You never know what the person next to you might be good at. Always look up to people who are better than you rather than looking at people inferior to you. That will make you realize that much is yet to be achieved and keep you grounded.

New found love :)
Yes, you read it right... I am in love with my new prized possession.. The all new Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTSi. Booked the bike on Saturday, 19th September '09 and got delivery of the bike on Friday, 25th September '09. The bike was actually home delivered a day before they had promised delivery!

Even though I was told that it would take them 25 working days to deliver me the bike since the color I chose (misty silver) was not readily available and there was already a waiting list of old booking to be finished first. The showroom guy also told me that, if I paid the amount in whole, they would prioritize my booking and deliver sooner :) Also, due to the swine flu scare in the city, most of the people who had made bookings by paying 10K had fled to their respective native homes and had no intention of coming back sooner. And to my surprise, I get a call on Tuesday, 22nd September '09 from the showroom asking me if I wanted the bike on this weekend. The answer was obvious: YES!!! And after confirming on Thursday from the delivery center, finally get to know that the bike has arrived and has gone for registration today. Then next day, i.e. on the D-day, I get a call from the delivery center informing me that the bike will be delivered home in a few hours. I started jumping on my seat and confirmed with the time of the delivery. After doing that, left from office by 3 pm to reach home in time for the bike to arrive. The bike finally arrives at 4 pm and the below pics take over from here on...

New look on my Swiftie!!!

Got new alloys for my baby after a month old striping work over the whole body. Other mods include rear spoiler long back + K&N stock replacement air filter for the engine. I will let the pics do the talking.

After a year... Almost!
Well, most of you who have been following my blog must be wondering where the hell I've been... To answer that, I was just too busy with personal and professional life. There's a lot that has happened over the last one year. From running around in my car to places to modifying my car (to make it look different) to getting married to working my ass out... Oooof. It was a heck of a year.

1465 Kms. in 4 days!!!
Yes, thats true. I drove my Swift all the way to Ahmedabad and back covering about 1465 kms. in 4 days. The trip started on 12th June '08 at 7:00 AM from Pune and the first stop was Vapi (Gujarat) at 1:00 PM. We had lunch at a cousin's place there and decide to stop over for the night. We visited Daman (U.T.), in the evening, which is about 10 kms. from Vapi and back by night.

Then on 13th morning, we said goodbye to our cousins and left for Dandi, the famous place where Gandhiji broke the Salt act! We stayed there for an hour for a pilgirmage place and left around 8:30 from there for Surat (Gujarat). Reached Surat by 12:00 PM. What a congested city it is. Spent an hour visiting another pilgrimage there and then mom's usual shopping started which got over only by 4 PM. We left Surat at 4-4:30 PM for Baroda(Gujarat), but had to stop on the highway just outside Surat for lunch. Had lunch and started the drive towards Baroda(Gujarat). The highway between Surat and Baroda is under construction for a 6 lane, so it was all dug up and only one lane was active which was obviously congested by the trucks going towards North India. Somehow overtaking and moving slow and steady we reached Baroda by 9 PM. I was so exhausted by this drive that I just fell asleep that evening with very little food.

The next day, 14th June '08, we got up and visited another pilgrimage in Baroda and bid farewell to our cousins there and left for Ahmedabad city. The road between Baroda and Ahmedabad is an expressway which has very less traffic which made the drive smooooooth. Reached Ahmedabad by 11 AM. Were welcomed by Police waiting for their regular income. Had to give away 100 bucks for not having the co-driver's seat belt and the yellow strip on the right headlamp... Visited the much awaited pilgrimage the trip was planned for and by 12 we were all set to leave from Ahmedabad. We planned to cover up as much by evening and reach Vapi for a halt. The start was good but we got stuck up after a place called Bharuch on the highway. Its was just packed and we spent 2 hours just sitting there on the highway doing nothing but only listening to music. That was bad. And not to mention heavy rainfall that was rendering the windshield unusable. Had to turn on the A/C. to get the fog away from the glass. Then started overtaking from the left side and ended up getting off the road into the mud and what not. But it was an experience of a lifetime. Patience is really necessary on the road. Finally we crossed the bottleneck and started moving swiftly but it was already dark by that time. The problem with driving in dark is that I start getting headaches. Later realised that I could not see anything on the road since there were no light on the road and my headlamps were not effective. Then we stopped at a restaurant on the way and found that the headlamps were fully covered by mud and hence they were not effective. Cleaned the headlamps and there we go, the lights were so powerful that I did not have any problems further. Moved from there and covered the odd 400 kms by 11 PM in the night. Reached Vapi safe and sound, had dinner, one combiflam tablet and slept.

On 15th morning we started by around 10:30 AM from Vapi towards Pune and just missed an accident (touchwood) with a biker. Then just kept moving forward and reached Vasai and took a left toward the expressway. After that it was just a smooth drive back home. Reached home by 4:30 PM and had lunch and slept. Got up the next morning!

All in all a great experience on the road that taught me a lot of things. The trip covered Pune->Vapi->Daman->Vapi->Dandi->Surat->Baroda->Ahmedabad->Vapi->Pune.

DONOT FORGET TO HAVE THE YELLOW STRIP ON THE RIGHT HEADLAMP WHILE TRAVELLING TO GUJARAT... IT'S A MUST!

My new addiction!















Yes, I am addicted to something these days and hang on its not a bad addiction. Well, am addicted to my new Honda DIO which I bought on 18th April '08(booked on 15th April). The bike was bought as a gift for my dad on his birthday. He is the one who uses it all the time but I am the one waiting to use it ;) I try to get my hands on this Blue-Black beauty whenever dad is not using it. The best thing I like about this piece is that you don't need to do anything except for accelerating if you have to start and braking if you have to stop. A sweet and simple bike with sporty looks. This is one babe that really turns heads...

Well for the tech specs, the bike has the same engine as the Activa (and now Aviator), a 102 cc 4-stroke air cooled engine. The bike has automatic gears and a small fuel tank of 6 litres(which could be a disappointment for people looking for a long ride). The bike has ample space under the seat and claims to have a mileage of 50-55 kms per litre, more than the Activa and Aviator. The reason is simple as quoted by Honda officials, the bike is 11 kgs lighter than the Activa. This is due to the fact that the body of DIO is all fibre and Activa is all metal. The only thing I miss on this bike from my bikes is the suspension. This beauty is not something that performs well on bad roads, could be due to the fact that it has smaller tyres...
Well after driving this bike, my Pulsar feels too heavy to drive ;) Will keep you posted about the bike later. Vrooooom...