I wish i could do something to help them.. just wish...

25th November,2008 @ 21:30
I was happy, sitting in train for Chennai. The happiness was not of immeasurable depth, but yes.. was happy.

26th November,2008 @ 13:00
Got up around 10am, didn’t sleep that well; reason being I got the base berth in the side. One thing I still don’t understand, why rail govt. introduced the middle berth concept in the side berths. It causes a lot of trouble for travelers, one while sleeping, second for keeping luggage. Leave that aside.
Around 11am came vijaywada and came good idli /dosa and buttermilk. That when my dad had called me up, and he informed me that tamil nadu is experiencing heavy rain for past 3days. The state is knee deep water. I was like, ok. I didn’t take it seriously. But when we entered Tamil Nadu around 15:30, what I saw, I couldn’t believe my own eyes. It was water everywhere. Fields were destroyed, houses were submerged. It was not a pleasant picture to watch. Somewhere in my heart i was happy that i am back, but not happy with the conditions, state of people. I wish i could do something to help them.. just wish...

Excerpt from various newspaper articles

CHENNAI: Cyclone Nisha was bearing down on the Tamil Nadu coast on Wednesday night as heavy rains lashed coastal districts, taking the death toll since the north-east monsoon set in last month to 64. At least 22 people have been reported dead over the last few days alone, while more than 50,000 hectares of crops in the Cauvery delta districts were submerged and 64,000 hectares officially declared flood-hit. As revenue officials in several districts moved into disaster management mode, the Met office said the cyclone lay 20km off the Nagapattinam district and was likely to cross the southern coast early on Thursday. Chennai reeled under sheets of water for the second successive day…

CHENNAI: Every time the skies open up, T Nagar takes a good lashing. On Wednesday, the scene was no different. In many areas, commuters waded through knee-deep water and roads riddled with potholes, as vehicles battled traffic snarls. There was a general sense of frustration and frayed nerves among commuters and residents alike...

My life in Bhubaneswar.................

On 8th October, @ 5:45pm I received a mail from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) regarding my initial training which they call it as ILP. I was jubilant seeing the subject line, but was not very excited after reading the mail, coz my training was scheduled in BHUBANESHWAR. God, of all the places in India, Bhubaneswar (this was my perception). Half-heartedly I packed my bags and boarded the train for Bhubaneswar from Chennai on 24th Oct night. The only thing that kept me a good mood is that, my friends were also allocated Bhubaneswar for Phase 1 of ILP, so no problem for company.
The train which was suppose to reach Bhubaneswar @ 5:30pm on 25th October reached @ 8pm. I was like, wow…. What a start. Reached the office, got our villas (cottage house). It was good. We even had fridge and T.V. Atlas.. something good. We 5 friends were tired to core, so decided to call the day off @ 10pm.
Next day, Sunday.. we had planned that we will explore the area and do some shopping. It all went till 2pm. Then we started to search for a good place to eat. Guess what, the best place for veg we found was Udipi (famous in south india). The food taste was okay okay type.

I had hoped, Bhubaneswar being the capital of Orrisa, we will find good restaurants; but no. Later, after few enquiries we found that we are staying @ border of Bhubaneswar city limit. About 200mt from our villa, the Bhubaneswar city limit ends. Wow… even better. And also, after 9pm ; everything gets closed.
We all were like, what?? 9pm?? That was a shock.. We usually have our dinner @ office mess and then reach the villa by 9pm. After that, none of us would even feel like going out, bcoz
(1) Tired
(2) None of the places will be open after 9:30pm. Even Big Bazar closes by 9:15pm.
(3) Even if we go to city(which is about 10km from our villas), after 9pm.. its hard to find transport for a return trip.
On Saturdays and Sundays, we get up @ 11am.. we either chat or watch movies or tv series (LOST or PRISON BREAK) or play game on our laptops.

(two of my friends, playing Counter Strike.. look @ thier concentration.. thier dedication)

This monotonous lifestyle helped me in one way, it gave me lot of time to think.. about me, my future, my failures, my success .

Yamaha R15 Mini-the ultimate machine

Despite all the CBU announcements, this is the stall that was wow-ing the crowds. You see, Yamaha has launched the YZF-R15 in India this June. The mini-R1 styling wraps around a very sexy motorcycle. The frame is a proper spar job, with the present and correct light subframe. The engine is water-cooled 150cc single. As far as I can tell, it has to be a SOHC four-valve job. There seems to be a claim of more than 20 bhp, which would require a fast-flowing four-valve head. Fuel injection is there too. Also present are sticky, thin tyres, which will be a boon. All of those wondering if you need thicker tyres are barking up the wrong tree. Fat rubber is less of a handling asset than is sticky rubber. Fat contact patches only help you lay power down – great when you're fighting you way forward with a 150 bhp engine on song. But the same patch also makes the motorcycle harder to steer and change direction with. Not an asset in our everyday riding situation.

All of those of you who will buy one and then upgrade rubber will lose out in the bargain. I'll guarantee that. The parts quality is really high.Yamaha is clear that it will make high-quality and high-performance products for India, so a premium price tag comes with it. Al this happened in June.

In November, Yamaha launched the naked FZ, which uses an air-cooled engine, and lots of styling elements from the international FZ range (naked bikes from Yamaha). The engine, once again, is a 150cc unit, but torque rather than top-end glory is the aim here. So expect an effortless, likeable machine. Once more, the small bits are of a very high quality, high enough to make the RTR 160 look a bit under-designed. This one should be a more normal price, say Rs 65,000 on-road. Both FZ and the YZF-R15 have monoshocks, mind you.But first, Yamaha will launched two cosmetic variants of the Gladiator, called the Type SS and the Type RS.

Specifications for YZF-R15
Engine: Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, SOHC, 4-valve
Displacement: 149.8 cc
Bore x Stroke: 57×58.7mm
Compression Ratio: 10.4:1
Max Power: 17PS @ 8,500rpm (Roughly 16.7688 BHP)
Max Torque: 15 NM @ 7,500 RPM
Electric Start
Fuel Tank Capacity: 12 litres
Fuel Supply System: Electronic Fuel Injection
Gears: 6
Front and Rear disk brake
Full Fairing
Dimensions: 1995mm x 670 mm x 1070 mm
Seat height: 790 mm
Wheelbase: 1290 mm
Minimum Ground clearance: 160 mm
Dry Weight: 120 Kg
Curb Weight: 131 Kg
Colors: Blazing Red, Graphite and Yamaha Blue