Thargarh (Music Video by Harsimran)
Usually am not much into music videos but definitely had a good laugh and enjoyed viewing this :
Am trying to get a colleague who owns a farm to buy a Thar using this video :-).
Usually am not much into music videos but definitely had a good laugh and enjoyed viewing this :
Am trying to get a colleague who owns a farm to buy a Thar using this video :-).
The Indian Supreme Court probably wanted to take a break from looking at more weighty matters and chose to focus on a frivolous PIL submitted by someone who claims to represent the “Mango” People (Aam Aadmi). Supposedly sun film is the cause for all the law and order issues in the country and that it should be banned altogether – there is no legal % of visual light transmission that can be used. Only factory fitted tinted and laminated glass that conforms to the CMVR rules can be used.
Legality apart -the sun film manufacture/sales industry supposedly provides around 150 crore to the Indian economy. These people will be badly hit if all sun film is made illegal to use. There is a fee for getting the sun film removed – this is not something that is usually done – but now the installers themselves are getting a chance to make money by “assisting” the removal for a fee of anywhere between 300 -500 Rs ! They hope to milk this for at least a month and then raise petitions to remove the ban. The ban will get removed within no time. Then again people will flock to get the film added back. With all the FUD going on people will gladly shell out more money to get costlier “clear” film that reduces heat transmission. The sun film companies make money either way.
Doing a net search shows sun film bans have been talked about since 2007 in parts of India – but this has not been consistently enforced. I remember having a dilemma when buying my Swift(photo in this post) in 2007 about putting sun film but since there was nothing clearly specified or enforced I went in with tints with 50% VLT which were legal at the time. However now 5 years later the same tints are now illegal. Our 7 year old Getz has films with around 70% VLT as well.
My Next Steps:
Points to Ponder:
Some Fun:
Question:
What are your thoughts on this ban ? Do let me know and what will be your action – comply or get caught or what ?
Update – May 18th,2012:
Today’s news papers indicate that the Chennai City Traffic Police (CTP) has started their drive against sun films. They have posted a notice on their FB page as well. All are free to comment on this drive. I already have !
Do Show Your Support:
Do show your support against this ban by “Liking” this FB page calling for a Movement Against Supreme Court’s Decision to Totally Ban Suncontrol Films. There is also a petition here “The Supreme Court of India: Reconsider decision on a blanket ban on car films.”
1 Car Nut + 1 Wild Dream + 1 Tata Nano + 25000Km of Road + 80 Days = Recipe for Epic Road Trip ? Definitely !
Kochi based auto enthusiast and long road trip geek (among a long list lot of other illustrious achievements) Mr Thomas Chacko cooked up this dream road trip while editing the trip details of Suresh Joseph who covered all Indian state capitals and all zonal railway headquarters in a Maruti Swift. Rather than do the same road trip he wanted to add some more excitement – by choosing to add in the farthest points of the country in all directions possible , making the distance to cover touch 25,000 Km and to do this in around 2.5 months. He managed to sweet talk Mr Ratan Tata(through a letter) to have Tata Motors sponsor a Tata Nano as well. Mr Chacko will be doing this trip without a convoy of on road assistance as well. He is planning on doing all the driving himself but will have company with him across the trip from his family – his wife, son, daughter, brother, sister and brother-in-law.The road trip has kicked off on May 3rd and is to conclude by July 20th,2012.
Just looking at the plans things seem easy – plain math says that 25000 Km in 80 days would come to 312 Km per day. Though the details of the specific daily routes/distances is not mentioned – it would mean driving a minimum of 6+ hours (assuming an average speed of around 55Kmph) each day. Of course this may vary depending on road conditions and traffic.
Using the Nano for such trips is not new – The Nano Superdrive event in 2010 covered 15,000 kilometers across 36 cities in around 26 days with multiple cars and drivers primarily with the intent to set at rest fears of the Nano’s reliability and safety. The Nano(s) came out of the experience unscathed.
However I wish there was a bit more to this road trip than the distance, endurance of man, machine and time factor – am sure its still not too late to use the publicity from this drive to benefit some charity or other. So far all that is clear is that the journey will be documented in a book called Mano Et Nano which obviously will be printed by Mr Chackos own publishing company. Will be a fun read am sure either way.
Do follow the updates from his blog www.manoetnano.com (I wish the site is updated frequently – it hasn’t been as of writing this post). Some funny comments to the initial post on the site ask if the Nano would crack first or the Chacko would ?
I salute Mr Thomas first for being a car nut and for being crazy enough to embark on such a trip. Am also happy to see his family come forward to participate and support him on the trip. It is truly an inspiration to see such road trips being planned and executed. Hope to do something like this before my bucket kicking.
If your days of carefree life with minimal responsibilities(read- bachelorhood) are numbered, do take some time to prioritize how you spend your last years/months/days. After the noose – you will be expected to involve the other half in pretty much everything and you have to start thinking of a variety of things such as – purchase of a residence, loans to be repaid (college/home), future family(if kids on the way), emergency funds, kids education funds, annual holidays, household expenses – maintenance / first time purchase or replacement of existing – TV, Fridge, sofa, beds, washing machine, dish washer, vacuum cleaner, water purifier, household items, health care etc etc …this list goes on.
Rather than spend the rest of your (married) life wishing you had done this earlier – take a look at these and make your own bucket list (A Top movie of 2007/2008).(Buy the movie on Flipkart on VCD/DVD/Blue Ray if you don’t have it already – I definitely recommend watching this).
This Bucket List includes both products and experiences – what is listed is not a list you should blindly copy but use as inspiration to build out your own list. This could be a start to your own life time Bucket List as well that includes everything you want to do before finally giving that big kick to your bucket. Also make sure you remember this list when you define your budget for spending money as well :-).
Big Ticket/Luxury/Are you out of your mind:
You don’t really need this/Mid Level (you may get away with some of these – spread out over time):
Lowest Level(Lowest impact – and cheapest – you may get minimal resistance but WW-III wont break out either if you get any of these):
Again just so that it doesn’t seem that your life is over after you get married – just that you have one more voice that will speak practically (in addition to your own conscience 🙂 ) – and that your priorities may change.
Please do share your own lists as well through the comments.
Please make sure you cross off at least one big ticket item before marriage 🙂 and then try to aim for the smaller ones each year.
PS: Make sure your criteria for a future spouse has “must be an auto enthusiast” as one of the key items.
It started as a one off thing but over time I have started noticing the embellishments that are done while preparing vehicles for photo shoots used for print ads and for the websites of the manufacturers selling vehicles in India. I know it’s the whole point of advertising to sell the product in their best possible light – but I feel these points should be known especially if you are in the market for a new vehicle.
Photoshop:
Open Challenge:
With rising fuel prices and the prospect of them going up further – here are some radical tips to improve mileage of your 4 wheeler from a primary car driver and owners point of view. They can be easily adapted for SUVs, Minivans as appropriate etc. These have been collected from years of scientific research and of course from across the web.
This chart with prices of petrol, diesel, CNG & LPG for Chennai since 2002 is from www.mypetrolprice.com
A lot of these tips are so simple and commonsense you will wonder why you didn’t think of them yourself. Its ok – You can thank me later.
Here the list:
Disclaimer: If you didn’t understand this post still do look at the categories. Its a bit late – I know.
All the best improving mileage and please do add any suggestions you can think of as well through the comments !
The Mahindra XUV 500 was launched yesterday and details of pricing and variants shared today. The pricing seems to be spot on and the buzz on the net indicates Mahindra has done their homework on the pricing very well.
However there is one issue – the front jawline doesnt remind me of a Cheetah – its more of The Predator.
Here is an image I mashed together – do you see the resemblance ?
The Chennai edition of the Hindu paper today has an innovative ad for the VW Vento that talked. Click here to view the video from a mobile phone recording of the message played in an endless loop..
Innovative – yes – but other than the initial shock of having a voice speak from your paper – the novelty wore off quick – there wasnt much details to the voice message other than usual marketing C$$$.
Am sure kids/parents/all will enjoy playing with the thingy in the paper till its battery runs out.
Vodafone India is running a promotional campaign/contest for its subscribers to win a chance to ride with Lewis Hamilton in Chennai on September 17th.
There are two ways of participating either through an SMS contest or through an online game. What are you waiting for – go check it out.
More details here: http://www.vodafone.in/vmm/pages/hotlaps.aspx