de gaddi doodh ki dukaan ( translated = the motorcycle diary)

To the veteran bulleteers it might seem a simple enough endeavour, but for me it was a big deal riding from Pune to Bengaluru. When i bought my bullet the previous owner instilled in me vivid fantasies of riding the length and breadth of the country, a desi motorcyle diary ishtyle. I even bought matching goggles in anticipation. But like most other things in my life the dreams ended as soon as someone woke me up. This time i had to move back to Bengaluru for my summer internship in Narayana Hrudayalaya. a good two and half months and it was simply unthinkable that i stay away from my darling for so long. So having decided to ride down, i got lots of encouragement " are you crazy?( girlfriend), iss garmi mei ??...paagal hai ( i cant seem to recall who said that), do what ever you want ( not the happy "do what ever you want" but the exasperated " do what ever you want" courtesy mom) etc etc. So first i went about trying to convince myself. Decided to check out financials - transporting bike from Pune to B'lore by train:-

Railway charges - around Rs 1200/-( to guys who dont believe this...i have an official reciept)

Packing charges - around Rs 300/-

Handling charges( read as greasing palms ) at Pune station - approx Rs 200/- ( 100 for the guy who act as a mediator between the railway official and 100 for the railway official, since the guy was mighty pleased with me he said he would load my bike on the train for free) remember we are talking of a bullet here and hence the inflated charges

Handling charges at B'lore station - approx Rs 150 - Rs 200/-

The total coming up to somewhere around 2000 bucks, and i still had to pay for my own transportation.

So if i were to ride down then :- 

Petrol - approx 900Km, @Rs 50/litre and 25KMPL it would come up to Rs 1800/- and that would include my transportation too. All my two semesters of MBA education kicked in to tell me that it was cheaper to ride down. With the tangible benefits sorted out, the intangibles were the thrill of the ride, the added heroic value among my acquaintances. So it wasn't difficult to convince myself. 

Having decided...i plunged head on into the preparations :-

1) Get bike serviced ( atleast 10 days before the journey)

2) Money

3) Map

4) Food

5) Documents

6) Music

Ok me taking a break......will continue in next post.

Hum bhi hai josh mein ( we are all charged up….an hindi song). That’s exactly how I am feeling now and as a record its been five minutes and I am still able to maintain that enthusiasm. Now in times of “depression” and “recession” let me tell you why I am so. It all started with an article I read on the net about IIM grads beating the recession with their usual crore packages ( though further research came up with exactly opposite articles also). So that got me thinking “ hey whats it that they have got and I havent?” (other than brains….but I was assured by my OB prof to be a successful manager you don’t need brains but need networking skills), so this embarked me on a mission to find out if they probably had things different there and the best way to find out I assumed would be to read their blogs ( something like “confession” series). I did read a few published books also and though just got glimpses into their lives I sure enjoyed them for their humour and philosophical quotient.  So if I were to jump to conclusions at this point of time it will be these :-

1)      All IIM PGPs( that’s what they are classified as) enter the college with awe to be replaced by “ I am here therefore I am” a la Rene’ Descartes.

2)      Most start off with blogs ( I am sure hoping to make a million bucks later on like Chetan Bhagat) but then most  blogs are charecterized by initial deluge replaced by an occasional trickle

3)      Most cant resist a liberal dose of philosophy

4)      IIMs probably have a 3 credit course on How to write your Memoirs in IIM ( that’s just me telling the grapes are sour)

5)      There is no time to sleep in IIM

6)      I will probably never match their writing skills nor will I match their popularity ( mine will definitely be better, more philosophical and more bugging)

After having jumped so much I sit down to try to catch my breath and start penning , in the hope that some day some prospective employer will read my blog, mistake it for that of an IIM and push the decimal a few places to the right while deciding my remuneration.

P.S Drats  @#~`*&#  the site where I had opened my blog is blocked

Dear A***** ***********

This is a message from the IT Department. 

The web site you are trying to access: 
macroabouteverything.blogspot.com/
is listed as a site within the category BlockCatogories

Current Internet Access Configuration does not allow you to visit sites within this category at this time.

HURRAH SUCCESS AT LAST