Archive for June, 2009

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Rockrider 5.3

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

I am a fan of Merida and Trek cycles. As recently as last month I never thought about buying any other bicycle. But when my colleague Deepak Menon wanted to buy a bicycle, he somehow got to know about Decathlon and the wholesale prices. I did not believe him in the beginning. But a visit to the website shocked me – almost everything at a minimum discount of 10%. Some of them carried as much as 30% discount.

I paid Rs.350 for BTwin Coil lock. It costed only Rs.250 at Decathlon, pant clips at Rs.100 (instead of Rs.130). The list goes on. But the best part was Rockrider 5.3 – Rs.23000 cycle for Rs.20,000. When I went through the features, I jumped with joy – dual disc brakes, 100mm fork with lockout, SRAM 27 gear combination, double walled rims – all for Rs.20,000.

To purchase items from Decathlon at wholesale prices, you need to have a valid sales license. We got our memberships done. Pulkit and Sejal wanted to buy a bicycle. So we decided to visit Decathlon on Saturday. I and Diwakar (my brother) reached the shop by 12:00pm. Pulkit and Sejal were already there. They were little confused between Rockrider Hybrid and 5.1 After some deliberation, they decided to go with 5.1. I and Diwakar drooled at 5.3 and other accessories. We decided to pick up a 5.3 for our youngest brother – Kaushik. We got mirrors, mudguards, locks, pant clips and saddle covers.

Deepak joined us at 4:00pm. In all, we shopped for two 5.3s and one 5.1. We got real good goodies as free gifts. Each Rockrider 5.3 purchase got us Rs.3000 discount + a hydration bag worth Rs.1800 + Puncture Kit worth Rs.1000 and an insulated bottle worth Rs.1200. Virtually, a 23k bike costed us Rs.16k. I don’t know whether 5.3 can be compared to any of the Meridas or Treks. But I am very happy with the bike. I will post the review after using this bike for few months.

Decathlon has other sports items too. You must visit it at least once.

Since yesterday, all my siblings (we are three brothers) have been commuting to office by bicycle. I hope this trend continues. Here are some snaps of our new family member Rockrider 5.3.

Rockrider 5.3

Rockrider 5.3

Posted in Cycling | 11 Comments »

Oh the folly of Mankind!

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

From past few days I have been reading about rain failure, power shortage and water problems. Bangalore Mirror posed a question to its users – “Should Bangaloreans take the issue of power shortage to streets just as Delhites?” Today 80% have responded saying ‘YES’. I wonder how many among that % really know the cause of power shortage.

Almost half of India’s electricity comes from coal and almost the other half from hydel power. Wind and solar power are still new concepts gaining momentum. So if rains fail, India drowns in darkness. The best part is the awakening of the bourgeois. All of a sudden bourgeois is showing concern – it wants electricity to run its televisions, ACs, treadmills and what not. These people must have domestic UPS right? Yes. Most of them do. But these UPS require 8-14 hours of power to charge completely. How can they charge 100% when there is intermittent supply? The best part is, for every 10 units an UPS absorbs, it gives away only about 7-8 units. 20% is lost in storage and reconversion. After 3.5 years, the entire fleet of batteries needs replacement, adding to the pollution caused by improper disposal of these batteries/chemicals.

Now that bourgeois has no option, it may retaliate. Delhi feeds on Tehri. Even then it has still not been able to meet its demands. How can we meet demand when the demand is on a constant rise with ever increasing population and frivolous needs?

I remember Nandan Nilekani’s words. I agree with him. We, the middle class, have created a parallel society of our own. We are not bothered about good education or transportation facilities because we can put our children into private schools and buy motorbikes and cars. We have even solved the problem of water with our own borewells and that of power with domestic UPS.

But we have forgotten the fact that we are connected to nature. How can your borewell suck water when nobody is worrying about recharging it? How can your UPS function when the electricity that charges it is dependent on rains? When rains fail, even government cannot do anything. China has tried chemical techniques for catalysing cloud formation and bringing home rain. But it cannot work on a larger scale.

This is a glimpse of our greed. The worse part is yet to come. Bangaloreans should worry about conservation of water, electricity and other resources. If we all protest, nature is not going to budge.

We are just worried about us. Think about all the living creatures that are on the brink of extinction because of severe deforestation. Think of all the people who get displaced in our country just because the urban population needs water and power. Think of all the damages made by our large dams – today they are dry – neither they have water nor they are producing electricity – these dams stand as a testimony of our ego and folly.

There are several options. We all can adopt solar and wind power. We have been using solar water heater at home. We use it for almost 330 days in a year. But now hybrid power is also an option – you can harness the power of Sun and Wind at the cost of Rs.2.2lakhs per house hold (after 50% govt. subsidy). Time to sell your extra car and worry about nature.

I am reminded of Jared Diamon’ds book – Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or SucceedW. It is time that we wake up and worry about our future not just today or tomorrow. Remember – someone else is paying for our comforts.

Posted in Environment, World's Largest Democracy | 1 Comment »

Insensitivity is in our blood

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

We Indians are known for our insensitivity to our fellow beings. When mobile phones started percolating the Indian market, the excitement masked the nuisance it could create. Initially people were thrilled to find a mobile phone user – it was a rarity. I very well remember my uncle carrying a mobile phone in 1999 paying for incoming calls. Outgoing was around Rs.9/min and incoming probably around Rs.5/min.

By 2002 tariffs fell to Rs.3/min. By the end of 2002 BSNL came up with a postpaid plan with free incoming calls. There was a heavy rush for SIMs. Then came Reliance CDMA with 40p/min plans – Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer. By the mid 2003 every operator was offering free incoming calls. The cost of a basic phone has fallen from Rs.6,000 to Rs.1300. SIMs are available at every possible place with flexible recharge vouchers of up to Rs.10. Today almost 20% of Indians have mobile phones while only 3% of the population has landlines.

Now that 1 in every 5 Indian has a mobile phone, one in every three urban dweller has a mobile phone, mobile phones have started to become a nuisance. Most people do not know how to use silent mode – let it be a cinema hall or a night service bus. Some of the ring tones just shoot up your blood pressure.

People don’t differentiate between a hospital and a marriage hall – volume level remains constant everywhere. Ringing is just the beginning of the conversation – the tone of the conversation is also high. People don’t try to cut the call short or keep their voice low. I have fought with the educated elite at around 12:00am – a boy was having his midnight chatter with his girlfriend at the cost of the sleep of 35 fellow travellers. Today’s news headline – Mind your manners: Government to mobile users

As I said, insensitivity is in our culture – we disregard everything. It is not just the phone – even the ordinary conversations happen without any concern for other people. Try travelling in Indian train in a sleeper coach at night – lights are never switched off, conversations never die. Same is the case with night service bus – all the chatting happens after 11:00pm.

Even our automobile drivers express affection for each other through constant honking – let it be a school campus or a hospital premises – we don’t change. “Do not honk” signs are near every hospital and school. We don’t care. When we drive, we don’t care for pedestrians. Rarely do we slow down when women, children, elders or handicaps try to cross the road.

Why are we so insensitive? What else can we be when more than half of the population lives on daily labour, when 30% of the population is below poverty line and 60% do not have access to safe water.

If we become sensitive, we cannot carry the burden of misery around us. Handicaps are allowed to beg in the bus stand and train station. Children rummage through dump yards to make a living. How can we be sensitive with so much pain around us? We need to be insensitive to be blind to all these problems with our country, with our politics, with our democracy.

In a country like India insensitivity is a way of life for sensitivity kills you.

Posted in Random Thoughts, World's Largest Democracy | 6 Comments »

Interpreting Data

Friday, June 19th, 2009

India is one of the countries where getting access to public data is very difficult. Through RTI has enable the citizens to file an application and get data, the scale to which it can be used to get national level data is limited indeed.

Even straight forward data such as rainfall data is not available to public. Recently IMD agreed to put up last five years data in public domain.

Data plays a crucial role in research, policy making, planning and implementation of public works etc. In India, most of the time data is either generated by a private institute or an international institute. Very few government websites provide current and relevant data to public. Department of Drinking Water Supply is one of the few government departments putting up data for public use.

The next challenge with data is its presentation. Providing people with raw data is good, but everybody will not be in a position to interpret data. Data, if presented in the right format, can overturn laws and policies. One such effort has been enabled by Google’s Fusion Tables. Now that google has solved the problem of visualisation, we Indians should get back to the business of collecting data and making it publicly available.

Below is a very good representation of Total Renewable Freshwater Supply across the world. If you can observer, India is not doing bad. China is doing even better. But both India and China will soon be water stressed countries since we are not harvesting the rains to the best of our efforts. I am sure that once we overcome the challenge of collecting data and its visualisation, we would have to solve the greatest problem of humanity – convincing fellow humans to act in the right direction

Posted in Environment, GIS, World's Largest Democracy | No Comments »

Europe on bike

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Two weeks ago my colleague Deepak said he wants to cycle Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh at a stretch. I have seen the terrain and believe me, doing it on a motorcycle itself is a huge thing – cycling would be very very tough. The conversation somehow turned towards cycling Europe in three or four months duration. Both of us got excited. The next day I pitched this to my friend Vishy. Even he jumped at the idea. So, sometime in next two years, we are going to hit Europe on our bicycles.

I now need to work on the cost, duration, route, cause (it would be water for sure) etc.

Before that, we need to prepare for Tour of Nilgiris in December. 900km in 9 days – test of body, mind and everything else that is there with you…!!!

Posted in Cycling | 8 Comments »

Why did I join Arghyam?

Monday, June 15th, 2009

It has been more than two years – I have never spent this much time with any other employer in my career. Why am I with Arghyam? What makes me stick and tick? Many people I encounter ask me this question.

I should twist the knob on the time machine to 2002 – The year I joined Infosys. When I joined Infosys, I was bachelor (and still am). I did not have much to do during weekends. Since my family was in Chitradurga and my colleagues used to go out of Mysore, I tried finding some interesting ways to spend time. My immediate recourse was television. I used to watch three to four movies in one stretch. But soon TV started boring me. I took up learning guitar – could not string it long. By then, I was looking for an initiative that would solve a problem rather than help me just spend time.

Since Mysore Infosys did not have any transport system for its employees, I decided to do something about it. I took about four months to start and stabilize an employee transport system. This initiative gave me opportunities to interact with higher management, my other colleagues (who were not my project mates), KSRTC officials, depot manager, and even drivers and conductors.

I was thrilled with the initiative – the feeling of starting something new and seeing it flourish is just amazing. I then dabbled my free time in editing campus news-magazine, participating in social forum activities, teaching new trainees etc.

The joy did not last long since I had to move to Bangalore on a new project. Bangalore is a bigger city with infinite possibilities with teaching as one among them.Teaching has been my all time favourite. I always wanted to be a Physics teacher, but ended up as a software engineer with a degree in electronics. It is a different story. But Bangalore presented me with many opportunities to teach children. I spent most of my weekends visiting schools and NGOs, and teaching maths and science.

The interaction with people made me long for a job that could help me connect with people – fulltime. I wanted to take up a job in an NGO. But I did not have the courage to make that shift. I found one other way to connect with people – trekking. (more…)

Posted in Random Thoughts, Work | 4 Comments »

Disc Brakes for Bicycles

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

Of late I have become a fan of disc brakes for bicycles. Not that they look cool but that they are much more convenient and easier to maintain.

V Brakes need regular adjustment. As the shoes start to wear off, the gap between the rim and the shoe needs to be adjusted regularly. If the wheel loses its truing, even a bit, it starts rubbing the shoes. Of course, adjusting V-Brakes is a not very time consuming task, but it can sometimes get annoying. Disc brakes on the other end do not need this level of regular tweaking.

The main reason why I would recommend disc brakes for bicycles is, the grit that gets stuck between the shoe and the rim. Yes, this has become a serious problem for me since the onset of monsoon. The clean brake shoe picks up grit and rubs it against the rim. This abrasive effect, over a long period, can push you to change the rim. You might always clean the shoe and rim before you start the ride, but the road has got enough grit to fail you. Worst of all would be, riding through a small mud patch. If that happens, mud just sticks to your rims and brake shoe happily smears it all along the rim and uses the mud to sand the rim off. Disc brake not only helps you avoid this mess but also gives you better control in rains.

Merida SUB 20 MD

Merida SUB 20 MD

Bicycles with disk brakes might seem like a costly affair. But if bicycle is your primary means of transport (just as mine), you will start appreciating disc brakes very soon. BTW, mechanical disk brakes are sufficient. You don’t need to have hydraulic disc brakes (and these cost you a fortune). I would recommend Merida SUB 20 MD or Cannondale F8 which costs you around 23k and 22k respectively.

Cannondale F8

Cannondale F8

Posted in Cycling | 4 Comments »

One thing I would miss

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

Yesterday I was at Wockhardt (I don’t know the secret behind the name or the spelling for that matter) to donate blood for a patient undergoing by-pass surgery. The entire process of donating 450ml of blood took just 25 minutes. Donating blood has become faster, less painful and safer now a days. But still not many volunteer donors turn up to donate blood.

The initial application form which you have to fill asks you some 20 questions about your health and habits. The form always makes me happy for all the suffering I have not encountered. Blood donation also gives me this vicarious feeling of saving lives of people, just as a superman.

My cycling has been helping me a lot. Over past 6 months I have reduced my weight from 65 to 62. Before blood donation, you go through some serious tests. So if you are a regular donor, you would get to know about your health problems much earlier, unless the symptoms push you to consult a doctor. Also, blood donation itself is a process that keeps you more healthy. Our body replenished the quantity of the donated blood within 24 hours and quality within 3 months.

But one thing I would miss as I grow older would be – donating blood when I would become diabetic. It may be a matter of another 20 years. But since both my parents are diabetic, there is a high probability that I too can become one. So, I need to donate blood as often as I can and build up more memories so that I can still have the vicarious feelings even after I become a diabetic :)

BTW, if you need A+ ve blood in Bangalore, please feel free to contact me. If it is more than three months since my last donation, I would be there… bleeding for you :)

Posted in Random Thoughts | 2 Comments »

Location is the only way forward

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

I am a strong believer in location information. What is the point in talking about an issue, community or anything for that matter if we cannot pinpoint their location on Earth?

GeotaggingW is, simply said, tagging location information to an object – the object could be an image or a post office. But geotaggingW in photography is picking up since the entire process of capturing the location information (latitude, longitude, altitude and orientation) has been simplified since it can be directly written into EXIFW data of the image.

I am a big fan of geotagging and the next few paragraphs I want to explain how to geotag photographs and create history :) (more…)

Posted in GPS, Photography | 2 Comments »

Basic Bicycle Maintenance – Activities and Costs

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

I has been more than 6 months since I adopted bicycle as my primary means of transport. I have not spent any money on petrol. So if I convert the mileage of my bike into savings, it is a straight savings of Rs.5000 + Insurance + Maintenance. So I think in all I have saved at least Rs.6,000 in six months. Added bonus is, good health :)

But now I want to document some basic maintenance a cycle owners needs to perform – some daily, some weekly and few monthly. This is as per my experience. I use bicycle to commute a distance of 30km everyday (around 700km a month). 95% of the route I take to office is asphalted. Only the roads near my house are muddy and have some potholes.

So here is my checklist: (more…)

Posted in Cycling | 3 Comments »

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