Even if there is a gun to the head, there is a choice to take the bullet than to being forced to do something against the will...
11 September, 2012
10 May, 2010
Road trip to Pillalamarri
We went on another road trip after 4 months...
was an awesome ride of 250kms. the weather was also unusually cloudy and cool for a day in summer.
we started just after 6:00am in the morning and reached within 2 hours of riding, with few stops for some rest and breakfast.
The 2+2 lanes of smooth NH7 was also good. I rode at the highest ever speed on my bike on the long stretches. :-)
we spent some time under this 700 years old banyan tree spread over a large area. and then started riding back. The sun only came out halfway back.
we then reached the city in another two hours, well within the planned time of 12:00 noon. we had some tea and rode back home.
Here are the photos of the road trip to Pillalamarri
http://picasaweb.google.com/i.cheedhu/RoadTripPillalamarri#
was an awesome ride of 250kms. the weather was also unusually cloudy and cool for a day in summer.
we started just after 6:00am in the morning and reached within 2 hours of riding, with few stops for some rest and breakfast.
The 2+2 lanes of smooth NH7 was also good. I rode at the highest ever speed on my bike on the long stretches. :-)
we spent some time under this 700 years old banyan tree spread over a large area. and then started riding back. The sun only came out halfway back.
we then reached the city in another two hours, well within the planned time of 12:00 noon. we had some tea and rode back home.
Here are the photos of the road trip to Pillalamarri
http://picasaweb.google.com/i.cheedhu/RoadTripPillalamarri#
12 September, 2009
Roadtrip - Ride to Bidar Fort and Singur Dam
Riders:
Cheedhu - RE TBTS
Sarvajit - Yamaha R15
Chandrasekhar and Arun - Pulsar 180
Amarnath - Avenger 200
Vishnu - TVS RTR 160
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/i.cheedhu/RoadTripBidarFortAndSingoorDam
Time: 7:00
Location: Miyapur x Roads
Chandru, Arun and Amarnat are joined by Cheedhu and start the ride to join up with Sarvajit and Vishnu who were just ahead. All introduced ourselves to each other. All of them start riding on NH9. I was a decent stretch of 4-lane with the usual infamous traffic of NH9. All riding for about 68kms to stop for the first time for about 5 mins where the 4 lane ended. Sarvajit, Chandru, Arun and Vishnu went ahead. cheedhu and Amarnath were cruising a little behind. At the Sadasivpet Bus station, one bus suddenly tuned left (as usual ;-)), forcing AMarnath to go off road and come turning around, at which point Cheedhu and Amarnat split up. after going a little ahead, Cheedhu waited for Amarnath to join and started riding together again.
Time: 9:00
Location: APTDC Haritha, Zaheerabad
All of us stopped for breakfast. This place did not have much variety, but was good. we had out breakfast and started off by 9:45, crossed Zaheerabad. We need to take a right after Zaheerabad at the check-post. Bidar is 28km from that point. in about 15kms was the inter-state check-post. End of Andhra Pradesh state limit and start of Karnataka State. We were into another state !
Time: 10:30
Location: Bidar
We reached Bidar. There were sign boards of Karnataka Tourism with clear directions and distances of all the places of interest. We went to the Bidar Fort, on the way, stopped at the fort gates. We also found an old TVS Champ, almost falling apart, parked on one side. stopped to take a few pics on it too. As the sun came out, it started getting hot and the humidity in the air made it very uncomfortable too. . We were driving around the fort, stopping at many places, taking photos etc. we parked in a shade and had some fun, took a lot of pictures. We started from the Bidar fort and went to PapNashini temple and spent a few minutes. it we 12:00 by then, We decided to have lunch on the way back and go to Singur Dam.
Time: 13:00
Location: APTDC Haritha, Zaheerabad
We reached the same APTDC Haritha, Zaheerabad where we had breakfast. we were also joined by some members from the Air force Adventure Cell of Air Command Center, Bangalore. they were also on a 3000kms road trip around South India on AIDS and Air Force recruitment awareness. We had our lunch and relaxed a bit. and then we started again towards Singur, which is about 15kms detour off NH9 from Atmakur village
Time: 14:30
Location: Atmakur Village
We were at the detour point of Atmakur village to the Singur Dam. It was a narrow bumpy road. about midway, there is another small village, from where we were a bit misguided bu the locals and were offroading around the village and the farms, for atleast 15mins before getting back on to the narrow bumpy road to the dam. We reached the dam and had to do bit more offroading to get on to the dam. we rode over it and across the dam. We stopped there and chilled out for a few mins before riding back. on the way back also we had go offroad a bit as the road was broken. the bumpy offroading, the heat and humidity were squeezing the energy out of us. we were back on to NH9 at 16:00, stopped to relax and stretch a bit. Then all of us started, to ride, only to stop after reaching Hyderabad
Time: 17:00
Location: Miyapur X Roads
The traffic on the way back was horrible, with local truckers giving no way and the traffic also being high at that time. we reached the city by about 17:00 and reached our homes fighting thru the heavy city traffic
Total distance covered: 340kms
Cheedhu - RE TBTS
Sarvajit - Yamaha R15
Chandrasekhar and Arun - Pulsar 180
Amarnath - Avenger 200
Vishnu - TVS RTR 160
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/i.cheedhu/RoadTripBidarFortAndSingoorDam
Time: 7:00
Location: Miyapur x Roads
Chandru, Arun and Amarnat are joined by Cheedhu and start the ride to join up with Sarvajit and Vishnu who were just ahead. All introduced ourselves to each other. All of them start riding on NH9. I was a decent stretch of 4-lane with the usual infamous traffic of NH9. All riding for about 68kms to stop for the first time for about 5 mins where the 4 lane ended. Sarvajit, Chandru, Arun and Vishnu went ahead. cheedhu and Amarnath were cruising a little behind. At the Sadasivpet Bus station, one bus suddenly tuned left (as usual ;-)), forcing AMarnath to go off road and come turning around, at which point Cheedhu and Amarnat split up. after going a little ahead, Cheedhu waited for Amarnath to join and started riding together again.
Time: 9:00
Location: APTDC Haritha, Zaheerabad
All of us stopped for breakfast. This place did not have much variety, but was good. we had out breakfast and started off by 9:45, crossed Zaheerabad. We need to take a right after Zaheerabad at the check-post. Bidar is 28km from that point. in about 15kms was the inter-state check-post. End of Andhra Pradesh state limit and start of Karnataka State. We were into another state !
Time: 10:30
Location: Bidar
We reached Bidar. There were sign boards of Karnataka Tourism with clear directions and distances of all the places of interest. We went to the Bidar Fort, on the way, stopped at the fort gates. We also found an old TVS Champ, almost falling apart, parked on one side. stopped to take a few pics on it too. As the sun came out, it started getting hot and the humidity in the air made it very uncomfortable too. . We were driving around the fort, stopping at many places, taking photos etc. we parked in a shade and had some fun, took a lot of pictures. We started from the Bidar fort and went to PapNashini temple and spent a few minutes. it we 12:00 by then, We decided to have lunch on the way back and go to Singur Dam.
Time: 13:00
Location: APTDC Haritha, Zaheerabad
We reached the same APTDC Haritha, Zaheerabad where we had breakfast. we were also joined by some members from the Air force Adventure Cell of Air Command Center, Bangalore. they were also on a 3000kms road trip around South India on AIDS and Air Force recruitment awareness. We had our lunch and relaxed a bit. and then we started again towards Singur, which is about 15kms detour off NH9 from Atmakur village
Time: 14:30
Location: Atmakur Village
We were at the detour point of Atmakur village to the Singur Dam. It was a narrow bumpy road. about midway, there is another small village, from where we were a bit misguided bu the locals and were offroading around the village and the farms, for atleast 15mins before getting back on to the narrow bumpy road to the dam. We reached the dam and had to do bit more offroading to get on to the dam. we rode over it and across the dam. We stopped there and chilled out for a few mins before riding back. on the way back also we had go offroad a bit as the road was broken. the bumpy offroading, the heat and humidity were squeezing the energy out of us. we were back on to NH9 at 16:00, stopped to relax and stretch a bit. Then all of us started, to ride, only to stop after reaching Hyderabad
Time: 17:00
Location: Miyapur X Roads
The traffic on the way back was horrible, with local truckers giving no way and the traffic also being high at that time. we reached the city by about 17:00 and reached our homes fighting thru the heavy city traffic
Total distance covered: 340kms
01 August, 2009
Road Trip: Medak - NizamSagar - Pocharam
Riders:
1. Cheedhu on RE TBTS
2. Amarnath on Bajaj Avenger200
3. Sarvajit on Yamaha R15
4. Rahul on Bajaj Pulsar 220
5. Ketan and Dileep on HH Ambition135
Start:
Location: Axis bank ATM, Kompally
Time: 6:30am
as usual, we were a little late to start. Chandru who was supposed to come was down with fever, so we were down to 5 bikes with one pillion.
Sarvajit picked up Ketan and reached the starting point by 6:30. Rahul also reached about the same time. Cheedhu reached the start point by about 6:40. Amarnath had lost the way and called up the riders to find out how to reach the starting point and reached by 6:50. we had a quick round of the usual introductions, brefing of the riding instructions and few pictures and started off about 7:00am
Location: Just after Toll plaza, NH7
Time: about 7:45am
We had planned to stop at the Reliance A1 Plaza for breakfast but few riders missed the point and had stopped a little further. We stopped as the next good dhaba and had breakfast. spent some good time there and started off from there at about 8:45am Sarvajit and Rahul exchanged bikes to check out each others and were ripping them and then waited for the rest uf us to catch up. At about 9:15 we detour as planned, rode through Chegunta, only to find us back on the NH7, realized we had missed a turn and turned back and took the state highway to Medak.
Location: Medak
Time: 10:00am
We reached Medak and after asking the locals for directions, we reached the Medak church which was on the state highway just opposite the Medak bus station. We went to the church which is supposedly the second last church in Asia. The art and architecture of the church is beautiful. regretfully photograhy was not allowed inside the church so we could not take any good pics.
after spending some time, we started off from there at about 10:30am towards Nizam sagar on the same state highway. The roads were not all that bad and we could do about 75+. We stopped near Pocharam to take some pics, decided to come back to the dam later as planned.
Location: Nizam Sagar dam
Time: 11:30am
Again after some help from the locals, we had to take a kuccha road to the dam. as we expected, there was very less water in the dam, not even up to the level of the dam gates!. we rested at the park and some of us wandered around taking a few pictures. There were a lot of monkeys around so atleast one of us in turns were around our things to guard our things ;-) We started off from there and took the somewhat better pucca road back to the state highway back to Pocharam.
Location: Pocharam Dam (Inspection Bunglow side)
Time: 1:30pm
Sarvajit, Ketan, Rahul took their bikes on the Dam. Cheedhu and Amarnath decided to park their bikes at the old inspection bunglow and walk on the dam. we found that even Pocharam dam had very less water. much lesser than what was there the last time we visited. so much that some people were even walking to the middle with fishing rods. We called up Chandru who cold not make it as he was down with fever, had a talk for a few mins. Cheedhu rode the Pulsar 220 on the dam to check it out. we left Pocharam at about 2:30pm to ride back to Medak
Location: Medak
Time: 2:45pm
We stopped Just outside Medak to decide about lunch.
Sarvajit, Ketan and Dileep decided they did not want to have lunch, instead wanted to head back straight to Hyderabad.
Cheedhu, Rahul and Amarnath stopped at a hotel just outside the Medak bus stand to have lunch.
The ride(s) back to Hyderabad:
Sarvajit, Ketan and Dileep continued their return back to Hyderabad. sarvajit, maybe coz he did not have lunch, or the fatigue, started feeling sleepy and slowing down on the way back to Chegunta. Ketan had honked him awake, he then stopped, washed his face, refreshed himself and headed towards chegunta together, back on the NH7. once sarvajit hit the 4-lane NH7, he ripped of and reached Hyderabad, covering about the last 70kms in 45mins to reach at about 4:00pm. Ketan and Dileep followed him on the NH7. but once in the city limits, the traffic Jam slowed him down and he reached home a little late at about 5:00pm
Cheedhu, Rahul and Amarnath had their lunch and startd off from Medak at about 3:45pm. Amarnath was ahead and took the state highway towards Hyderabad which goes through Narasapur and Bahdurpalli. Cheedhu realized that this is not the planned route via chegunta and all stopped. Then decided to continue on the state highway till Narsapur and then decide about which way to go further. the state highway ofcourse is not as good as NH, but the riders could constantly keep over 75. After reaching narsapur, then it was decided to continue on the state highway itself as it was only about 55kms to Hyderabad. Riding till bahdurpalli, reached Kompalli at about 5:00pm. as usual, riding thru the city traffic, reached home by 5:30pm.
1. Cheedhu on RE TBTS
2. Amarnath on Bajaj Avenger200
3. Sarvajit on Yamaha R15
4. Rahul on Bajaj Pulsar 220
5. Ketan and Dileep on HH Ambition135
Start:
Location: Axis bank ATM, Kompally
Time: 6:30am
as usual, we were a little late to start. Chandru who was supposed to come was down with fever, so we were down to 5 bikes with one pillion.
Sarvajit picked up Ketan and reached the starting point by 6:30. Rahul also reached about the same time. Cheedhu reached the start point by about 6:40. Amarnath had lost the way and called up the riders to find out how to reach the starting point and reached by 6:50. we had a quick round of the usual introductions, brefing of the riding instructions and few pictures and started off about 7:00am
Location: Just after Toll plaza, NH7
Time: about 7:45am
We had planned to stop at the Reliance A1 Plaza for breakfast but few riders missed the point and had stopped a little further. We stopped as the next good dhaba and had breakfast. spent some good time there and started off from there at about 8:45am Sarvajit and Rahul exchanged bikes to check out each others and were ripping them and then waited for the rest uf us to catch up. At about 9:15 we detour as planned, rode through Chegunta, only to find us back on the NH7, realized we had missed a turn and turned back and took the state highway to Medak.
Location: Medak
Time: 10:00am
We reached Medak and after asking the locals for directions, we reached the Medak church which was on the state highway just opposite the Medak bus station. We went to the church which is supposedly the second last church in Asia. The art and architecture of the church is beautiful. regretfully photograhy was not allowed inside the church so we could not take any good pics.
after spending some time, we started off from there at about 10:30am towards Nizam sagar on the same state highway. The roads were not all that bad and we could do about 75+. We stopped near Pocharam to take some pics, decided to come back to the dam later as planned.
Location: Nizam Sagar dam
Time: 11:30am
Again after some help from the locals, we had to take a kuccha road to the dam. as we expected, there was very less water in the dam, not even up to the level of the dam gates!. we rested at the park and some of us wandered around taking a few pictures. There were a lot of monkeys around so atleast one of us in turns were around our things to guard our things ;-) We started off from there and took the somewhat better pucca road back to the state highway back to Pocharam.
Location: Pocharam Dam (Inspection Bunglow side)
Time: 1:30pm
Sarvajit, Ketan, Rahul took their bikes on the Dam. Cheedhu and Amarnath decided to park their bikes at the old inspection bunglow and walk on the dam. we found that even Pocharam dam had very less water. much lesser than what was there the last time we visited. so much that some people were even walking to the middle with fishing rods. We called up Chandru who cold not make it as he was down with fever, had a talk for a few mins. Cheedhu rode the Pulsar 220 on the dam to check it out. we left Pocharam at about 2:30pm to ride back to Medak
Location: Medak
Time: 2:45pm
We stopped Just outside Medak to decide about lunch.
Sarvajit, Ketan and Dileep decided they did not want to have lunch, instead wanted to head back straight to Hyderabad.
Cheedhu, Rahul and Amarnath stopped at a hotel just outside the Medak bus stand to have lunch.
The ride(s) back to Hyderabad:
Sarvajit, Ketan and Dileep continued their return back to Hyderabad. sarvajit, maybe coz he did not have lunch, or the fatigue, started feeling sleepy and slowing down on the way back to Chegunta. Ketan had honked him awake, he then stopped, washed his face, refreshed himself and headed towards chegunta together, back on the NH7. once sarvajit hit the 4-lane NH7, he ripped of and reached Hyderabad, covering about the last 70kms in 45mins to reach at about 4:00pm. Ketan and Dileep followed him on the NH7. but once in the city limits, the traffic Jam slowed him down and he reached home a little late at about 5:00pm
Cheedhu, Rahul and Amarnath had their lunch and startd off from Medak at about 3:45pm. Amarnath was ahead and took the state highway towards Hyderabad which goes through Narasapur and Bahdurpalli. Cheedhu realized that this is not the planned route via chegunta and all stopped. Then decided to continue on the state highway till Narsapur and then decide about which way to go further. the state highway ofcourse is not as good as NH, but the riders could constantly keep over 75. After reaching narsapur, then it was decided to continue on the state highway itself as it was only about 55kms to Hyderabad. Riding till bahdurpalli, reached Kompalli at about 5:00pm. as usual, riding thru the city traffic, reached home by 5:30pm.
07 June, 2009
Roadtrip to Ananthagiri
With the temperatures going downwards a bit, my friends and me decided to hit the road and go on the roadtrip once cancelled, to Ananthagiri
here are some pics - http://picasaweb.google.com/i.cheedhu/RoadTripAnanthagiri#slideshow
and the trip story...
Riders:
1. Cheedhu on Thunderbird TBTS
2. Vibhanshu on red R15
3. Bhanu (bhanuprakash_85) on black RTR Refresh
4. Amarnath non xBhp on Avenger 200
5. Chandrasekhar on P180 UG3
6. Sarvajit on black R15
Pillions:
1. Souvik on Vibhanshu?s red R15
2. Chandrasekhar?s brother Arun on his P180
This ride was planned for much before, but fizzled out due to the sweltering summer heat.
But this time it somehow got confirmed. We were scheduled to meet outside ITC Kakatiya Sheraton Towers Hotel sharp at 7 a.m.
Time: 07:00.
Place: ITC Kakatiya Sheraton Towers Hotel
Chandru, Cheedhu were already there. Bhanu decided not to waste time&went off to fill fuel in his RTR, saying he would meet us at Banjara Hills.
Vibhanshu wasted about half an hour in picking up his pillion Souvik&filling fuel. Funny considering he was the most eager one for this ride. Amarnath was supposed to join us at
Mehdipatnam.
Time: 07:45.
Place: ITC Kakatiya Sheraton Towers Hotel
So we started off from there, with Chandru leading the way to Mehdipatnam, picked up Bhanu half way at Banjara Hills. We found Amarnath waiting for us at Tolichowki and he waved out to Vibhanshu- a bit funny considering he never met him! (He thought Sarvajit's bike was red)
Anyways, we spent a minute explaining to each other the general rules-keep your lights on (atleast parking lights), don?t overtake without signal, keep a watch on the one behind you, decided how the riding formation would be like&started off. Sarvajit in the lead and Cheedhu in the tail.
Time: 08:30:
We were feeling that the sun will come out anytime & so will the traffic, and spoil the fun of the ride, like the Bhongir ride. It took us some time to get out of the city limits, with some really bad roads at Langer House, underneath the new Flyover Construction. We were getting a bit bored winding our way through the under construction areas with deviations at every 200 metres, when finally the highway opened out into a 2+2 lane with a barricade in the middle. Sarvajit immediately signaled to Chandru and zoomed off, with Bhanu in hot pursuit on his RTR!
Now this was interesting to watch, as this was his first time on the highway on a bike and everyone wanted to see how the RTR performs. More on this later.
So we had just begun to have our fun on the 4 lane, when suddenly the road tapered out into a 1+1 lane with no divider. I thought to myself, now the average speed will come down to 65-70. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the road quality was very good, maybe newly laid and there was hardly any traffic, maybe because it was a Sunday.
So from there on the fun started, with R15s and RTR constantly doing speeds of 90-105. The others were cruising at 75+.
Time: 10:00
Place: Chevella.
After about 40kms., we decided to stop for breakfast at Chevella. This time there were no odd stares from people. We managed to find a table just to keep our helmets & bags.
There we came across a group of bikers, with some 7 guys & 3 girls. One of them was actually sitting with her back to the rider! Maybe that is enjoyable, but not on a highway!
We had a good laugh, when the rider zoomed off without noticing a speedbreaker & she bounced on the seat (oops! that would have hurt) !
Time: 11:00
From Chevella we took a left & the road continued to be fine, except for 1-2 kms of bad stretch.
Finally we saw a board saying Anantagiri. We remembered what KP had told - don?t forget to try the next 2-3 kms. So we went ahead.
Time: 11:45
Place: Ananthagiri.
Now was the time for some twisties. Sarvajit was trying best, but couldn?t scrape the footpegs (or was too scared). It was fun though. We managed to find a straight on which Vibhanshu asked Souvik to get off & both R15s tried a speed blast. They managed to do about 126 & 129. Then suddenly Bhanu came up & said his bike was struggling to go beyond 110. We couldn?t believe it - We?ve heard of others doing much more on their RTRs, so sarvajit and Bhanu exchanged bikes & tried gunning the RTR on a downslope followed by a 400m straight stretch. It did 122 & did not seem to be running out of breath at all! Then we found a place where there was a really good view & parked all our bikes there for snaps. One really funny incident was, Bhanu suddenly realized that he had to answer the nature?s call (could have been the breakfast at Chavella) and ran off with a water bottle behind a hillock. Since we were all in a naughty mood, we tried aiming stones at him, but
he was too far.
Time: 12:00 hours
Distance covered 100 odd kms.
Anyways, after this speed test, Cheedhu was getting bored & wanted to explore the jungle. Time for some offroading. We finally found a good spot, settled down there, took some snaps and then decided to leave, as the heat was catching up.
The ride back was much faster, Amarnath started gunning his Avenger and said he wants to get onto a 4 lane next time! Bhanu started crouching and realizing what difference it makes to the top end.
Time: 14:00
Place: Hyderabad City Outskirts
Distance covered 200 odd kms.
Stopped once near the city outskirts to say our byes and then we had already decided on a longer ride on the NH7 to Pochampad Dam next time!
so next time to Pochampad Dam...
here are some pics - http://picasaweb.google.com/i.cheedhu/RoadTripAnanthagiri#slideshow
and the trip story...
Riders:
1. Cheedhu on Thunderbird TBTS
2. Vibhanshu on red R15
3. Bhanu (bhanuprakash_85) on black RTR Refresh
4. Amarnath non xBhp on Avenger 200
5. Chandrasekhar on P180 UG3
6. Sarvajit on black R15
Pillions:
1. Souvik on Vibhanshu?s red R15
2. Chandrasekhar?s brother Arun on his P180
This ride was planned for much before, but fizzled out due to the sweltering summer heat.
But this time it somehow got confirmed. We were scheduled to meet outside ITC Kakatiya Sheraton Towers Hotel sharp at 7 a.m.
Time: 07:00.
Place: ITC Kakatiya Sheraton Towers Hotel
Chandru, Cheedhu were already there. Bhanu decided not to waste time&went off to fill fuel in his RTR, saying he would meet us at Banjara Hills.
Vibhanshu wasted about half an hour in picking up his pillion Souvik&filling fuel. Funny considering he was the most eager one for this ride. Amarnath was supposed to join us at
Mehdipatnam.
Time: 07:45.
Place: ITC Kakatiya Sheraton Towers Hotel
So we started off from there, with Chandru leading the way to Mehdipatnam, picked up Bhanu half way at Banjara Hills. We found Amarnath waiting for us at Tolichowki and he waved out to Vibhanshu- a bit funny considering he never met him! (He thought Sarvajit's bike was red)
Anyways, we spent a minute explaining to each other the general rules-keep your lights on (atleast parking lights), don?t overtake without signal, keep a watch on the one behind you, decided how the riding formation would be like&started off. Sarvajit in the lead and Cheedhu in the tail.
Time: 08:30:
We were feeling that the sun will come out anytime & so will the traffic, and spoil the fun of the ride, like the Bhongir ride. It took us some time to get out of the city limits, with some really bad roads at Langer House, underneath the new Flyover Construction. We were getting a bit bored winding our way through the under construction areas with deviations at every 200 metres, when finally the highway opened out into a 2+2 lane with a barricade in the middle. Sarvajit immediately signaled to Chandru and zoomed off, with Bhanu in hot pursuit on his RTR!
Now this was interesting to watch, as this was his first time on the highway on a bike and everyone wanted to see how the RTR performs. More on this later.
So we had just begun to have our fun on the 4 lane, when suddenly the road tapered out into a 1+1 lane with no divider. I thought to myself, now the average speed will come down to 65-70. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the road quality was very good, maybe newly laid and there was hardly any traffic, maybe because it was a Sunday.
So from there on the fun started, with R15s and RTR constantly doing speeds of 90-105. The others were cruising at 75+.
Time: 10:00
Place: Chevella.
After about 40kms., we decided to stop for breakfast at Chevella. This time there were no odd stares from people. We managed to find a table just to keep our helmets & bags.
There we came across a group of bikers, with some 7 guys & 3 girls. One of them was actually sitting with her back to the rider! Maybe that is enjoyable, but not on a highway!
We had a good laugh, when the rider zoomed off without noticing a speedbreaker & she bounced on the seat (oops! that would have hurt) !
Time: 11:00
From Chevella we took a left & the road continued to be fine, except for 1-2 kms of bad stretch.
Finally we saw a board saying Anantagiri. We remembered what KP had told - don?t forget to try the next 2-3 kms. So we went ahead.
Time: 11:45
Place: Ananthagiri.
Now was the time for some twisties. Sarvajit was trying best, but couldn?t scrape the footpegs (or was too scared). It was fun though. We managed to find a straight on which Vibhanshu asked Souvik to get off & both R15s tried a speed blast. They managed to do about 126 & 129. Then suddenly Bhanu came up & said his bike was struggling to go beyond 110. We couldn?t believe it - We?ve heard of others doing much more on their RTRs, so sarvajit and Bhanu exchanged bikes & tried gunning the RTR on a downslope followed by a 400m straight stretch. It did 122 & did not seem to be running out of breath at all! Then we found a place where there was a really good view & parked all our bikes there for snaps. One really funny incident was, Bhanu suddenly realized that he had to answer the nature?s call (could have been the breakfast at Chavella) and ran off with a water bottle behind a hillock. Since we were all in a naughty mood, we tried aiming stones at him, but
he was too far.
Time: 12:00 hours
Distance covered 100 odd kms.
Anyways, after this speed test, Cheedhu was getting bored & wanted to explore the jungle. Time for some offroading. We finally found a good spot, settled down there, took some snaps and then decided to leave, as the heat was catching up.
The ride back was much faster, Amarnath started gunning his Avenger and said he wants to get onto a 4 lane next time! Bhanu started crouching and realizing what difference it makes to the top end.
Time: 14:00
Place: Hyderabad City Outskirts
Distance covered 200 odd kms.
Stopped once near the city outskirts to say our byes and then we had already decided on a longer ride on the NH7 to Pochampad Dam next time!
so next time to Pochampad Dam...
27 May, 2009
got a new Mridangam
I had ordered for a new Mridamgam, and got it after about a month of waiting for it.
The wait was because I wanted a good classical wooden-skin mridangam...
did not like the ones made these days.. with metal or polymer body... nylon fasterners.. nut and bolts... even plastic....
there is a lot of difference between the classical ones and the ones made with all those modifications for convenience or modernisation
they sound a lot different... the divinity and the purity of the music fades...
here are a few pictures...
The wait was because I wanted a good classical wooden-skin mridangam...
did not like the ones made these days.. with metal or polymer body... nylon fasterners.. nut and bolts... even plastic....
there is a lot of difference between the classical ones and the ones made with all those modifications for convenience or modernisation
they sound a lot different... the divinity and the purity of the music fades...
here are a few pictures...
15 February, 2009
I named my bike
I gave my bike a name today...
I call it Nandi ( नंदी )
Nandi is the bull from Indian Mythology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandi_bull
and we all know who rides the Nandi...
I call it Nandi ( नंदी )
Nandi is the bull from Indian Mythology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandi_bull
and we all know who rides the Nandi...
12 February, 2009
avoid avoiding anyone....
brb...
"I'll call you back..."
Things that people have started using a lot to avoid someone... on chat and on phone calls
Its not very tough to figure out that they are avoiding you and then that's when it hurts a lot... feels like cheated...
why not just say... "I cannot talk to you...now..." or rather "I don't want to talk to you..."
Atleast it would be a honest reply and not hurt as much...
17 January, 2009
Roadtrip to Pocharam
I went on a roadtrip to Pocharam today
a good feeling... of hitting the highway... with the wind in the face.. sky over.. and the never ending road... the sanctuary we had planed to go was closed... but then we went to the dam and the old inspection bunglow... kinda good...
a picture is worth a thousand words... so just read through thousands of words on my photo album
http://picasaweb.google.com/i.cheedhu/RoadTripPocharamWildlifeSanctuary
a good feeling... of hitting the highway... with the wind in the face.. sky over.. and the never ending road... the sanctuary we had planed to go was closed... but then we went to the dam and the old inspection bunglow... kinda good...
a picture is worth a thousand words... so just read through thousands of words on my photo album
http://picasaweb.google.com/i.cheedhu/RoadTripPocharamWildlifeSanctuary
01 January, 2009
well..... it was not so happy after all...
well..... it was not so happy after all...
one year I would just want to forget... like it never happened...
one year I would just want to forget... like it never happened...
01 January, 2008
Happy New Year 2008
what an year you had been... bye bye 2007
hoping the new year 2008 to be even better... ;-)
well the New years eve had been too cool....
started off witha shocker.. had to get involved in a network outage at work... suspending all the plans for the evening... then lucklily it was not all that serious...
came back home... called up friends and then planned to go out for dinner...
Then the usual traffic... and the places we liked were all booked or was not of our taste of enjoyment :-D
Then the most unexpected of the things... I just stopped at a new restaurent that had opened up by the lakeside... and man what a time we had there.... what a way to welcome into 2008...
just mind-blowing :-)
hoping the new year 2008 to be even better... ;-)
well the New years eve had been too cool....
started off witha shocker.. had to get involved in a network outage at work... suspending all the plans for the evening... then lucklily it was not all that serious...
came back home... called up friends and then planned to go out for dinner...
Then the usual traffic... and the places we liked were all booked or was not of our taste of enjoyment :-D
Then the most unexpected of the things... I just stopped at a new restaurent that had opened up by the lakeside... and man what a time we had there.... what a way to welcome into 2008...
just mind-blowing :-)
10 December, 2007
why we do what we do?
life's has been hectic last couple of months, lots of things to be taken care of... myself, people around me, job.. everything
I still keep wondering "why we do what we do?"!
life be simple could be very much simpler...
is it just us.... complicating things while trying to make it simpler!!?
I still keep wondering "why we do what we do?"!
life be simple could be very much simpler...
is it just us.... complicating things while trying to make it simpler!!?
20 September, 2007
New laptop, Ubuntu and me
I got a new laptop on 15th evening...
A HP Pavilion dv9502AU
Well it came with Windows Vista Home Premuim on a single partition
oops.... no space for my linux...
but no probs.. I shrunk the partition from 140GB to 30GB and made my space...
then the choice to make.. Fedora or Ubuntu...
since I already had fedora on the desktop, I choose to have ubuntu on the laptop..
I went on to install it...
put the live CD in and booted it up.. and no graphics...
rebooted in safe graphis mode... ok fine it came up
double click on the install icon on the desktop, answer a few questions and the install started....and finished successfully...
rebooted from the hard drive.. and it does not boot up..
then I realized.. I gave wrong info for the partitioning...
so... reinstall... go through the whole procedure again....
this time it went on fine.. but still the graphics was not good..
little lookup on the Internet and I found the drivers for the video card on the manufacturers website...
install the drivers and reboot.. still no good.. I see the drivers loaded though
time to get old skool way.. open up and manually configure it...done
restart the graphics and it is working...
Now time to get on to the Internet... my page requires flash and Adobe does not have a 64bit plugin for firefox... ok.. work it around... put the available plugin in nspluginwrapper... and GO.. thats also working...
So I have a working laptop running ubuntu Linux.. cool :-D
A HP Pavilion dv9502AU
Well it came with Windows Vista Home Premuim on a single partition
oops.... no space for my linux...
but no probs.. I shrunk the partition from 140GB to 30GB and made my space...
then the choice to make.. Fedora or Ubuntu...
since I already had fedora on the desktop, I choose to have ubuntu on the laptop..
I went on to install it...
put the live CD in and booted it up.. and no graphics...
rebooted in safe graphis mode... ok fine it came up
double click on the install icon on the desktop, answer a few questions and the install started....and finished successfully...
rebooted from the hard drive.. and it does not boot up..
then I realized.. I gave wrong info for the partitioning...
so... reinstall... go through the whole procedure again....
this time it went on fine.. but still the graphics was not good..
little lookup on the Internet and I found the drivers for the video card on the manufacturers website...
install the drivers and reboot.. still no good.. I see the drivers loaded though
time to get old skool way.. open up and manually configure it...done
restart the graphics and it is working...
Now time to get on to the Internet... my page requires flash and Adobe does not have a 64bit plugin for firefox... ok.. work it around... put the available plugin in nspluginwrapper... and GO.. thats also working...
So I have a working laptop running ubuntu Linux.. cool :-D
17 August, 2007
We... the people of India
It was Independence Day and I was bored of sitting at home watching TV
I had gone out to watch a movie
Just when I had entered the hall, the national anthem started playing
and everyone of us in the hall stood up to attention, and were singing with pride...
it just felt so good.
a thought crossed my mind... why do we have to leave our country and go abroad in search of work.. can't we make it all work here... in India
we... the people of India... can achive anything if we were honest in what we did and take our country to greater heights
we.. the people of India... have to stand up for ourselves and make the difference
we... the people of India... are the ones who can make ourselves proud to be an Indian
I had gone out to watch a movie
Just when I had entered the hall, the national anthem started playing
and everyone of us in the hall stood up to attention, and were singing with pride...
it just felt so good.
a thought crossed my mind... why do we have to leave our country and go abroad in search of work.. can't we make it all work here... in India
we... the people of India... can achive anything if we were honest in what we did and take our country to greater heights
we.. the people of India... have to stand up for ourselves and make the difference
we... the people of India... are the ones who can make ourselves proud to be an Indian
17 July, 2007
On a Monday - Going to office and coming back
My bike gave up this weekend and was in the garage!
I had decided to try the public transport to get to work
I started off in the morning and got a train till secunderabad... thought it was a good start
Then I found out the next train towards Hitech city is after one hour.. oops, now what!!?
went out to look for something else...
I got an RTC bus that would go towards Kondapur...
It went all around Hyderabad before I it reached Madhapur!
I got down at the Police Station and started to walk towards office.
Half the way.. one of my colleagues spotted me and gave me a ride till office...
It had taken me more than 2 hrs to reach office.. which would normally take about 50-60 mins on my bike!
works done and time to head back home...
:-D
I came down and knew that there would be no buses...
I asked few autorickshaw guys but they refused to come to HiTec-city MMTS railway station...
As usual, I started walking.. and it took me an hour to get to HiTec-city station, about 7KM from office!
I felt.. if only we had a cab drop / shuttle till the station.. but what the heck!
one amazing thing was that many employees working in BIG companies are using the MMTS service
and their employers are providing shuttles to the station!
but then...
OH NO, NOT AGAIN...
At the station, there was a long queue for the tickets and the train had left before I could buy a ticket!
had to spend one more hour at the station waiting for the next train... 45 mins and I reached Secunderabad...
Then I find out the the last train to my palce had left!
I was also hungry so I then went out to a restaurant and had dinner.
with no other option, I had to take the last bus back home... felt lucky not to have missed that!
Oh what a day... I did not feel much about as I am used to all this as a frequent traveller!
But, what about the hundreds of employees who have to experience this daily!!!
The company could provide some minimal transportation facilites like shuttles to the nearest bus/train stations
many companies have actually
Today I am working from home... and am able to do most of the daily activities that I do at office...and I can work for longer hours!!!
sometimes, the concept of home-office works out to be more productive!
I had decided to try the public transport to get to work
I started off in the morning and got a train till secunderabad... thought it was a good start
Then I found out the next train towards Hitech city is after one hour.. oops, now what!!?
went out to look for something else...
I got an RTC bus that would go towards Kondapur...
It went all around Hyderabad before I it reached Madhapur!
I got down at the Police Station and started to walk towards office.
Half the way.. one of my colleagues spotted me and gave me a ride till office...
It had taken me more than 2 hrs to reach office.. which would normally take about 50-60 mins on my bike!
works done and time to head back home...
:-D
I came down and knew that there would be no buses...
I asked few autorickshaw guys but they refused to come to HiTec-city MMTS railway station...
As usual, I started walking.. and it took me an hour to get to HiTec-city station, about 7KM from office!
I felt.. if only we had a cab drop / shuttle till the station.. but what the heck!
one amazing thing was that many employees working in BIG companies are using the MMTS service
and their employers are providing shuttles to the station!
but then...
OH NO, NOT AGAIN...
At the station, there was a long queue for the tickets and the train had left before I could buy a ticket!
had to spend one more hour at the station waiting for the next train... 45 mins and I reached Secunderabad...
Then I find out the the last train to my palce had left!
I was also hungry so I then went out to a restaurant and had dinner.
with no other option, I had to take the last bus back home... felt lucky not to have missed that!
Oh what a day... I did not feel much about as I am used to all this as a frequent traveller!
But, what about the hundreds of employees who have to experience this daily!!!
The company could provide some minimal transportation facilites like shuttles to the nearest bus/train stations
many companies have actually
Today I am working from home... and am able to do most of the daily activities that I do at office...and I can work for longer hours!!!
sometimes, the concept of home-office works out to be more productive!
The Last two weeks
It had been fun all the way last two weeks
Had been to Pragathi Resorts with colleagues... and what a time we had in the pool
Refreshing to be having fun with people you work with!
It just doesn't stop there.. my neice had come for a visit
My brother, my neice and I had been to some places in Hyderabad...
one evening to Bottles n Chimneys...and then for Midnight biryani at Pickles
couple of days later, we went for a movie, Die Hard 4.0
It was a masala flick, more than MI2 or any Rajnikanth movie, an overdose of unrealistic action!
The very next evening to 10 Downing Street...
...we all know its one of the best places to hang out!
not that I've not been to those places before... but each time... its more fun... with old friends.. and some new faces...
Had been to Pragathi Resorts with colleagues... and what a time we had in the pool
Refreshing to be having fun with people you work with!
It just doesn't stop there.. my neice had come for a visit
My brother, my neice and I had been to some places in Hyderabad...
one evening to Bottles n Chimneys...and then for Midnight biryani at Pickles
couple of days later, we went for a movie, Die Hard 4.0
It was a masala flick, more than MI2 or any Rajnikanth movie, an overdose of unrealistic action!
The very next evening to 10 Downing Street...
...we all know its one of the best places to hang out!
not that I've not been to those places before... but each time... its more fun... with old friends.. and some new faces...
06 June, 2007
Fedora 7 - Flying High
finished downloading fedora 7 "Flying High"
looks good on screen shots...
wanna check out the Live CD Feature...
planning to install this weekend lets see how high it flies...
~
~
~
~
:pretty high I am sure
looks good on screen shots...
wanna check out the Live CD Feature...
planning to install this weekend lets see how high it flies...
~
~
~
~
:pretty high I am sure
On my b'day (31 May)
My B'day this year was good though I had to go to work ;-)
Went out for lunch with couple of my friends from school, then back to work for few hours...
Then went to my old work place and met my old colleagues and had fun...
The next day... well.... it was more fun at work
Went out for lunch with couple of my friends from school, then back to work for few hours...
Then went to my old work place and met my old colleagues and had fun...
The next day... well.... it was more fun at work
22 April, 2007
A close friend...
Today morning a close friend of mine died due to cancer
It was shocking,
he was fighting against it for the last one and a half years
he had great will power and we all expected him to recover.. but... life's not that easy....
It was shocking,
he was fighting against it for the last one and a half years
he had great will power and we all expected him to recover.. but... life's not that easy....
19 April, 2007
My New WebSpace
Everybody needs a space to live in, and every 'techie' needs for a web space to host....
I got my domain name registered cheedhu.name and building a website at http://www.cheedhu.name
Any suggestions on what it could have
I got my domain name registered cheedhu.name and building a website at http://www.cheedhu.name
Any suggestions on what it could have
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