Unconnected vertices

• Moved into a house
• A few whites blooming outside the porch
• Tree in front is drying or it's fall already, unreadable
• A cat wanders around in the evening
• Moved into a new org, have a new boss
• Getting new glasses
• A friend got shorter hair
• Bunch at work parted
• Enjoying algorithms again
• Reading modern physics at the same time
• Listened to Led Zeppelin a tad more
• Coffee started to taste horrible at work
• Having tea therefore
• Appreciating hefeweizen
• Refinancing
• Getting quickly annoyed by prejudice
• Becoming un-fond of generic drug (type)
• Dried laundry pile too big to ignore
• Started raining already
• Unsure, but may have lost 1/2 lb
• Stopped blinking, it causes my kid to grow
• Missing my family miserably
• Unconnected vertices - appearing too many and too fast

"Fall" for canada

We took a trip to Vancouver area last week and it presented quite an opportunity to photograph all the right fall colors wet with the seasonal drizzle. Click on the image below to view the eminent ones:

Green Chicken

Are you a vegetarian? My answer is - yes, but I eat chicken. And then I would go ahead and give my justification. It almost sounds like a status quo to be a vegetarian. You know, if I cannot eat anything that a chicken can, it is like being a vegetarian. I am not disturbing the food chain in any way. My silly friends do not buy into this argument though.

So I started thinking what would make the chicken stand at the same level as the vegetation. What if it started to breath in carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen out. Would it be as green as "the greens"? And a premium chicken could even do photosynthesis, you know converting sunshine into protein - totally organic. Do you agree?

The weekend buffet

It has started to warm up a little. We decided to have an early lunch buffet last saturday. The place was fairly empty, only about half a dozen tables were occupied. It was easy to observe around while having a little chit chat with my company.

There was a big party sitting on our left side. One person was too peculiar to miss in there. He only had a bowl of sambhar (an indian curry cooked with no intent of having a particular taste) in front of him and he was gulping one spoon after another in quick succession. There was no synergy among that group being on the same lunch table. Every other minute one person would get up and go fill up the plate with bunch of buffet items, come back and indulge.

There was a family of three on the table at 2 O' clock from me waiting for their food to be served. The man was looking down and fiddling with his blackberry. The lady was staring at other cars outside the window on the right. The little kid was keeping himself entertained by looking at other kids. I think it would have not made any difference if they had taken three separate tables.

There was a single person sitting right in front of me with very thick glasses and a nerdy look. His mango lassi (an indian milkshake) was on the table, but other orders were yet to come. He was sipping it very slowly making sure that it is still half full when the food arrives. After all a little sip in between does taste good.

We were done in about an hour and I walked to the cash register to ask for the check. The person standing behind the register asked - Two weekend buffet? I said yes.

Apt #8

So we took the plunge and decided to move after our third year in this apartment. The current space had started to look busy and worse the trips to the laundry room was getting more frequent. It is hard not just because of all the pain to pack everything up and move, but also when you stay in a place long enough, it starts to speak like a home.

I had got used to so many things inside the apartment and outside too. I know exactly how fast I need to push the front door to lock it up, I know how many steps it is to the laundry room (120 one way, 108 another), I would know if it is the garbage truck outside or the UPS. The water fountain quiets itself at 11, reminding that the today will turn into yesterday soon. The tree in front of the dining window sheds all its leaves right after winter, then it goes green-orange-red with the spinning weather. The foot-bridge in front of the other building always has dry leaves floating on it and I thought it will make a good subject to snap, but never tried it. There are two potholes on the last street before I get home and I always take pride in doing a little swerve around them while riding my bike. If driving my car, I will always find someone attempting to parallel park on vincent for few minutes before abandoning the futile idea. We have taken several walks in the summer to the starbucks on washington. It was just close enough to go there on a a sunday afternoon and sip a lazy vanilla latte.

The apartment manager drives a red open jeep and will almost always give a smile, though as cold as the chilly rain these days. The family of three (2, if you don't want to count the cat) next door is nice, the lady in there taught us the right way to hand over a small baby to another person. It should feel like a rain drop falling in your lap, so slow and so quiet that you don't even feel it. The lady below us is old and mysterious. We don't know when she goes out and when is she in. She never complains of our noise or anything. The unit besides her has seen at least three different families (while we were here) and it is available again.

This apartment also witnessed several of our firsts - first sold a car, my first motorcycle, first we painted our walls, first big TV, our first baby :), our first separate bathrooms, our first set of tasteful furniture and many more. Needless to say, we will miss this place as our first "home" together.

Ultrablue

..cause' blue is the stormy sky
so blue is the eternal ocean
blue like the sweet pain
blue only scribes my pen

Although,

blue that I wear today
blue will I turn at last
the promise of life anyway,
is the mysterious cold blue..

(just supporting my favorite color, can you?)

Memento - Part 3

There is no way, I am going to deliver now; I am not mentally prepared - my wife said. Don't worry, I said with calm, portraying a strong heart - if it has to be, then we cannot do much. But ma is not here yet, she said. We will handle it until then, it is our baby after all - I said with no idea what that meant.

Your blood pressure is on the higher side, our substitute doctor made the announcement stepping inside the exam room. It has been normal until now. Yes, but it is quite common in the last month – said the doctor. So, what’s the deal? I would like to keep her under observation for a day and check for the protein leak, she kept saying in an unmodulated voice. And, if it is indeed leaking, then we will have to get the baby delivered now. What? Are you crazy? The due date is still three weeks from now, we don't even have any help here right now and I have to be in the office today, all went through my mind in less than a second. But I kept my cool and asked if we can go back home and get few stuff in case we have to stay longer. I don't want to regret if something goes wrong, so I wont recommend going back home, you will have to get admitted now. And baby is completely mature in 37 week, so you shouldn't be worried about that too. My wife looked at me as if telling - you know that there is no way I am delivering now.

OK, 37th week, friday, routine checkup, very typical. I will drop you back home and go to the office after we are done there - I said as I used to on every other checkup. As usual I also carried my office bag with me, so that I don't have to go back up at home. Our doctor was on vacation for few days, so we were going to see another one in the same group. The nurse took the vitals and we waited for this new doctor, didn't have a zilch of idea that we will see four new doctors in next four days.

Were you guys prepared? You know - mentally? I have faced this question quite a few times. Well I didn't know, if I was. Nine months now and I know I was ready indeed - to play with him, to smile on his smile and to walk him until he sleeps, holding my shirt tight with his little feeble fist.

The End.

Memento - Part 2

All of a sudden, the monitor showing the heart beat rate spiked and our nurse came rushing in. What happened here? - She asked. No, nothing, she is just talking to her mom - I said with a casual smile. My wife was speaking over the phone - Ma, everything is fine. It wasn’t. I knew she was just too weak after a terrifying night and loosing probably quarter of her blood. I started talking to the nurse - you saved our lives and she smiled genuinely. I was finally relived that it was all under control. It was a minor surgery and bleeding stopped. Why the heck the previous doctor let it all go on for the whole night and didn’t decide to do the same thing earlier. Well, every doctor work differently, the old nurse mentioned it to me. And lucky(un) us that we had to deal with this particular one, I thought in disbelief. Although, it was a first good morning that I could say – we are a family of three.

Early in the morning, the shift changed and a very old looking nurse took the rein. First thing she looked at my wife’s situation and said this is not normal. You bet it is not, I thought. She rushed back and got another doctor on duty at that time. The new doctor told me that my wife needs to go through a minor surgery and hopefully it will be all good. I saw light at the end of this tunnel and said - please.

After couple of hours, I got the baby back from the nursery for my wife to take a first good look at him, but she didn’t care. I wasn’t surprised; she hardly had any consciousness left after the whole ordeal. She was also consistently loosing her blood and the nurse in that shift kept me assuring that it will stop on its own. Gosh, an unseasoned nurse and a confused looking doctor are the worst possible combination to have your baby delivered. Mujhe achcha nahi lag raha hai, chalo ghar chalte hain (I am not feeling well, could we go home) - she said and turned to the other side with any energy she was left with. I took the baby back to the nursery and told them that I am not picking him up until next morning.

The first hour of the 31st march, our baby was born. Bahut chhota sa hai (It is really tiny) - thats all I could say, held my wife's hand and burst into tears. It was really small, but way too cute, crying intermittently, as if annoyed by his disturbed sleep. By the time the nurse cleaned him up and wrapped in a blanket, he was opening his eyes and looking up towards me. One of the five (or may be six) nurses in the room put him on the scale and announced - 5 pounds and 6 ounces.

To be continued..

Memento - Part 1

Time flies by. He is in his ninth month already. We noticed a single tooth breaking out from his lower gum line. I tried to take a snap of it, but he would simply not open his mouth thinking that I am trying to feed him when he is not hungry. Finally, my wife captured it one day along with his most photogenic expression.

I can already see that things are evaporating from my memory, little things that he did in his first few months and how we have been adjusting to the presence of another human being in our home. He had decided to move in with us three weeks earlier than we expected. Thinking of it now, it almost feels like an impromptu drama that we enacted together.

We had came back from the hospital after spending four days in there and what a relief. There is a good reason it is called home. It was exactly the same as we left it on friday, but a very strange feeling. A stuffy smell, days old plates in the kitchen sink, the half filled tea cup, covered, that my wife wanted to have after she was back from the checkup. We both took a deep breadth and started planning our next week, before her parents will get here.

So, what do you guys think - our doctor asked us without looking up, while scribbling on her pad, standing right outside our rat hole. It was our third day in the hospital. Scanning through my wife's eyes and then looking at the doctor I said, if it helps to stay for another day here, then we would like to. Hospital is not for healthy people you know - the doctor spoke with the same synthetic smile on her face, that we were used to for past nine months. Healthy? You know that she has got three blood infusions in last two days, from which angle does she look healthy to you – I was screaming in my mind. Finally, the doctor decided to keep us in the hospital for one more day.

To be continued..

..with friends surrounded..

Land in US with a job and you will be faced with this question for sure in the first few months itself - so, do you have plans to go back? After almost seven years, I still don't have a concrete answer. Yeah, I will at right time - thats what I think and thats what you will hear from me if interrogated. A very close friend of mine decided to close his chapter here after several years and go back for good. I worked with him for just too long to believe that he wouldn't be around anymore.

We interacted with each other probably more than our better halves on a daily basis (No, we are not gays, not that anything wrong with that). Meetings, design discussions, collaborative coding, debugging sessions, there wasn't a single problem that would go unresolved. I could always walk into his cube for nothing and he would have time for me. It just felt good to be able to look upon someone for anything and everything.

Ah, coffee, it will never taste the same again. We blabbered every alternate day over coffee and it was mostly complaining and cribbing. One of the few good coffee companies I will ever have.

Satish, you know how bad it is to deal with a void pointer, I would never be able to type cast it to anything else. Wish you good luck and wish we cross the same road again.

November in essence - a photo blog

Back from the vacation, here is the report card - Festivity, wedding and a pink(ish) city:

Two little kids

I have been waiting for this so desperately for last couple of months. Finally it is here and I started packing today. I am flying friday night for a much awaited break. I will be there for a month, yes one complete month! It has been so hard to concentrate for last few days at work. This also means that I won’t be writing in the next month, but rest assured will be back with many little stories.

My wife and my 8 month old (yes, 8 months already, time doesn’t even need a reason to fly by) will be there at the delhi airport to pick me up. On one hand, I am excited to see my little bundle of joy again and on the other hand I have slight emotional anxiety that he would not recognize me. Or, could he think that I am just back from a long day at the office and giggle the same way he used to every day when I came back in the evening. Every time I call back there, I can hear him making all kind of noise, but as soon as my wife puts the phone close to his ears, he goes completely silent, puzzled and confused. Does he still remember my voice? Dying to see you dear and yes I know mamma doesn’t play the dadda’s game with you. Just start counting to the twentieth diaper now and I promise the next one will be on me.



Did I mention two kids? It has to be my kiddy brother. He is getting married!! Come on, he is still a kid, how could he get married? He still looks like a kid when he sleeps, how he would know what it means to manage a family etc. Yes I know, he has grown a little taller than me, shaves his beard occasionaly, works, has a bank account in his name and lives in a big city all by himself. He says, he has grown up by all means. Whatever. You will always be my kiddy bro, lets have a blast and make it a time to remember.

How would you name it?

While having an informal talk with a friend, she mentioned that the parents used to name their kids after Gods. That was because when they call their kids in the morning, they will actually be taking name of the God. Smart idea.

When we started to argue on the burning topic - "Name of our kid", we just wanted it to be short and sweet. We had chosen not to find out the sex of the baby beforehand. But we had a hunch that it will be a baby girl. And it was so easy to come up with names for a girl. We had atleast ten in our mind, the tough part was to actually filter out and agree on one. We did, but hey what if it is a boy? It is just too hard to even find one for a boy. We picked one in time though. The origin was "Shaumik", but that was too long and bengalish (not that anything wrong with that:)). So, we took out the 'h' and made it a bit short - "Somik". Do I need to mention that it was a mischievous boy after all beating all our speculation.


I always wondered about some of those interesting email ids. b-l-a-c-k-b-u-c-k, m-a-r-s-i-a-n-m-a-i-d-e-n, s-c-a-v-e-n-g-e-r-s - is that an alter ego? And why not just give an ip address to everyone? A lovely soul responded to my uncanny thought like this:

Fido....IP addresses for names is a wee bit too much even for me so try not to get lost in ur cyberworld. Afterall humans have to be different...!

Well, what's in a name anyway, call me anything. If the tone is right, I will look back and smile for sure. (Inspired by Lily and Sally).

Update: Copying my own comment here:

Boy, if my kid asked me - dadda, what is the true meaning of my name? What would I say - I dont know? No way, dadda has an answer for everything you ask kiddie. Here is my attempt:

somik = som + ik
som = moon in hinduism, e.g. somnath - master of the moon (More at wikipedia)
ik = ness (More here)
Somik = Moonness (adjective, Having characterestics of the moon).

Not bad:)

Misbehaving in London

If you take out the annoying drizzle from the equation, London is a fabulous twosome place. I visited this city on a business trip few years back and had mixed feelings, mostly well. There are infinite things you could do there - parks, theaters, shopping, restaurants and if nothing else just walk, walk more and keep walking. The good thing is you don’t ever need to look up the map and you will never be lost, there is an underground almost anywhere you go.

Alright, this is not about London, this is about a character, the guy who was going to accompany me to the client. I met him in the hotel next morning and invited him to have breakfast before we got started. He accepted the invitation with a graceful "sure". I served myself a bowl of cereal and a cup of steamy hot coffee. And he tried almost everything. I could tell that he had a very light dinner last night. After a quite long time at the breakfast table, we were ready to go. I insisted that I pay for him (it was free for me with the hotel stay), which he again refused gracefully. We started walking, I naturally paused at the cashier's counter, but he kept walking at the same pace. Now I was totally confused, didn’t he mean that he will pay for himself? When he almost got to the hotel door, he finally looked back. His expression meant - why am I not walking with him? I rushed to him quickly and asked, do you want me to pay? With squinted eyes and in a thin voice, he said - noooooo, looked back and almost walked me out of the hotel holding my upper arm. Once out, he smiled deceptively and said – this is continental breakfast, every hotel has it for free. I couldn’t utter a word, nodded my head in disbelief and looked for a taxi towards my right.

We wrapped up an eventful day with meetings etc. My accompaniment suggested that we take the train back to the city. It sounded ok, so we walked to the nearby station and chit-chatted while waiting. We boarded the next one going in our direction. I asked him, how much it is from here to our destination. He told me not to worry about that. The person issuing the ticket walked towards us, looked at us. My comrade shook his head to him as if he already had the ticket and also mentioned that I am with him. Well, what does that mean? We are not going to pay for the ticket too? He confirmed it with the same smile he had in the morning. He assured me that it is easy to walk out of the station without getting caught. Being a visitor it really started concerning me, but somehow I just decided to go with the flow. We got down at our station and he asked me to walk with the crowd and be on the left side. I just traced his footsteps. There was a ticket collector asking for the ticket as you come out of the platform and he was standing on the right side. Of course, in the rush hour he could not check all the passengers and definitely not the ones on the left side:-). We walked passed him smoothly, looked at each other and laughed as if celebrating our mischief.

Last I heard, he joined a company which sells dental whitening product. He claims that one can make maximum money with minimum effort in that business.

Paper, Pen and Perfume

I don’t quite remember the occasion, when Dolly gifted me this pen. It is a pen with a built-in perfume applicator, a perfume pen. I wasn’t sure what to do with it. We don’t write letters anymore, we are the email and IM people - smileys, lol and ttyl. I can now only imagine what it was like to write to someone close.

It all starts with the paper. I would slip it between fingers, feel the texture, give it a rub, tickling the somatic sensation. I would also pick a suitable color or even a plain white with a thin cyan border. It has to be ruled, or it will be hard to align the sentences.

And the pen, have you ever used those carved out of thin bamboo wood? You have to dip it in the ink and write in 36 size font. It helps improve the handwriting. But I just loved those fountain pens. I had bought a pricey one for my 10th exam. It used to glide like a paper plane in thin air. I kept two extra nibs, just in case. But, now you can get all kind. The gel pen, the ball pen, the pilot pen, multicolor and even the one which will give that bright sparkling effect. But the paper will still probably be most pleased with the ink pen.

I never had a perfume pen though, could have definitely used on few occasions though:-) Spray a bit after you are done writing and what a treat for the olfaction. Dolly, I have either used up or dried up all the perfume in that pen, can I get another one? Also, could you pick something which is subtle and a little masculine?

About Dolly:
Dolly is a jindadil (spirited) person. Every single time I am at hers, she will ask for coffee, make at least 4 different cuisines and finally serve sundae to end the feast. I will end up having an equivalent of 1000 calorie. But, somehow I cannot stop myself; it all just so much feels like home.

Trigger and Response

Be it the indian or western, classical music is not everyone's cup of tea. But then there are pieces, which are just phenomenal. I stumbled upon a blog while doing my ritual weekend browsing and found this short but obsessively bold performance. Even more interesting is the way blogger explains the performance in layman's term to the curious mind, it all just made straight sense:

If you notice, there is a trigger melody and there is a response melody. The response goes from statements ..to upheavals .. to long winded rhetoric. It is short, yet very eloquent. It speaks of two lives in parallel. It speaks of two melodies embattled in an intense conversation. It is reverie. Look at the spatial symmetry created in this piece. Splendid. This is consummation of the melodic ideal. This is Shanmukhapriya in reverie. This is contemplation in Shanmukhapriya.

Listen to it in your leisure: Is it fixed - 1:30.

Could some carnatic fan comment, what is "Shanmukhapriya"?

So to have coffee with you

Like any other couple, we fight each other. And like any other man, my ego will put me in a spot, where it is hard to go back and apologize. Sometime it was so bad that we ended up not talking to each other for the whole day. But with time, we realized that it is better to put it off as soon as possible and I looked for creative ways to get my sanity back. Here is an incident that almost makes me think that it is alright if you fight once in a while:

Another night, we got into this again and went to bed with a clear line drawn in between us. The sun came back after taking a round and our anger had still not worn off. She prepared my lunch pack and kept it on the counter-top, where I could see and pick it up myself. I finished my breakfast after the morning routine and came looking for the lunch pack. Call it the spur of the moment, the Newton's apple dropped and I had the whole plan scripted out in front of me to end this war. I knew she is not even going to come to the door to say bye, so I deliberately didn't pick up the lunch pack and left quickly. I almost ran to my car and drove away, before she can figure out my mischief.

As expected, my phone rang before I could even settle down, open my work email inbox and start hitting delete monotonously. It was her:

me - what?
her - You left your lunch here (and btw you are such an idiot).
me - Oh really, I did'nt realize.
her - You did that cause you are mad at me?
me - No, why would I do that? I probably forgot (smiling).
her - I know you. Do you want me to come to your office?
me - (it was working, in a slow voice) Well if it is not too much trouble for you.
her - See you there.

She drove to my office. I came down and looked at her red eyes. She had a faint monalisa smile, as if she already knew that I wanted to get over this one. I asked her to park and come in for a coffee. She resisted, well she would never say yes to anything anyway when I ask first, so I insisted. She nodded a reluctant yes and we got two cold coffee. She was ready to go back and then all of a sudden I murmured, should I come back with you? She looked at me puzzled and asked - why did you call me here then? So to have coffee with you, I said (and looked in other direction hiding my cunningness). By now, she knew what I was up to and asked - this is only 11:00, you don't have much work? I said, I can work from home. But what about your car, she asked with innocence. I almost laughed and said you can drive your car and I will mine and we will meet back home. She smiled big this time caught in the moment of her own silliness.

I do - More or Less

A wisdom was passed to me few months back that it takes about 7 years to settle down, develop a relationship and build the so called trust between an indian couple. Well, how many of you think thats true? We will celebrate our 6th anniversary this year and things are definetly on track:-) I would just add that it is a kind of an Exponential_function, if you put time on X and the above said qualities on Y.

But, what is the pre-marital story? More often, is an indian wedding end result of a love story? No way! Many of my friends (non-indians) get so amused to know that we can hold an stranger's hand and commit to a life-long journey (literally) without getting to know each other well. I happen to have an email in my archive describing exactly how it happened for me and it still lits my face like the new year ball in big apple. Here is a copy with minor edits:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sushant Kumar"
To: "Pankaj Saini"
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 2:16 PM
Subject: RE: ...

saini,
....
everything just happend in a span of a week..i didnt know i will take such an important decision of my life so quickly..well, my parents had seen this girl for me..and they said she is good for me..i tried usual tactics and told them i was not prepared for it right now..but they insisted that i shud talk to her atleast once..so i did..first one was a pretty short, yet sweet one..she was kind of nervous and i was even more nervous than her..but, generally she sounded ok..so, i decided to call her up again..this time we were more comfortable with each other and talked for almost an hour..she sounded even cooler..no frills..but, quite understanding and emotional(as she puts it:-))..man, i cudnt stop myself to ask her if she wud like to make it together for the longest journey of the life..and answer i got was a sweet yes..so, i am done..my half life got over..another half just started..we now talk each sunday..things are looking good..i dont think she is lucky to get me, but its vice vera:-)

so, how does that sound?? boring way to start this half of the life..is it?? it also happens to be the good old way..isnt it?..
....
chal..
Sushant

More or less, thats the way it ends up with an "I do". So, we continue to hold hands and even have backup plan for our old age, a boy, who would hold our hands and help us walk;-) Now that's not true at all, not here, not anywhere.

PS: why did I used to have double dots at the end of each line then? Dont quite remember. And why did we only talk on sundays, cause it was freaking costly to talk for 5 hours! Although, as usual my smarter half did devise a plan later on to do it more frequently:-). Tune in later for thoughts on early days of married life.

How do you look like a dad?

"You dont even look like a daddy", one of my friend had this casual remarks for me while chatting over lunch. So, how does a dad or more specifically a new dad look like? Tired red eyes from sleepless nights? Drive a van? More responsible (how do you bring that in your looks though)?

The birth process itself was a rocky, up and down kind of adventure (more on that later). It has been almost six months now and I am definetly sunk into this reality that I am a dad. I cannt wait to lift and hug my bundle of joy as soon as I get home. In fact, my wife always has to remind me that I have to wash my hands before I even get close to him:-). And boy does he return the favor. As soon as he figures out that I am around, a twinkle in his eyes and a welcoming smile with his lips stretched all the way out. Then a sudden jolt of the body, mouth open as big as he could with sweet giggles in between. He will start cycling his legs like he is close to winning the race of his life. He knows, it is dadda kind of play time.

My better half takes care of not waking me up at nights, which may explain the not so sleepless eyes. I do offer her a good sleep over the weekends though:-) She would consider any car, but a van and that may explain why she is still driving a CRV and I even started riding motorcycle (which I consider more disciplined and knowing things better around you). The responsible part is subjective in my opinion, let me know if you can describe that look for me.

Riding the wheels

I dont quite remember, how it got into my mind. May be a surge in motorcyles parked in the office parking lot or a concern that my old car will die pretty soon or probably one of those things that I got to do. Oh well, I did start riding, even after slight social resistance and bunch of you gotta be careful advice. The learning itself was an adventure and needs a page devoted to it.

You know what, not everybody can ride. I mean you will see necks turning from a BMW, that guy can afford five of these, but it is not something that you buy, gas and go. And dont even think about it, if you are a gotta-talk-on-cellphone-while-i-drive kind of a guy or gal. Perfect example of do one thing at a time.

My younger brother also drives a motorcycle back in india. It is different there. It is slow, crowded, a primary vehicle for most of the middle class with 4 family members. He sent me a teaser - trying to be young when you are getting older big brother. Well, I am not that old btw:-), friends tell me that I dont even look like a dad (more on that later). My answer to him was - you are a kid buddy. Life starts when you get close to thirty and no kidding I do believe it does.

So, what I have liked about the bike? Yes it is like riding the wheels. The sound, the vibration, thighs stuck to the gas tank, leaning (oh yeah!), shifting, gushing wind and not to mention trying to accelerate fast when my 250cc powerhouse says, thats it buddy, get a bigger one if you want to do more. Even, filling the tank is not like you swipe the card, put the nozzle in and kill 5 mins looking at your fellow bus (vans) "not in service" mode drivers until it clicks automagically. You got to hold the nozzle with one hand at a proper distance, pull up the skirt:-) with the other hand and look into the tank until the gas just gets below the neck. And, you release it right then, it is all about timing.



So, what next? I am not taking freeways yet. Not even sure, if I am interested in doing that. I think I rather like city curves and highways. Take those backroads someday, when I have developed enough confidence and got a better tire.

And? Fly a plane some day. To tell you the truth, I dont know how this one got to my mind too.