I went back to Agra today morning... did not have to drive though... all I did was open Picasa on my computer and re-visit and re-live the moments from last saturday...
I am assuming you would like to have a look too...
yes?
ok cewl... here you go with the link... check out the fotos :)
http://flickr.com/photos/prashantbhardwaj_ut/sets/72157594291177910/
23/09/06
22/09/06
sTiLL iN LoVe...
A li'il more then two years ago, I moved out of Mantas to join IBM, and realized that I had to now buy a new car!!!
In Haridwar... the first drive with Aro and Martina...
Read a lot about the cars which fit my budget and I liked... Did not test drive any one though as most of the cars I already knew about... then one Saturday, I asked a dealer of FIAT to send a Palio D to my place for a test drive... I liked the space and the car, but it felt sluggish and I was not too keen on buying it...
Parked on the Mall Road- nainital...
Congrats on the 20000 km mark :)
The same evening, I was going to check out the Indica and a wrong turn brought me in front of the FIAT Showroom in NOIDA... I was like what the heck, let’s go inside and check out the rest of the FIAT cars too... I did and when I entered the showroom, I saw a bright red car on the left side smiling at me... it immediately caught my attention, and I asked the salesperson for the keys... sat inside the car and loved the entire feel of it... it was RICH !!! It did not take me more then a few minutes to decide that this was the car I was going to buy...
between Chamba and Dhanaulti... the first rear view mirror shot I took...
But the person I am, I usually give my investments and purchase a second thought... which meant that I had to go back home and study more !!! I did... and fortunately the AutoCar issue of that month had the top 100 cars in India listed and rated on various parameters like User Satisfaction, Build Quality, Cost of Ownership, After Sales Service etc etc etc... I was more then happy to read that Fiat Palio was next to the then Honda City in all the parameters and beat the shit out of the other available hatchbacks in all the parameters except the After Sales Service... and that was something that most of the people used to complain about as well...
The first ever fotograph of the car... Neha took this snap... love you Neha for this...
My logic there was, that if the car is built well, it is in any case not going to need a lot of visits to the service station... just the regular services would do and because the workshop was kinda close by, I would be fine with the once in a while visits...
on the DND...
just out of Dehradoon, on my way to Delhi... with Aro...
So basically, I was in love with the looks, the style, the feel and aura of the car... and the magazine helped me build my confidence in the technicalities as well :)
I asked Papa to check out the car on Sunday, and we both went around 1800 hours to check the car out... this is when I took a test drive in a while Palio ELX... Dad liked the car... and was happy with the color choice I had made... I wanted to search around for better discounts... Papa said that if I was really keen on buying the car, why the hell I wanted to waste anymore time... and we talked to the dealer about the down-payment and all... I got a good discount and a better rate of interest as compared to the market rate of that time... and made the down-payment the same evening !!! The car was bought.. And it was to be delivered on the 22nd'Sept :)
Two years ago, on the 22nd day of september, I went to the FIAT showroom in NOIDA to take the delivery of my car... and no words can ever describe, how much I loved that feeling... my first car with all the money that I had managed to save in a few years of working...
the passions together... cam and the car :) purrfect combo :)
and today... about 2 years and 29500 kms later, I am still in love with my car... the Passion has not faded away, the care is still there... my car in these two years has seen me grow as a person, as a professional, as a driver, as a caretaker...
lightie light shining bright...
somewhere in uttaranchal... drove for atleast 12 kms everyday without even getting introduced to fatigue...
She has been with me whenever I needed her... she has been with me whenever I needed a break and wanted to get away from everything... all I needed to do was roll up the windows and nothing could be heard inside that li'il world of mine... Baby I love you !!!
The latest trip to Agra... in front of Sikandra...
Thanks for being there!!!
In Almora... on my way to Kausani...
on my way to Dhanaulti...
in my driveway....
In Haridwar... the first drive with Aro and Martina...Read a lot about the cars which fit my budget and I liked... Did not test drive any one though as most of the cars I already knew about... then one Saturday, I asked a dealer of FIAT to send a Palio D to my place for a test drive... I liked the space and the car, but it felt sluggish and I was not too keen on buying it...
Parked on the Mall Road- nainital...
Congrats on the 20000 km mark :)The same evening, I was going to check out the Indica and a wrong turn brought me in front of the FIAT Showroom in NOIDA... I was like what the heck, let’s go inside and check out the rest of the FIAT cars too... I did and when I entered the showroom, I saw a bright red car on the left side smiling at me... it immediately caught my attention, and I asked the salesperson for the keys... sat inside the car and loved the entire feel of it... it was RICH !!! It did not take me more then a few minutes to decide that this was the car I was going to buy...
between Chamba and Dhanaulti... the first rear view mirror shot I took...But the person I am, I usually give my investments and purchase a second thought... which meant that I had to go back home and study more !!! I did... and fortunately the AutoCar issue of that month had the top 100 cars in India listed and rated on various parameters like User Satisfaction, Build Quality, Cost of Ownership, After Sales Service etc etc etc... I was more then happy to read that Fiat Palio was next to the then Honda City in all the parameters and beat the shit out of the other available hatchbacks in all the parameters except the After Sales Service... and that was something that most of the people used to complain about as well...
The first ever fotograph of the car... Neha took this snap... love you Neha for this...My logic there was, that if the car is built well, it is in any case not going to need a lot of visits to the service station... just the regular services would do and because the workshop was kinda close by, I would be fine with the once in a while visits...
on the DND...
just out of Dehradoon, on my way to Delhi... with Aro...So basically, I was in love with the looks, the style, the feel and aura of the car... and the magazine helped me build my confidence in the technicalities as well :)
I asked Papa to check out the car on Sunday, and we both went around 1800 hours to check the car out... this is when I took a test drive in a while Palio ELX... Dad liked the car... and was happy with the color choice I had made... I wanted to search around for better discounts... Papa said that if I was really keen on buying the car, why the hell I wanted to waste anymore time... and we talked to the dealer about the down-payment and all... I got a good discount and a better rate of interest as compared to the market rate of that time... and made the down-payment the same evening !!! The car was bought.. And it was to be delivered on the 22nd'Sept :)
Two years ago, on the 22nd day of september, I went to the FIAT showroom in NOIDA to take the delivery of my car... and no words can ever describe, how much I loved that feeling... my first car with all the money that I had managed to save in a few years of working...
the passions together... cam and the car :) purrfect combo :)and today... about 2 years and 29500 kms later, I am still in love with my car... the Passion has not faded away, the care is still there... my car in these two years has seen me grow as a person, as a professional, as a driver, as a caretaker...
lightie light shining bright...
somewhere in uttaranchal... drove for atleast 12 kms everyday without even getting introduced to fatigue...She has been with me whenever I needed her... she has been with me whenever I needed a break and wanted to get away from everything... all I needed to do was roll up the windows and nothing could be heard inside that li'il world of mine... Baby I love you !!!
The latest trip to Agra... in front of Sikandra...Thanks for being there!!!
In Almora... on my way to Kausani...
on my way to Dhanaulti...
in my driveway....19/09/06
THiNkiNg...AgRa...TaLk...
Thinking has not stopped in the last few days either... so there is so much that I have thought that it’s virtually impossible to write everything down... only if there was a gadget that I could connect to my brain and it could put everything on a text file in a CD or something!!!!
Anyway... there was a welcome break to this thinking stuff with a drive to Agra last Friday...
Anyway... there was a welcome break to this thinking stuff with a drive to Agra last Friday...
:)Agra has always been once of my favorite places for a lot of reasons... to name a few The TAJ MAHAL (I love that place)... Agra Fort, RadhaSwami Temple in Dayalbagh, Fatehpur Sikri etc etc... Add Sikandra to the list post this trip :)
The TAJ... love it...
The Taj Again... Love it Again :)The 6 trips before this weekend saw me visiting the Taj and then any two of the rest of the list... and end the trip with some Lassi in Vrindavan... this time... Vrindavan did not happen, however the new things were the Lunch at Reliance A1 Plaza outside Mathura on the road towards Delhi and the visit to Sikandra....
Sikandra Fort...
The Rear View Mirror :) these shots started from my first drive... and have been around in every drive since then :)Do I even need to say that I love my car more after every drive... she rocks at 110 kmph... there might be issues with the initial pickup with the way I drive coz I am not too hard on the accelerator, but once its over 2500 rpm, it can beat the shit out of most of the cars on the road today :) love you baby!!!
Infact another couple of days, Radha would be celebrating her second birthday as well... 22nd September to be precise :)
Some other stuff worth writing about:
~ Meeting Abhishek on Sunday... it was after quite sometime that we talked... and the first time after school that I could find out what was he doing all these years and how did he end up in London... it was wonderful conversation... and was also followed by the usual conversations which you can have with anyone who has lived in a country other then India for a while... he was not too critical of the situation here, however there was an obvious dissatisfaction in his voice about how things are here in India...
I personally feel that in India, we try to copy only the end result of most of the things that happen in the firangland without really bothering to know the end to end process... and that means that we end up messing a lot of things up !!!
~ Talked to Rohit about something he does not like to talk about... Generation Gap... I think when I was in college, the means of communication were so limited that most of the information usually got transferred only through the word of mouth as compared to things like cell phones, blogs, internet, emails etc etc today... and that has really helped everyone in ensuring that they learn whatever they want to and communicate whenever they can... resulting in a lot of kids knowing a lot more then what I used to know when I was there age, resulting in awareness about a lot of career options and the accessibility to much more information then I ever had....
~ And then, I also had to explain myself to a dear friend of mine... why I do what I do... and why was I not coming up to her expectations of communication... thats another story, but that left me kinda irritated with myself... I know I am not doing anything bad, but just that its not good enough either... so the question explanation session... phew!!! I hate being in such a position...
Oh... and I have 4 different varieties of Petha with me at home... Angoori Petha, Angoori Kesar Petha, Giri Petha, and the sada Petha... with some DalMoth as well from Agra... NO NO... No one is invited... I am just trying to make you jealous: D
15/09/06
RiGhTnEss = f (aTTrAcTiOn)
She: Do you think there is one right person for everybody?
He: I don't know... but what I know is often we confuse attraction for rightness!!!
When I was looking at this scene from "The Runaway Bride" I was incidentally thinking of something on similar lines... is staying together for life of someone being the right person for you a function of your initial liking or attraction?
I would partially agree to this, coz the first impression is something that might or might not change with time... but then you get to know so much about the person with time that you might want to revisit your thoughts about staying with them.... I am not saying that one should first give away false dreams and hopes and then take them away...
But I think one should be careful enough to not lead to a bitter situation when you think the other person is worth being with...
Be careful when you deal with people who you care for... do not do things that might hurt them!!!
______a d d e d l a t e r______
oh... and incidently, exactly two years ago, I had written my first post on this page :) i am happy...
Happy Birthday
He: I don't know... but what I know is often we confuse attraction for rightness!!!
When I was looking at this scene from "The Runaway Bride" I was incidentally thinking of something on similar lines... is staying together for life of someone being the right person for you a function of your initial liking or attraction?
I would partially agree to this, coz the first impression is something that might or might not change with time... but then you get to know so much about the person with time that you might want to revisit your thoughts about staying with them.... I am not saying that one should first give away false dreams and hopes and then take them away...
But I think one should be careful enough to not lead to a bitter situation when you think the other person is worth being with...
Be careful when you deal with people who you care for... do not do things that might hurt them!!!
______a d d e d l a t e r______
oh... and incidently, exactly two years ago, I had written my first post on this page :) i am happy...
Happy Birthday
~|| Life as a (W)hole ||~
12/09/06
AAAAchooooo
Ever wondered how you going to react if you are about to smooch your boyfriend/girlfriend and they sneeze hard?
no no... it did not happen to me, but keeping in mind I am thinking too much these days, this was just one of the thoughts that come up !!!
no no... it did not happen to me, but keeping in mind I am thinking too much these days, this was just one of the thoughts that come up !!!
11/09/06
LoAdS of ThOuGhTs...
Life been very very interesting the last one month...
right from going to Leh exactly a month ago to not believing my eyes when I saw the mountains and sky to coming back and not feeling like working for a week to coming back to the work mode slowly, here is what all has happened...
~ I had heating arguments with some of my closest friends for nothing... they wanted something from me and I did not give it... they did something that I was not sure if they should....
~ I got zapped with the photographs which some of the people sent for my mom dad to see... the Girls are sitting in a studio making those nice looking poses, and there is so much of post processing done on the pics that I would not even think of meeting anyone of them even if i wanted to...
~ I always say that live in the present and leave the rest to the rest, and I myself struggled with the thought in the last one week. I was not sure if what I was doing in the present was going to make the future bad or good or sweet or bitter... I know I will have to take a few very tough decisions sooner then later...
~ I have talked to some friends who have been struggling with a few things in their lives... and I believe that they should stand up for themselves and not really look around for support in such a situation... the more you become independent, the stronger you become...
~ I have been talking to some new people from Orkut and its very very nice... after a while there has been an inflow of new people in my world which is a fresh feeling...
~ I called up Sayan, and missed talking to her all the more afterwards :(... but I am still very very happy that she is rocking there...
~ I am trying to create more work at office for myself... I hate it when things become more of a routine...
There is lot of more happening in this brain of mine while I am writing all of this down... it’s been a while that I have thought this much!!!
Phew!!!
It’s really tiring at times!!!
right from going to Leh exactly a month ago to not believing my eyes when I saw the mountains and sky to coming back and not feeling like working for a week to coming back to the work mode slowly, here is what all has happened...
~ I had heating arguments with some of my closest friends for nothing... they wanted something from me and I did not give it... they did something that I was not sure if they should....
~ I got zapped with the photographs which some of the people sent for my mom dad to see... the Girls are sitting in a studio making those nice looking poses, and there is so much of post processing done on the pics that I would not even think of meeting anyone of them even if i wanted to...
~ I always say that live in the present and leave the rest to the rest, and I myself struggled with the thought in the last one week. I was not sure if what I was doing in the present was going to make the future bad or good or sweet or bitter... I know I will have to take a few very tough decisions sooner then later...
~ I have talked to some friends who have been struggling with a few things in their lives... and I believe that they should stand up for themselves and not really look around for support in such a situation... the more you become independent, the stronger you become...
~ I have been talking to some new people from Orkut and its very very nice... after a while there has been an inflow of new people in my world which is a fresh feeling...
~ I called up Sayan, and missed talking to her all the more afterwards :(... but I am still very very happy that she is rocking there...
~ I am trying to create more work at office for myself... I hate it when things become more of a routine...
There is lot of more happening in this brain of mine while I am writing all of this down... it’s been a while that I have thought this much!!!
Phew!!!
It’s really tiring at times!!!
01/09/06
ObSeRvATiOnsss.... bLiNk bLiNk...
Some of the car manufactures have done something that I am not really in sync with...
They have placed the side indicators on the front towards the face grills instead of the extreme right or left... now this thought would actually leave a few people wondering as to how it affects me or anyone else!!!
Here is why... visualize and see if you can make any sense out of it...
When you drive on the highways in the night or in rain or foggy conditions you usually switch the indicators on... and the purpose is two fold
1) The vehicles come from the front and following you can notice your vehicle.
2) The vehicles coming from the opposite direction can identify the extreme right and left of your vehicle...
Now with the indicators moving towards the centre, it is going to be hard for someone coming from the opposite side to calculate the width of your car and might lead to... well you know what!!!
Also on a lot highways, the indicators are used to highlight the space you are taking up on the road to the vehicles coming from the opposite side... it is easier to see something blinking when you have the blinding headlights on all around... I am not sure if the new indicators are going to help!!!
Oh... and I pity those people who first buy expensive cars... which have the rear defoggers... and then put up thick plastic tinted film on them.... total screw up of the rear glass and a total waste of the defogger... i use my defogger during rains, fog etc... And trust me its one of the best things that can happen to your car and your visibility...
Tell people you know to know their vehicles and use the features for their benefit, they have a better purpose then increase the ex-showroom price of a vehicle....
Oh... and a guy who was making a world record for honking the horn overtook me near the Maharani Bagh-stretch... I think he must have broken all the records by now...
They have placed the side indicators on the front towards the face grills instead of the extreme right or left... now this thought would actually leave a few people wondering as to how it affects me or anyone else!!!
Here is why... visualize and see if you can make any sense out of it...
When you drive on the highways in the night or in rain or foggy conditions you usually switch the indicators on... and the purpose is two fold
1) The vehicles come from the front and following you can notice your vehicle.
2) The vehicles coming from the opposite direction can identify the extreme right and left of your vehicle...
Now with the indicators moving towards the centre, it is going to be hard for someone coming from the opposite side to calculate the width of your car and might lead to... well you know what!!!
Also on a lot highways, the indicators are used to highlight the space you are taking up on the road to the vehicles coming from the opposite side... it is easier to see something blinking when you have the blinding headlights on all around... I am not sure if the new indicators are going to help!!!
Oh... and I pity those people who first buy expensive cars... which have the rear defoggers... and then put up thick plastic tinted film on them.... total screw up of the rear glass and a total waste of the defogger... i use my defogger during rains, fog etc... And trust me its one of the best things that can happen to your car and your visibility...
Tell people you know to know their vehicles and use the features for their benefit, they have a better purpose then increase the ex-showroom price of a vehicle....
Oh... and a guy who was making a world record for honking the horn overtook me near the Maharani Bagh-stretch... I think he must have broken all the records by now...
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