Revival series

To long off the blog, time for series of new updates. i have decided to take this blog towards posting not just my travel entries, but few thoughts on other stuff too

Journey to chennai for german visa + Google maps + Airtel – ‘i dont know tamil’ = Turned out to be a better experience

When i told my friends i would be visiting chennai for the visa interview.  i was poured with lots of concerns and information, i was listening keenly considering it was my first time.  I was soo overwhelmed with information, it was like travelling abroad.  On a sunday night i took a bus to chennai.  As i arrived on the next day at 6:00 am in “chennai central”, person at the station was kind enough to converse with me in english conveying his best “You won’t get any hotlel’s left side of the station.” . I had the interview to attend @ 9.00 am stared, as soon as i came out started walking towards right of the station. Came across a huge white colonial building with a huge sign board reading “Corporation of chennai (COC)”.  Beyond the COC the road is known as “Poonamallee Road”, quickly checked into a hotel in that street.

I was ready for the interview by 7.00 am, i just suffered from the “travellers information block” i had to reach “Boat Club Road” by 8.00 am; where the hell is this road now?  Just remebered about Google Maps installed in cell phone.  Opened the maps, it centered automatically in the location i was checked in. i Guess Google Maps uses the Coordinates of the tower my cell is connected with.  searched for German Consulate, clicked on “Get Directions” and mode of transport was “Public Transport”. I was amazed the Chennai’s Local Train timings was displayed in the map.

Chennai Central to German Consulate

I had a train @ 7:20 am from “Chennai Park Town”, asked for directoins to station from  reciptionist.  Once i reached the station took ticket for “Velachery” (8 Rs only, cool).  Train reached 7:21am  sharp in the platform, after boarding the train pulled out the cell and looked at the screen (all along i had maps running, Airtle GPRS was feeding in the data), i could see the “My Location” getting updated as the train rolled along the track.  I could reach the Consulate in time i was there by 7:50am.

I finished my interview, consulate guys asked my to submit a revised Visa fee DD from the VFS guys since the exchange rate between Euros & INR had changed that day.Ccame out of Consulate ITS RAINING,  “wow am looking for more adventures, come on throw them at me” kept running in my mind. this time i did not hesitate to search for Driving directions to “VFS Global, chennai” . Voila !! i was updated with a map.

German Consulate to VFS Global

Took an autorickshaw, managed to convey him the location i need to go.
me:” Cenotaph Road, Gowtami centre Pollam !!”
AutoRickshawdriver:”40 Rs”.
I just hoped he got the place right, since the price was negotiated i didn’t bother how he took me there. once we reached cenotaph road, he asked a passerby or two for “Gowthami Centre”. One of them gave him directions in tamil, it didn’t make any sense to me. Autorickshaw guy started to drive, at the moment i saw “VFS Global board” i told him “nila nila”, paid him and left into the building.  got the DD exchanged and had to go back to consulate.Luckily, The same rickshaw was standing outside waiting for a passenger. he took me back to consulte.

After submiting the DD i had to travel back to “Chennai Central”, yes right back to the hotel. Google to the rescue again:

Consulate to Central

reched Central by local train.  I had a train back to bangalore at 9:30pm, Spent time at the hotel and roamed around the location a bit.

Google Maps + Airtel GPRS in roaming, they just churned out the data i just needed.

Drive to Pondicherry

The 24th, 25th and 26th was long weekend, was wondering where to spend the long weekend. one of my colleuge suggested why not drive to pondicherry(a.k.a puducherry). Pondicherry is a former french colony.
It was decided we will be heading to pondicherry on 24th and back to bangalore on 25th. 26th we will get all day rest before heading to office.

the route we planned was Bangalore –> Hosur –> Thirnalvelli –> Pondicherry. total drive was oneway was 290 Km.

on 24th morning five of us left in esteem on hosur road early 7:30 am. we were not expecting any traffic on the road so early. the drive till a village chandapura was amazing without any hick ups. as we reached towards karnataka border, attibelle traffic started to pile up. traffic was due early entry of trucks into the city, and due to the construction of flyovers the roads were bad: causing pile up. after dealing with heavy traffic we drove around 80 Km from Bangalore on the splendid highway. we saw A2B, had breakfast there. relished pongals and idli’s each one us had a three course breakfast.

Route Map

View Larger Map

Hosur Highway

we reached pondicherry around 2:00 pm, first thing we looked for was for a hotel. Damn, every hotel in the city was booked. Luck was with us, we found a hotel in anna salai road. They had last two rooms with them.we booked both of them.

on the evening we left towards the sea shore. spent time there gazing at the pristine blue waters of bay of bengal. had some road side chats. the evening was amazing. we left that place around dinner time.

Pristine blue waters of bay of bengal

Mahatma gandhi statue on the east cost

Then French Martyrs

For dinner we decided to have French cuisine. we asked people around for a good French restaurant, someone suggested ‘Rendezvous’. when we reached there, man it was already packed and none of the tables were free. There goes our desire to have a French dinner ‘kaboom’. went back to the hotel and ordered food and booze from their menu.

Shri Aurobindo ashram

all of us woke up in the morning and packed our bags to leave for Bangalore. before leaving we took a visit to shri aurbindo ashram. still all five of us had a desire to have French breakfast some where at the back of the mind, again we gave a try at the ‘Rendezvous’ for a French breakfast. yesss we got the tables. ordered some French breakfast with some wine to accompany.

Hotel Rendezvous:rooftop hotel

Hotel Rendezvous:Guest Book

Hotel Rendezvous:Bar N Lounge

Hotel Rendezvous:Party Hall

Breakfast was over and next stop was Bangalore. we drove back to Bangalore by 3.00pm.

it was a refreshing 2 day break from the routine.

What make TVS Apache sizzle ..(IDI and IE surge…)

IDI –Inductive Discharge Ignition:

Inductors and Capacitors are the important components in modern ignition systems. Most manufacturers choose digital CDI – Capacitor Discharge Ignition system but TVS has opted for IDI – Induction Discharge Ignition system. Earlier manufactures moved to CDI from IDI because of the following problem with IDI. IDI are driven off points which trigger a coil that sends a charge to the spark plug. However, they require exact points and plug gap settings. This drawback made many manufacturers to move to CDI. Capacitors in CDI recharge quickly and hence deliver multiple spark at low rpm or strong till 10000 rpm. The CDI has its own drawback i.e. CDI sparks are extremely short in duration and the amount of energy that can be delivered is also limited unlike the IDI which can deliver longer spark. TVS has opted refined IDI for its apache – employs a variation, micro controller circuit triggers the coil depending on the crank position without needing points. In the process, it generates a 1200 micro seconds (200 -250 micro seconds in other bikes) long spark with 60 milli Joules of energy as seen on some Royal Enfield bikes. Thus with the refined IDI TVS claims apache engine sparks twice as fat and last six times longer than its counterparts. This ensures better combustion (by burning lean mixtures) which means quick response from your apache when you accelerate your apache.

 

IE surge – Intake Exhaust Resonator:

The second most important technology which powers the Apache is IE surge – the decals (letterings) are nicely placed on the side panels of the Apache. IE surge is nothing but Intake and Exhaust resonator for strong 3500 – 5500 rpm thrust and by this you can reap the benefits of running a large diameter intake and exhaust headers without losing the associated part – throttle response issues. Intake resonator helps to improve the response of the bike. Connected to the air box, the resonator is basically a box which stores air, and then rushes the air to the combustion chamber when the throttle is suddenly opened cutting the ignition lag significantly. Exhaust resonator works like the exhaus-TEC (Torque Expansion Chamber) on Bajaj bikes. Exhaust resonance chamber is fitted on the tuned exhaust to enhance power delivery in the lower reaches of the power band. This technology is to use the exhaust energy thereby ensuring that sufficient levels of torque is available at low engine rpm levels and is optimized to provide torque distribution in the mid and higher range rpm levels.

Next time when you push your apache I believe you can understand what it has!