Royal Enfield Thunderbird 4

Finally got a pic of my bike that I can put up....

Drool, drool....

SETC hell!!

The SETC stands for State Express Transport Corporation. This is the long distance transport bus facility run by the Tamilnadu government. It has to be one of the worst!! Me and Anwin started off from Bangalore at around 6 PM. We reached here at home at 11 in the morning. That is 17 hours of travel. Even for the low standards of the SETC, we should have been at home at 9!! And KPN does the whole journey in 12 hours! This is so frigging pathetic. And the dust inside the bus. I came out of the bus and dusted myself off. My bag was worse. And I wouldn't even want to start off on the quality of the seating and the leg-room. Thank god that the seat in front of me didn't work. That saved my legs.

Anyways, I am finally at home. And bored. Miss my bike.

69

I am currently in the 69 position in the IndianBloggers page. You make the conclusions.....

An ode....

Just came across this when reading a Calvin and Hobbes strip....

"I am related to people I dont relate to!"

Royal Enfield Thunderbird - 3

For those of you out there who have ridden an Enfield, Bullet or otherwise must know the great tone of a really well tuned Enfield engine. A really well tuned and well-run Enfield really runs along so smoothly that the engine note sounds like a note from heaven. Not that I believe in the idea, but if there was a heaven and angels playing golden harps, they must be making music that sounds like an Enfield engine. No, I did not get a whiff of some smoke somewhere!.

After 3 days of running the bike for small distances, the engine on my Thunderbird is starting to settle down. It is running smoothly and the engine note is taking on a really sweet note. Karthik and Anwin have both noticed it and commented on that. Today morning when coming to office, it was so smooth that I never felt like riding a bike. It felt more like travelling on a magic carpet. Wonder how Karthik felt.

Man, I love the bike...I am sure that this is nothing that a female will ever understand - a mans love for a big hunk of gleaming metal.

Kill

I am gonna kill someone!!! I swear!!

Those who know me at work know that I stay cool for a long time, and finally lose my cool - totally. And absolutely!! This time has come.....but good that I have found a way to channel this anger....taking it out on my blog.

Let the reason for this anger stay anonymous.....you don't want to know...

Royal Enfield Thunderbird - 2

Finally got the bike......am too tired to give more details....also too much work....

So will end here with the news that I have finally got my Thunderbird and had a great weekend ( a long one at that ) celebrating Anands wedding....

My 100th Post

Well, this is my 100th post. I think thats pretty decent a number considering the fact that I have been blogging for just under a year now. Glad that I could blog this long. It all started with Samuel starting me off blogging. I started and Anwin joined in soon afterwards or was it before. Sanjeeb and Karthik from office joined in next. Though I would not say that they have been that regular. Then OracleIncognito joined in and I wish she would write more anyway. Anger is a good thing!!

But here I am on my 100th post and writers block assails me. So I stop with the following. Came across this list on Wikipedia. Its the list compiled by a panel of experts including musicians, critics, producers, managers and others from the music industry considered to be the one hundred best hard rock acts. Its a top 100 list. 100th post, list of 100. Got it?

Glad that one of my favorite bands tops the list. And many more of my favourite bands are in there....

1. Led Zeppelin
2. Black Sabbath
3. Jimi Hendrix
4. AC/DC
5. Metallica
6. Nirvana
7. Van Halen
8. The Who
9. Guns N' Roses
10. KISS
11. Aerosmith
12. Sex Pistols
13. Queen
14. Soundgarden
15. Pink Floyd
16. Cream
17. The Ramones
18. Ozzy Osbourne
19. The Clash
20. Alice Cooper
21. Pearl Jam
22. Deep Purple
23. Judas Priest
24. Iron Maiden
25. Cheap Trick
26. Motörhead
27. Iggy Pop
28. Rush
29. Mötley Crüe
30. Red Hot Chili Peppers
31. Def Leppard
32. The Doors
33. Rage Against the Machine
34. Alice in Chains
35. Jane's Addiction
36. Frank Zappa
37. The Yardbirds
38. MC5
39. Crazy Horse
40. Stone Temple Pilots
41. Ted Nugent
42. The Kinks
43. Nine Inch Nails
44. ZZ Top
45. Pantera
46. Scorpions
47. Rollins Band
48. Janis Joplin
49. The Smashing Pumpkins
50. Slayer
51. Thin Lizzy
52. Faith No More
53. Ko?n
54. Sonic Youth
55. Blue Öyster Cult
56. White Zombie
57. Heart
58. Anthrax
59. Bad Company
60. The New York Dolls
61. Jethro Tull
62. Ministry
63. Boston
64. Steppenwolf
65. The Cult
66. Joan Jett
67. The Rolling Stones
68. Hüsker Dü
69. Megadeth
70. Living Colour
71. Lynyrd Skynyrd
72. Foo Fighters
73. Twisted Sister
74. Pat Benatar
75. Spinal Tap
76. Bon Jovi
77. Hole
78. Marilyn Manson
79. Ratt
80. Green Day
81. The Pixies
82. Queensrÿche
83. King's X
84. UFO
85. Whitesnake
86. Foreigner
87. King Crimson
88. Tool
89. Lita Ford
90. Rainbow
91. The Misfits
92. The Black Crowes
93. Lenny Kravitz
94. Yes
95. Fugazi
96. Meat Loaf
97. Primus
98. Mountain
99. Bad Brains
100. Quiet Riot

So cool...tomorrow is 101!!

Royal Enfield Thunderbird

Finally, after a lotta hassle, I have paid the FULL amount for my bike. I had opted to buy the Thunderbird after a lot of thought. I had first thought of buying the Honda Unicorn, the latest offering from Honda. But somehow, I have lost interest in the bike. Then, the Bajaj Pulsar seemed interesting. But then, every guy in the street has the Pulsar.

Next choice. So I finally settled for the Thunderbird. Not having ridden a Bullet ever before did not stand in my way. Neither did the fact that I am not that well-built to handle a bullet. So I thought, what the hell, lets just give it a shot and atleast take a test drive.

So I located some dealers online and gave them all a call. Well, there are only 3 dealers in Bangalore and so that made the job easy. Two were scratched off because one was closed for renovation and the other did not have the right phone numbers online. A little help and advise from my friend, Naveen AC put me on the right track. I decided to go along one day and check out the bike. Anwin came along with me. Man, were we thunderstruck by the Thunderbird. I know that sounds so corny, but it is the truth. I fell in love with the bike at once. What a beast!! Two shades - Red and Black. Though the red was pretty cool, the black was the killer. And I was told its the 50th anniversary edition of the Thunderbird. Couldn't take the test drive on the same day, but was content with having a look.

Went in after that with Karthik to check out the bike and have a test drive. They did roll out an older machine for me to drive, but it still was a hot one. Sitting on the Tunderbird sure makes you feel like an emperor - of the road that is!!. Wished that Karthik could have also had a drive but he had to get to work. So while he left, I discussed the loan options etc with the dealer.

More waiting. "Sourced some money from some known sources" - you guys know from where. Thank god for my folks who were willing to part with that much money. Thanks Mom and Dad. Had a little trouble with my bank who were unwilling to send me a check book to the right address. So had to source a little more money from above mentioned sources. Thanks again!!!!

More trouble with the bank. Arun and Karthik finally stepped in to help me out again. Thanks you guys!! So went on saturday, paid more than half the money to the dealer. Celebrated this happy occassion with a beer.

So finally, went today with Karthik to the dealer and pay him the remainder. As my days are good, my bad luck follows. Dealer was closed for lunch. Somehow managed to convince them to open the door and let me in. Finally paid off the money. Here I am in office now, dreaming of the bike. Wish the days would pass by quickly so I can be united with my love. Hell, that sounds so like a friggin love story.

But I still am looking for the day for it to arrive..