The DRIVOBLOG Lady

16 07 2010

This isn’t just another Magazine Feature of the ‘COSMOPOLITAN’ kind nor a Celebrity Endorsement, but about a ‘Voguish’ Lady driving a Maruti Zen who is awarded the exclusivity of being the First ever Self-Driven Lady to be featured in [DRIVOBLOG|➨]™.


A ‘Heavily Accessorized Flair-Diva’, she reflects the unpretentious [DRIVOBLOG|➨]™ attitude. She carries her world in her Vehicle: Garments, Footwear, Documents, and Cosmetics etc. The need for mobility sees her shuttling across the city for work, meeting clients, shopping, catching up with friends and closing the day by chilling out at Southern Avenue Boulevard [Notified as “Best Place on Earth” by [DRIVOBLOG|➨]™].


The City is Kolkata where the traffic environment in particular is something not conducive for even Gentlemen to Drive, leave alone Women especially when ones vehicle is precariously surrounded by unpredictably swerving Taxis, Buses, LCVs & Autorickshaws and most of its drivers are impatiently frustrated and foul-mouthed, both in character (slang) and content (gutkha).


Admittedly, it’s a common notion among men that driving is not a ‘girl-thing’ but Sanjukta stands out as a misnomer of sorts. Let’s face it, women respond to situations differently than men and it reflects quite remarkably in their driving behavior.

After all it may not be a ‘Lady-thing’ to breach petty Traffic Signals, but then life gets a lot easier if one can nullify the [No] out of the – [No U-Turn], [No Turn], [No Entry], [No Stopping], [No Parking], etc.


Thanks to the unpretentious consent of the Traffic Cops who have got used to witnessing her committing the deliberate transgression. Gladly amused, one of them has even gone to the extent of providing his Mobile number to her, just in case she gets hauled up in the act of committing the overwhelming indulgence. Well the rules never go out of the window, they just get annulled momentarily by the blink of an eyelid.

One factual incident in brevity takes us to a situation where a vehicle full of evidently-drunk 20 something are aimlessly tailgating a cherry-red Maruti Zen. They have just spotted a seemingly vulnerable lady driving it and are scouring for some cheap thrill, least aware of the catastrophic conclusion it would lead them into. The lady driving turns out to be Sanjukta and with no reason they are signaling her to stop. After a number of unsuccessful attempts they manage to bang her vehicle at the rear. Sensing the imminent danger of an uncomfortable situation, she reverses her vehicle in reflex and speeds off, leaving the perpetrators in awe with a smashed headlight and that was so much for that day.

The day after sees her being followed again and this time they manage to pull over in front of her vehicle and block her way, eventually forcing her to stop. They get out of their vehicles and a verbal altercation follows with the perpetrators demanding monetary compensation for the ‘alleged–damage’ that she purportedly caused the day before, never-mind their deliberate intimidation.


In the interest of averting a predicament, she offers to drive them to a Vehicle-Workshop she knew of and make the ‘settlement’ for the alleged damage. Excited at the prospect of easy-money and seemingly achieve ‘company’ of the ‘Bold & Beautiful’ Lady, they agree to hop in her vehicle, leaving their vehicle behind (as suggested by her). What we see thereafter is Sanjukta driving the entire Gang straight into the premises of the nearest Police Station. Moments later, in the next scene we see a crowd gathered around the predatory vehicle with all of its green-house broken.

No prizes for guessing how that hapenned.


In this Big Bad World it’s quite deferential to see a Bold, Confident and Un-muted woman having her way around in Style and Wits!!





DRIVOBLOG® | CCU-HYD 21st to 22nd Sep 2007 NON STOP

24 09 2007
This is my Epic and one of the most Emotional Journey that later on drastically changed my Life , The  Kolkata-Hyderabad Highway Trip.

I must first complement my wife for supporting me all the way, sending SMS, handling phone calls, and logging the entire trip. Also special thanks to Mr. HV Kumar who is a seasoned long distance cruiser.

The worst stretches of the road were at BBSR-Gopalpur-Ichhapuram and NH9 Vijayawada-Hyderabad. We managed upto 120 kmph on certain streches and touched 140 kmph momentarily on one occassion. I was not racing and safety was the main concern. Due to power naps, numerous halts and one erroneous detour at Devrapalli (West Godavari), the entire trip took 37 hours (door to door).

We managed to take all our belongings (from coffee table to kitchenwares to clothes to buckets, mugs, toolkit, bedsheets, laptops, kitchen appliacnces etc.) Only the AC and Washing Machine is coming through Packers and Movers. The car was loaded to the brim – Dicky and Rear Seat folded and actually had a payload of near about 400 Kgs! Add us both and thats a total payload of Half a tonne.


View Larger Map

My car returns 18 kmpl on highways like Kol-BBSR. But perhaps due to the heavy payload, the car gave a lower mileage of 13 kmpl. Not bad for a 1.6 litre engine when otherwise I get 5.5 kmpl in city driving. Also we slept 3 hours in the car with engine idling and the AC on before reaching Vizag.

Speed Sheet

Official Soundtrack – ‘Grasshopper’ by Bickram Ghosh

We were experiencing the gradual change in food flavor at every stop on the highway across Orissa and AP.  On nearing Vijayawada the next day, this composition - Grasshopper from Bickram Ghosh’s Brilliant album – ‘Beyond Rhythmscape’ which was playing in our car full volume and uncontrollable tears filled my eyes.

Here we were with heavy emotions, leaving our hometown and this track (Grasshopper) with its East-South blended instrumentals themed perfectly – the situation and geography and the cultural diversity of the three states – WB, Orissa and AP.  This tune has became symbolic of my leaving Kolkata for professional pursuits and everytime I listen to it, I donot have words to express my gratitude to him for this composition.

I cannot express more with words, how deep an impact some of the tracks in his albums – Rythmscape and Beyond Rythmscape made and how inspiring they have been and how they have brought me happiness and tranquility.

Both me and my wife admire Bickram Ghosh, since we attended his live concert at Hyatt Regency Kolkata in September 2006. He is ‘The Master Percussionist’ and makes us proud to be a Bengali. I wonder how many times does he ever gets to know of a first-hand account of someone who gets deeply impacted by his compositions.





Opel Astra 1997 WB02F5646

22 06 2007

Inspiration

I had been eyeing the Astra ever since it was launched. My first drive in that car, in 1996 – the experience was heavenly. Yes even in those days, I realised that it was underpowered.

Purchase

I finally got the taste of ownership when I was allowed to use the company owned Astra (1996 model) for 3-4 months.

The search ended and I picked up a steel Grey 1996 model. Things had to be spent on during ownership.

  • Alloys
  • Tyres
  • Timing Belt
  • Strut Mountings (They always gave way)
  • Brake pads
  • Brake shoes
  • AC Compressor repair
  • ICE
  • Front WIndshield replacement (for scratches)
  • Coolant plastic pipe near intake manifold
  • radiator and AC Fans

Performance and FE

The engine was not rev friendly. The LET was good. I changed gears @ 2000 rpm. The car was designed for highway cruising. My car used to gives 17 to the litre of petrol on Nighways with A/c on all the times (or whenever I drove it on overdrive on extended periods and even while on short stops) on the contrary it gave 6-9 kmpl in the city with A/c on all the time (even when my wife is shopping)…my car has crossed 110000 kms.

Yes this was the vehicle which taught me how to drive frugally, by light-footing the throttle. Inspite of that I decided I will buy one for myself.

Ride Comfort

Till this day, that ride-comfort and NVH has been unmatched in similar segment vehicles (other than the BMWs, Mercs and Audis that i have test-driven). It just ran like as if its cruising on a fluid. Any other car would not impress me (except a Ford Mondeo maybe). The pleasure was when you braked, the rear end of the car used to lower itself, compensating the forward thrust and heads did not NOD.

The aerodynamics of the car is so ahead of its time that the moment you touch overdrive…it takes over from you and the scenery just whizzes past you when you look outside the window.

Problems:

  • In-confident braking: Even after new fluids, new discs, new tyres, becos of the damn brakes…..I once banged on a mud hill on NH6 at dark midnight…. the car rested on its belly and there was this bus which winched me back on the road…. nothing happened to the car. I was never confident of the brakes and cornering, so never drove above 100kmph
  • One during the HYD-DEL-MUM-HYD, the brake line lost fluid and I drove whole night in that condition through Seoni till Sagar.
  • Once the radiator fan failed and the car had to be driven without coolant for 10 kms.
  • Once while driving through waterlogged streets, water wetted the carpet and a polythene got fouled up in one of the driveshafts and dislocated the axle bellow.
  • I always had a tough time sourcing spares and getting the right mechanic.
  • Both the Astras I used – used to overheat during bumper to bumper traffic.
  • Engine vibrated irritably on idling with AC On: RPM becomes 600 from 800-850 once AC is on.

The car was finally sold in Hyderabad in April 2008 after I purchased the Toyota Innova. I used to take it door to door to offer it everyday during lunch time, until one guy on Minister Road fell for it.








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