*Petrol is really cheap*

I filled up my car's fuel tank, and I thought fuel has become really expensive after the recent price hike. But then I compared it with other common liquids and did some quick calculations, and I felt a little better.

To know why, see the results below – you'll be surprised at how outrageous some other prices are ! !

Diesel (regular) in Mumbai : Rs.36.08 per litre

Petrol (speed) in Mumbai : Rs.52 per litre

Coca Cola 330 ml can : Rs.20 = Rs.61 per litre

Dettol antiseptic 100 ml Rs.20 = Rs.200 per litre

Radiator coolant 500 ml Rs.160 = Rs.320 per litre

Pantene conditioner 400 ml Rs.165 = Rs.413 per litre

Medicinal Mouthwash like Listerine 100 ml Rs.45 = Rs. 450 per litre

Red Bull 150 ml can : Rs.75 = Rs.500 per litre

Corex cough syrup 100 ml Rs.57 = Rs. 570 per litre

Evian water 500 ml Rs. 330 = Rs. 660 per litre Rs. 660 for a litre of WATER !! And the buyers don't even know the source (Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

Kores whiteout 15 ml Rs. 15 = Rs. 1000 per litre

Cup of coffee at any decent business hotel 100 ml Rs. 50 = Rs. 500 per litre

Old Spice after shave lotion 100 ml Rs. 175 = Rs. 1750 per litre

Pure almond oil 25 ml Rs. 68 = Rs. 2720 per litre

And this is the REAL KICKER... HP DeskJet colour ink cartridge 21 ml Rs.1900 = Rs. 90476 per litre!!!

Now you know why computer printers are so cheap ? So they have you hooked for the ink ! So, the next time you're at the pump, don't curse anyone – just be glad your car doesn't run on cough syrup, after shave, coffee, or God forbid, printer ink!*

Source - Email Forward

Accident because of bad driving (lady driver)

I was on my way to work after dropping my wife. I came to a small crossroad (there was lot of glass pieces strewn on the road, because of some previous accident). I was trying to be extra careful and came slightly to the right to avoid those glass pieces. I could see that a car (Gold color- old model santro)was coming from the other side perpendicularly, about to join the same road.
Just as I cleared the glass pieces and was about to get back on normal speed, this santro jammed right into my right-fender.
I was so damn angry, I immediately asked her to stop the car and get down and I was taken by surprise when she declined.
She had stopped the car but was not ready to get down from the car. I mean, I was so damn angry and asked her to just get down so that we can talk.
She was with her mother (or mother in law or someone elderly). Once she got down, I told her to simply pay for my damages to my car. She was like, why should I pay, its not my mistake etc etc.and started blaming me that I was the one who hit her car.
I tried to stay calm and explained to her logically, that if I had hit her it would be her fender which would be damaged and my front right corner(her car's left corner jammed into my right fender). But she refused to listen. By this time, there was a huge crowd of people who wanted to settle the issue (help the lady in distress).
I was pretty clear, I told her to pay for my damages. So she was like No, it was no my mistake and let's go to the police station; I was like, I am OK with going to the police station which is when people there started advising her to not go to a police station and just forget the episode and go away; and that such things happen always in Bangalore.
Seeing the number of people who started to support her, she started accusing me of rash driving and indecent talking. This really pissed me off. And she even started saying that such things are common in bangalore and you should live with it. This really irritated me, I told her that it might be common for you but not for me. I have been driving for ages and have not made such silly mistakes.
Anyways finally after lot of unecessary talk, the elderly lady gave me some money (just Rs 500).I mean, what is Rs 500 going to suffice for a thorough tinkering and painting job.
Just dropped my car for service at Green Tracks. The service advisor there told me that it would cost me Rs 2800 for the tinkering and painting :((.
Is there any other company who would do a good job for a much lesser price ?
Conclusion from today's incident :-
- When a man and a lady meet with an accident, the man is always at fault. :(, No matter what

Drivers in Bangalore

Truck Drivers: You usually don't get to see them directly because they sit somewhere at an altitude. You can however identify the cabin crew by a frantically waving hand on the non-driver side. This hand belongs to a crew-member called 'cleaner' and all scholastic efforts till date have failed to decipher the symbolic meaning of these waving. It is however Safe to assume that these waving mean 'stay away'. Fortunately the trucks are prohibited from the arterial roads. But you can see them racing each other at 30 kmph and 31 kmph on the ring road. They successfully block the whole width of the road. It is advised that you take them over from left (yes, the wrong side) for, they wont let you pass from the right side anyway. The other advice is to keep away from them.

BMTC Drivers: You can see them from a mile away from the distinguishing color and driving. It can be very dangerous and frustrating to follow a BMTC bus. The bus follows Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and at any instance you can not predict the speed AND the position correctly. One observation that might help the reader is that they always keep right between bus stops and move to left (well, almost) at bus stops. This is the apt opportunity for you to take the bus over and go stuck behind the next one. The drivers can be seen although mostly through the bus's rear view mirror. If you happen to see them directly through their window, be prepared to listen to advice for having taken them over in a dangerous fashion. While a normal bus can easily create a road block on any given road, there are special capacity joint-buses (called janti vaahana) which have an uncanny power of blocking up to 3 roads at a time at a junction.

Cab Drivers: Characterized by red eyes, irritable nature, unkempt facial hair, constant honking even at stationary object! They always try to go at 80 kmph, assume the urgency of an ambulance and expect everyone else has less important job. Most of them do not sleep for days together and some of them are trying to compete with David Blaine for stretching human limits. The author personally knows few cab drivers who do not have a habitat. They just keep a pair of spare uniform in the cab, eat sleep in the cab and use public bathrooms. Driving style of these indicates that many of them were auto rickshaw driver earlier. However, they still seem to carry the self image of an auto rickshaw and try to squeeze a MUV into the 1 meter gap between any two objects.

Car Drivers: Characterized by creased foreheads. Having paid through their noses and fighting to pay the EMI, they are obsessive about their cars and want to make sure nobody bumps/scratches their car body. This sits on the mind perpetually and causes those creases on foreheads. Most pitiable class of drivers having the most to lose from the mistakes of other classes of drivers.

Auto Rickshaw Drivers: Having stood over years as undisputed symbol for rash driving, they are unfortunately losing grounds to cab drivers. (Unfortunate because a rashly driven MUV is more dangerous than a rashly driven auto rickshaw). Auto rickshaws are the vehicles with most diverse speed ranges. They travel at speeds approaching zero when they have no passengers aboard and travel at speed of unto 3x108 m/s when a passenger is aboard. Analogous to the belief that "a cat can pass through any hole that is bigger than its skull" auto rickshaws can "pass through any gap that is wider than the headlight". They defy all laws of Physics. A typical auto driver sits with a calm and indifferent attitude of a formula-1 driver just before the race. Based on his age, he is a Rajkumar/Shankarnag/Darshan fan. He feels strongly towards these actors and towards Karnataka and Kannada. In a surprising observation, many auto drivers refuse 1.5 times the meter reading after 10 PM if you are exiting from Ranga Shankara*. This is their humble way of commemorating their favorite star who made films like Auto-Raja.
* Ranga Shankara is a theater built in memory of late Shankar Nag and it is the place where all new dramas are staged first

Two Wheeler Drives: The class in the most advantageous position. They consist of a variety of sub-populations like office goers, salesmen, mothers dropping children to school, college students, neighborhood store owner transporting about 1 ton weight on a moped, whole families of 4-5 children going on an outing etc. They usually mind their own business and do not cause inconvenience to other types of vehicles. They use all possible space on and around the road, including footpaths, medians, drainages, staircases etc and thus enhance infrastructure utilization .

Author - unknown - Email Forward.

My Palio 1.6 GTX - End of the story :(:(

My palio which came back from the repairs was doing pretty good but by then my dad was forcing me to sell it off, he felt that the going forward I might end up spending some more money on the car in terms of repairs and modifications.

I finally put it up for sale at the various web portals. A few guys had a look at the car, taking it to their mechanics and getting their opinions.

One such person RKN, wanted to have a look at the car, saw it and wanted to buy it however i was not all that happy with the price that he quoted.

I requested sometime from him so that I can decide.

Next day he called me and gave me another revised price, even with this I was not all that happy, however my dad really wanted me to sell it off, hence I agreed to his price.


On monday, he took the car and he is now the new owner of it. I really hope that he takes care of it as much as I tried to do so.

My Fiat Palio 1.6 GTX - and its problems :(

I recently bought a Fiat Palio 1.6 GTX, 2001 model, Silver, run 47000kms from Automart India . It ran well for almost 3000kms and then catastrophy struck. I started to have problems with it. The radiator burst because of which the car was sent away for repairs. The radiator got repaired but still the same, the car was still plagued with problems. I finally got the radiator replaced and the problems seemed to dissappear. My happiness however was shortlived because the car has started to face some minor problems again.

Now, I have dropped it off at my local mechanic and he says there is nothing to worry and the car would be back to normal in a day or two. I am really hoping that my car is back up and running asap. (There are still so many places my car and myself need to go.... ;) )

More about the car's tech specs and travelogue in future blogs...as soon as I get back my car .. :)